Vera Smolyaninova

Biography

Dr. Vera Smolyaninova joined Towson University in 2002 as Assistant Professor of physics in the Department of Physics, Astronomy and Geosciences, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2007 and to full Professor in 2012.  Before joining Towson, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maryland, and as AAEE Fellow at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC.  At Towson, Dr. Smolyaninova taught a wide variety of physics courses ranging from introductory physic to graduate level courses, including courses that she developed herself.  Dr. Smolyaninova maintains active research program involving undergraduate and masters students in her research.  She was awarded several NSF research grants including NSF CAREER award, the first CAREER award at Towson University.  Her research has resulted in more than 60 publications in refereed journals, 100 conference proceedings and presentations, and a US patent.  Her publications in the area of metamaterials and transformation optics (invisibility cloaking, metamaterial superconductors, etc.) received wide press coverage in such outlets as BBC News, Physics World, EurekAlert! (AAAS), New Scientist, Scientific American, NSF news, EE times, and other general news media around the world.  To excite interest in physics in a general audience, Dr. Smolyaninova disseminates her research by writing articles for general audience and giving interview to mass-media representatives.  To excite interest in STEM disciplines in youth, Dr. Smolyaninova conducts various outreach activities for students from kindergarten to high school.  Dr. Smolyaninova served on various committees ranging from departmental to University System of Maryland levels.  She serves as CLEO/QELS Science Program committee member and M-AS APS 2015 Meeting Program Committee Member.  She served as a member at large of the M-AS APS Executive Committee for two years.

Dr. Smolyaninova's CV

 

Research Interests  

Metamaterials:

• Metamaterial superconductors
• Transformation optics devices
• Ferrofluid-based self-assembled hyperbolic metamaterials

Physics of functional oxides

Dr. Smolyaninova's Research Page

 

Selected Publications

• Vera N. Smolyaninova, Kathryn Zander, Thomas Gresock, Christopher Jensen, Joseph C. Prestigiacomo, M. S. Osofsky & Igor I. Smolyaninov, “Using metamaterial nanoengineering to triple the superconducting critical temperature of bulk aluminum,” Scientific Reports (Nature publishing group) 5, 15777 (2015). http://www.nature.com/articles/srep15777  This work was highlighted by SPIE NewsRoom, Superconductor Week and other media outlets.
• Vera N. Smolyaninova, Bradley Yost, Kathryn Zander, M. S. Osofsky, Heungsoo Kim, Shanta Saha, R. L. Greene, and Igor I. Smolyaninov, “Experimental demonstration of superconducting critical temperature increase in electromagnetic metamaterials,” Scientific Reports (Nature publishing group) 4, 7321 (2014).  http://www.nature.com/articles/srep07321  This work generated considerable media interest including Physics World, MIT Technology Review, ExtremeTech, etc.
• Vera N. Smolyaninova, Bradley Yost, David Lahneman, Evgenii E. Narimanov & Igor I. Smolyaninov, “Self-assembled tunable photonic hyper-crystals,” Scientific Reports (Nature publishing group) 4, 5706 (2014).  http://www.nature.com/articles/srep05706  This work was highlighted by SPIE NewsRoom.