UMD Physicists Among New AAAS Fellows

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Category: Department News

Published: Thursday, December 17 2009 23:00

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has awarded the distinction of Fellow to 531 members, including three members of the University of Maryland physics faculty: Professors Betsy Beise and Jordan Goodman and Adjunct Professor Carl Williams (NIST/JQI).

Founded in 1848, the AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. Fellows are recognized by their peers for distinguished efforts to advance science.

Elizabeth J. Beise, who specializes in experimental nuclear physics, received her PhD from MIT and joined the University of Maryland in 1993. Research topics have included the study of the QCD structure of nucleons and fundamental symmetries. Among her previous honors are Fellowship in the American Physical Society, the APS Maria Goeppert Mayer Award and the NSF Young Investigator Award. From 2004-2006, she was Program Director for Nuclear Physics at the National Science Foundation. She now serves as the UMD interim Associate Provost for Academic Planning & Programs.

Jordan A. Goodman,a particle astrophysicist, received his PhD from this University, and has spent his entire career as a Terp. Earlier this year, he received the UMD President's Medal, the highest award the University can bestow. He has served as Spokesperson for MILAGRO Gamma Ray Experiment, is the current spokesman of the HAWC collaboration, and is also active in the IceCube neutrino telescope effort at the South Pole. He has received the UMD Kirwan Prize for Undergraduate Education, and the University System of Maryland's Regents' Award for Excellence in Teaching. He is also a UMD Distinguished Scholar-Teacher

Carl J. Williams, co-director of the Joint Quantum Institute and Chief of Atomic Physics at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, received his PhD from the University of Chicago. He has held appointments at the University of Chicago and the University of Notre Dame, and has been a visiting scientist in Norway, England, Israel and France. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and a recipient of the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Leadership and the Arthur S. Flemming Award for Scientific Achievement.

Bill Dorland Wins DOE's 2009 Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award

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Category: Department News

Published: Tuesday, December 15 2009 23:00

Professor Bill Dorland has received the Department of Energy’s E.O. Lawrence Award for his “scientific leadership in the development of comprehensive computer simulations of plasma turbulence, and his specific predictions, insights, and improved understanding of turbulent transport in magnetically-confined plasma experiments”. The Lawrence Award, established in 1959, recalls Ernest Orlando Lawrence, an American physicist and engineer who won the Nobel Prize in 1939; the DoE’s Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore laboratories are named in his honor.

The E.O. Lawrence Award recognizes exceptional contributions by mid-career scientists supporting the DoE and its mission to advance the national, economic and energy security of the United States. It consists of a gold medal, a citation and an honorarium of $50,000. Congratulations to Bill Dorland!

Sarah Eno Elected Fellow of APS

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Category: Department News

Published: Thursday, December 10 2009 23:00

Congratulations to Sarah C. Eno for her election as Fellow of the American Physical Society. Dr. Eno joined the University of Maryland as an assistant professor in 1993; prior to that, she was a researcher at the Enrico Fermi Institute of the University of Chicago. Dr. Eno, who received her PhD in 1990 from the University of Rochester; specializes in high energy physics; her work and that of University of Maryland colleagues involved in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, is described here:

http://www.cmps.umd.edu/lhc/

The APS cited Dr. Eno for contributions in particle physics involving electroweak parameters, precision electroweak measurements, and physics beyond the Standard Model at the Tevatron.

Ellen Williams to Serve as Chief Scientist at BP

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Category: Department News

Published: Monday, December 07 2009 23:00

As you may know, Distinguished University Professor Ellen Williams will take a leave of absence beginning January 15 to serve as Chief Scientist at British/Beyond Petroleum.  BP is the third largest oil company and the fifth largest corporation on the planet, and as BP’s Chief Scientist Ellen will play a role in determining how developments in science and technology can contribute to sustainable, secure and environmentally responsible energy.

Ellen has made important contributions in condensed matter/surface physics in her extremely productive and prestigious career; our campus is infinitely richer and wiser for her 28 years here. Her research accomplishments and her ability to bring first-rate people into the Physics Department have played a huge role in bringing the department into the top tier.  But given the gravity of the environmental and energy issues facing the globe at this juncture, we can all appreciate and commend her willingness to focus her talents on these topics.

Since 1996, Ellen has directed the UMD Materials Research Science and Engineering Center in cutting-edge research, developing collaborations and innovative outreach. Among her special interests are surfaces at the atomic scale, thin films, low-dimensional interfaces and graphene.

In 2005, she was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences; two years earlier, she was selected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has been honored with the David Turnbull Lectureship for career contributions from the Materials Research Society, and has received from the American Physical Society both the David Adler Lectureship Award for work in materials and the Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award for outstanding achievement as a young researcher.

Throughout her decades as an acclaimed scientist, she has been utterly committed to encouraging the involvement and success of women and minorities in physics and related fields. An interesting profile on her own ascent accompanied the publication of her inaugural article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.pnas.org/content/105/43/16415.full .

As physics chair, I certainly would prefer that Ellen Williams stayed here in College Park, doing cutting-edge research in her lab, giving invaluable guidance to her students, masterfully maintaining MRSEC and strengthening the department through her many skills and insights. But as a consumer of energy and a citizen of planet earth, I wish her the maximum possible success in her new job.