Robert Kaman, a fourth-year Ph.D. student, has been named a Jones-Whitford Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation Scholar for 2025-2026, receiving an $8,000 unrestricted grant to advance his research. He plans to use the award to fund an innovative project demonstrating quantum physics phenomena in classical systems using arrays of permanent magnets on ball bearings, with support from two undergraduate researchers.
Written by Jackson Brunner
Why it matters: The Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation award provides crucial funding for American scientists. The honors are unrestricted grants that scholars can use to advance their academic progress or research scholarship, providing a path for the brightest Ph.D. students to create new knowledge and innovative technologies.
What's happening: Robert Kaman, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering, has been named a Jones-Whitford ARCS Scholar for 2025-2026. He is part of a research group led by Founder Professor Axel Hoffmann.
Pictured: Ph.D. student Robert Kaman
The details:
Kaman is one of ten scholars selected by the Illinois Chapter of ARCS Foundation across Northwestern University, University of Chicago and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The award will be presented at the Annual Scholar Awards Luncheon on October 7, 2025, in Chicago.
His research focuses on magnetization dynamics at the nanoscale, aiming to develop technology for miniaturized microwave frequency devices and quantum computers.
How he'll use it: Kaman plans to fund an unconventional project using the $8,000 award — creating arrays of permanent magnets on ball bearings to demonstrate quantum physics phenomena in classical systems.
The project employs two undergraduate researchers working with what Kaman called "basically toys" — disc-shaped magnets and 3D-printed components. Undergraduate research involved in this effort include Akshada Guruvayur and Zhonghua Yang.
The goal is to show that counterintuitive predictions from quantum materials "don't have anything to do with quantum mechanics in the end."
"Recently, where the future of science is looking a little muddy in America, or the confidence in the future of science (here) is not so good, it has sort of made me more proud to be an American scientist," - Ph.D. student Robert Kaman
Background: Kaman graduated from Iowa State University in 2022 with a degree in materials engineering before joining Hoffmann’s research group, which focuses on the physics of spin in thin films.
The bottom line: The ARCS Foundation distinguishes itself by advancing American science specifically, providing unrestricted funding that scholars can use to further their research goals.
Illinois Grainger Engineering Affiliations
Axel Hoffmann is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He holds the founder professor appointment.