Christopher Monroe, Distinguished University Professor & Bice Seci-Zorn Professor was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences 2016. See recorded video http://www.nasonline.org/NAS154presentation.

Membership of the National Academy of Sciences is one the greatest and highest honors that a scientist can receive.  "The NAS membership totals approximately 2,290 members and 490 foreign associates, of whom approximately 200 have received Nobel prizes."  - NAS

Read more about Monroe's accomplishments.

Three University of Maryland students have been awarded scholarships by the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, which encourages students to pursue advanced study and careers in the sciences, engineering and mathematics. The Goldwater Foundation also recognized a fourth UMD student with an Honorable Mention.

UMD juniors Christopher Bambic, Eliot Fenton and Prayaag Venkat were among the 240 Barry Goldwater Scholars selected from 1,286 students nominated nationally this year. UMD junior Natalie Livingston was recognized with an Honorable Mention. The four students all plan to pursue doctoral degrees in their areas of study and to become university professors or researchers at government laboratories.

Read more.

JQI Fellow, Nobel laureate and Distinguished University Professor William Phillips has been inducted into the Mexican Academy of Sciences (la Academia Mexicana de Ciencias) as a corresponding member. The honor will be marked by an evening event held in Mexico City on March 23.

The event includes a talk by Phillips, titled "Time, Einstein and the coolest stuff in the universe," as well as a discussion between Phillips, Mexican Academy of Sciences president Jaime Urrutia Fucugauchi, and JQI Fellow and physics professor Luis Orozco, who nominated Phillips for membership. The entire program will be broadcast live beginning at 6 p.m. EDT.

The Department of Defense announced that Professor and CNAM Director Johnpierre Paglione (University of Maryland Department of Physics) and Assistant Professor and JQI Fellow Mohammad Hafezi (Electrical and Computer Engineering) are among those awarded the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) grants. The Department of Defense awarded 160 researchers from institutions all over the country with the DURIP award. DURIP supports the purchase of high tech equipment and innovative research enabling exciting advances in science and technology.

Paglione received an award for Materials Genome Approach to the Search for Superconductivity. Dr. Hafezi's award will support research for a Cryogenic System for Quantum Optical Measurement. Both grants are from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR).

DoD Press Release 

2017 DURIP winners