Dear Readers,

During my freshman year of college, I took an astronomy course. The class adjacent to ours was always filled with Physics students frantically studying, theories and formulas, after hours. I remember glancing through a text book and feeling as if I'd embarked on a foreign language. Imagine my culture shock now, as I step into the editor position of The Photon. Fortunately, I've joined such a well-rounded team of faculty, staff, researchers, students and alumni.

As you'll read in the December issue, various awards were received in the past few months. Michael Fuher was awarded the 2005 Ferrel Award while William Dorland and Dan Lathrop were elected into the APS Fellowship. The Department of Physics honored their staff with a Staff Awards Ceremony, where Tom Payerle was given the Chair Outstanding Employee Award.

I've talked with Tim Andreadis, an alumni from UMD, who gained his Bachelors degree in Physics in 1974 and his Doctorate in Nuclear Engineering in 1981. He is currently head of the High Power Microwave Section at the Naval Research Laboratory. His interesting experiences will provide many readers with excellent advice.

It appears as though I've come at the perfect time. The semester is coming to an end and exciting things are lined up for the new semester and next issue.

Happy holidays!

Carole Cuaresma

Editor