Jesus Perez Rios, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook University, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award. The award, totaling $667,308 over five years, will support his project titled “Few-Body Processes Including Ions, Atoms and Molecules: From Plasma Physics to Cold Chemistry.”
The research aims to develop a theoretical framework for understanding three-body recombination processes and other third-order chemical reactions. These processes are important in fields such as cold chemistry and plasma physics, with applications that cover a wide range of temperatures—from near absolute zero up to those found in the Sun.
“Our findings and models will have an impact in a multitude of fields in physics and chemistry, including chemical physics, atmospheric physics, spectroscopy, and plasma physics, to name a few,” said Rios.
In addition to research, the project includes plans for a new course that will explain career paths available in physics today. This educational effort is intended to highlight the importance of STEM fields—and physics specifically—for human welfare.
“At this time of uncertainties and cuts in federal funding, it is exceptionally heartwarming to hear Jesus receiving an NSF Early CAREER award, a defining moment of any junior faculty’s career as it represents highly selective recognition of not only the recipient’s accomplishments but also future potential,” said Chang Kee Jung, distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. “Jesus’s research is interdisciplinary by nature and its vision has a broader horizon than usual. Jesus is dedicated to undergraduate education and early research involvements, and the Department of Physics and Astronomy is blessed to have Jesus as well as other fantastic junior faculty members.”
Few-body physics focuses on how systems with few degrees of freedom interact at various energy scales. Three-body recombination—a process where three reactants collide resulting in two forming a bound state while the third carries away excess energy—is significant for phenomena like ozone formation or ion stability in ultracold gases.
Rios joined Stony Brook University in 2022. He authored "An Introduction to Cold and Ultracold Chemistry: Atoms, Molecules, Ions and Rydbergs," published by Springer in 2020. He serves on the editorial board for Few-Body Systems journal and is among the leading editors for Cambridge Elements in Physics beyond the Standard Model with Atomic and Molecular Systems.
His research group investigates fundamental atomic and molecular processes relevant across several branches of physics and chemistry using analytical methods, computational techniques, and data science. The group believes that cross-disciplinary study can yield insights useful beyond individual scientific fields.
The NSF CAREER Award recognizes early-career faculty who show promise as academic role models in both research and education. It supports their efforts to integrate these areas while advancing their disciplines.