A BSU associate professor of physics, Byung Kim, has been awarded a three-year, $240,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for his novel scanning probe microscope. “It will be the first instrument of its kind in the world,” said Kim. The Korean-born BSU professor has been working on the concept for five years, and recently published a paper about his work in the journal Applied Physics Letters.

The instrument is called a “cantilever based optical interfacial force microscope,” or COIFM. It's a radically new twist on interfacial force microscopes that were invented in the 1990s.

“The original tool is innovative, but it is limited to measuring the interaction of a huge number of molecules," Kim explained. "COIFM’s single molecular measurements will provide a better understanding of intermolecular interactions, which could lead to the development of drugs and other biomedical applications.” The BSU prof has involved undergraduate student researchers in his work.