Alexander V. Rau, a Cornell senior majoring in physics, is one of 40 students nationwide to be awarded a prestigious 1999-2000 Marshall Scholarship for at least two years of study in the United Kingdom. He plans to study for a D.Phil. -- the British equivalent of a Ph.D. -- in physics at Oxford University.
Rau is a student with wide-ranging interests outside his major field, including climatology, marine biology, medieval history and science and technology policy, but in his graduate work he plans to explore fundamental problems in quantum physics.
"Alex really does stand out, not just in being a top physics student but being interested and talented in many different fields," said Saul Teukolsky, the Hans A. Bethe Professor in Physics and Astrophysics at Cornell and Rau's faculty adviser. "I think he's really exploited Cornell's ability to offer so many different opportunities."
"One of the things I appreciate about Cornell is that I can take classes anywhere," Rau said. He has moved outside the physics department for several projects. He spent the summer of 1997 working with Charles H. Greene, Cornell professor of geological sciences, on a research vessel in Monterey Bay in California. He helped to collect sonar data on the distribution of plankton in a deep ocean trench frequented by blue whales, and he continues to work on the analysis of the data. "My oceanography work has really been the central project for me, and Professor Greene has been my closest mentor," Rau said. "I'd like to thank him and the Department of Geology, as well as everyone who has helped me during my time at Cornell."
He spent the summer after his sophomore year at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory working with Richard A. Muller, professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley, on the climatology of glacial cycles.
His junior year was spent in study at Oxford, focusing on quantum mechanics with Oxford professor of physics Keith Burnett. In his graduate studies, Rau plans to return to work with Burnett on an effort to understand the boundary between quantum and classical physics, using Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) -- gases that have been cooled to temperatures near absolute zero. All the atoms in these gases are in the same "quantum state," which should mean that the entire gas will show the quantum behavior associated with single atoms and molecules. "In a Bose-Einstein condensate," Rau explained, "you can have thousands, even millions, of atoms in the exact same quantum state, and so you can make tiny measurements on them without destroying the whole quantum property. Thus, we can observe the quantum behavior of a BEC as it evolves."
They hope to create a real-world version of the famous "Schroedinger's cat" thought experiment, which dealt with the idea that in quantum mechanics a system can be in two states at once, "collapsing" to one or the other when the system is observed. "One can take a BEC and superimpose it on itself -- make the BEC both here and there at once," he said. "Now, how long can it sustain this superposition as we expose it to the environment? Or, in other words, how long can the cat remain both alive and dead as we begin to open the box? It goes right to the heart of some of the most fundamental issues in quantum mechanics."
Finally, last summer, Rau worked as an intern at the White House, working with the National Economic Council on economic policy issues relating to trade on proposals for an international working group in labor. "That was what blew up the WTO this fall," Rau said.
Describing himself as a "news junkie," Rau said he has always had interests in economics and in science and technology policy. He credits Paul R. Hyams, Cornell professor of history, with whom he took a one-on-one tutorial course in medieval history, with "shocking me into thinking a little deeper into social and historical issues."
When not engaged in scholarship, Rau pursues endurance sports, notably rowing and cycling. In his freshman year, he was coxswain for the Cornell varsity heavyweight crew and, during his year at Oxford, both rowed and served as coxswain on the Oxford crew. During the rest of his time at Cornell, he hopes to become active with the Cornell Cycling Club.
Rau is, in effect, going into the family business. His father, Ravi Rau, is a professor of physics at Louisiana State University. His mother, Dominique Homberger, is a professor of evolutionary biology there. Rau grew up in Baton Rouge, La., and attended the Baton Rouge Magnet High School.
Rau has received the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for 1998 and 1999, the Pauline and Irving Tanner Dean's Scholarship for 1996 through 1999, the Robert C. Byrd Scholarship for 1996 through 1999 and the Bessie F. Lawrence International Science Research Fellowship from the Weitzmann Institute of Science, Israel, in 1996.
He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi honor society and an associate member of Sigma Xi science honor society; he was a member of the 400 Club, an honor society for Cornell athletes with a 4.0 grade point average, from 1996 through 1998.
The Marshall Scholarship program is funded by the British government and is administered in the United Kingdom by the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission and in the United States by the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., and by five regional consulates-general.
This year 12 Cornellians (10 seniors and two recent graduates) submitted Marshall Scholarship applications. Eight were endorsed by a faculty committee to represent Cornell to the Marshall Commission. In a typical year, the commission receives from 800 to 1,000 applications from which the 40 winners are chosen.
Students who will be seniors next year and may be interested in applying for the Marshall or any other prestigious scholarship, should contact Beth Fiori, Cornell fellowship coordinator, at 255-6931 or btf1@cornell.edu.
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