Valery Kiryukhin Named Donald H. Jacobs Chair in Applied Physics
Rutgers Distinguished Professor Valery Kiryukhin, an internationally recognized scholar in the field of applied physics, has been named the Donald H. Jacobs Chair in Applied Physics.
The Board of Governors approved the appointment at its meeting Thursday. Kiryukhin, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers-New Brunswick, is part of the Condensed Matter Experiment, a research group that studies the properties of matter.
He is a leader in the fields of X-ray scattering and neutron scattering – techniques used to reveal the locations of atoms, the distances between atoms and the organization of atoms within a material. Kiryukhin’s innovation in developing new techniques and instrumentation has opened entirely new fields of inquiry and research into the properties of matter.
His most recent research involves imaging the small-scale structure of magnetic materials, which is relevant to the development of spin-based computing. This innovative technology utilizes the magnetic properties of electrons to create fast and energy-efficient devices for modern applications, such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, which is a network of connected devices that communicate with one another and exchange data.
“Energy efficiency is a crucial requirement for the advancement of modern computing. The Jacobs Chair award will enable my team to expand our research on functional materials into previously unexplored areas,” Kiryukhin said. “This research could potentially lead to the development of energy-efficient electronic devices that utilize magnetism instead of the currently employed electric charge."
He received his doctoral degree in physics from Princeton University in 1997 and has been at Rutgers since 1999.
Kiryukhin will hold the chair, created in 1990 with a generous gift from the estate of Rutgers alumnus Donald H. Jacobs, for a three-year term, beginning Jan. 1, 2025, through Dec. 31, 2027.
