Ph.D. Candidate Continues to Learn at JLab

Born in the former Yugoslavia, Marija Raskovic's work on her doctoral degree at Old Dominion University and her participation at Jefferson Lab were born of her desire to pursue cutting-edge research opportunities.

As a high school student, she dreamed of becoming an architect. But by the time she graduated in 1992, her country was undergoing rapid political and economic changes.

"My parents couldn't afford to send me on to architecture school," she recalled, "so I sat down and thought 'What am I good at?'"

The answer turned out to be easy. She had always excelled in math and science, having taken coursework in high school that Americans would consider the equivalent of advanced placement classes. Once she reset her goal to science, she was accepted into the University of Belgrade, an instiution she chose because of its excellent reputation in physical chemistry, which she had decided to pursue.

After receiving her bachelor's degree, she was hired on as a teaching assistant while working toward her master's. The economic situation in Serbia had been difficult during this period and hadn't changed by the time she defended her master's thesis in plasma science. It was hard to find funding for experimental research in fundamental science. Fortunately, she met ODU Prof. Svetozar Popovic at a conference. They shared an interest in plasma science, as well as their Serbian heritage. He asked if she would be interested in coming to the United States for her Ph.D.

During her first year at ODU, Raskovic joined the atomic physics research group led by Popovic and Prof. Lepsha Vuskovic, who encouraged her to pursue a project at Jefferson Lab in collaboration with Larry Phillips and Anne-Marie Valente-Feliciano. The goal of her work is to investigate plasma etching for surface preparation on superconducting radiofrequency cavities.

"Since accelerator performance depends directly on the physical and chemical characteristics of the superconducting radiofrequency cavity surface, the preparation of the cavity walls has been one of the major challenges in SRF accelerator technology," she explained. "Constant research and development efforts are devoted to developing surface preparation processes that will decrease roughness without introducing impurities, like hydrogen or oxygen, into the niobium surface. Plasma based surface modification provides an excellent opportunity to achieve these goals."

Raskovic splits her time between JLab and ODU, where she is part of an effort to pursue research in accelerator science. Her project, which spans plasma, atomic and accelerator physics, is the first of its kind at ODU and is supported by the Department of Energy through a grant to the university.

"I am very happy to be involved in such a multidisciplinary project – a project that is researching and solving a real accelerator physics problem. I had to learn a lot, but that is what being a scientist is all about: You never stop learning."

When she came to the U.S., her first stop was to visit a friend in New York City. It resonated immediately with her experiences of living in the capital city of Belgrade. Her arrival in Norfolk, where she now lives near ODU, was something of a shock.

"At first I kept asking 'Where is the public transportation?'" she recalled with a laugh.

She recently married and her husband, Hector Garcia, works at the Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center in Suffolk. Together, they enjoy ballroom dancing, and, in what little spare time she has, Raskovic enjoys crafting.

"I made our ornaments for this past Christmas," she said. "I like to see something made by my own hands. It's a good stress reliever. On the days when my experiments don't go well, I need to see that I really can produce something good."

Despite her initial culture shock, she has come to enjoy this area, especially the international community of students and scientists she works with.

"We understand each other, we are all dealing with many of the same things, personally and professionally," she said.

By Judi Tull
Feature Writer