We Hear Thattag:blogs.physicstoday.org,2008:/wht//42008-05-09T15:22:31ZMovable Type 3.33American Institute of Physics Receives $3 Million Gift from Avenir Foundationtag:blogs.physicstoday.org,2008:/wht//4.28292008-05-09T15:00:52Z2008-05-09T15:22:31ZThe Avenir Foundation, which has been interested in the American Institute of Physics (AIP) for many years, has made a gift of three million dollars ($3,000,000) to the AIP to endow the Spencer R. Weart Directorship of the Center for...Physics Todayhttp://physicstoday.org
The Avenir Foundation, which has been interested in the American Institute of Physics (AIP) for many years, has made a gift of three million dollars ($3,000,000) to the AIP to endow the Spencer R. Weart Directorship of the Center for History of Physics at AIP. This is the largest gift ever given to AIP and establishes the first endowed position at the Institute.
"We are deeply gratified by this very generous gift from the Avenir Foundation," says AIP Executive Director and CEO H. Frederick Dylla, Ph.D. "The Center for History of Physics is a unique resource for scholars and institutions worldwide. The authors of most of the hundreds of books on the development of modern physics and allied sciences published in recent decades have relied on the resources of the History Center and the Archives in their research. This endowment will ensure the Center's stature and growth into the foreseeable future."
The Avenir Foundation ("avenir" means "future" in French) has a special concern for the sciences. The principles of physics are basic to human existence, and it is of vital importance that a historical record of the application of these principles be preserved. The Foundation's board is helping to make this possible by supporting the work so ably conducted at the American Institute of Physics by Spencer R. Weart.
The position is named in honor of Spencer R. Weart, Ph.D., the Center's current director who is retiring after 35 years. The new director will oversee the History Center and its programs promoting the understanding and dissemination of the history of modern physical science and its role in society.
"The way we live," says Weart, "our entire society today would be utterly different without the physics discoveries of the past couple of centuries-and much worse off. The physics community has long recognized a need to figure out how all this happened and explain it to the public. The Center has given exceptional support to the work of historians and archivists. Friends of our enterprise, like the Avenir Foundation, have also been wonderfully far-sighted. They have given the AIP’s History Center a matchless capacity to advance our knowledge of one of the most crucial forces in modern history."
Andy Fabian becomes president of the Royal Astronomical Societytag:blogs.physicstoday.org,2008:/wht//4.28232008-05-08T17:06:29Z2008-05-08T17:06:33ZOn 9 May 2008 Professor Andy Fabian of the University of Cambridge will become President of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), the largest professional astronomical body in Europe. Professor Fabian will take over from incumbent President Professor Michael Rowan-Robinson at...Physics Todayhttp://physicstoday.org
On 9 May 2008 Professor Andy Fabian of the University of Cambridge will
become President of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), the largest
professional astronomical body in Europe. Professor Fabian will take
over from incumbent President Professor Michael Rowan-Robinson at the
annual general meeting of the RAS and will serve until May 2010.
Professor Fabian has been active in professional astronomy since the
early 1970s, having received his degrees from the University of London
(BSc, King's; PhD, University College). His current research interests
are black holes, clusters of galaxies and X-ray astronomy. In
recognition of his work he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)
in 1996 and awarded an OBE in 2006. He was awarded the Rossi prize
(jointly with Y. Tanaka) of the American Astronomical Society in 2001
and the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics by the American Physical
Society and the American Astronomical Society in 2008. He is Vice Master
of Darwin College, Cambridge.
Professor Fabian is delighted to be taking up his new role. He comments,
"It is a great honour to take up the office of President of the RAS. In
today's uncertain funding climate, astronomers, space scientists and
geophysicists need the support of a professional body more than ever.
Over my two years I will be working very hard to make sure that our
voice is heard and that our work receives the recognition it deserves.
Some of the most exciting cutting-edge discoveries are made in
astronomy, space science and geophysics and the public rightly holds
them in high esteem. Our science has a bright future - provided we
receive the support we need."
ESS Scandinavia’s forms new science advisory grouptag:blogs.physicstoday.org,2008:/wht//4.28182008-05-07T16:26:21Z2008-05-07T16:26:32Z ESS Scandinavia’s new Science Advisory Group has had its constituent meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday in Lund, Sweden. The Group will contribute to developing the science of the European Spallation Source in order that future researchers have maximum use...Physics Todayhttp://physicstoday.org
ESS Scandinavia’s new Science Advisory Group has had its constituent meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday in Lund, Sweden. The Group will
contribute to developing the science of the European Spallation Source in order that future researchers have maximum use of the ESS.
The Science Advisory Group has been set up to contribute with international expertise and external advice within three specific
areas: how to set up a model for the organisation and operation of the ESS in Lund, the scientific priorities for the ESS, and cooperation with other European research facilities.
‑ We have chosen ten scientists that are both young and renowned, says Dr Christian Vettier, Head of Science at the ESS Scandinavia and former Head of Science at the ILL in France. European researchers must be able to develop the ESS according to how they themselves want to use during the coming decades. We want to build a scientific tool for the future, not for today’s needs.
The members of the Group have expertise in various fields of applications of neutron science and also broad experience from other
large‑scale research facilities. The Group is chaired by Professor Robert McGreevy and will meet twice a year. The members are:
Professor Robert McGreevy, Head of Science at ISIS, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Dr Dimitri Argyriou, Hahn‑Meitner Institute, Berlin
Assoc. professor Lise Arleth, University of Copenhagen
Dr Wim G. Bouwman, Technische Universiteit, Delft
Professor Stefan Egelhaaf, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf
Assoc. professor Aleksandar Matic, Chalmers Technical University, Gothenburg
Professor Joel Mesot, PSI, Villingen, Schweiz
Professor Tommy Nylander, Lund University
Dr Julian Oberdisse, University of Montpellier
Dr Helmut Schober, ILL, Grenoble
Aharonov, Kafato, Tollaksen, Yan and Al-Askary move to Chapman Universitytag:blogs.physicstoday.org,2008:/wht//4.28042008-05-06T14:58:37Z2008-05-06T14:59:10ZChapman University confirmed today that its new computational science and physics team – the university’s first – will include five nationally renowned scientists from George Mason University. They include Yakir Aharonov, Ph.D., the co-discoverer of one of the cornerstones of...Physics Todayhttp://physicstoday.org
Chapman University confirmed today that its new computational science and physics team – the university’s first – will include five nationally renowned scientists from George Mason University. They include Yakir Aharonov, Ph.D., the co-discoverer of one of the cornerstones of modern physics, the Aharonov-Bohm Effect and considered one of the most highly regarded scientists today; and Menas Kafatos, Ph.D., leader of the team, who has an extensive administrative international reputation, research record and interdisciplinary experience in astrophysics, Earth system science, hazards and global change, and computational science. The team, which will become the foundation of Chapman’s new Department of Physics, Computational Science and Engineering, also includes Jeff Tollaksen, Ph.D., Keun Hang Yang, Ph.D. and Hesham Al-Askary, Ph.D.
More team members will be announced soon – the eventual team will probably end up numbering between seven and nine instructional faculty and several research faculty members. Dr. Kafatos has been named Chapman’s Vice Chancellor for Special Projects as well as director of the new Center for Excellence ( details below ).
Effective June 1, Chapman University will create two new colleges: the College of Science, which will house the new Department of Physics, Computational Science and Engineering as well as the already established biological sciences, chemistry, mathematics, physical therapy and psychology departments; and Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences, which will house the departments of English, languages, religious studies, philosophy, communication studies, history, political science and sociology as well as Chapman’s Albert Schweitzer Institute and Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education. Janine Hill, Ph.D., will serve as interim dean of the College of Science, and Roberta Lessor, Ph.D., will serve as dean of Wilkinson College. These two colleges join the already established schools and colleges within Chapman: the Argyros School of Business and Economics, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, College of Performing Arts, School of Education and School of Law.
“A true genius” and a stellar team
“These are scientists of the first magnitude,” said Daniele Struppa, Ph.D., chancellor of Chapman University, of the new computational science and physics team. “Aharonov is a true genius, and you won’t hear me use that word easily; he is Einstein quality, and I am not overstating the case. We are delighted and proud to be welcoming them all to Chapman, and we cannot stress how much this will positively affect our students. To have scientists of this caliber working with our undergraduate and graduate students will be very exciting. Having this group as the foundation of our new Department of Physics, Computational Science and Engineering is a true honor indeed.”
Chapman President James L. Doti, Ph.D., said, “The strength of every university is measured by its faculty, and a great university is built on the shoulders of its faculty. The addition of this renowned team of scholars will propel Chapman’s science program to an academic level approaching that of the nation’s most elite research institutions. But unlike larger institutions, Chapman’s advantage is in its focus on small classes and individualized attention. These distinguished scientists will not only be carrying out some of the most important research in physics today, but they will be sharing their immense knowledge directly with those they teach.”
