Physicist Janko nominated for Wired Rave Award

Author: William G. Gilroy

Boldizsar Janko, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Notre Dame, has been nominated for a 2004 Wired magazine Rave Award.p. Created in 1999, the Rave Awards celebrate innovation and the individuals transforming commerce and culture and are presented in 14 categories that represent the most dynamic areas in art, entertainment, design science, sports, business and politics.

Janko, who joined the Notre Dame faculty in 2000, was nominated in the scientists category. Among the other four nominees in the category is J. Craig Venter, who is widely recognized for his leading role in the completion of the sequencing of the human genome.

Janko’s research focuses on a wide variety of phenomena associated with highly correlated electron systems. His areas of interest include magnetic semiconductors, high-Tc superconductivity, nanoscale magnets and superconductors, and semiconductor nanocrystals.

A team of Notre Dame researchers led by Janko has received a $1.8 million nanoscale interdisciplinary grant from the National Science Foundation to support research on the development and creation of manmade materials aimed at performing extremely fast functions in computers of future generations.

The materials, known as diluted magnetic semiconductors, possess magnetic, optical and semiconductor properties that show great promise for new types of computers. The research is aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of these properties, so as to enable their control for the purpose of such applications as ’spintronics,? which involves electronic circuits based on electronic spin as well as electron charge.

The editors of Wired and an international jury of visionaries called ?The Brain Trust? selected award nominees. The Brain Trust will select the finalists in each of the 14 categories and the winners will be announced March 15 (Monday) during a ceremony in San Francisco. Winners also will be published in the April edition of Wired.

Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, Emil Hofman Professor of Physics at Notre Dame, was a 2003 Rave Award nominee in the author category for his book ?Linked: The New Science of Networks.?

Wired is designed for leaders in the field of digital information, including top tier managers, creators and professionals in the computer, business, design, entertainment, media and education industries. Its editorial focus is on how technology affects life.

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