Wayne Polyzou, a professor in the physics and astronomy department at the University of Iowa, has received a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to do work overseas in Poland and Ukraine.
The grant, known as the International Multilateral Partnerships for Resilient Education and Science System in Ukraine, or IMPRESS-U, is designed to support excellence in science and engineering research, education, and innovation through international collaboration as well as promote the integration of Ukrainian researchers in the global research community.
“This partnership initiative capitalizes on prior investments, bilateral agreements, and relevant activities and provides for a multilateral arrangement to enable U.S. researchers to submit international collaborative proposals to the National Science Foundation,” the National Science Foundation website states.
Polyzou, who has been doing this work for years, received funding from the National Science Foundation to conduct research with teams of graduate students and professors in Krakow, Poland, and Kharkiv, Ukraine, to provide a resource for electron and neutrino scattering experiments with deuteron targets — a subatomic particle that reacts to other particles being directed in motion towards itself.
“The project aims to create models and software to predict how electrons, photons, or neutrinos interact with deuteron targets at high energy levels,” an Iowa Now release states. “These tools will help scientists interpret experiments at these energy levels and can be adapted for use with larger experimental nuclear targets in the future.”
Polyzou’s research began in July 2024 and will continue for the next couple of years as he works with Polish and Ukrainian students and scientists to advance physics in the modern era of science, research, and engineering. His proposal and the grant will fund a postdoctoral student that will stay in regular communication with the students in Poland and Ukraine.
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“He is a nuclear physicist and an expert on modeling the scattering of relativistic particles of small elements,” Mary Hall Reno, the chair of the physics and astronomy department at the UI, said. “He works in relativistic quantum mechanics and is a leader in national and international topical groups related to that.”
Following the effects of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, Eastern European countries such as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine have partnered with the United States to work with teams of researchers to develop scientific advancements that help the international cause, National Science Foundation site states.
Polyzou said the research team uses Zoom to discuss their work because the Ukrainian students cannot travel because of the country’s conflict with Russia.
“We utilize Zoom, but it’s on and off. The internet is spotty, the power is spotty — the Russians are attacking their electrical infrastructure,” Polyzou said. “One of the benefits of the pandemic is that we all learned to use Zoom. It’s very easy to meet with people.”
Polyzou’s research brings international relations to the forefront of researchers’ minds and opens the door for more research by other universities with foreign countries, Hall Reno said.
“In the modern era, most people in our department have international relations. With the proximity of Poland to Ukraine and the common research interests, he’s expanding our international reach,” Hall Reno said.