This is the second team of researchers that Chapman has acquired from George Mason University, where Dr. Struppa was formerly dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Last year, Chapman attracted a distinguished team of GMU scholars in economic science, headed by Nobel laureate Vernon L. Smith, Ph.D., to establish its new Economic Science Institute, a multidisciplinary unit that straddles the Argyros School of Business and Economics, the Chapman School of Law and Wilkinson College of Letters and Sciences.
Dr. Struppa added that the two new Chapman colleges are being created for some very specific reasons. “On the one hand, the sciences at Chapman are now in a position to achieve national preeminence with this acquisition of this world-class new team of researchers, and that can best be achieved with a structure focused on science,” he said. “On the other hand, we want to build on Chapman’s distinguished liberal arts heritage, and the Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Science will be the structure that allows us to focus on that heritage. It will carry on the historic name of Wilkinson to honor the service and legacy of our late alumnus and trustee Harmon Wilkinson, whose daughter Karen continues to serve on our Board of Trustees.” The official naming of the College of Science will be announced at a later date, Struppa said.
Wide-ranging research
The new Department of Physics, Computational Science and Engineering will be self-contained but – as is always the case at Chapman – there are no barriers between disciplines, and it is likely that the new computational science and physics team will be involved in research projects spanning such fields as climate change and hazards, quantum mechanics, computational neuroscience, information science, supercomputing, earth observing, quantum coherence, environmental science and cosmology. They will also identify and offer support to new fields evolving in mathematics and the social, biological, computational, economic and physical sciences.
The team’s focus is on computational science in general, and by joining the Chapman faculty they will immediately promote Chapman to national prominence in two particular niche areas: applications to earth observations and earth system science, and quantum computing.
“Of great interest to California and our local community is the focus on earth observations, with specific applications in regional hazards and their connection to climate change,” said Dr. Struppa. “They are experts in the wide application of hazards that concern Californians, such as forest fires, earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons as well as modeling of the environment. In particular, Kafatos and the team moving to Chapman have a long history of working with the media as well as local, state and federal agencies on the occurrence of fire, flood, hurricanes and other natural disasters and emergencies. This team’s expertise would be perfect to work with our local constituencies on disaster forecasting, prevention and management.”
More specifically, the team can map the spread of smoke during wildfires, have developed coupling of observations to modeling to follow hazards, download and analyze earth observation data daily from NASA satellites for Google Earth, and have invented hyper-capable devices that speed up information processing for the U.S. military.
A new department, a new Center of Excellence and new degrees
Upon arrival at Chapman, the team will immediately create the Department of Physics, Computational Science and Engineering and develop a new Center of Excellence with two research units that focus on Quantum Studies and Earth Observing. A new undergraduate degree in physics, with concentrations in computational science, climate and hazards, and engineering, will be created, with prospects of putting in place graduate programs within four years.
Chapman’s prestigious new Center of Excellence will be established with the ambitious goal of being the number one center of its kind in the world. Its mission will be:
• To attract the top scientists in the world and stimulate collaborations and synergy: “Computational science is by its very nature interdisciplinary and allows teams of experts to work together,” said Dr. Kafatos;
• To work on applied science areas of concern to society and California in particular, such as hazards research, adaptation to climate change and earth observing;
• To communicate the relevance and importance of earth science and quantum studies to the broader public through a lecture series and other outreach efforts; and
• To provide a focal point for institutions, state and national governments and industry around the world for the advancement and funding of applied and fundamental science, such as computational science fields and the foundations and applications of quantum mechanics.
“The nation views California as being on the cutting edge of the future,” said President Doti. “Innovation and growth in this state have propelled the national economy, and California’s issues are the world’s issues: natural disasters, energy solutions, economic challenges. Whether in emerging technology, biotechnology, marine resources, real estate development, travel and tourism, entertainment or agriculture, the research produced at Chapman will transcend local, national and even international borders. The establishment of our new Department of Physics, Computational Science and Engineering and the corresponding Center of Excellence at Chapman University has enormous, unlimited potential that we’ve only just begun to realize.”
Goldwater scholarships awarded to three Virginia Tech studentstag:blogs.physicstoday.org,2008:/wht//4.28022008-05-05T21:56:20Z2008-05-05T21:56:43ZThree Virginia Tech students, each with an impressive record of undergraduate research and leadership experience, have received highly competitive Barry M. Goldwater scholarships for the 2008‑09 academic year. The scholarship winners from Virginia Tech are Thao Do, a sophomore from...Physics Todayhttp://physicstoday.org
College of Engineering; Kevin Finelli, a junior from Yorktown, Va., double majoring in mathematics and physics in the College of Science; and David Tatum, a junior from Midlothian, Va., double majoring in chemistry in the College of Science and biochemistry in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Through undergraduate research experiences at Virginia Tech, Harvard University, and the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C., Do says he has developed an interest in nanotechnology because of its potential applications in the biomedical field. She has focused her research on developing robust microscopic channels and particles.
"These can be used for medical diagnosis and treatments, as well as DNA analysis," said Do, who has filed for a patent related to one project at Harvard. "My research experiences have inspired me to integrate my education in mechanical engineering with physics and biomedical fields."
She co‑authored a journal article and delivered a presentation to the American Physics Society. In addition, she found time to help with the Human‑Powered Submarine Team and the Society of Women Engineers, for which she organizes a Girl Scout Day to inspire 46 local students to pursue careers in science and engineering.
Finelli, who is a member of the Society of Physics Students and the Sigma Pi Sigma Physics National Honor Society, has conducted undergraduate research in Virginia Tech's Department of Physics and Department of Mathematics as well as the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Va. His physics research is a part of the QWeak collaboration, an experiment that will be the first precision measurement of the weak charge of the proton.
"Since it turns out that nature, at its most basic level, behaves very differently than we intuitively would expect, physics is also a very interesting discipline to study," said Finelli, who has a 4.0 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at Virginia Tech and was valedictorian of York High School in Yorktown, Va., in 2005. "Understanding the vast complexity involved in even the most seemingly simple events that surround our daily lives helps me to gain an appreciation for what physicists have been working on for centuries."
Through the Physics Outreach Program, Finelli has helped bring physics to primary and secondary school students in the community in stimulating and relevant ways. In the fall, he also organized the Hillcrest Academic Assistance Program, which helps younger students seek out older students willing to offer tutoring in any academic subject.
A member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, Tatum has studied the trafficking of sulfur in bacteria with the Department of Biochemistry and, more recently, molecule‑based magnets with the Department of Chemistry.
"Magnetic substances found in nature, like the magnets you would find on a refrigerator, are atom‑based where the magnetic properties arise from aligned, unpaired electrons on metal atoms," said Tatum, who was named an Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America in 2005. "Our research concerns molecular complexes that are magnetic in nature due to an overall net magnetic moment between organic radicals and metal ions."
This semester, Tatum is not only continuing his research pursuits but also teaching two recitation sections of a general chemistry course. He is also a member of the Virginia Tech Club Volleyball A Team, which placed No. 9 in Division I of the national tournament last year.
All three winners are members of the Hillcrest Honors Community and say they plan to pursue a Ph.D. so that they can teach and conduct research at a major research university. Since the program's inception in 1986, Virginia Tech has had 37 Goldwater scholars, including this year's winners.
This year, 321 sophomores and juniors from a field of 1,035 applicants nationwide at colleges and universities around the country received the scholarships. Goldwater scholars are selected for academic merit and each is awarded up to $7,500 per year for tuition, fees, books, and room and board. Congress established the scholarship program in 1986 to honor the late Sen. Barry Goldwater and to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering.
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Texas A&M Will Host Major International Science Research Centertag:blogs.physicstoday.org,2008:/wht//4.27942008-05-02T20:48:27Z2008-05-02T20:48:32ZTexas A&M University is one of four international institutions selected by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia to host an inaugural quartet of interdisciplinary scientific research centers dedicated to collaborative excellence on a global scale....Physics Todayhttp://physicstoday.org
Texas A&M University is one of four international institutions selected by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia to host an inaugural quartet of interdisciplinary scientific research centers dedicated to collaborative excellence on a global scale.]]>
Texas A&M, along with Cornell University, the University of Oxford and Stanford University, stands to receive as much as $25 million during the next five years under KAUST’s Global Research Partnership (GRP) to help support a new research center for applied mathematics and computational science, one of four priority areas identified by KAUST, a new graduate-level university under development in Saudi Arabia set to open in September 2009.
“We chose these first KAUST GRP centers from an exceptionally competitive pool of proposals, which represented some of the most talented research teams in the world,” said KAUST President-designate Choon Fong Shih. “Following a highly rigorous technical review process, we selected four very top-quality proposals that best complement KAUST’s institutional priorities at this time in its development.”
The four were selected from a pool of 17 finalists narrowed down from 41 applications initially submitted to KAUST last fall. According to KAUST officials, each was chosen on the basis of scientific merit, quality of the proposed research, demonstrated research center capability, five-year organizational plan for research execution, ability to collaborate in a team environment and direct relevance and benefit to KAUST’s overall mission. A total of 65 international experts — drawn from the community of academic and industrial researchers around the world — contributed reviews.
