Berg Receives Faculty Early Career Development Program Award

May 7, 2015

The National Science Foundation awarded Dr. Matthew Berg its prestigious Faculty Early Career Development Program Award.

Berg, an assistant professor of physics who also works with the Center for Computational Sciences (CCS) at MSU's High Performance Computing Collaboratory is receiving a five-year grant. The grant will enable the acquisition of additional equipment for Berg and his research team of graduate students to continue and expand their ongoing scientific investigations. Describing and characterizing ways sunlight reflects from plant pollen, mineral dust, airborne bacteria and other particulate matter have been the focus of Berg's investigations since he completed a National Research Council postdoctoral fellowship at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

He is currently working to develop new approaches that apply digital holography--creating images of dust as it scatters light. Results of his research may suggest ways to modify climate-prediction models, improve solar power technology, characterize agricultural dust properties and maintain national defense versus biological weapons.

The National Science Foundation award is the highest honor a junior faculty member may receive and Dr. Berg is the first MSU physicist to achieve that level of recognition.

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