PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (August 31, 2022) Kevin Storr’s research in Quantum Design (QD) will expand with his recent award of $199,500 from the US Department of Defense -Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). The funding is for his “Thermal and Electrical and Conductivity Investigations into Boron Nitride, Transition Metal Dichalcogenides, and Diamond Films” project.
Kevin Storr, Ph.D.
Storr is an associate professor of physics in the Brailsford College of Arts and Sciences. He graduated from PVAMUs Benjamin Banneker Honors College, completing undergraduate physics and computer science degrees. While pursuing undergraduate degrees, Storr was a part of the historic physics cohort that the late Professor Dennis Judd instituted.
With Storr’s previous efforts, Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) earned a Quantum Design Teaching Laboratory award, including the innovative materials characterization instrument, Physical Property Measurement System Quantum Design PPMS® VersaLab™, valued at more than $250,000. The current award allows for continuing collaborative research on low-dimensional materials with a research group at Rice University’s Department of Materials Science and Nano-Engineering.
“Dr. Kevin Storr continues to broaden the knowledge with his pioneering research in the area of thermal and electrical conductivity under cryogenic conditions,” said PVAMU Vice President of Research & Innovation Magesh Rajan, Ph.D., P.E., MBA. “The funding he earned from DoD-AFOSR allows him to purchase equipment to produce economically liquid helium for his experiments that will enable undergraduate and graduate students to make significant contributions to the project.”
Storr will acquire a Quantum Design USA ATL80 helium liquefier, which takes compressed, captured, or vented cold helium gas and reliquefies it to operate the superconducting magnet. The cost of the liquefier is approximately the current annual helium costs. Purchasing the liquefier will reduce annual lab operational costs by 80%. Storr estimates he will increase the time lab equipment is used and perform the proposed research at a more fiscally affordable rate.
Storr will engage in systematic thermal conductivity, resistivity, Hall Effect, and specific heat studies. Results from data taken will lead to future steps in synthesizing and improving the materials and potential applications.
The project will impact both undergraduate and graduate students. Undergraduate students will work on a senior project as a contribution to the project, while graduate students will have the opportunity to work on a thesis/dissertation.
Karen B. Cotton, MS, MA