“The final 17 proposals were all from institutions that KAUST would like to have as partners and all of a quality we would be proud to be associated with,” said KAUST Interim Vice President for Research Dr. Mohamed Samaha. “Given the exceptionally high quality of all of the final proposals, it was a challenge to pick the ones that best fit KAUST’s vision, mission and current needs.”
Texas A&M President Dr. Elsa A. Murano attributes Texas A&M’s selection to its renowned reputation in international research and evident flair for collaboration and teamwork, both in the initial proposal and in the eventual research center it hoped to create.
“We truly live in a global society, and finding solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges will require collaborations not only from across academia, but across international boundaries,” Murano said. “Texas A&M is appreciative of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology recognizing the tremendous value of our interdisciplinary research approach, as well as the impact that our research has around the world.”
Dr. James A. Calvin, Texas A&M interim vice president for research and a professor of statistics, will serve as principal investigator for the proposed Texas A&M Institute for Applied Mathematics and Computational Science (IAMCS), which will be formally presented to The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents for approval this summer. The institute is intended to stimulate collaborative research and graduate education in all related areas through joint development and pursuit of annual research themes, weekly seminars and semi-annual and annual research working sessions between Texas A&M and KAUST.
“Our partnership with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology will provide an opportunity to work on significant problems of global importance,” Calvin said. “We believe that the expertise in our partnership brings a cohesive approach to addressing issues in science and engineering. As a part of the research program, we will develop new paradigms in training future researchers and give them a broad perspective to solve complex problems. This approach is a testament to KAUST’s strong vision for the future of international collaborative research, and we look forward to our partnership in this area.”
Calvin said the new institute will engage mathematicians, statisticians and computer scientists on problems that span the earth sciences, materials science and the bio-sciences. Applications include reservoir modeling, thermo-acoustic and photo-acoustic imaging related to disease diagnosis, gene expression modeling and complex data, including seismic and genomic information.
In addition to basic and applied research activity, Texas A&M plans to offer graduate and post-graduate fellowships to help encourage graduate students and post-doctoral researchers in their pursuit of advanced degrees and group and individual research projects at both Texas A&M and KAUST.
Dr. Raymond J. Carroll, distinguished professor of statistics, nutrition and toxicology and deputy director for IAMCS research, credited KAUST for its global vision and the breadth of opportunities it creates for the actual researchers involved and their broader professions.
“The unique aspect of our institute is in bringing mathematicians, statisticians and computational scientists together to solve problems of practical importance,” Carroll said. “We are very excited about the discoveries that this multidisciplinary group will make over the next few years.”
Dr. Jay R. Walton, professor of mathematics and aerospace engineering, will serve as deputy director for education within the new institute. Like Carroll, he emphasized the importance of a team approach — from institutions to disciplines — to making global progress on today’s increasingly complex scientific issues.
“Finding solutions for many of the ‘grand challenge’ problems in the earth sciences, materials science and engineering, and the life sciences requires an interdisciplinary approach including mathematicians, statisticians and computational scientists,” Walton said. “This institute holds the promise of creating the necessary interdisciplinary critical mass needed to make significant progress on these problems as it offers a new paradigm for training students to work in such an interdisciplinary setting.”
Institute research will be focused in three thematic areas: multiscale modeling and simulation, led by Dr. Yalchin Efendiev, associate professor of mathematics; deterministic and statistical methods, led by Dr. Peter Kuchment, professor of mathematics; and data-driven computational sciences and visualization, led by Dr. Marvin Adams, professor of nuclear engineering.
KAUST officials said each of the four centers will work with partners from industry and other institutions, assist in setting up laboratories at KAUST, spend time on the KAUST campus, open classrooms to KAUST students via the Internet, conduct joint seminars, training and workshops for junior faculty, exchange faculty and students for teaching and learning opportunities, and participate in curriculum development.
As one of the United States’ leading public research universities, Texas A&M University invests nearly $570 million each year in research projects throughout the world, ranking it among the top 20 research universities nationwide. In addition, Texas A&M is one of a select few U.S. universities to hold land-grant, sea-grant and space-grant designations, reflecting the broad scope of its basic and applied research mission.
OSA Announces 2008-2009 Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowstag:blogs.physicstoday.org,2008:/wht//4.27822008-05-01T14:23:18Z2008-05-01T14:27:02ZWASHINGTON, April 30—The Optical Society (OSA), along with co-sponsors SPIE and the Materials Research Society (MRS), has selected its 2008-2009 Congressional Science and Engineering Fellows. Robert Saunders, a post-doctoral fellow in the Duke Advanced Imaging Laboratories, will serve as the...Optical Society of America
WASHINGTON, April 30—The Optical Society (OSA), along with co-sponsors SPIE and the Materials Research Society (MRS), has selected its 2008-2009 Congressional Science and Engineering Fellows. Robert Saunders, a post-doctoral fellow in the Duke Advanced Imaging Laboratories, will serve as the Arthur H. Guenther Congressional Fellow (co-sponsored with SPIE) and Amit Mistry, a science policy intern at Research! America, will serve as the OSA/MRS Congressional Fellow. Saunders and Mistry will each serve one-year terms working as special legislative assistants on the staffs of members of Congress or congressional committees.
http://www.osa.org/news/congressionalfellowships/default.aspx.
About the Guenther and OSA/MRS Fellows
Robert Saunders, the Arthur H. Guenther Congressional Fellow, is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Duke Advanced Imaging Laboratories. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics from the College of William and Mary and his Ph.D. in physics from Duke University in 2006, where he built Monte Carlo models of X-ray breast imaging systems to optimize early detection of breast cancer. While at Duke, Saunders served as president of the Duke Graduate and Professional Student Council, working on student health insurance, childcare and transportation policies. Additionally, he interned with the North Carolina Board of Science and Technology, where he examined the influence of science and technology on state economies.
OSA/MRS Fellow Amit Mistry completed his Ph.D. in bioengineering from Rice University in April 2006. There he studied nanotechnology, biomaterials and regenerative medicine and completed his dissertation titled “Degradation and biocompatibility of a fumarate-based/alumoxane nonocomposite for bone tissue engineering.” Mistry is currently a science policy intern at Research! America, a not-for profit group that advocates for health research. Prior to his current position, he was a Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Engineering, where he worked on a resource for engineering educators. In addition, Mistry served as a high school science and math teacher for two years with Teach for America.
About OSA
Uniting more than 70,000 professionals from 134 countries, the Optical Society (OSA) brings together the global optics community through its programs and initiatives. Since 1916 OSA has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing educational resources to the scientists, engineers and business leaders who work in the field by promoting the science of light and the advanced technologies made possible by optics and photonics. OSA publications, events, technical groups and programs foster optics knowledge and scientific collaboration among all those with an interest in optics and photonics. For more information, visit www.osa.org.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Photos and complete bios of Robert Saunders and Amit Mistry can be found at
http://www.osa.org/News/congressionalfellowships/ArthurHGuenther/Saunders/default.aspx and http://www.osa.org/News/congressionalfellowships/osamrs/mistry/default.aspx.
Contact:
Angela Stark
Optical Society
202.416.1443
astark@osa.org
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National Academy of Sciences elects 72 new memberstag:blogs.physicstoday.org,2008:/wht//4.27752008-04-29T17:57:45Z2008-04-29T17:57:54ZThe National Academy of Sciences today announced the election of 72 new members and 18 foreign associates from 9 countries in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. The election was held this morning during the business...Physics Todayhttp://physicstoday.org
available online.
Newly elected members and their affiliations at the time of election are:
ADAMS, JERRY M.; senior principal research fellow, research professor, and joint head, molecular genetics of cancer division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
ALBRIGHT, THOMAS D.; professor and director, vision center laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego
ALDRICH, RICHARD W.; professor and Karl Folkers Chair, section of neurobiology, center for learning and memory, University of Texas, Austin
ALLEY, RICHARD B.; Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences, department of geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
ANSELIN, LUC E.; Foundation Professor and director, School of Geographical Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe
ARNOLD, FRANCES H.; Dick and Barbara Dickinson Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry, department of chemistry and chemical engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
BEUTLER, BRUCE A.; professor and chair, department of genetics, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif.
BEVAN, MICHAEL J.; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor, department of immunology, University of Washington, Seattle
BOTCHAN, MICHAEL R.; professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, department of molecular and cell biology, University of California, Berkeley
BOXER, STEVEN G.; Camille and Henry Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry, department of chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
BOYLE, EDWARD A.; professor of ocean geochemistry, department of earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
BUCHWALD, STEPHEN L.; Camille Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry, department of chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
CARRINGTON, JAMES C.; professor, department of botany and plant pathology, and director, center for genome research and biocomputing, Oregon State University, Corvallis
CARTER, EMILY A.; Arthur W. Marks '19 Professor, department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.
CRABTREE, GEORGE W.; senior scientist and director, materials science division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Ill.
