MARIA
VELEZ FRAGA

Maria Vélez graduated in Physics at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (1991) where she also got her PhD in Physics (1995) under the supervision of Prof. Vicent. After a postdoctoral stay at Prof. Schuller Laboratory at University of California San Diego, she arrived at Universidad de Oviedo in 1998 where she has developed most of her scientific career. Maria Velez is currently a full professor of Condensed Matter Physics at the Physics Department of Universidad de Oviedo. The research activity of Maria Vélez is centered along two main research lines in the fields of superconductivity and magnetism: 1) Hybrid superconducting/ magnetic systems: Her work has been devoted to the study of superconducting vortex pinning by ordered arrays of magnetic nanostructures and of proximity effects in superconducting/magnetic multilayers, with a thorough characterization of the effects of array geometry and vortex dynamics on synchronized vortex pinning and on the effects of Curie temperature and magnetic configuration of the ferromagnetic layers on the superconducting properties of the system. This research line was performed in collaboration with Prof. I. K. Schuller at University of California San Diego and Prof. Vicent at Universidad Complutense de Madrid. 2) Domain walls and magnetic textures in nanostructures and multilayers: This line started with the study of domain wall propagation in nanostructured samples by Magnetic Force Microscopy and the observation of magnetic half vortices around isolated holes during the doctoral thesis of Dr. G. Rodríguez (U. Oviedo, 2010). Later, crossed ratchet effects on domain wall motion were demonstrated with the use of asymmetric shaped antidots, which gave rise to a patent on a memory device (2014). More recently, Maria Velez has been working in weak perpendicular anisotropy multilayers, in order to unravel the role of different textures on the magnetization reversal process such as merons (half skyrmions), vortices, antivortices and cycloidal domains. Very recently we have been able to image Bloch points in 3D and characterize their topological charge and surrounding emergent field configuration. This research line has been performed in collaboration with the group of Prof. Ferrer at Alba Synchrotron. María Vélez is part of the “Comisión de Asesoramiento para la Evaluación de Enseñanzas e Instituciones de ANECA” since 2021. She is the Physics degree coordinator at the Science Faculty of Universidad de Oviedo, where she is in charge of the organization of tutorial and mentoring programs for first year students. She is also active in the implementation of innovative teaching strategies based in the use of Smartphones for autonomous lab experiences (https://www.unioviedo.es/smartfis/). She has collaborated with the Royal Spanish Society of Physics in several local Physics Olympiads and in the organization of the 2008 National Physics contest at Mieres.