Jordan A. Goodman Professor and Chair Department of Physics

From the Physics Chair

By Jordan A. Goodman
Professor and Chair

Dear Colleagues,

Earlier this month, the Department of Physics was pleased to host an external review committee, so that they may evaluate our department and provide us with recommendations regarding how we should improve and/or move forward in the future.

The committee consisted of an outstanding group of individuals from some of the nation's premier physics programs. I am very thankful for their insight. This is a process that each academic department in our university is instructed to undergo every five years. It is an extremely important process because in addition to asking others for an assessment of our department, it forces us to asses ourselves.

I, personally, found the task of preparing my presentation to the external review committee to be extremely helpful in defining my vision for the department. Here is what I decided to present to the committee:

Vision for the Department

•  Be leaders in the field of physics research
•  Achieve top 10 status
•  Be leaders in innovation
•  Attract top faculty and students
•  Provide top quality educational experience
•  Strengthen our community (schools, labs, government)
•  Provide leadership at the University of Maryland
•  Strengthen the field of physics (outreach, diversity)
•  Provide a positive environment within the Department for faculty, staff and students

I should note that I purposely listed “Be leaders in the field of physics research” before “Achieve top 10 status.” While recognition from renowned and respected publications like U.S. News and World Report is important, what we achieve is more important than what others think we have achieved. Of course, most of the time, this good work will be reflected in the rankings.

We must also keep in mind that moving up in the rankings will require outstanding commitment from all of us. We're in an interesting situation. The U.S. News rankings are determined by a numerical rating from 0 to 5 and the top 20 institutions have all received ratings from 3.9 to 5. For us to move from our current position (#13) to our goal (#10), we only have to earn an additional .2 points. (We are currently at 4.1 and the #10, university is at 4.3). However, if we lost .2 points from our rating, we could be at #20, which has a rating of 3.9. Clearly, we must work hard to just maintain and even harder to improve.

After discussing the department's vision, I spoke to the external review committee about what we are doing to realize that vision. This includes:

Realizing the Vision

•  Commitment to excellence in all areas
•  Make outstanding hires
xx– retain outstanding faculty
•  Be innovative in starting new initiatives & programs
xx– move in new research directions while reducing efforts in other areas
•  Provide support for our people (faculty, students, staff)
•  provide a supportive environment
•  mentor students and junior faculty
•  Take advantage of our location
xx– strengthen ties to local labs/government/universities
•  Aggressively seek funding -
xx– research
xx– new initiatives/partnerships
xx– facilities
•  We need a commitment and strong support from the University to reach our goals
xx– the University of Maryland has to want a top 10 Physics Department!
•  Reach out to our alumni and friends

I am very proud of our recent efforts and our plans for the future in these areas. In addition, I am proud to say that, after taking this opportunity to self-assess, I feel confident that we have a very bright future before us. I also look forward to implementing the external review committee's recommendation so that we may further strengthen our department. Should you have any questions about realizing our vision, I hope you'll feel free to contact me at goodman@icecube.umd.edu .

Also, I want to offer my sincere thanks to the so many people around the department – students, faculty and staff – who took part in the review. The committee repeatedly remarked about the department's camaraderie, something that I think was evident in the way everyone worked together to make the review a success.

Sincerely,

Jordan A. Goodman
Professor and Chair