Dual awards for BC physicists

Boston College Assistant Professor of Physics Qiong Ma has been named a 2025 Moore Inventor Fellow and been awarded—along with Associate Professor of Physics Fazel Tafti—a $1million research grant by the National Science Foundation.

Ma, whose research focuses on the discovery of new materials and emergent quantum phenomena, is among only five creative scientists honored this year by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, marking the fulfillment of a 10-year initiative to support “50 inventors to shape the next 50 years.”

“I am thrilled to be selected as a Moore Inventor,” said Ma, who joined the BC faculty in the spring of 2021. “I have always seen myself not only as a materials physicist but also as a hardware inventor. Receiving this award is both a recognition of that vision and a significant support for my group to pursue research at the interface of fundamental science and impactful applications.”

The Moore Foundation award will support the purchase of new scientific equipment, provide funding for postdocs and student researchers, and help establish new collaborations, Ma said.

Ma’s invention of twistronic artificial synapses is connecting discoveries in advanced materials directly with neuroscience-inspired computing.

“I create new semiconductors using so-called twistronic methods,” said Ma. “These materials can mimic the way neurons and synapses operate in the human brain. By engineering them into intelligent transistors—what we call neuron transistors—we can assemble networks that function like the brain itself, following the principles of neuroscience to build brain-inspired computers.”

With the NSF award, Ma and Tafti – along with colleagues at MIT and the University of Sherbrooke—will study quantum diodic magnets (QuDiM)—materials with quantum dipoles that enable current rectification. NSF funding comes from its Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future program. A tandem award to colleagues at MIT brings total funding for the research initiative to $2 million.

The project aims to develop robust quantum diodic magnets for next-generation, low-power, high-frequency diode technologies. “Our approach integrates theory, computation, material synthesis, and experimental characterization (transport and optics) to identify, fabricate, and test candidate systems,” said Ma.

Everyday technologies like smartphones, wireless networks, and the Internet of Things depend on diodes—devices that let current flow more easily in one direction than the other—a process known as rectification,” said Tafti. “Conventional diode systems, however, face limits: They consume more power and become less efficient at high frequencies, and require pristine materials to function well.”

Quantum diodic magnets are a relatively new  class of materials that use quantum wavefunction properties to maintain high efficiency at high frequencies, she said. These materials promise robust performance even in imperfect or fluctuating environments, making them ideal for future energy-efficient technologies.

Tafti said this project is expected to establish quantum diodic magnets as a new platform for ultra-efficient, high-frequency diode technologies. Unlike conventional systems, QuDiM materials combine quantum-geometric effects with intrinsic resilience to impurities and thermal noise, enabling robust device performance without requiring ultra-clean fabrication.

“This significantly lowers barriers for real-world applications, paving the way for energy-efficient electronics and wireless devices central to the Internet of Things,” Ma said. “Beyond immediate technological impact, the project advances fundamental understanding of how quantum geometry can be harnessed in functional devices. By linking theory, computation, synthesis, and experiment, it also builds a scalable discovery pipeline that can accelerate the design of other quantum materials with transformative applications.”