Jeong Min Park, an MIT scholar, was given a 2024 Schmidt Science Fellowship

One of the 32 outstanding early-career scientists globally selected to win the coveted 2024 Schmidt Science Fellows award is Jeong Min (Jane) Park, a graduate student studying physics

As a 2024 Schmidt Science Fellow, Park’s postdoctoral research will use a tool that can identify subatomic-scale processes to directly discover phases that might host new particles.

Park does research at MIT with the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics Pablo Jarillo-Herrero as her advisor. Their goal is to find new quantum phases of matter.

“Emergent phenomena” are defined as “collective behaviors that are not expected from individual particles when there are many electrons in a material.” Park says this. “Superconductivity is one example, where at low temperatures interacting electrons combine as a pair to conduct electricity without energy loss.”

She has studied new forms of superconductivity during her PhD studies by creating materials with specific structure and interactions. Specifically, she transformed graphene—atomically tiny, two-dimensional graphite layers—into a “magic” substance. Graphene is the same material as pencil lead. This twisted trilayer graphene, known as magic-angle graphene, offered a superconductivity that is incredibly strong and resilient to high magnetic fields. Eventually, she discovered an entire “magic family” of these substances, providing insight into the fundamental principles behind interaction-driven events including superconductivity. These findings have opened up a new avenue for the two-dimensional study of emergent events, which may result in advancements in quantum and electronics technologies.

Park said she is excited to work in the lab of Princeton University physics professor Ali Yazdani during her postdoctoral studies.

Park expresses excitement at the prospect of finding and examining novel quantum occurrences that may deepen our understanding of basic physics. “After investigating interaction-driven phenomena through new material design, my goal for my postdoc is to combine my experience in material design with advanced local-scale measurements to address a different kind of question, broadening my perspective and expertise.”

She says that basic particles are either bosons or fermions, and that they behave differently when two of the same particles are exchanged, a phenomenon known as exchange statistics. Bosons do not change, while fermions develop a negative sign in their quantum wavefunction.

According to theories, there exist non-abelian anyons, which are essentially distinct particles whose wavefunctions braid upon particle exchange. Information may be encoded and stored via this braiding technique, which may one day lead to fault-tolerant quantum computers.

This esteemed postdoctoral program was established in 2018 with the goal of dismantling scientific area silos in order to address the most pressing global issues and develop the next generation of STEM leaders.

By creating a network of scientists and advocates for interdisciplinary research and using it to propel sector-wide change, Schmidt Science Fellows, an initiative of Schmidt Sciences and a partnership with the Rhodes Trust, seeks to identify, nurture, and elevate the next generation of science leaders. Seventeen different nationalities from North America, Europe, and Asia make up the 2024 fellows.

Strict selection procedures are followed by nominated applicants, which include final interviews with panels consisting of senior leaders from various corporate sectors and scientific fields as well as a paper-based academic evaluation with panels of specialists in their home disciplines.