Education
Two FAMU-FSU College of Engineering professors receive Department of Energy Early Career Awards
FAMU-FSU College of Engineering professors Ralm Ricarte and Junliang Liu have been named recipients of the U.S. Department of Energy’s prestigious Early Career Research Program awards, an honor bestowed upon outstanding scientists and engineers early in their careers.
This year, the DOE’s Office of Science selected just 67 scientists nationwide for the awards, providing $96 million to support research across science and engineering.
Ricarte is an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, while Liu is an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. They are the only Florida State University researchers to receive the awards in 2026, the only two recipients from Florida and two of just eight awardees in the Southeast United States.
“Earning this award is a tremendous recognition of the innovative work happening at our college,” said Richard Liang, associate dean for research at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. “Professors Ricarte and Liu are trailblazers in their fields and their research will drive discoveries that benefit society and reinforce America’s leadership in science.”
Ricarte’s project, “Molecular mechanisms driving enhanced energy dissipation in dual cross-link elastomers,” will receive $875,000 over five years. His research aims to develop resilient, energy-absorbing materials with far-reaching applications, from next-generation transportation systems to advanced electronics.
“In this project, our team will explore how specially engineered rubber materials can stay flexible and efficiently absorb energy under heat, repeated stress and large deformations,” Ricarte explained. “These rubbers will feature permanent bonds that provide structural integrity and temporary bonds that can break and reform. We’ll investigate how the rate of this molecular exchange influences the materials’ energy absorption in various real-world scenarios.”
By integrating materials development, mechanical testing, computer simulations and advanced X-ray analysis, the team will identify how molecular-level changes affect overall material performance.
“The Early Career Award gives us the time, resources, and access to Department of Energy facilities needed to rigorously test these ideas,” Ricarte noted. “It will also foster new collaborations and enable hands-on training for students in advanced computational and experimental techniques. The insights we gain will shape the next generation of durable, adaptable materials for vehicles, protective equipment and energy-harvesting devices.”
Ricarte, who joined the college in 2020 following postdoctoral research in Paris, holds a degree from the University of Minnesota and has been recognized as a Marie Curie PRESTIGE fellow.
Liu’s project, “Effects of High Magnetic Fields on Hydrogen Retention in Vanadium Alloys,” also received $875,000 over five years. His research could help scientists develop materials capable of withstanding the extreme conditions inside nuclear fusion reactors.
“Fusion is the same process that powers the Sun,” Liu said. “Scientists are striving to replicate this phenomenon on Earth, essentially building a miniature Sun to deliver nearly limitless clean energy.”
Materials in fusion reactors must withstand extraordinary conditions, such as plasma temperatures over 100 million degrees Celsius and magnetic fields more than a million times stronger than Earth’s. These intense fields are crucial for containing the plasma but present major challenges for structural materials. Liu’s research focuses on discovering materials capable of surviving and performing in this extreme environment.
“The DOE Early Career Award will enable us to utilize the world-class facilities at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) and FSU to replicate these extreme magnetic field conditions and study their effects on the microstructure and properties of fusion materials,” Liu said. “Our findings will help the scientific community better understand and qualify materials for fusion applications, bringing fusion energy one step closer to powering the grid.”
Liu earned his doctorate and completed postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford. He then worked as staff scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before joining the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering faculty in 2025.
The ECRP award is among the nation’s most competitive honors for early career scientists, supporting the next generation of STEM leaders as they pursue bold, innovative research. The 2026 cohort includes recipients from 39 universities, 11 DOE National Laboratories and 26 states.
