In Brief

Katharina Krischer joined the Technical University of Munich, Germany, in April as a professor of technical physics. She was head of the spatiotemporal electrode dynamics group at the Berlin-based Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science.

Last month, Robert W. Conn became a managing director of Enterprise Partners Venture Capital in La Jolla, California. He previously was with the University of California, San Diego, where he had served as the dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering since 1994.

In London this past May, the Royal Academy of Engineering presented its awards for 2002. Of the winners, two are engaged in physics-related work. Richard Friend received a Silver Medal, which is given to engineers younger than age 50 for their outstanding contributions to British engineering. The academy noted that Friend, Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge and cofounder and chief scientist of Cambridge Display Technology, “discovered how to make polymers that emit intense light under an electric current, opening the way to high-quality color displays in computers and mobile devices.” John Ffowcs Williams received the academy’s Whittle Medal for his “lifelong dedication to understanding the properties of sound, which has enabled huge innovation in international transport.” He is the master of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge.

Thomas Walther joined the Technical University of Darmstadt earlier this year as a professor of experimental physics. He was an assistant professor in the physics department at Texas A&M University.

In April, at a ceremony in Rome, the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL (Italian National Academy of Sciences) presented its Matteucci Medal to Theodor Hänsch, a director at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching, Germany, and a professor of experimental physics at the University of Munich. According to the academy, Hänsch is “one of the most original experimental physicists in recent years.” In particular, adds the citation, he has pursued precision measurements in laser spectroscopy and in fundamental physics, with respect to hydrogen, antihydrogen, fundamental constants, and symmetry laws. Previous winners of the medal have included Hermann von Helmholtz, Albert Einstein, and Werner Heisenberg.

Barbara Drossel recently joined the Institute of Solid State Physics at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany as a professor of theoretical physics. She previously was a visiting scientist in Israel at the University of Tel Aviv’s physics department.

In May, at a ceremony in Little Rock, Arkansas, the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer presented its 2001 Laboratory Director of the Year Award to Rob Goldston, director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. The FLC gives the award annually to one or more lab directors who have made “maximum contributions to the overall enhancement of technology transfer for economic development.” The citation noted that Goldston has “instituted or encouraged a number of activities that have the potential to lead to new technology transfer initiatives within [PPPL].”

On 1 September, Haiyan Gao will join Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory and Duke University as an associate professor of experimental nuclear physics. She will be taking a one-year leave of absence from her current position as an associate professor of physics at MIT.

During its annual meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, this past March, the Association of Korean Physicists in America (AKPA) awarded its 2002 Outstanding Young Researcher Award to Philip Kim, assistant professor of physics at Columbia University, for his “pioneering research on high-temperature superconductivity and physics of carbon nanotubes.” The 2002 AKPA President’s Award was presented to Yoonseok Lee for “outstanding research in experimental low-temperature physics.” Lee is an assistant professor in the physics department at the University of Florida, Gainesville.

Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, awarded its Michelson Postdoctoral Prize Lectureship for 2002 to Re’em Sari, Sherman Fairchild Senior Research Fellow in Theoretical Astrophysics at Caltech. Sari was recognized for excellence in science and science communication and was invited to give three seminars and a colloquium at CWRU this past April. The physics department presents the award annually to an outstanding postdoctoral researcher in any field of physics.

Henric Krawczynski, research associate and instructor in the astronomy department at Yale University, moved to Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, last month to take a position as an assistant professor of experimental physics.

At a banquet in Houston, Texas, this October, Harden M. McConnell, Robert Eckles Swain Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at Stanford University, will receive the 2002 Welch Award from the Welch Foundation in recognition of lifetime achievements in basic chemical research. The award consists of a gold medallion and a $300 000 cash prize.