Contents:
1997-98 MSU Physics & Astronomy Awards
The Michigan State University Department of Physics and Astronomy is proud of
its members who were the recipients this year of various awards at the
University level, and also of the recipients of the various annual Departmental
Awards. It also congratulates this year's
degree recipients.
This award goes to the year's "Outstanding Graduate Student in Physics or
Astrophysics."
-
Previous years' Sherwood K. Haynes Graduate Physics Awards
This award goes to the year's "Outstanding Senior in
Physics or Astrophysics."
-
Previous years' Thomas H. Osgood Undergraduate Physics
Awards
This award goes to the year's "Outstanding Junior in Physics
or Astrophysics."
- Michele Stark [Ms Stark was the first recipient
of the Hinda Golding Scholarship. That award was for the
1996-97 academic year.]
-
Previous years' Bruce VerWest Awards
This award is presented to faculty, staff and/or students
who have served a group or groups that are not part of the University.
- Wolfgang Bauer and Michael Thoennessen share the
award this year for their excellent work with managing
the summer REU programs for the past 3 years after writing
a successful proposal to the NSF for the funds to support
the students who were selected to participate. Each summer
20 or so outstanding students, selected from applicants
around the country, come to work on the various research
projects in our department.
-
Previous years' Physics &: Astronomy Outreach
Awards
This award goes to a faculty member teaching graduate level courses, selected by
a vote of the graduate students.
- S. D. Mahanti [Professor Mahanti taught the year-long
sequence of courses, PHY 851 and 852, Quantum Mechanics I and II, a required sequence
for all students in the PhD program. His success with the
course is attested to by his being voted this award.]
-
Previous years' Outstanding Faculty Teaching Awards
This award goes to an outstanding TA, selected by the teaching faculty.
- Matthew Miller has been a TA for several years of his graduate
student tenure, having responsible assignments in a variety of courses including
the senior electronics laboratory course this semester.
Matt will complete his PhD work this semester under the guidance of Professor
Norman O. Birge. He came to MSU from the University at
River Falls, whose outstanding undergraduate program has
been our source of 15 successful PhD students over the
past 30 years.
-
Previous years' Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards
Recently New P-A Awards this year
These awards go to two faculty members, one tenured, one non-tenured, for teaching courses
at the undergraduate level.
- Non-tenured
- Simon Billinge
- Tenured
- Gerald L. Pollack
-
Previous years' Thomas H. Osgood Memorial Faculty Teaching Awards
(The award is new; this is only the third year of the award)
This award is presented to a staff member who has served above & beyond the call
of duty, selected by a vote of the faculty.
- Marc Conlin, Physics and Astronomy Department
Administrative Assistant
-
Previous years' Distinguished Staff Awards
(this is also a new award, only four year's winners are on the
list so far...)
University Distinguished Professors
Three of the P/A faculty were
added this year to the ranks of University Distinguished Professors.
They are
Teacher-Scholar Award in the College of Natural Science
Suzanne Hawley for 1997 and Brad Sherrill for 1996.
Rhodes Scholarship
Stephanie E. Palmer was awarded one of the very prestigeous
Rhodes Scholarships this year. Ms. Palmer, a Chemical-Physics major,
who could also have received degrees in either of those fields, was a Lyman-
Briggs student. She received several other awards, including our Osgood Award
(see above). Along with a demanding and challenging course load during her
four years at MSU Stephanie has participated in research each year and during
summers. She has worked with Professor Spies of Lyman Briggs on chemistry
projects and, most recently with Professor Philip Duxbury in the P/A Department.
Faculty Promotions
Suzanne Hawley was awarded tenure and promoted to the rank of Associate
Professor. Professor Hawley, an astronomer who studies solar and stellar flares,
came to MSU as an Assistant Professor
in August, 1993. She previously had been a Hubble Fellow at Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory and received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at
Austin. She is the recipient of a NSF Young Investigator Award and has received
the College of Natural Science Teacher-Scholar Award.
Phillip M. Duxbury was promoted to the rank of Professor. Professor
Duxbury has been at MSU since 1986 when he came here as Assistant Professor.
He became an Associate Professor with tenure in 1992. He received his Ph.D.
in Physics in 1983 from the University of New South Wales in 1983 and held a
postdoctoral position at Oxford University. He was the recipient of an Alexander
von Humboldt Fellowship while he was on sabbatical leave in 1993-94 in Germany.
His research is in theoretical solid state physics, currently funded by the DOE
for his research on Instabilities in Solids.
Lily Teaching Fellowship
Thomas Glasmacher has been given this award for 1997-98 to carry out
student-learning projects while he will be teaching introductory lectures (PHY
231) in the next academic year.
D-zero Spokesman
Hary Weerts was named the spokesman for the D-zero project,
a 500-person collaboration at the Fermilab collider.
MSU Physics-Astronomy Awards Page, maintained by
George J. Perkins and
Julius S. Kovacs.
Updated August 11, 1997 by JSK.