A University of Iowa graduate student in physics has been selected to conduct research at a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facility.

Lucas Beving studies low-temperature plasmas in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He is one of 62 graduate students from across the nation selected for DOE’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program.

Beving, from Ackley, Iowa, will collaborate with a research scientist at Sandia National Lab, in New Mexico, for a year. It’s the first award for Beving, who is part of the Fundamental Plasma Physics and Laser Spectroscopy research group led by Scott Baalrud, associate professor of Physics and Astronomy at Iowa.

Beginning in July, Beving will go to Sandia and participate in the low temperature plasma research group, attend seminars, present his work, and learn more about high performance computing (HPC).

“A significant amount of my research is understanding the results of large computer simulations. These simulations are conducted on HPC machines, like Argon here at Iowa,” Beving says. “The mix of hardware (computers) and software (simulation codes) that I have access to while collaborating at Sandia is difficult to beat.”

The SCGSR program provides supplemental funds for graduate students to conduct part of their thesis research at a host DOE laboratory in collaboration with a DOE laboratory scientist within a defined award period. Awardees were selected from a diverse pool of university-based graduate applicants. Selection was based on merit peer review by external scientific experts.