CROPPER, MAUREEN L.; professor of economics, University of Maryland, College Park
DARST, SETH A.; Jack Fisherman Professor and head, laboratory of molecular biophysics, Rockefeller University, New York City
DE LONG, EDWARD F.; professor, department of civil and environmental engineering, division of biological engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
DILL, KENNETH A.; professor of pharmaceutical chemistry, biochemistry, and biophysics, department of pharmaceutical chemistry, University of California, San Francisco
FULLER, MARGARET T.; Reed-Hodgson Professor in Human Biology and professor of genetics, department of developmental biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif.
GEISLER, WILSON S.; professor of psychology and biomedical engineering and David Wechsler Regents Chair, department of psychology, University of Texas, Austin
GREENBERG, MICHAEL E.; professor, departments of neurology and neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, and director, division of neuroscience, Children's Hospital, Boston
GRUNSTEIN, MICHAEL; professor of biological chemistry, department of biological chemistry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles
GUYER, JANE I.; professor of anthropology, department of anthropology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
HERNQUIST, LARS E.; professor, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass.
HILLIS, DAVID M.; director, center for computational biology and bioinformatics, and Roark Centennial Professor, University of Texas, Austin
HOFER, HELMUT; professor, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, New York City
HU, EVELYN L.; professor, electrical and computer engineering department, University of California, Santa Barbara
JACOBSEN, ERIC N.; Sheldon Emery Professor of Chemistry, department of chemistry and chemical biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
JENKINS, NANCY A.; deputy director and principal investigator, cell cycle control, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Proteos, Singapore
JONES, PETER WILCOX; professor, department of mathematics, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
KASTNER, MARC A.; Donner Professor and dean of science, School of Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
KAUFMAN, THOMAS C.; Distinguished Professor of Biology, department of biology, Indiana University, Bloomington
KAY, STEVE A.; Dean and Richard C. Atkinson Chair, division of biological sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
KESSLER, RONALD C.; professor, department of health care policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston
KOTTAK, CONRAD P.; Julian H. Steward Collegiate Professor of Anthropology, department of anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
LEIGHTON, FRANK T.; professor of applied mathematics, department of mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
LEVY, RONALD; professor of medicine and chief, division of oncology, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
LIGGETT, THOMAS M.; professor, department of mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles
LINDE, ANDREI; professor of physics, Stanford Institute of Theoretical Physics, department of physics, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
LIPPINCOTT-SCHWARTZ, JENNIFER; chief, section on organelle biology, cell biology and metabolism branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.
MANDEL, GAIL; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and senior scientist, Vollum Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland
MANGELSDORF, DAVID J.; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and chair, department of pharmacology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas
MASKIN, ERIC S.; Albert O. Hirschman Professor of Social Science, school of social science, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, N.J.
MAX, CLAIRE E.; professor, astronomer, and director, center for adaptive optics, University of California, Santa Cruz
MILLER, DAVID A.B.; W.M. Keck Foundation Professor of Electrical Engineering, Ginzton Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
MOVSHON, J. ANTHONY; Silver Professor and director, center for neural science, New York University, New York City
MURDOCH, WILLIAM W.; Charles A. Storke II Professor, department of ecology, evolution, and marine biology, University of California, Santa Barbara
OLDSTONE, MICHAEL B.A.; professor and head, viral-immunobiology laboratory, department of immunology and microbial science, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif.
OLSEN, PAUL E.; Arthur D. Storke Memorial Professor, department of earth and environmental sciences, Columbia University, Palisades, N.Y.
PALMER, ROBERT B.; senior scientist and group leader, advanced accelerator group, department of physics, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, N.Y.
PARKIN, STUART S.P.; IBM Fellow and manager, magnetoelectronics, IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, Calif.
PRESCOTT, EDWARD C.; W.P. Carey Professor of Economics, department of economics, Arizona State University, Tempe
PRIVES, CAROL L.; DaCosta Professor of Biology, department of biological sciences, Columbia University, New York City
RANDALL, LISA J.; professor of theoretical physics, department of physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
RAO, ANJANA; professor of pathology and senior investigator, Immune Disease Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston
RINE, JASPER; professor of genetics, genomics, and development, department of molecular and cell biology, University of California, Berkeley
RUVKUN, GARY; professor of genetics, department of molecular biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
SCHEINKMAN, JOSE A.; Theodore A. Wells '29 Professor of Economics, department of economics, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.
SCHMIDT, BRIAN P.; Australian Research Council Federation Fellow, Mount Stromlo Observatory, Australian National University, Weston Creek, ACT
SCHMITT, JOHANNA; Stephen T. Olney Professor of Natural History, department of ecology and evolutionary biology, Brown University, Providence, R.I.
SEIBERG, NATHAN; professor, School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, N.J.
SEMENZA, GREGG L.; professor of pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore
SKOCPOL, THEDA; Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
SMOOT, GEORGE; professor and research scientist, department of physics and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley
STRUHL, GARY; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor, department of genetics and development, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City
SWAGER, TIMOTHY M.; John D. MacArthur Professor and head, department of chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
THOMPSON, ELIZABETH A.; professor, department of statistics, University of Washington, Seattle
THOMSON, JAMES; MacArthur Professor, departments of anatomy and of obstetrics and gynecology, Genome Center of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin, Madison
WISDOM, JACK L.; professor of plantary sciences, department of earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
WRIGHT, PETER E.; Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Investigator, department of molecular biology, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif.
YANOFSKY, MARTIN F.; chair, section of cell and developmental biology, and professor, division of biological sciences, University of California, San Diego
Newly elected foreign associates, their affiliations at the time of election, and their country of citizenship are:
ASFAW, BERHANE; manager, Rift Valley Research Service, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Ethiopia)
ASPECT, ALAIN; director of research and professor, Ecole Polytechnique Laboratoire Charles Fabry, Institut d'Optique, Orsay, France (France)
CAZENAVE, ANNY; senior scientist, Laboratoire d'Etudes en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), Toulouse, France (France)
COHEN, PHILIP; Royal Society Research Professor and director of MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom (United Kingdom)
COWLING, RICHARD M.; professor, department of botany, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa (South Africa)
CUTLER, E. ANNE; professor, Institute for Cognition and Information, University of Nijmegen, and director, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Heilig Landstichting, Netherlands (Australia)
DEAN, CAROLINE; associate research director, John Innes Centre, Norwich, United Kingdom (United Kingdom)
GRANT, B. ROSEMARY; research scholar, department of ecology and evolutionary biology, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J. (United Kingdom)
HAGGETT, PETER; senior research fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies and department of geographical sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom (United Kingdom)
HOFFMANN, JULES A.; Distinguished Class Research Director, IBMC, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Strasbourg, France (France)
IMRY, YOSEPH; professor, department of condensed matter physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel (Israel)
LAWTON, JOHN H.; professor, Natural Environment Research Council, Swindon, United Kingdom (United Kingdom)
MARSHALL, BARRY J.; clinical professor of microbiology, University of Western Australia, Crawley (United Kingdom)
MOFFATT, H. KEITH; professor of mathematical physics emeritus, centre for mathematical physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom (United Kingdom)
RODRIGUEZ, LUIS F.; professor of astronomy, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Michoacan (Mexico)
ROSSANT, JANET; chief of research and senior scientist, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario (Canada and United Kingdom)
TAO, TERENCE C.; professor, department of mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles (Australia)
ZOLLER, PETER; University Professor, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria (Austria)
]]>
Craig Hogan accepts joint appointment at Fermilab, U. of Chicagotag:blogs.physicstoday.org,2008:/wht//4.27682008-04-28T22:59:31Z2008-04-28T22:59:50ZCraig Hogan, a member of one of the scientific teams that co-discovered dark energy, will soon assume dual roles as Director of the Center for Particle Astrophysics at the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and as a Professor...Physics Todayhttp://physicstoday.org
Center for Particle Astrophysics at the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and as a Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Chicago.
Hogan is a Professor of Astronomy and Physics at the University of Washington and a member of the international High-z Supernova Search Team that in 1998 co-discovered dark energy, the mysterious force that works against gravity to accelerate the expansion of the universe. Hogan's hiring is the first joint appointment since the University took a major role in managing Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy in 2007.
"Craig Hogan is an outstanding and respected leader in the field of particle astrophysics," said Fermilab Director Pier Oddone. "I am delighted that he will bring his energy and vision to Fermilab's Center for Particle Astrophysics, a vital part of Fermilab's scientific program."
Chicago scientists founded the field of particle astrophysics at Fermilab during the 1980s, said Edward "Rocky" Kolb, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. In this field, scientists study the connections between forces and objects at the largest and smallest scales of the universe.
"Craig is a high-profile scientist, and he sees a great future in the Fermilab-Chicago connection in particle astrophysics," Kolb said.
Said Hogan: "The cosmology and particle astrophysics community at Fermilab and the University of Chicago continues to lead the world in exploration of the inner space/outer space frontier. It's a place of great talent, diversity, creativity and intellectual excitement."
