Chuck Pacholkiw Memorial 5K for Former Physics/Math Major

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 awarded a Clarendon Scholarship

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."

Cohen and Lett are Added to the APS Outstanding Referees List

Tom Cohen and Paul Lett are among the 149 new Outstanding Referees selected by the editors of the APS journals. Initiated in 2008, the highly selective Outstanding Referee program recognizes scientists who have been exceptionally helpful in assessing manuscripts for publication in the APS journals. Selections are based on two decades of records on the number, quality and timeliness of referee reports.

The 2012 honorees come from 31 different countries, with large contingents from the US, Germany, UK, Canada, and France.

The full list of Outstanding Referees is located at, http://publish.aps.org/OutstandingReferees

James Drake Elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union

James F. Drake has been elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Only one in a thousand memebers is elected a Fellow each year. Professor Drake will be honored in person at the December 2012 Fall AGU meeting in San Francisco, CA.