Dr. Karen E. Kerr has been awarded an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Chemistry. Dr. Kerr received her doctoral degree from the University of Chicago under the supervision of Professor Takeshi Oka. Dr. Kerr will continue research at the University of California at Irvine under the sponsorship of Professor Vartkess Apkarian. Her postdoctoral research will target the relaxation dynamics of atomic impurities in solid helium. Alkaline earth metals doped in a helium matrix exhibit a strong coupling to the matrix. The research will examine host motion in these systems using time-resolved pump-probe techniques. The work will contribute to our understanding of relaxation processes in model solid systems. The Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Chemistry Program is viewed as an important infrastructural program designed to broaden the knowledge and experience of new Ph. D.s and attract them into meaningful careers in contemporary chemical research and teaching.
