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Prof. Fries received dual degrees in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Regensburg in 1998 and obtained his doctorate in theoretical physics in 2001. His research focuses on the Strong Nuclear Force, one of the four fundamental forces of the universe, which acts on quarks and gluons and is responsible for the formation of protons and neutrons in atomic nuclei. Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) provides the mathematical description of the strong force, formulated in the 1970s but remains a complex problem to solve. In recent years, Prof. Fries has primarily studied the properties of QCD at extreme temperatures capable of forming a quark-gluon plasma (QGP), occurring at temperatures around one trillion degrees, significantly higher than those found in the cores of stars. This research relates to the early universe, which was filled with QGP for its brief existence. His investigations involve high-energy collisions of heavy nuclei, such as those conducted at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), to observe tiny droplets of hot QGP created during these events. Prof. Fries is recognized for his contributions, receiving the Young Scientist Prize in Nuclear Physics from the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) and is a founding member and co-PI of the JETSCAPE collaboration.
Department: Department of Communication and Journalism. Ph.D. program only currently admitting. GRE is test-optional.