Thomas Antonsen Recognized by IEEE for Contributions to Vacuum Electronics

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Published: Tuesday, May 03 2016 10:31

University of Maryland Professor Thomas Antonsen Jr. was awarded the 2016 John R. Pierce Award for Excellence in Vacuum Electronics at the Plenary Session of the International Vacuum Electronics Conference on April 19, 2016 in Monterey, California. The citation reads: “for contributions to the theory of charged particle beam generation and the development of computational design tools for fast and slow wave devices.”

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Donna Hammer Receives Outstanding Advisor for a Student Organization Award

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Published: Monday, May 02 2016 13:08

Donna Hammer, Director of Student and Education Services, was awarded the Outstanding Advisor for a Student Organization Award for her role as UMD Chapter Advisor of the Society of Physics Students. Donna was presented the Award on May 1 at the 35th Annual University Awards Banquet held in the Grand Ballroom of the Adele H. Stamp Student Union.

The following is an excerpt from the nomination letter, submitted by the Society of Physics Students, which was read at the award presentation:

Donna meets with our officers on a monthly basis and talks us through our long and short-term objectives for the club. She provides the perfect balance of letting us grow our own ideas, but then following up with us to make sure we are meeting the appropriate milestones to accomplish those objectives. She is great at letting us develop the club and our own leadership skills on our own, but always stepping in should we need additional help or encouragement. I have always felt comfortable contacting her should I need any help, and I know I will get an insightful response or support.

Ellen Williams Elected Foreign Member of the Royal Society

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Published: Monday, May 02 2016 07:51

Ellen Williams, Distinguished University Professor, has been named a foreign member of the prestigious Royal Society.

She was among 10 new foreign fellows and 50 new fellows announced on April 29 in London. The society is a fellowship of many of the world’s most eminent scientists and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence.

Williams came to UMD in 1981 for a post-doctoral fellowship and became a full professor in 1991. At Maryland, she pioneered the use of very powerful electron scanning, tunneling microscopes to study the surface of materials like silicon at the atomic level. In 1996 Williams founded the University of Maryland Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, serving as its director until 2009. She served as Chief Scientist at BP from 2010-14 and on December 8, 2014, she became director at ARPA-E.

Challenges Abound for Propelling Interstellar Probes

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Published: Friday, April 29 2016 09:10

Howard Milchberg comments on the feasibility of the "starshot" interstellar probe.

This bizarre experiment is bringing us closer than ever to solving a 100-year-old cosmic mystery

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Published: Wednesday, April 27 2016 15:40

On the flanks of the Sierra Negra volcano in Central Mexico, nearly 14,000 feet above sea level, there is a giant field of water tanks. Three hundred water tanks, to be exact, occupying a space that's roughly the size of three football fields.