2023
Alannah Hallas
Physicist searches for new materials to improve quality of life
2023
Physicist searches for new materials to improve quality of life
Alannah Hallas works along the boundary between chemistry and physics in the search for new materials.
“We’re looking for new materials that have better properties than existing materials for a wide range of applications or just properties that we’ve never even seen before that could unlock completely new applications,” says the condensed matter researcher at the University of British Columbia.
It may sound like Dr. Hallas is looking for a needle in a haystack, but she says it’s more like looking for the hay.
“It’s really hard to know how many materials are out there that we simply haven’t yet discovered. But there are definitely, you know, in the 1000s, or even maybe in the millions; there’s a vast array of undiscovered materials. So, we’re not likely to be out of work anytime soon.”
Dr. Hallas, principal investigator for the Quantum Materials Design Lab at the university’s Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute, is a winner of the 2023 Sloan Fellowship.
When it comes to the potential benefits of her fundamental research, Dr. Hallas points to superconductivity as an example. “Researchers in my field are looking for room-temperature superconductors; materials that could make our computers faster, cheaper and longer-lasting; materials to improve the storage capacity and long-term stability of batteries. Any sort of obstacle that’s facing humanity, there is almost always a solution in the form of a material.”
Dr. Hallas says it’s “very exciting” to win the Sloan Fellowship, “because it comes at a time in your career where you’re just beginning to start your own independent research, and you will have lots of ideas and new directions. It’s motivating to receive this validation that other people also think the directions you’re pursuing are exciting and worth pursuing.”
Funding from the award will help Dr. Hallas expand her research team, which currently includes 11 students from the undergraduate to post-doctoral level.
“I think the Sloan is really important because it draws attention to the importance of fundamental research and the value that that brings to society,” she says. “We’re at an early stage in something that could eventually have a lot of impact on people’s day-to-day lives.”
