National Science Foundation Honors USF Physicist

TAMPA, Fla. (May 27, 2009) The work of a University of South Florida physicist is providing a foundation for future engineers and scientists to come together in hopes of fulfilling society’s needs for abundant and clean energy sources. And that is just scratching the surface of his ambitions.

In support of these bold plans, Matthias Batzill, assistant professor of physics, was awarded the National Science Foundation’s CAREER award. This award is considered the foundation’s most prestigious recognition of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars.

Batzill’s project, “CAREER: Nanoscale surface properties of functional metal oxides" will receive $577,076 in funding, which supports all project costs for five years, including support for one student for the first two years of the project and two students for last three years.

Batzill’s work in surface science brings together concepts from materials science, solid state physics and surface chemistry to gain a better fundamental understanding of how reactions work at metal oxide ceramic surfaces. This interdisciplinary approach will examine key components of materials for energy conversion to help scientists and engineers address society’s need for a source for abundant and clean energy.

"I am absolutely thrilled to have received this recognition for my research and scholarly activities. This award shows the trust of my peers that my research group will be a leading contributor to the advancement of surface science. I greatly appreciate the support I am receiving from the Department of Physics which has made this success possible," said Batzill.

In addition to the research project, the grant will fund the development and delivery of a new graduate course in surface science at USF. Also, an outreach program for high school students will be established that takes the excitement of “seeing” atoms and translates it into a hand-on learning experience.

Batzill earned a doctorate in physics from the University of Newcastle (UK), a master’s in physics from Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Germany), and a bachelor’s in geophysics from the University of Karlsruhe (Germany). He joined the USF faculty in 2006 after postdoctoral research and instruction positions at Tulane University, Rutgers University, University of Aarhus (Denmark), University of Southern California, and the Osaka National Research Institute (Japan).

The University of South Florida is one of the nation's top 63 public research universities and one of 39 community-engaged, four-year public universities as designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. USF was awarded more than $360 million in research contracts and grants in FY 2007/2008. The university offers 219 degree programs at the undergraduate, graduate, specialist and doctoral levels, including the doctor of medicine. The university has a $1.8 billion annual budget, an annual economic impact of $3.2 billion, and serves more than 46,000 students on institutions/campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee and Lakeland. USF is a member of the Big East Athletic Conference.

-USF-

Story written by Jacqui Cash, Academic Affairs