Can engineering change the basic laws of physics? That is one of the questions three professors and a former student at the University of North Texas are attempting to answer.

Arup Neogi, a professor in the College of Science’s Department of Physics, is the principal investigator on a $1,997,222 National Science Foundation grant that will explore such questions.

Arkadii Krokhin, also a professor in the College of Science’s Department of Physics, Tae-Youl Choi in the College of Engineering’s Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering and Zeke Walker, founder of Echonovus, who received his doctorate from UNT, are co-principal investigators in the study.

“I am thrilled to be working with a former student of mine and with not only a colleague from my own department, but one from engineering as well,” Neogi said. “This is truly a cross-disciplinary experience.”

The grant is funded through NSF’s Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation program designed to pursue transformative research in the area of new wave propagation and nonreciprocal devices.

After creating a prototype of a device that changes the characteristics of ultrasound as the position of the device is changed, Neogi and his team have the four-year grant to confirm their preliminary results.

“It is very exciting because there are so many potential uses for this technology,” Neogi said.

Such uses could be ultrasound technology, biomedical devices and imaging, and the ability to communicate more securely.