The cosmological frontier is as much about experiments and data as it is about crazy and cool ideas, he said. "The scientists and engineers at Fermilab build incredible machines-devices of unprecedented precision, sensitivity, sophistication and complexity.
"The physicists recognize that in addition to smashing particles in a lab, they can attack deep mysteries of the nature of time, space, matter and energy by using their powerful tools to study the cosmos. This is pushing technology, literally, to the limits-the smallest and biggest things, the farthest and earliest events, the densest and emptiest places, the bits and pieces of space and time themselves."
Hogan's University appointment includes affiliations with the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics and the Enrico Fermi Institute, where he began his research career in 1980. He will spend 75 percent of his time at Fermilab and 25 percent at the University. Nevertheless, the University will provide 50 percent of his salary as part of its commitment to operating Fermilab through the Fermi Research Alliance.
He is currently a member of two international scientific collaborations: the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), and the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). The LSST is a proposed 8.4-meter telescope that will image faint astronomical objects thousands of times across the entire sky, including exploding stars and potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids.
Expected to launch in the next decade, the satellite-based LISA mission will explore and measure the early universe using gravitational waves. These waves, never directly detected, are predicted in Einstein's theory of general relativity. Hogan also is pursuing theoretical studies of techniques for probing the quantum nature of space time directly in the laboratory.
Hogan earned his bachelor's degree in astronomy, with highest honors, from Harvard University in 1976, and his Ph.D. in astronomy from King's College at the University of Cambridge, England, in 1980. He was an Enrico Fermi Fellow at the University of Chicago in 1980-81, a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Cambridge in 1981-82, and a Bantrell Prize Fellow in Theoretical Astrophysics at the California Institute of Technology from 1982-85.
Hogan joined the University of Arizona faculty in 1985, followed by the University of Washington in 1993. At Washington, he served as chair of the Astronomy Department for six years, as Divisional Dean of Natural Sciences for one year and as Vice Provost for Research for more than three-and-a-half years.
His honors include an Alexander von Humboldt Research Award and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship. He also is the author of The Little Book of the Big Bang. Published in 1998 by Springer-Verlag, the book has been translated into six languages.]]>
Fisher receives Lemelson-MIT awardtag:blogs.physicstoday.org,2008:/wht//4.27462008-04-24T03:05:19Z2008-04-24T03:05:27ZCAMBRIDGE, Mass. (April 23, 2008) - Dr. Martin Fisher is transforming the lives of thousands of poor African farmers through a combination of technological invention and system-wide business development. In collaboration with his co-workers, Fisher, the 2008 recipient of the...Physics Todayhttp://physicstoday.org
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (April 23, 2008) - Dr. Martin Fisher is transforming the lives of thousands of poor African farmers through a combination of technological invention and system-wide business development. In collaboration with his co-workers, Fisher, the 2008 recipient of the Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability, has already enabled over 310,000 people to rise out of poverty.
Fisher will accept his award and present his accomplishments to the public at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the second-annual EurekaFest, a multi-day celebration of the inventive spirit, June 25-28, presented by the Lemelson-MIT Program.
"By learning and understanding African societal needs and cultures firsthand, Fisher has harnessed the entrepreneurial drive of many Africans and empowered them with sustainable technological inventions," noted Joshua Schuler, executive director of the Lemelson-MIT Program.
According to the United Nations, more than 40 percent of Africans live in poverty, subsisting on less than US$1 a day. As co-founder and CEO of the nonprofit social enterprise KickStart, Fisher develops and markets moneymaking tools such as low-cost, human-powered irrigation pumps that improve the lives of small-scale rural farmers ¾ the majority of the poor in sub-Saharan Africa.
"These poor rural farmers have one asset: a small plot of land; and one basic skill: farming. The best business they can pursue is irrigated farming," Fisher explained. "Once they employ irrigation, the farmers can grow and sell high-value crops, like fruits and vegetables. They can grow year-round and reap four or five harvests, instead of waiting for the rain to grow a staple crop once or twice a year."
Making a Difference with MoneyMaker Pumps
Among the tools and devices designed and produced by Fisher and the KickStart team, the greatest impact comes from their line of MoneyMaker manual irrigation pumps.
Inspired by a treadle pump used in Bangladesh and India, these pumps are distinguished by features, which include easy installment and maintenance, portability, and pressurization to facilitate irrigation on hillside landscapes.
The Super MoneyMaker Pump, the most widely used model of these pumps, can pull water from a source (such as a pond, lake, stream, or well) as deep as 30 feet below the pump. It can then pressurize the water and spray it continuously to a height over 40 feet above the pump. It can also push water through a hosepipe for as far as 1,000 feet on flat ground, and it has the ability to irrigate as much as two acres of land. It retails for about US$100, and its users are earning an average of US$1,000 profit per year.
More recently, Fisher and his KickStart team invented the MoneyMaker Hip Pump, which is more affordable than the Super MoneyMaker Pump to lower barriers of entry to commercial irrigation. Unlike a treadle pump, its unique pivoted design allows the operator to pump water using his or her arms, legs, and body weight in an easy-to-use rocking motion. More than 4,300 farmers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Mali are already using this pump. The Hip Pump retails for about US$35; it can be used to irrigate over an acre of land, and its users are earning an average annual profit of US$650.
"The MoneyMaker pumps Martin designed are inspirational on many levels," said award nominator David M. Kelley, IDEO chairman and founder of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University. "The inventions are remarkable in the huge impacts they have had on poverty and the lives of hundreds of thousands of poor farmers in Africa. They are an exceedingly simple solution to a very complex problem."
At present, nearly 62,000 small-scale farmers and entrepreneurs in Kenya, Tanzania and Mali are running profitable businesses by using MoneyMaker pumps. On average, farmers double or triple their annual net household incomes. Current pump users generate total new revenues equivalent to 0.6 percent of Kenya's GDP, and 0.25 percent of Tanzania's GDP.
KickStarting Sustainability
In 1984, while a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering at Stanford University, Fisher traveled to Peru where he first witnessed rural poverty. The experience motivated him to explore ways technology and engineering could be applied to alleviate poverty. After completing his degree he won a Fulbright Scholarship to study technology-oriented solutions for rural poverty in Kenya. Fisher went for 10 months and stayed for 17 years. As he worked on traditional development projects for the first five years, he became increasingly disillusioned by the lack of sustainable impacts on poverty. In collaboration with fellow development worker Nick Moon, Fisher established ApproTEC - the organization that would become KickStart.
"The vast majority of development is about giving things away, and most development agencies see the poor as victims asking for help," Fisher explained. "At KickStart, we have a very different opinion of them. We see them as entrepreneurs. We see them as extremely hardworking people seeking the opportunity to get out of poverty."
Inventing something is only one step in the process of a successful innovation. Fisher knows this well ¾ he supports his inventions with a market-based development approach that ‘kick-starts' a sustainable cycle of wealth creation. Fisher commercializes his inventions through a private sector supply chain, which is profitable for the manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers. Centralized manufacturing and a nationwide retail network ensure high quality, economies of scale, and locally available spare parts. KickStart will soon break ground on a new technology development center in Nairobi.
"In creating KickStart, Martin has created a model that is, by design, sustainable and easily replicated nearly anywhere in the world where people suffer grinding poverty," said award nominator Frances B. Emerson, vice president of corporate communications at Deere and Company. "Because of the quantum leap in income brought about by these technologies, the journey out of poverty is a one-way trip."
ABOUT THE LEMELSON-MIT PROGRAM
The Lemelson-MIT Program recognizes outstanding inventors, encourages sustainable new solutions to real-world problems, and enables and inspires young people to pursue creative lives and careers through invention. This June it will announce the 2008 winner of the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize.
Jerome H. Lemelson, one of U.S. history's most prolific inventors, and his wife Dorothy founded the Lemelson-MIT Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994. It is funded by the Lemelson Foundation, a philanthropy that celebrates and supports inventors and entrepreneurs in order to strengthen social and economic life in the U.S. and developing countries. More information on the Lemelson-MIT Program is online at http://web.mit.edu/invent/.
ABOUT KICKSTART
KickStart is a non-profit organization that develops and markets new technologies in Africa. These low-cost technologies are bought by local entrepreneurs and used to establish highly profitable new small businesses. They create new jobs and wealth, enabling the poor to climb out of poverty forever. http://www.kickstart.org/.
# # #
Detecting Dangerous Chemicals with Lasers, Exploring the Brain's Circuitry with Light and the World's Largest Laser System Featured at CLEO/QELS Meeting in San Josetag:blogs.physicstoday.org,2008:/wht//4.27402008-04-22T20:30:12Z2008-04-22T20:31:38ZWASHINGTON, April 22—Nearly 6,000 researchers from around the world will present the latest breakthroughs in electro-optics, lasers and the application of light waves at the 2008 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics/Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference (CLEO/QELS) May 4-9 at...Optical Society of America
WASHINGTON, April 22—Nearly 6,000 researchers from around the world will present the latest breakthroughs in electro-optics, lasers and the application of light waves at the 2008 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics/Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference (CLEO/QELS) May 4-9 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, Calif.
