· Congratulations to alumnus Dr. Charles L. Bennett (B.S., 1978)! Dr. Bennett has been inducted, as a Fellow, into the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS). This extremely high honor rewards Bennett for an exceptional 20-year career as a physicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, specifically his most recent success as principle investigator of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) experiment. WMAP received extensive attention for its revelations about the “baby” universe, including the fact that it is 13.7 billion years old and dominated by a mysterious dark energy, a result that was named “Breakthrough of the Year” by Science in 2003.

The AAAS Fellows are an exclusive group of the world's leading scientists, artists, business people and public leaders. There are currently only 4,000 American Fellows and 600 Foreign Honorary Members.

Dr. Bennett received his B.S. in physics and astronomy from the University of Maryland in 1978 and was awarded the Department's Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2003.

For more information, please click here

 
Dr. Barbara receives her PECASE
Award at the White House
· Congratulations to Dr. Paola Barbara for receiving the 2003 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) award, the highest national honor for professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. Dr. Barbara is a visiting assistant professor in the University of Maryland 's Center for Superconductivity Research and an assistant professor of physics at Georgetown University . She has collaborated with several researchers in the Department of Physics, most recently Professor Michael Fuhrer.

Dr. Barbara is part of the 2003 PECASE award group of 57 government-supported scientists and engineers. A group of nominees are awarded the PECASE from each of eight federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), which selected Barbara from a pool of more than 400 promising young scientists and engineers who received grants from the NSF's Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program in 2003. Dr. Barbara's CAREER proposal focuses on nanotubes and superconductors research, extremely cutting-edge areas of science as well as the integration of research and education.

For the Georgetown University press release, please click here
For the White House press release, please click here

 
Drs. Lathrop and Ferrell

· Congratulations to Professor Daniel P. Lathrop , winner of this year's Richard A. Ferrell Distinguished Faculty Fellowship. This award recognizes the outstanding research, teaching and service accomplishments of an exceptional faculty member at an early part of his/her career. Dr. Lathrop was presented with the award at the first faculty meeting of the semester, held in September.
 
· Congratulations to Dr. Kiyong Kim, recent graduate of the University of Maryland Department of Physics and former student of Affiliate Professor Howard Milchberg*! Dr. Kim has won the 2004 American Physical Society Dissertation Award in Plasma Physics for his exceptional research conducted in the Institute for Physical Sciences and Technology (IPST). He is the second winner from the University of Maryland. Dr. Tom Clark, also a former student of Dr. Milchberg's working in IPST, was the 1999 recipient. Maryland's Intense Laser Matter Interactions research group, led by Dr. Milchberg, is the only research group to win the award more than once since the award was established in 1986.

For more information about the award, please click here.

* Dr. Milchberg is a professor in the University of Maryland's Institute for Physical Sciences and Technology and an affiliate professor in the Department of Physics.
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