O. Max Gardner Awards

Dr. Branislav Vlahovic - 2003 Recipient

NCCU Professor Branislav Vlahovic, Ph.D., has been selected as the recipient of the 2004 Oliver Max Gardner Award by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. Vlahovic, professor in the Department of Physics, joined North Carolina Central University in 1995. He received his doctorate in physics and material science from Zagreb University in Croatia. He was nominated for Oliver Max Gardner Award for hisinnovative research and work with minority undergraduate students in the areas of science and education. Vlahovic's research spans from nuclear low to high-energy physics, nanotechnology, semiconductors physics, as well as computational physics. In all these fields, he has made achievements that will have lasting effects.

The polarimeter for high-energy photons, designed and built by Dr. Vlahovic and his team during the period of 2000 to 2003, is a breakthrough in the field of experimental nuclear and particle physics. It makes possible an entire new class of experiments with high-energy linearly polarized photons. For the past 60 years, many groups around the world tried to find a way to measure linear polarization of photons with energies higher than 1000 MeV. Vlahovic found a way to do this. The polarimeter based on the electron-positron pair production off nuclei, detected by the micro-strip detectors, achieves high analyzing power, which makes the measurement of polarization not only possible, but also achievable in a short period.

Additionally, Vlahovic made sure that a portion of his research grants are designated to hire student assistants. The most recent grants from National Scientific Foundation, Department of Energy, Department of Defense and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the total amount of $3.1 million allocated a total of $560,000 to be used specifically for student scholarships during the 4-year program.