CLEO is the preeminent event for those in the lasers and electro-optics community. It will be held in conjunction with QELS and the Conference on Photonic Applications, Systems and Technologies (PhAST). The meeting is co-sponsored by the Optical Society (OSA), the American Physical Society Division of Laser Science (APS-DLS) and the IEEE Lasers & Electro-Optics Society (IEEE/LEOS).
The following are some of the many technical highlights at the meeting:
• SHINING LIGHT ON THE BRAIN'S ACTIVITY
• TINY LASER ARRAYS FOR SENSITIVE CHEMICAL DETECTION
• SECURE COMMUNICATIONS VIA SPACE
• PHOTOLUMINESCENCE IN NANO-NEEDLES
• NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY—THE WORLD'S LARGEST LASER SYSTEM
• CLEO/QELS/PHAST PLENARY SPEAKERS
Additional research news summaries can be found online at http://www.cleoconference.org/media_center/pressrelease0421.aspx.
SHINING LIGHT ON THE BRAIN'S ACTIVITY
The microscopic structure of the human brain is almost incomprehensibly complicated, composed of trillions of interconnections between tens of billions of neurons. Understanding this circuitry, the aim of modern neuroscience, is a laudable goal for fundamental as well as neurological health care reasons.
Exploring the brain's microcircuitry has traditionally been done by lining up tiny electrodes within or near single neurons to probe their electrical activity. Though well established, this method is invasive and often noisy because of background electrical activity in the brain. A number of alternative approaches use optical probes that can detect neuronal activity with light, but these methods often require labeling neural cells with electrically-sensitive dyes that may be toxic to neurons.
Now Jiayi Zhang, Tolga Atay, and Arto Nurmikko at Brown University have created a new type of dye-free optical probe that can directly sense naturally occurring neural activity. They have imbedded gold nanoparticles into tissue culture and shown that they can measure the electrical activity of live neurons. The technique takes advantage of a phenomenon known as surface plasmon polariton resonance, a sharp spectroscopic resonance at visible/near-infrared wavelengths. Basically, the gold nanoparticles are used to optically sense the local electric fields produced when nearby neurons fire. The neuronal activity modulates the electron density at the surface of the nanoparticle, which causes an observable spectral shift that the researchers can monitor. (Talk CWM3, "Detection of Neural Cell Activity Using Plasmonic Gold Nanoparticles.")
TINY LASER ARRAYS FOR SENSITIVE CHEMICAL DETECTION
Early miners used to carry canaries into coal mines because the birds were sensitive to certain gasses. Modern chemical analysis does the same thing, though much more powerfully. For instance, infrared spectroscopy can detect even trace amounts of a wide range of chemicals, including toxic components of hazardous waste or chemical weapons, because many chemicals absorb light in the mid-infrared band.
Now Federico Capasso and his colleagues at Harvard University are developing a new type of infrared spectrometer that could be just as powerful as these bulky instruments yet fit inside a shoe box. Instead of using thermal sources for infrared rays, a team lead by Capasso, his student Benjamin G. Lee, and his postdoctoral fellow Mikhail A. Belkin, has built one of these instruments, which is powered by a tiny array of infrared quantum cascade lasers on a chip smaller than a dime. The chip holds an array of 32 lasers, each emitting a distinct wavelength and together covering a broad spectral range in the infrared region. The researchers’ new paper demonstrates that their device could identify common chemicals as well as a conventional tabletop instrument, which has a much larger footprint. It is the first time that a laser of this type, capable of such performance, has been reported.
The advantage of using a laser source is that lasers are much brighter than thermal sources thus providing a higher signal-to-noise ratio. The lasers can also be fine-tuned to provide wavelengths on demand to scan accurately for chemicals of interest—akin to having thousands of canaries, each capable of detecting a range of chemicals. (Talk CMH1, "Continuously Tunable Compact Single-Mode Quantum Cascade Laser Source for Chemical Sensing.")
SECURE COMMUNICATIONS VIA SPACE
The exchange of information between distant sources is the basis of all communications, but quantum mechanics may open up this distant exchange as never before. Quantum key distribution, for instance, would allow for absolutely secure encryption of information exchange by encoding information keys on single photons. These photons are so sensitive that there is physically no way to undetectably tamper with them as they travel from sender to receiver. Teleportation of quantized states is another possible application. This would allow future quantum computers to be interconnected using the properties of individualized photons or other quanta.
To achieve this type of technology, an exchange of single quanta between a sender and a remote receiver must occur. Already, some companies have explored ways of achieving quantum key distribution over fiber optics, but it has never been done using satellites. Paolo Villoresi and his colleagues at the University of Padova in Italy, in collaboration with the group of Anton Zeilinger in Austria, have taken the first step to establishing quantum communications in space by exchanging single photons from an orbiting satellite to Earth. They demonstrated how the Matera Laser Ranging Observatory in Matera, Italy, used for satellite laser ranging with ultimate precision, can be adapted as a quantum communication receiver to detect single quanta emitted by an orbiting source—in this case a Japanese low-Earth-orbiting satellite. They also identified the exact techniques needed to detect the very weak quantum signal to be exploited in a dedicated satellite. (Talk QWB3, "Experimental Study of a Quantum Channel from a LEO Satellite to the Earth.")
PHOTOLUMINESCENCE IN NANO-NEEDLES
Silicon is the workhorse among semiconductors in electronics. But in opto-electronics, where light signals are processed along with electronic signals, a semiconductor that is capable of emitting light is needed, which silicon can't do very well. Here gallium-arsenide (GaAs) is the workhorse, especially in the creation of light emitting diodes (LED) and LED lasers.
Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley have now grown GaAs structures into the shape of narrow needles which, when optically pumped, emit light with high brightness. The needles are approximately 3 to 4 microns long and taper at an angle of 6 to 9 degrees down to tips approximately 2 to 5 nanometers across. These needles are not yet lasers; creating them will be the next step. This represents the first time a lab has been able to fashion GaAs into a defect-free crystal structure (technical name: wurtzite) exactly like this on a silicon substrate and without the use of catalysts.
Lead researcher Michael Moewe says that, in addition to optoelectronic devices, he expects the needles to be valuable in such applications as atomic force microscopy (AFM), where the sharp tips can be grown in arrays without further etching or processing steps. Some believe that AFM arrays, besides speeding up the recording of nearly atomic-resolution images of surfaces (allowing one to create atomic movies), might be used to create a new form of data storage by influencing the atoms in the sample. The needles also may be used in producing tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Raman spectroscopy is a process in which the energy levels of molecules are determined by shining light at a known frequency into the sample and then observing the frequency of the outgoing light. Delivering light from a sharp tip allows a much more targeted examination of the sample, possibly even permitting the spectroscopic study of single molecules. (Talk CTuCC1, "Bright Photoluminescence from GaAs and InGaAs Nanoneedles Grown on Si Substrates.")
NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY—THE WORLD'S LARGEST LASER SYSTEM
The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), a project more than a decade in the making, is scheduled for completion in March 2009. When it goes online, 192 laser beams will generate millions of joules of infrared light, which will in turn be converted to ultraviolet light just prior to reaching the focus of these lasers. Electro-optical devices will time, shape, and direct this light. In a facility the size of three football fields, the light will go through a tiny hole into a target made of gold and uranium. This target has the shape of a soda can, but is less than one inch in height. There the light will paint the inside walls of this chamber, heating the metal walls and causing them to emit X-rays that will fill the can, bombard a small plastic capsule in the can's center, implode the capsule, and trigger the fusion of tritium and deuterium inside.
Lead researcher Christopher A. Haynam with LLNL will focus on the status of the light that will drive this operation—by far the largest laser system in the world. So far, about three quarters of the lasers have been installed. These lasers have been operated to more than 3.1 million joules total energy in the infrared. A few beams have been pointed to a target, and a number of low-energy shots taken and converted to the ultraviolet to check their alignment. If it works as it is supposed to, the National Ignition Facility will be able to achieve temperatures and pressures that emulate conditions in the interior of planets or stars. (Talk CFQ1, "The National Ignition Facility: Status and Performance of the World’s Largest Laser System for the High Energy Density and Inertial Confinement Fusion.")
CLEO/QELS/PHAST PLENARY SPEAKERS
David Reitze, professor of physics at the University of Florida, will present "The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory: Probing the Dynamics of Space-Time with Attometer Precision" on Monday, May 5 about the detection of gravitational waves, which promises to open up a new astrophysical window to the universe. He will discuss gravitational waves, what makes them so interesting and challenging to detect and how researchers will detect them using “really big interferometers.”
Albert Polman, director of the Center for Nanophotonics, FOM-Institute AMOLF, Netherlands, will present "Plasmonics: Optics at the Nanoscale" on Wednesday, May 7 about the generation, concentration and dispersion of surface plasmons in thin metal films, nanoresonators and metal particle arrays. The unique dispersion and mode confinement characteristics of these structures enable control of light at the true nanoscale.
