Serena Eley, an assistant professor of physics at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, has been chosen as the recipient of the 2021 Joseph A. Johnson III Award for Excellence from the American Institute of Physics and the National Society of Black Physicists.
The award is named for Joseph A. Johnson III, who was a pioneering and renowned experimental physicist at Florida A&M University. He was a mentor to many Black doctoral students and a founder of the National Society of Black Physicists. The award is presented to a physicist who exemplifies Johnson’s ingenuity as a scientist and passion for mentorship and service.
Dr. Eley studies the dynamics of vortices in superconductors and skyrmions (nanoscale whirlpools of magnetic moments) in magnetic materials. Vortices cause energy loss, where skyrmions are potentially useful as carriers of information in next-generation devices. By examining superconductors and magnetic materials at a microscopic level, she aims to mitigate the e[ects of vortices and exploit the properties of skyrmions.
Dr.Eley joined the faculty at the Colorado School of Mines in 2018. She is a graduate of the California Institute of Technology, where she majored in physics. Dr. Eley earned a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Illinois.
