NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Ericca Reynolds (reynoldse@nsula.edu)
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

4/30/2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES-A Northwestern State University faculty member has been selected to participate in a 10-week National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Faculty Fellowship this summer in Pasadena, Calif.

Dr. David Mitchell, an assistant professor of physics, will be conducting research with a theoretical group to investigate quantum computation and information at the Jet Propulsion Lab in hopes of addressing the needs to develop a quantum computer.

"This is a very exciting opportunity for me," Mitchell said. "I'll have the chance to work with a group that has been doing this particular kind of research for a long time and this is also an area of research that I'm moving into. I'm looking forward to stimulating the exchange of ides among researchers."

Quantum computation and information theory draw on a number of mathematical areas, including computational complexity theory, group representation theory, topology and information theory. According to Mitchell, there is every reason to believe that sophisticated mathematics will play a central role in further developments in the field.

Since 1964, NASA has supported a program offering full-time engineering and science educators at U.S colleges and universities the opportunity to participate in NASA on-going research efforts. The NASA Faculty Fellowship Program (NFFP) offers science and engineering faculty hands on exposure to NASA's research challenges through extended research opportunities at participating NASA research centers, working closely with NASA colleagues on challenges important to NASA's strategic enterprises. The
Faculty Fellowship Program is jointly managed by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and combines aspects of two successful and long running NASA programs, the NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program and the NASA/USRA JOVE program.

Mitchell earned his bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his doctorate at Yale University. Mitchell has been a NSU faculty member for two years and is faculty advisor of The Society of Physics Students.

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