Department of Physics

Rana Ashkar received her PhD in physics from Indiana in 2012 under the direction of Roger Pynn in the area of neutron scattering and soft matter. After postdocs at NIST and Oak Ridge she joined the physics department of Virginia Tech where she is now an assistant professor of physics. Her recent scientific work has developed an improved understanding of the role of cholesterol in controlling the flexibility of cell membranes. This work combined techniques such as neutron spin echo spectroscopy, NMR, and molecular dynamics simulations. Rana collaborated on the neutron spin echo work with former IU research scientist Michihiro Nagao, now at Maryland, who is the instrument scientist for the NIST neutron spin echo spectrometer.

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