The Fulbright award will provide Domini the opportunity to collaborate in Germany with Roland Fleming, executive director of the Center for Mind, Brain and Behaviour of the Universities of Marburg and Giessen and a professor of experimental psychology, whose work intersects with Domini’s in several key ways.

“Roland and I have the same theoretical approach to the study of how the vision system perceives 3D objects,” Domini said. “I’m hoping that through our collaboration, we’ll perform basic science research that helps expand scientific knowledge about the function of the brain. Through my time in Germany, I also hope to develop a proof of concept for my theory of visual 3D perception.”

Domini noted that the research collaboration with Fleming will be extended through exchange programs with students from Brown University and the University of Giessen, who will have the opportunity to learn and grow in a different academic environment and country.

A major focus of Rubenstein’s research has been molecular storage systems that could hold vast amounts of data in tiny spaces. Systems like this may have the potential to store billions of terabytes of data in a single flask of liquid or in other synthetic materials like dyes, helping to address what is quickly becoming a serious scientific problem: storing the immense amounts of data produced in an increasingly digital world.

The Fulbright award will allow Rubenstein to focus on understanding the efficiencies of different types of small computers and using molecules to power them. Traditionally, computing technology is based on silicon. Silicon produces a lot of heat, but as computer chips become smaller and smaller, this heat becomes a problem. One of the solutions is swapping silicon chips for molecules.

Rubenstein is traveling to Enchesde in the Netherlands to collaborate with researchers at the University of Twente to iron out theories on the kinds of heat other computing technologies, like molecular computing, produce and what types of energy are required to make them work.

“There are many experimentalists there who focus on making molecular motors and molecular devices,” Rubenstein said. “The Netherlands is probably one of the leading countries in this field. I'm working on the theory side, but working very closely with experimentalists will enable us to hone theories that can be realized in the lab.”

Rubenstein and Domini are among more than 800 U.S. citizens who will teach or conduct research abroad for the 2023-24 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. Fulbright winners engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for future partnerships between institutions.

Notable Fulbright alumni include 62 Nobel Prize laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize recipients, 78 MacArthur Fellows and thousands of leaders and experts in academia and many other fields across the private, public and non-profit sectors.

Domini will begin his work in Germany in September 2023; Rubinstein will begin in January 2024.