University Awards and Honors

  • Other Awards, Offices and Honors
  • Faculty Promotions

    • Distinguished Faculty Awards


    The Distinguished Faculty Awards have existed at Michigan State University since 1952. They have been presented annually at the convocation in early February when the University President presents the "State of the University" address. In the early days the awardee was selected by President John A. Hannah and the number of recipients for the first several years was one or two. In the early '60s the number receiving these prestigious awards was increased to six (still selected by President Hannah from a list of twelve recommended by a University committee from the nominations of individuals, departments and colleges). The number awarded by the University each year is now ten. For the year 2005 the Physics & Astronomy Department was represented among those receiving the     Distinguished Faculty Awards by Michael Thoennessen.
    Previous years' Distinguished Faculty Awards

    University Distinguished Professors


    On June 27, 2003 the Board of Trustees approved the title of     University Distinguished Professor for two of our faculty members, Bradley Sherrill and Gary Westfall. Both Brad and Gary are experimental nuclear physicists, and members of the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. Brad uses the MSU cyclotron to study nuclear reactions that take place in various astrophysical environments. In particular he is investigating radioactive nuclei that play a key role in supernovae explosions. He is also active in the study of nuclei far from stability and, as an expert in radioactive beams, would be a leading user of the $900M RIA project, especially if we can attract it to MSU. Gary has also been a major researcher at the MSU cyclotron and has used it to investigate nuclear matter at extreme temperatures and pressures. In experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (at Brookhaven Laboratory) Gary plays a leading role in experiments in which nuclear matter is compressed to densities more than ten times normal. These extreme densities are similar to those that existed in the universe a few seconds after the Big Bang. In addition to their scientific distinction, Brad and Gary are both effective and popular teachers. The well-deserved honor of University Distinguished Professorships reflects their overall contributions to the department, the college and the university, and is a high point of their very distinguished careers. We are proud of them! The designation of University Distinguished Professor (UDP) was only given to a total of 10 MSU faculty members, bringing the total number to 65 across the University. Brad Sherrill and Gary Westfall join Sam Austin (Emeritus), Walter Benenson, Henry Blosser (Emeritus), Konrad Gelbke, Edwin Kashy (Emeritus), and Michael Thorpe (Emeritus) in the UDP ranks, making ours the most successful department on campus in this respect.
    The years when previous UDPs were awarded to Physics-Astronomy faculty

    John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor

    Upon his retirement from the University Presidency, John Hannah was honored by the Board of Trustees with the establishment of the John A. Hannah endowed Professorships. Currently there are six faculty in the University who have these endowed chairs. Professor P. Gregers Hansen, who has a joint appointment at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory and the Physics and Astronomy Department, has been a Hannah Professor since 1995. In past years David Scott and George Bertsch, also then at the NSCL and P-A Department, were Hannah Professors.

    Faculty Promotions, 2003

    Simon J. L. Billinge came to MSU as an Assistant Professor in 1994. He was promoted with tenure to the rank of Associate Professor in 1999. His research while at MSU has been concerned with developing novel techniques for studying local structure of semiconductor alloys using x-ray and neutron scattering, primarily using synchrotron sources. These interests also include studying local structure-property relationships in electronic transition metal oxides and local structure of novel materials. Professor Billinge received his Ph.D. in May, 1992 from the University of Pennsylvania.

    Thomas Glasmacher received his Ph.D. in December, 1992 from Florida State University. He has been at MSU since 1995 when he came here as an Assistant Professor. In 1999 he was promoted to Associate Professor. His research at MSU is at the NSCL where his interests include nuclear structure studies of rare isotopes, intermediate-energy Coulomb excitation, proton scattering in inverse kinematics and photon detection. Since the end of May he has been the Associate Director for Operations at the NSCL.

    Daniel R. Stump, came to MSU as an Assistant Professor in 1980 after postdoctoral work at Indiana University. He received his PhD from MIT in 1976. In 1985 he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. His research interests have included: lattice gauge theory; computer simulations in statistical physics; electroweak processes; anomalous couplings and polarized pp collisions; calculations on the light gravitino scenario; classical dynamics of magnetic dipoles; and parton distribution functions including uncertainties. He is currently the Department's Associate Chair for Undergraduate Affairs.

    Home