CWU physics senior awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program is a highly exclusive funding opportunity for students pursuing a graduate degree in the sciences, providing three years of financial support to attend grad school, including a $37,000 annual stipend for living expenses.

Only 10% of applicants nationwide are accepted, and this year, Central Washington University physics senior and McNair Scholar Nicolas Puentes became one of only four CWU students to ever receive the NSF research award. Puentes has had his heart set on physics research for a long time, joining a research group before he ever took his first class at CWU.

"As soon as I came to Central, I enrolled in the physics department," he said. "Before I even took my first class here, I emailed a professor asking to be part of their research group, and they were very welcoming in allowing me to join."

Puentes' main area of interest is emergent phenomena in condensed matter, looking for unique patterns and interactions between atoms in a given compound. He developed the skillset for this research in part through his work with CWU Associate Professor of Physics Benjamin White, who served as one of his faculty mentors.

"He recognized that the paper and pencil approach he had been using was quite limiting when it came to more complex problems, and so he started attacking it more from a computational physics angle," White said. "This was beyond what was taught in our computational physics class, so NIcolas kind of went out on a branch of his own and taught himself how to do it, which is a great example of the kind of drive and self-motivation he has."

Using textbooks and peer-reviewed studies, Puentes developed his own methods and code for operating computational models. He says this approach helped immerse him in the work.

"It's really interesting and fun, in that you get to be part of every step along the process," Puentes said. "You have to write the code for how atoms interact and for how to display your data, and by staying this connected to it, not only do you learn the physics, but you also get to learn every single step going from having nothing to having results."

The subject of Puentes' research proposal to the NSF was multiferroic materials. These compounds can hold more than one ferroic ordering, or arrangement of atoms, at the same time, showing potential for revolutionizing data storage and other crucial components of modern technology. Puentes has high hopes for the role multiferroic materials might play in the future.

"What would be really awesome is if, through computational modeling, I can discover a new multiferroic material that could lead to further technological advancements," he said. "My proposal is essentially to study these materials, which show great promise in that regard."

After graduating from CWU in June, Puentes is headed to the University of Oregon to begin his research fellowship. He says his experiences with CWU's faculty have set him up for long-term success in his field.

"I just have great gratitude for the professors here, and they've been extremely supportive of my journey," he said. "They try saying they didn't have much to do with my success, but I disagree. This is as much an accomplishment for them as it is for me."