The IPM – Mansouri String Prize “for  work done in Iran by a young Iranian string theorist” was awarded to Mohammad Reza Garousi of Mashhad University for work done  in 1999 when he was in Birjand U. and was an associate of IPM.
     He was chosen by the International Advisory Committee of the School of Physics of IPM in a meeting in Tehran on April 15^th. The committee members in Tehran meeting were Farhad Ardalan, Alexander Belavin, Robert Brandenberger, Johnathan Ellis,  Werner Nahm and Ashoke Sen. Cumrun Vafa participated in the meeting via telephone. 
     The citation of the award which was unanimous is:  

IPM-Mansouri String Prize is awarded to

Mohammad Reza Garousi

For his insightful proposal of an effective action for open string tachyons which has been useful for the study of time-dependent tachyon configurations and cosmological aspects of unstable D-branes.

This is a striking example of the excellent research being produced by the new generation of string theorists in Iran. (Award Ceremony Photos)     

     IPM – Mansouri Prize was established in 2003 in memory of late Freydoon Mansouri, Professor of University  of Cincinnati in the U.S, who passed away in April 2003. Freydoon Mansouri was an associate of IPM and had collaborated with IPM researchers extensively.
     In his memory a fellowship was also established for a graduate student working for his or her Ph.D thesis in string theory. The fellowship was awarded in 2005 to Mahdi Torabian of Sharif University of Technology who is working under the supervision of Mohammad Mehdi Sheikh-Jabbari of IPM.  
       The winner of the prize Mohammad Reza Garousi obtained his B.S from  Kerman University and Ms. from Sharif University with his dissertation  on an earthquake model. He attended McGill on a Ministry of Science Fellowship and worked in string theory with Robert C. Myers of McGill and obtained his Ph.D in 1996.
     Upon return to Iran he was dispatched to Birjand according to the requirements of the Ministry. His isolation in Birjand was  lessened  by his association  with IPM,  where he would fly  to Tehran once every two weeks to participate in research activities of IPM.
The work for which the prize was given was done during this period.
Subsequently he moved to Mashhad University in 2001 and has been able to stablish a promising string theory group in Mashhad.