Earlier this month, Stony Brook University announced the three finalists for the Discovery Prize. The University will announce the winner on Mar. 6 at 2:30 p.m. in the Charles B. Wang Center’s theater.

The three finalists, Jennifer Cano, Paolo Celli and Yifan Zhou, will present their research in the theater. At the end of the event, the winner will be announced. 

The Discovery Prize is an annual $200,000 award that was established in 2013 to support researchers whose discoveries can substantially impact the scientific community. The Statesman spoke to all three finalists about their work and what they would spend the prize money on.

Jennifer Cano

Jennifer Cano is an associate professor of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Her research, “Theoretical Framework for the Discovery of Topological Moiré Materials,” earned her a nomination for the prize. 

Cano’s studies focus on the emergent qualities of quantum materials, particularly the topological phases of matter. She also focuses on the fundamental principles of quantum materials — such as classification — and she predicts new material platforms to realize exotic quantum phases. Cano developed the theory of topological quantum chemistry to predict new topological materials. 

“A topological insulator is a stage of matter which has the property that it conducts electricity on its edges without losing energy, so it’s like a perfect conductor,” Cano said. “So, you can imagine that materials like that are very useful for energy efficient technology.”

Cano expressed her enthusiasm about being a finalist.

“I think this is a great prize to have on campus, and that it encourages faculty to be creative and think outside of the box,” Cano said. “I’m really excited to be a part of [this opportunity].” 

Paolo Celli

Paolo Celli is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering. Celli’s nominated research, “Load-Bearing Enviro-Morphing Structures,” focuses on shape-morphing structures,  dynamic structures with time-evolving properties, structures for civil engineering robotics and structures for renewable energy. Celli shared that his idea is to create environmentally adaptable morphing structures, which can change shape in environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity. 

Celli said that he has mixed feelings about being a finalist for the award.

“Part of me [is] excited because the stakes are high in the sense that if I were to get the funding, it would really allow me to immediately jump start researching this enviro-morphing direction,” Celli said. 

However, this prize would provide a completely different way of receiving funds than what Celli is used to. 

“I usually just have to write a proposal, send it and not have to talk to anyone,” Celli said. “So now, I have to present in front of the public, so that’s different. So from that perspective, it’s exciting but also has a little bit of [a] scary element.”

Celli plans to use the prize money to support the students working with him. He also wants to hire one Ph.D. student for the duration of the project, two master’s students, some undergraduates and allocate the rest of the funds  to equipment and supplies.

He said he needs equipment, specifically a large environmental chamber where he can control temperature and humidity.

Yifan Zhou

Yifan Zhou is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. She published “Revolutionizing Power Grid Computing Through Quantum-Driven Analytics.”

Zhou is developing intelligent power system operations with her students to advance the transition toward a resilient energy sector. She is interested in designing application-driven  artificial intelligence and quantum solutions that support real-time analysis and decision-making for ultra-scale power systems with massive distributed resources.

“The power system is becoming super complicated, so analyzing complicated systems can be challenging, and that’s why we try to use quantum image,” Zhou said. “In our research, we realized that this is a common challenge in the quantum field and that it’s not easy to perform quantum computing, and that’s why we proposed this project.”

Zhou shared that in pursuing her work, she hadn’t considered the possibility of winning an award in exchange.  

“I never even thought about it when I made this proposal,” Zhou said.

Zhou intends to use the $200,000 to support her students and access quantum computers necessary to advance her research.