College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Never give up

Physics' Ruslan Prozorov found obtaining research funding early in his career challenging. But he kept trying and was eventually rewarded for his persistence.

Difficult.

Use whatever description you want. Ruslan Prozorov understood very well why his initial research grant proposals weren't more successful.

"In order to obtain a grant, you need to produce preliminary results showing that your project is viable," said the assistant professor of physics and astronomy, who is in his first year at Iowa State.

Prozorov, who was then an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina, kept plugging along. He obtained smaller grants from the university and corporations to keep his research going. And he kept publishing.

"If you publish in high-impact journals you can foster your research reputation," said Prozorov, who also works with the Ames Laboratory's Condensed Matter program.

"Once you get several publications in the field of your proposals it becomes more difficult for reviewers to reject them. And the smaller grants gave me a chance to produce preliminary data which helped when it came time to reapply for bigger grants."

That funding was necessary for Prozorov since a main component of his research efforts utilizse liquid helium - an expensive product at $4 per liter.

"A typical experiment that we (his research group) run expends 100 liters of liquid helium at once," he said. "We spend around $12,000 every year just on the liquid helium per a single experimental setup. The lab here has four now and we still plan for more.

"In addition, research assistants and postdocs require significant financial support."

Prozorov doesn't have to worry about funding now because the acceptances are coming just as fast for his grant proposals as the rejections once did.

In a span of just a few months Prozorov has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Early CAREER Award in excess of $400,000 to produce and study novel composite materials and a second NSF grant for $300,000 to look at complex physics of superconductivity in pure lead.

"It is hard to believe that I got two NSF grants in unrelated areas in an interval of a few months," he said. "I think this is highly unusual."

He studies superconductors and magnetic materials using unique experimental techniques in order to understand the fundamental mechanisms responsible for phenomena of superconductivity and magnetism.

"What I really do is try to understand the physics of superconductors," he said. "There are many things that we still do not understand but we've developed some unique techniques that should help us better understand this area.

"If we can do that we can help develop better applications for superconductivity."

The latest award to come Prozorov's way is a two-year, $45,000 Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship that he learned about in February. The fellowship is among the most prestigious fellowships in physics for young scientists. It provides support and recognition to early career scientists and scholars, often in their first appointments to university faculties, who are endeavoring to set up laboratories and establish their independent research projects.

"This is a highly prestigious award although the funding isn't as large as funding from the NSF," Prozorov said. "Only a small number of scientists receive a Sloan and they all have produced excellent results later in their careers."

Prozorov has tentative plans to use the fellowship to help fund students, lab supplies and travel to academic conferences and collaborations.

One thing he does know - he doesn't plan on applying for any additional grants for a while.

"No more grants," he says. "Each one that I have now is a huge responsibility and I need to produce results.

"I'm completely tied down now and the only way I'll try for any more grant money will be as a co-PI (principal investigator)."