Ian Walmsley, the Hooke Professor of Experimental Physics and head of the Sub-Department of Atomic and Laser Physics at the University of Oxford, will present "Meet the Fock States: The Photon Revisited" on Wednesday, May 7 about recent developments in quantum optics. These developments have enabled the generation of exotic non-classical states of light that can provide a new perspective on the character of the photon.
ON-SITE PRESS INFORMATION
A Press Room will be located in Room N of the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. The Press Room will be open Sunday, May 4 from 12 p.m. – 4 p.m. PDT and Monday, May 5 – Thursday, May 8 from 7:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. PDT. Those interested in obtaining a press badge for the conference should register online at http://www.cleoconference.org/media_center/mediaregistrationform.aspx or contact OSA’s Colleen Morrison at 202.416.1437, cmorri@osa.org.
A press luncheon panel will take place on Tuesday, May 6 at 12 p.m. in the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. The press luncheon will offer an overarching perspective on significant new developments to be unveiled during CLEO/QELS. This year’s luncheon topic is “Alternative Energy and Optics.” To register for the press luncheon contact OSA’s Colleen Morrison at cmorri@osa.org, 202.416.1437.
ABOUT CLEO/QELS
With a distinguished history as one of the industry’s leading events on laser science, the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics and the Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference (CLEO/QELS) is where laser technology was first introduced. CLEO/QELS combines the strength of peer-reviewed scientific programming with an applications-focused exhibition to showcase the present and future of this technology. Sponsored by the American Physical Society’s (APS) Laser Science Division, the Institute of Electronic Engineers/Laser and Electro-Optics Society (IEEE/LEOS) and the Optical Society (OSA), CLEO/QELS provides an educational forum, complete with a dynamic Plenary, short courses, tutorials, workshops and more, on topics as diverse as its attendee base whose broad spectrum of interests range from biomedicine to defense to optical communications and beyond. For more information, visit the conference’s Web site at www.cleoconference.org.
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European Physical Society plasma physics announces new innovation prizetag:blogs.physicstoday.org,2008:/wht//4.27262008-04-17T14:58:17Z2008-04-17T14:59:17ZResearch in Plasma Physics has multiple and rich outcomes with direct and/or indirect applications. These applications, which are sometimes inconspicuous and even unknown to the layman, can have significant impacts on daily human life as well as on economic activity....Physics Todayhttp://physicstoday.org
European Physical Society is keenly aware of these important applications. As a dual gesture of stimulation and
recognition, a new annual prize has been created by the Plasma Physics Division of the European Physical Society. This prize targets
research which has demonstrably led to robust innovative applications or important effects on society. Nominations in any fields are
encouraged."
Establishment and Support
The prize is established in 2008 and supported by the Plasma Physics Division of the European Physics Society. The Prize is given once a year and consists of 1500 euros and a certificate citing the contributions made by the recipient.
Rules and eligibility :
Nominees need not now be working on the topics. Any work developped within the five last years (defined with respect to the concerned submission year) may be submitted. The recognized contribution may be a product, a process or a tool enabling practical application issued directly from plasma physics fields. Nominees need not to be EPS members. Nominees candidatures are submitted by nominators as detailed below. Self nominations are also encouraged. There is no restriction in terms of geography and/or nationality.
Nominations and selection Process
A broad spectrum of nominations and in particular from smaller companies/institutions/National and/or Universities laboratories as
well as larger ones is encouraged. To complete the nomination, you (the nominator) are asked to provide the following documents :
1. The references of the nominee (Name, firstname, full professional address, email address, phone and fax numbers).
2. The topical group (within the Plasma Physics division) best qualified to assess the nomination.
3. A suggested citation (maximum 250 characters).
4. A supporting summary describing the significance of the nominee's work (this description is limited to 2 pages).
5. Nominee's principal publications (at most 10).
6. Nominee's other contributions (main invited talks, patents, professional service, etc.).
7. Nominee's academic background.
8. Nominee's employment background.
9. Nominee's professional honors.
10. Your name, full address and email address.
11. Your letter of support. (maximum 1 page)
12. Additional letters of support (at most 2 beyond yours); maximum 1 page each.
These materials are due by April 30th 2008. The committee will then recommend one of the finalists to the EPS Executive Board, and the recipient of the Prize will be announced after the Board has approved the recommendation, by May 18th 2008.
The Prize will be presented during the forthcoming EPS meeting to be held in Hersonissos (Crete, Greece, 9‑13 June 2008). Finalist
nominations will remain active through three prize cycles.
Important deadlines :
Announcement March 23rd, 2008
Applications April 30th, 2008
Decision May 18th, 2008
Submission:
All proposals can be sent to : bertrand.lembege@cetp.ispl.fr
Contacts: Bertrand Lembege, Jorg Winter, Holger Kernsten and Jo Lister.]]>
National Science Board to honor Norman Augustine with prestigious Vannevar Bush awardtag:blogs.physicstoday.org,2008:/wht//4.27192008-04-16T21:41:02Z2008-04-16T21:42:10ZThe National Science Board (NSB) today announced that Norman R. Augustine will receive its 2008 Vannevar Bush Award for his distinguished public service leadership in science, engineering and technology; for his longstanding commitment to the ethical conduct of business and...Physics Todayhttp://physicstoday.orgAugustine has demonstrated ethical and responsible leadership throughout his distinguished career, most recently in the private sector, and prior to that in government. He played a prominent role in the 1995 merger of Martin Marietta and Lockheed, one of the largest aerospace and defense mergers in history. He had first served as vice president of aerospace technical operations and then director at Martin Marietta Corporation. Most recently he was chief executive officer and chairman of the board of the Lockheed Martin Corporation. He retired from his management roles in 1998, but remained an active director until 2005. He was also a professor at Princeton University, his alma mater.
Prior to his work in corporate America, Augustine applied his science and technology talents in key government positions under two U.S. presidents. He served as assistant secretary for research and development of the Army from 1973 to 1975, and then undersecretary of the Army from 1975 to 1977.
The Bush Award will be in good company among Augustine's honors. He was presented the National Medal of Technology by the president of the United States and received the Joint Chiefs of Staff Distinguished Public Service Award. He has five times received the Department of Defense's highest civilian decoration, the Distinguished Service Medal. He is co-author of The Defense Revolution and Shakespeare In Charge and author of Augustine's Laws and Augustine's Travels.
Augustine's current and past contributions to corporate, nonprofit and university boards are numerous. He is a current member of the board of directors of ConocoPhillips and Black & Decker, and has recently retired from the board of Procter & Gamble.
Augustine served as chairman and principal officer of the American Red Cross for 9 years, as well as chairman of the National Academy of Engineering, president and chairman of the Association of the United States Army, chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association, and chairman of the Defense Science Board. He is a trustee emeritus of Johns Hopkins and a former member of the board of trustees of Princeton and MIT.
He holds 22 honorary degrees and was selected by Who's Who in America and the Library of Congress as one of "Fifty Great Americans" on the occasion of Who's Who's 50th anniversary.
]]>
Optical Society Confers 17 General and Specialty Awards for 2008tag:blogs.physicstoday.org,2008:/wht//4.27182008-04-16T13:59:54Z2008-04-16T14:06:59ZWASHINGTON, April 14—The Optical Society (OSA) is pleased to announce this year’s recipients of many of its prestigious awards. The winners include: Peter Knight, Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Endowment; Eric Mazur, Esther Hoffman Beller Medal; Peter W. Milonni, Max...Optical Society of America
Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Endowment; Eric Mazur, Esther Hoffman Beller Medal; Peter W. Milonni, Max Born Award; Bahaa Saleh, Distinguished Service Award; Ursula Keller, Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize; Kam Yin Lau, Nick Holonyak, Jr. Award; Adolf W. Lohmann, Emmett N. Leith Medal; Richard P. Van Duyne, Ellis R. Lippincott Award; L. Cary Gunn, Adolph Lomb Medal; Michael S. Feld, William F. Meggers Award; Barry L. Shoop, OSA Leadership Award-New Focus/Bookham Prize; Kanti Jain, David Richardson Medal; Brian A. Wandell, Edgar D. Tillyer Award; Robert R. Alfano, Charles Hard Townes Award; Robert W. Tkach, John Tyndall Award; Jonathan P. Heritage and Andrew M. Weiner, R.W. Wood Prize. These award winners join an esteemed group of past recipients in their perseverance, ingenuity and foresight in the field of optics.]]>
Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Endowment
Recipient: Peter Knight
The highest award conferred by OSA for overall distinction in optics, this award is presented to Peter Knight for his immense contribution to optics through pioneering research in quantum optics and by his unique combination of educational, organization and leadership skills. He is principal of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Imperial College London.
Esther Hoffman Beller Medal
Recipient: Eric Mazur
Eric Mazur has been awarded the Esther Hoffman Beller Medal, recognizing outstanding contributions to optical science and engineering education, for developing and globally disseminating the innovative teaching methodology now known as “Peer Instruction,” which promotes deeper understanding of the fundamentals of science. Mazur is the Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard University.
