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University Communications

Federal Grant Funds Research Into Structure of Nuclei in Atoms

September 21, 2005

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a University of Richmond professor funding for new research into the structure of the atomic nucleus.

The grant will enable Cornelius Beausang, associate professor of physics, and his undergraduate assistants to conduct nuclear accelerator experiments at Yale University, Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California and other facilities in and outside the country.

The experiments—bombarding atoms with heavy-ion beams to change the shape, rotation or vibration of an atom’s nucleus—will not only advance fundamental science, but also could apply to improved radiation detectors for medicine and homeland security.

“This award recognizes the quality of research that can be carried out at an undergraduate institute, such as the University of Richmond,” Beausang said.

Beausang came to University of Richmond in 2004 after teaching for eight years at Yale, where he began his low energy nuclear physics research, also funded by DOE. He holds the Robert E. and Lena F. Loving Chair in Physics at Richmond.

Beausang received a bachelor’s degree from University College in Cork, Ireland, and master’s and doctoral degrees from SUNY Stony Brook (now Stony Brook University). He was a postdoctoral fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a Chadwick Fellow at the University of Liverpool in England.