Tracy lands NSF Career Award

Dr. Joe Tracy, assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at North Carolina State University, has received a Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The award, known as the NSF CAREER Award, is one of the highest honors given by NSF to young faculty in science and engineering.

NSF will provide $550,000 over a five-year period to support Tracy’s research project, “Magnetic Field-Driven Self-Assembly of Magnetic and Multifunctional Nanochains in Bulk Matrices.”

The project is an investigation of how applying magnetic fields causes magnetic nanoparticles to form chains in bulk matrices with uniform dimensions and spacing. An understanding of how material properties and the magnetic field strength determine the structures of the chains will be useful for gaining control over the assembly process and for developing new approaches for fabricating nanostructured composites.

The award will also foster the development of a Nanotechnology Outreach Program that includes visits to Raleigh-area high schools to give demonstrations and lectures on nanotechnology.

Tracy received his PhD in physical chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2005. He joined the College of Engineering faculty in 2007.