Karl Lang, assistant professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and Claudia Avalos, assistant professor at New York University, are among the eight research teams to receive an award through the 2025 Scialog: Sustainable Metals, Minerals, and Materials initiative. 

Supported by The Kavli Foundation, the collaboration will focus on monazite, a group of rare earth-bearing minerals essential for modern technology, including clean energy technologies. Using solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, Lang and Avalos will examine how the mineral’s atomic structure responds to radiation damage and annealing. By observing the material at the atomic scale, they aim to uncover the fundamental mechanisms at work, uncovering insights that could lead to processing innovations and improved applications.