Zachary Fleetwood has received the 2016 IEEE Nuclear & Plasma Sciences Society (NPSS) Graduate Scholarship Award. Fleetwood is a Ph.D. student in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and is advised by John Cressler, the Schlumberger Chair Professor in Electronics.

Fleetwood received this award for his research contributions in the field of radiation effects in silicon-germanium (SiGe) microelectronic technologies. His Ph.D. research focuses on correlating fundamental damage mechanisms between highly-energetic particles like space radiation and state-of-the-art laser systems which provide spatial resolution that is impossible to achieve with traditional particle accelerators. His work incorporates advanced modeling techniques that help researchers and scientists to better develop radiation-hardening methods to aid future space missions.

Fleetwood’s research is supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and collaborators at the Naval Research Laboratory.