Harvey Mudd College assistant professor of physics Eduardo Ibarra Garcia Padilla recently.

received a Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics scholarship, which “supports researchers in physics who are faculty at teaching-intensive, non-PhD-granting U.S. colleges with a heavy emphasis on teaching and research activity,” according to a news release at hmc.edu.

Garcia Padilla will head to the Kavli Institute in Santa Barbara for two-week visits in 2026, 2027 and 2028 to study quantum many-body physics, condensed matter physics, and atomic physics. The scholarship will further his teaching and research on quantum many-body physics, a branch of physics that “explores emergent properties of many interacting quantum particles,” per nature.com.

“On the teaching side, students like finding links between the topics we cover in class and cutting-edge physics research, and this fellowship will allow me to do so more frequently,” Garcia Padilla said. “On the mentoring side, I’ll be able to offer more research opportunities where students can develop their skills as scientists and make important contributions to the physics community.”