High energy density physics group (HEDP) scientist and Ohio State University Physics Department lecturer Dr. Kramer Akli is one of the recipients of the 2012 AFOSR young investigator award. This program is open to American scientists and engineers at research institutions across the United States who received a PhD in the last five years and have demonstrated exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research.

Dr. Akli was selected for this distinguished award because of his exceptional professional record as evidenced in publications, presentations, and academic service.  His original thesis work was conducted at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) as a graduate student at the University of California, Davis.  While at LLNL, Dr. Akli was supported on a “Student Employee Graduate Fellowship” awarded by the laboratory.  Upon graduation, Dr. Akli was initially a post-doc at the laboratory, and then assumed a research scientist position in the Inertial Fusion Technology group at General Atomics Corporation in San Diego.  He joined the physics department at The Ohio State University in the fall of 2010.

The AFOSR Young Investigator Program provides support for basic research in the recipients chosen field of research over a 5 year period.  Dr. Akli will use his AFOSR support for graduate student and post-doc support in his research on the generation of intense x-rays from peta-watt class laser systems.