EPSCoR Research Fellows: NSF: Predictive Pressure-Driven Structural Control in Correlated Quantum Materials

This Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) EPSCoR Research Fellows project provides a fellowship to an Assistant Professor and training for a graduate student at the University of North Dakota. This work is conducted in collaboration with Dr. Changyong Park at Argonne National Laboratory. Through the fellowship, the PI will investigate how changing chemical composition and applying external pressure affects the arrangement of atoms in materials and how these changes influence their properties. The research will combine chemistry, physics, and materials science with advanced X-ray methods to study materials under high pressure. The results will enable scientists to design new materials for future technologies. The project will support more reliable energy-related technologies and promote the efficient use of critical raw materials. It will also provide hands-on research training for students, prepare the next generation of scientists and engineers, strengthen STEM workforce, and expand research opportunities in North Dakota. The project will establish a quantitative, experimentally grounded framework that uses chemical and physical pressure as complementary probes to identify key structural features governing electronic and magnetic behavior in strongly correlated quantum materials, therefore establishing pressure as a predictive design tool for functional materials. The central intellectual contribution will be the identification of experimentally validated structural descriptors that quantitatively link crystal structure to electronic and magnetic behavior, enabling predictive materials design. The project will combine controlled chemical substitution with in-situ high-pressure synchrotron X-ray diffraction, structural characterization, and physical property measurement to directly compare the structural effects of chemical and physical pressure. The fellowship will strengthen research infrastructure by establishing independent faculty expertise in high-pressure crystallography, expanding research capabilities in functional materials at the University of North Dakota, and providing advanced research training for graduate students. The project activities will integrate research with graduate student training, curriculum and workforce development, and collaborations with Argonne National Laboratory and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. This project is supported by the EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Program: EPSCoR Research Fellows (ERF), which supports early- and mid-career investigators in eligible jurisdictions to develop collaborations at the nation’s private, government or academic research institutions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.