Michael Pravica
Professor, Physics
Expertise: General Physics, High Pressure Science, Explosives, X-ray Spectroscopies, Accelerator Physics, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Raman and Infrared Spectroscopy, Condensed Matter Experiment
Biography
Michael Pravica is an expert in general physics. He especially enjoys research focused on the study of matter at extreme conditions of high pressure, high temperature, and high radiation flux.
Pravica — well-known for his community activism and dedication to spreading the joy of science to the masses via television, radio, print media, and public forum appearances — has worked to further the field through development of several innovative concepts. They include: a) A new field of science, dubbed "useful hard x-ray chemistry," wherein high energy, penetrating and focused x-rays are harnessed to initiate novel chemistry in isolated and sealed chambers, and b) Ion Beam Nuclear Transmutation Doping, a novel method to dope wide bandgap semiconductors using penetrating, high-energy protrons initiating nuclear transmutation to create dopant layers.
Education
- Ph.D., Experimental condensed matter physics, Harvard University
- M.A., Physics, Harvard University
- B.S., Physics and applied mathematics (honors), California Institute of Technology
Related Links
Michael Pravica In The News
March 14, 2018
FOX5's Peter Dawson shares how you can mark Pi Day in Southern Nevada.
Education Dive
March 13, 2018
Community engagement is a critical component of the work needed for higher education leaders to begin to turn the tide and change public opinion around the industry. It could mean partnering with unlikely messengers to spread the word, as in the case of UNLV's Dr. Michael Pravica, who teamed up with Bleacher Report and Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch to talk physics on Lynch's web series.
Playboy
February 23, 2018
An unprecedented number of scientists have their sights set on various U.S. political posts in 2018. Their hope? Preventing the nation from contributing to environmental destruction by way of willful ignorance. Since taking office, President Donald Trump and his cohorts have made a habit of mocking and flat-out denying the legitimacy of climate change with attempts to derail crucial conversations surrounding the protection and preservation of natural resources.
Education Dive
January 4, 2018
Michael Pravica and Marshawn Lynch are at first glance (and second glance, third, fourth and fifth glances) an unlikely pair. But what the professor of physics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the star running back of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders have in common — besides their joint appearances on the Bleacher Report’s new Facebook show, “No Script with Marshawn Lynch” — centers around explosions. For Lynch, it's his explosive runs on the field, and for Pravica, it is the study of “things that go boom.”
Articles Featuring Michael Pravica
PeopleOctober 31, 2017
Physics professor Michael Pravica teams up with Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch in Bleacher Report web series.