Tracy Earns NSF Career Award

Dr. Joe Tracy, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, has received a Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation.

The NSF Career Award, one of the highest honors for young faculty in science and engineering, will provide $550,000 over five years to support Tracy’s research project, Magnetic Field-Driven Self-Assembly of Magnetic and Multifunctional Nanochains in Bulk Matrices.

Tracy is studying how applying magnetic fields causes magnetic nanoparticles to form chains in bulk matrices with uniform dimensions and spacing. An understanding of how the chain structures form will be useful for gaining control over the assembly process and developing new approaches for fabricating nanostructured composites.

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

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