Five JPL scientists are among 41 researchers selected by NASA to receive grants to conduct fundamental physics research on Earth and in space. This research will seek knowledge that will expand understanding of space, time and matter.
Sponsored by NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research, the research grants, totaling more than $15 million over four years, offer investigators the advantage of a low- gravity environment to enhance understanding of physical, biological and chemical processes associated with fundamental physics.
Researchers will use NASA's microgravity research facilities such as drop-tubes, drop-towers, aircraft flying parabolic trajectories and sounding rockets. Flight-definition investigators will work toward experiments on a space-flight test bed, such as the International Space Station and Space Shuttle.
The grant recipients at JPL are:
-- Dr. Talso C. Chui--Heat Current, Q, Effects on the Superfluid Transition (QUEST)
-- Dr. Inseob Hahn--Measurement of the Coexistence Curve in 3He near the Liquid-Gas Critical Point in Microgravity
-- Dr. Melora E. Larson--Experiments Along Coexistence near Tricriticality (EXACT)
-- Dr. Yuanming Liu--Effects of Heat Current on the Superfluid Transition in a Low- Gravity Simulator
-- Dr. Fang Zhong--Measurements of the Thermal Conductivity near the Liquid-Vapor Critical Point of Helium-3 and
Helium-4
While Hahn's grant involves a flight definition task, the other four scientists have ground-based tasks.
NASA received 109 proposals in response to its research announcement in this area. These proposals were peer reviewed by scientific and technical experts from academia and government.
A complete list of awardees (by state), their institutions and research titles can be found at ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2000/00-183a.txt .
JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.