Supersymmetry, supergravity and strings

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The proposed research, primarily in the area of elementary particle physics with emphasis on string theory will help in the effort to understand how the physical world, at its most basic constituents, functions. String theory is believed to provide answers to many of the questions that Einstein and many other scientists have puzzled over for at least a century. We need to understand why the elementary particles, electrons, quarks, etc. have the masses they have, what the forces between them are, and, ultimately, why they are grouped into several families with similar properties.