UMD_CMNS_Physics_S1_CMYK

Leopoldo García-Colín Scherer Named 2011 Distinguished Alumnus

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Category: Department News
Published: Monday, August 01 2011 09:58

Leopoldo García-Colín Scherer was honored with Department’s 2011 Distinguished Alumnus Award. Dr. García-Colín, an expert in mechanical statistics and thermodynamics, received his PhD in 1959, and returned to his native Mexico to lead a distinguished career as a researcher, author and administrator of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana.

The Distinguished Alumnus Award was presented on Friday, April 29, 2011 at the Academic Festival hosted by Steve Halperin, Dean of the College of Computer, Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

In Memoriam: C.P. "Gus" Vlahacos

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Category: Department News
Published: Thursday, July 28 2011 16:13

We were very sorry to learn that C.P. “Gus” Vlahacos died on Monday, following a heart attack the previous week. Gus received his three degrees here in College Park: B.S. Physics, 1996; M.S. Physics, 1999; and in 2010, his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. In addition to his work in the Cryogenics and Fluids Branch at NASA, he was a visiting assistant research scientist—and treasured colleague—in CNAM.

As an undergraduate, he played a crucial role in developing the very successful scanning near-field microwave microscope. As a graduate student, he worked to develop a niobium superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) that shows changes in the magnetic field of a pulse propagating down a 200-micrometer wide microstrip test line at 2 gigahertz, creating images at intervals of 1/20th of a nanosecond.

Gus was the husband of Sophia I. Zanakos and the father of Lia and Irene.

We offer our condolences to the family, and to his many friends in CNAM, the Department, campus and NASA.

Funeral arrangements are listed below. And articles about Gus’ work with Fred Wellstood and Steve Anlage are linked here.

http://www.physics.umd.edu/news/photon/Archives/Issue8.pdf

http://jqi.umd.edu/news/98-experimental-squid-microscope-gets-to-gigahertz.html

Gates Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

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Category: Department News
Published: Wednesday, July 20 2011 15:45

Professor S. James Gates was elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This is a well deserved honor that highlights Dr. Gates' stellar career.

"Professor Gates is just an extraordinary person," said Physics Chair Drew Baden. "His research is at the very cutting edge of theoretical physics, probing the fundamental structure of nature, looking for exotic connections between string theory and information theory and anything else he can think of. On top of that, he finds the time and energy to give a huge number of invited public talks on science at all levels, communicating the excitement of science, and working hard to demystify. I believe that in 2005, the 100 year anniversary of Einstein's famous papers (one that introduced the theory of special relativity), he gave about 90 such talks in a single year! And on top of that, he finds the time contribute to society as a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), advising the President on science policy, and as a member of the Maryland Board of Education."

 

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