Peace Adegbite, a doctoral student in physics at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), has received the university’s 2025-26 Outstanding Graduate Research and Creative Activity Award. She was nominated by her adviser, Peter Dowben, Charles Bessey Professor of Physics.
Adegbite collaborates with Dowben on multiple projects, including Nebraska’s Emergent Quantum Materials and Technologies (EQUATE) project, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to advance research and workforce development in quantum materials.
“Peace is a truly exceptional graduate student,” Dowben said. “A graduate student may make one significant discovery (during their studies), if they’re lucky. Peace has made two, with potentially a third and fourth in progress.”
Her initial finding was reported in a paper published in the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. That article, “The anomalous temperature-dependent low-energy electron diffraction intensity at epitaxial Sr₃Ir₂O₇ thin film surfaces,” grew from her work with collaborators in EQUATE’s Focused Research Group 1 (FRG 1).
Xia Hong, UNL professor of physics and EQUATE FRG1 leader, with her student Yuanyuan Zhang, provided the samples that were analyzed by Dowben’s team as well as some key measurements. For this work, Adegbite studied surface quantum properties of thin films, focusing on electronic band structure--typically part of the mapping of the energy levels electrons occupy--and the interaction of some electronic states with the vibrational motion of surface atoms.
During analysis, Adegbite identified unexpected behavior involving surface free electrons at elevated temperature. Prof. Hong’s successful pursuit of U.S. Department of Energy funding for a project on correlated oxide materials, which began in September 2025, has benefitted from the collaboration with Adegbite. This work could eventually inform development of non-volatile, voltage-controlled devices that reduce transistor counts in semiconductor technologies and could lead to more efficient electronics.
More recently, working with fellow UNL graduate students Wai Kiat Chin, Gauthami Viswan and collaborators at Tuskegee University (doctoral students Faruk Soso, Ignatious Ebo-Quansah, and Prof. Vijaya Rangari), Adegbite identified quantum confinement, leading to efficient down conversion in porous nanoparticles fabricated at Tuskegee University.
“This is a significant result,” Dowben said, “and these six collaborators are all inventors on a provisional patent just filed. (Also) this efficient production of lower energy photons from a much higher energy photon aligns with the goals of EQUATE.”
Adegbite traces her interest in physics to secondary school in Nigeria. Through the EducationUSA program, she identified opportunities to study in the United States and chose UNL for its experimental physics work.
“I liked the Nebraska program and Professor Dowben’s research,” she said. She began her doctoral studies at UNL in 2022 and plans to pursue a career as a research scientist in industry after completing her Ph.D.
More details at: https://equate.unl.edu