Ana Maria is a Research Assistant Professor in Physics and a Fellow of JILA. She was selected by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation due to her groundbreaking work in theoretical atomic, molecular and optical physics. MacArthur Fellowships are awarded across all fields "to individuals who show exceptional creativity in their work and the prospect for still more in the future." The fellowship includes a no-strings-attached award of $625,000, paid out over five years.
Ana Maria joins physics faculty members Charles Archambeau, Margaret Murnane and Deborah Jin, who were awarded MacArthur Fellowships in 1990, 2000, 2004, respectively. There have been only 25 physicists chosen for this prestigious award since 1981. Marcus Greiner at Harvard, who worked as a postdoc at JILA with Debbie Jin, was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2011.
The American Physical Society's Maria Goeppert Mayer Award recognizes outstanding Achievement by a woman physicist in the early years of her career. According to the APS announcement, Rey was selected for this prestigious award, "for her pioneering research on developing fundamental understanding and control of novel quantum systems and finding applications for a wide range of scientific fields including quantum metrology and emerging interface between AMO, condensed matter, and quantum information science."
Ana Maria Rey joins CU Professors and JILA Fellows Margaret Murnane and Debbie Jin, who received this honor in 1997 and 2002, respectively.
For more information about the MacArthur Foundation Fellowships, view their Web site.
View the University of Colorado press release.