Max Born Award
Recipient: Peter W. Milonni
Peter W. Milonni, laboratory fellow and associate in the Theoretical Division (Complex Systems Group) at Los Alamos National Laboratory, has been selected to receive this year’s Max Born Award, presented in recognition of contributions to physical optics. He is being honored for his exceptional contributions to the fields of theoretical optics, laser physics and quantum mechanics, and for dissemination of scientific knowledge through authorship of a series of outstanding books.
Distinguished Service Award
Recipient: Bahaa Saleh
Bahaa Saleh has been awarded this year’s Distinguished Service Award, recognizing outstanding service to the optical community and to OSA, for his distinguished service to the Optical Society and the optics and photonics community, and for leadership in the area of publications. He is a professor and former chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Boston University. He will start a new position as dean of the University of Central Florida (UCF) College of Optics and Photonics and director of the UCF Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers (CREOL) in 2009.
Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize
Recipient: Ursula Keller
This year’s Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize, presented in recognition of significant accomplishments in optical engineering, is being awarded to Ursula Keller for her seminal contributions to the development and application of ultrafast lasers and, notably, her pioneering work on semiconductor saturable absorber mode-locking. Keller is a professor of physics at ETH Zürich.
Nick Holonyak, Jr. Award
Recipient: Kam Yin Lau
Honoring his seminal contributions to high-speed direct modulation of semiconductor lasers through enhanced differential optical gain, Kam Yin Lau is being presented the Nick Holonyak, Jr. Award. This award recognizes significant contributions to optics based on semiconductor-based devices and optical materials, including basic science and technological applications. He is professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.
Emmett N. Leith Medal
Recipient: Adolf W. Lohmann
The inaugural Leith Medal, given for influential contributions to the field of optical information processing, is being awarded to Adolf W. Lohmann for his seminal contributions to the fields of optical information processing and holography. Lohmann is a retired professor at the University of Erlangen.
Ellis R. Lippincott Award (co-sponsored with the Coblentz Society and the Society for Applied Spectroscopy)
Recipient: Richard P. Van Duyne
Richard P. Van Duyne, who is the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University, has been selected to receive the Ellis R. Lippincott Award for the discovery, development and application of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy in ways that have profoundly influenced vibrational spectroscopy, surface science, electrochemistry, ultrasensitive chemical/biological sensing and applications in plasmonics. The Lippincott Award, co-sponsored by OSA, the Coblentz Society and the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, recognizes outstanding contributions to vibrational spectroscopy. The selection committee consists of members from all three societies.
Adolph Lomb Medal
Recipient: L. Cary Gunn
The Lomb Medal, recognizing noteworthy contributions to optics before reaching the age of 35, goes to L. Cary Gunn for his pioneering work in the development and commercialization of silicon photonics. Gunn is co-founder and chief technology officer at Luxtera, Inc. in Carlsbad, Calif.
William F. Meggers Award
Recipient: Michael S. Feld
Michael S. Feld is being honored with the William F. Meggers Award for major contributions to the foundations of laser spectroscopy, and for pioneering developments in the application of spectroscopy to biomedicine. The Meggers Award honors outstanding work in spectroscopy. Feld is a professor of physics and director of the George R. Harrison Spectroscopy Laboratory at MIT.
OSA Leadership Award-New Focus/Bookham Prize
Recipient: Barry L. Shoop
Barry L. Shoop is being awarded the OSA Leadership Award-New Focus/Bookham Prize for his leadership and vision in furthering optics education and humanitarian purposes, including founding the first engineering school in Afghanistan and his contribution to the global fight against terrorism, as expressed in his activities in the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization. The award is given in recognition of an individual or group of optics professionals who have made a significant impact on the field of optics and/or made a significant contribution to society. Col. Shoop is a Signal Corps officer and an Academy professor serving as the electrical engineering program director at the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.
David Richardson Medal
Recipient: Kanti Jain
Recognizing contributions to optical engineering, primarily in the commercial and industrial sectors, the Richardson Medal is presented to Kanti Jain for his pioneering contributions to the development of high-resolution optical microlithography technologies, especially for the invention and development of excimer laser lithography and systems for production of microelectronic devices. He is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Edgar D. Tillyer Award
Recipient: Brian A. Wandell
The Edgar D. Tillyer Award goes to Brian A. Wandell, who is the Isaac and Madeline Stein Family Professor at Stanford University, for his outstanding contributions to the science of color vision and color imaging systems, and for pioneering work on brain imaging that has illuminated the organization and function of human visual processing. The Tillyer Award recognizes distinguished work in the field of vision.
Charles Hard Townes Award
Recipient: Robert R. Alfano
Robert R. Alfano, distinguished professor of science and engineering at City College of CUNY, receives the C. H. Townes Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of quantum electronics. He is being honored for his contributions to the discovery and investigation of supercontinuum generation and the development of tetravalent chromium-based tunable solid-state lasers.
John Tyndall Award (co-sponsored with IEEE/Lasers and Electro-Optics Society)
Recipient: Robert W. Tkach
Awarded in recognition of contributions to fiber optic technology, the Tyndall Award goes to Robert W. Tkach for his pioneering breakthroughs in high-capacity transmission systems and networks, including the invention of NZDF (non-zero dispersion fiber) and dispersion management of optical fiber nonlinearities. He is the director of transmission systems research at Bell Labs. This award was presented in February at OFC/NFOEC 2008.
R.W. Wood Prize
Recipients: Jonathan P. Heritage and Andrew M. Weiner
The Wood Prize recognizes an outstanding discovery, a scientific or technological achievement or an invention. This year’s prize goes to Jonathan P. Heritage and Andrew M. Weiner for their pioneering contributions to the development of programmable optical pulse shaping and its applications to ultrafast optics and photonics. Heritage is professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Davis and Weiner is the Scifres Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University.
OSA bestows many of these awards during a formal presentation ceremony that will take place at the plenary session of the society’s annual meeting, Frontiers in Optics, on the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 21 at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center in Rochester, N.Y. More information about the OSA awards program, previous award winners and the annual meeting can be found on OSA's Web site at www.osa.org.
About OSA
Uniting more than 70,000 professionals from 134 countries, the Optical Society (OSA) brings together the global optics community through its programs and initiatives. Since 1916 OSA has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing educational resources to the scientists, engineers and business leaders who work in the field by promoting the science of light and the advanced technologies made possible by optics and photonics. OSA publications, events, technical groups and programs foster optics knowledge and scientific collaboration among all those with an interest in optics and photonics. For more information, visit www.osa.org.
Editor’s Note: Complete biographies for and photos of the recipients are available upon request.
Contact:
Angela Stark
Optical Society
202.416.1443
astark@osa.org]]>
University of Pittsburgh creates new center for energytag:blogs.physicstoday.org,2008:/wht//4.27132008-04-15T23:35:22Z2008-04-15T23:35:35ZThe University of Pittsburgh today announced the creation of a new Center for Energy as part of what Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg referred to as "the increasing need to address the complex energy challenges of our time, which call...Physics Todayhttp://physicstoday.org
Center for Energy Web site. ]]>
Augustine has demonstrated ethical and responsible leadership throughout his distinguished career, most recently in the private sector, and prior to that in government. He played a prominent role in the 1995 merger of Martin Marietta and Lockheed, one of the largest aerospace and defense mergers in history. He had first served as vice president of aerospace technical operations and then director at Martin Marietta Corporation. Most recently he was chief executive officer and chairman of the board of the Lockheed Martin Corporation. He retired from his management roles in 1998, but remained an active director until 2005. He was also a professor at Princeton University, his alma mater.
Prior to his work in corporate America, Augustine applied his science and technology talents in key government positions under two U.S. presidents. He served as assistant secretary for research and development of the Army from 1973 to 1975, and then undersecretary of the Army from 1975 to 1977.
The Bush Award will be in good company among Augustine's honors. He was presented the National Medal of Technology by the president of the United States and received the Joint Chiefs of Staff Distinguished Public Service Award. He has five times received the Department of Defense's highest civilian decoration, the Distinguished Service Medal. He is co-author of The Defense Revolution and Shakespeare In Charge and author of Augustine's Laws and Augustine's Travels.
Augustine's current and past contributions to corporate, nonprofit and university boards are numerous. He is a current member of the board of directors of ConocoPhillips and Black & Decker, and has recently retired from the board of Procter & Gamble.
Augustine served as chairman and principal officer of the American Red Cross for 9 years, as well as chairman of the National Academy of Engineering, president and chairman of the Association of the United States Army, chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association, and chairman of the Defense Science Board. He is a trustee emeritus of Johns Hopkins and a former member of the board of trustees of Princeton and MIT.
He holds 22 honorary degrees and was selected by Who's Who in America and the Library of Congress as one of "Fifty Great Americans" on the occasion of Who's Who's 50th anniversary.
]]>