Edward Ott, Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Physics and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was named a 2012 Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

Professor Ott was recognized for the breadth, depth, and vitality of his investigations of nonlinear dynamical systems, which highlight both theory and application. His area of focus is in the basic theory and applications of nonlinear dynamics, with current projects in wave chaos; dynamics on large interconnected networks; chaotic dynamics of fluids; and weather prediction. He was previously on the Advisory Board of the Dynamical Systems Activity Group.

Class of 2012 Fellows will be honored at the SIAM Annual Meeting to be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July.

A memorial walk/run will be held on Saturday, April 14, 2012 to raise money for a scholarship in honor of Chuck Pacholkiw, Bowie High class of 2005 and a University of Maryland Physics/Math major who had planned to graduate in 2010. The scholarship will support a Bowie High student planning to major in a math or physics-related field.

Information is available on the Chuck Pacholkiw Memorial 5K Facebook Page or click here to register at the race website.

Katherine Manfred, a senior Chemistry and Physics major, has been awarded a Clarendon Scholarship to study at Oxford University, one of the world's top five universities and the oldest university in the English-speaking world. These elite Scholarships are presented to academically excellent students with the best proven and future potential, who are nominated by their academic departments based on academic record and ability to contribute significantly to their field of study. Less than 7% of all applicants, across all disciplines, are selected for this highly competitive scholarship. Awarded by the Department of Chemistry, this scholarship will cover tuition and college fees in full, including a generous grant for living expenses, for three years. Katherine will pursue a Ph.D in Physical Chemistry under Dr. Grant Ritchie starting in October, about which she is "very excited!" Katherine is a member of the John Fourkas group, working on "using ultrafast optical Kerr Effect (OKE) spectroscopy to relate the intermolecular dynamics of confined and bulk liquids."

Listen to Jim Gates, reveal why string theory stretches our imaginations about the nature of reality, on a recent episode of On Being. http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2012/codes-for-reality/gates-symbolsofpower.shtml