Faculty Accomplishments and Awards

July 14, 2002 News

Some outstanding faculty accomplishments and awards during the year include:

  • Dean Astumian was selected to write a review article for Physics Today, the publication sent to all members of the American Physical Society, on Brownian motors. Dean also gave ten invited talks, including one at the prestigious Gordon Conference on Nonlinear Science.
  • David Batuski received a grant for telescope time at the Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile and at the Steward Observatory in Tucson, AZ to support his research on large scale structure in the universe. Observations were done by Physics and Astronomy Ph.D. candidate Simon Krughoff.
  • Tom Hess and Charles Smith worked with a team of undergraduate and graduate students to design a series of eight sophomore-level experiments illustrating relativistic effects, known as the Einstein Project. To our knowledge, this laboratory is the only one of its kind, showing the impact of the theory of special relativity at such a basic level. Students, advised by Smith and Hess, designed and built the equipment, prepared materials to distribute to sophomores conducting the experiments, and tested each experiment. This project will continue through 2002-3 to finalize experiments, and then will be offered as an elective in Spring 2004.
  • Neil Comins was invited to give the keynote address at the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Puerto Rico Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation in February, 2002.
  • Charles Smith was selected for the College of Engineering Dean’s Award, recognizing his many contributions to the Engineering Physics Program.
  • Jim McClymer was selected as a NASA-ASEE Summer Faculty Fellow at the Marshall Space Flight Center for summerso fo 2001 and 2002.
  • Bill Unertl was selected to serve as Program Chair of the Nanoscale Science and Technology Division of the American Vacuum Society. He is also a member of the Advisory Board for the International Nanotribology Forum.
  • Michael Wittmann was selected toi serve as the organizer for the session entitled “The Role of Cognitive Science in Teaching and Learning” at the National American Association of Physics Teachers Meeting.
  • Susan McKay served as a member of the Advisory Board for the Greater Boston Area Annual Statistical Mechanics Meetings and as a member of the editorial board of Computers in Science and Engineering.