April 2009

For demonstrated excellence in undergraduate teaching. Two faculty are chosen by the Wittke Award Student Selection Committee.

Corbin's enthusiasm for teaching physics is described in the summary of the 2009 Wittke Award.

April 2009

The Diekhoff Award is for exemplary contributions to the education and development of graduate students. The process by which winners are selected is run entirely by graduate students. Harsh's award was for outstanding teaching. He was one of two faculty so honored.

The most recent newsletter describing developments in the physics department over the past several years.

May 2007

Daniel Akerib was honored with the 2007 J. Bruce Jackson, M.D., Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Mentoring.

From the anonymous nomination: "Professor Akerib is well known to physics students due to his sincere willingness to go beyond the role of instructor to help his students"

March 2007

Cleveland Magazine has profiled our own Lawrence Krauss, concentrating on his efforts to haul the light of reason up to the towers of power.

February 2007

Academic Analytics, LLC has released details of their 2006 survey "Faculty Scholar Productivity Index," part of which was published in the Chronicle of Higher Education. The survey rates departmental faculties (on a per faculty basis) on items such as publications, citations, research grants, and awards. Of the 172 Ph.D. physics departments in the U.S., Case's Physics Department ranks 16th place.

May 19, 2006

"Physics at a Research University: Case Western Reserve University 1830-1990"

This is a history of the physics research done by the faculty and students of CWRU and its parent institutions. Highlights of the work done by over 100 researchers are described at a level so that the general reader can understand qualitatively how and why the research was done, and the more technical reader can appreciate some more quantitative details. The book ends with a "post-script" which describes research performed from 1990 to 2005. Lists of the names of physics graduates, including titles of graduate theses, appear as indices.

The book is available at the CWRU Bookstore. To order call:

May 1, 2006

On Monday, Robert Brown and Laura Tartakoff were chosen from a field of 64 nominees as the winners of the Carl F. Wittke Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

Brown, a physics professor, was described by his nominator as "the epitome of what professors should be and how we should advertise our faculty to the world."

Also see: Physics prof gets an apple in the form of the Wittke award

Mar 7, 2006

Robert Brown, Institute Professor in the Physics Department, was named Forman Lecturer for 2006 at Vanderbilt University, a position focused on physics education. He delivered the Forman Lecture at Vanderbilt on March 2 entitled "An Evolutionary Gap in Teaching Introductory Physics: An Intelligent Design?" He also delivered an associated Forman lecture on "A Simple View of MRI, and its Increasingly Rich View of Us and Our Brain," at Vanderbilt on March 3.

Feb 24, 2006

Diana Driscoll received one of seven "Top Prof Awards" from the Mortar Board National College Senior Honor Society Case chapter.

Dec 01, 2005

Lawrence Krauss has been elected as Chair-Elect of the Physics Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Nov 28, 2005

John Ruhl has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society "for his fundamental experimental contributions to the study of the cosmic microwave background radiation."

Glenn Starkman has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society "for his wide-ranging and creative contributions to particle astrophysics, including explorations of the possibility of non-trivial topology in the universe, and uncovering unexpected features in the cosmic microwave background fluctuations at large angular scales."

Lawrence Krauss has been elected as vice-chair (i.e. chair-elect) of the Forum on Physics and Society of the American Physical Society.

October 10, 2005

Lawrence Krauss's new book, entitled "Hiding in the Mirror: The Mysterious Allure of Extra Dimensions from Plato to String Theory and Beyond " (Viking Penguin, $24.95) will be released nationwide on October 24.

The book is an exploration of our long-standing love affair, in art, literature, and science, of the notion that there is more out there than meets the eye via the possible existence of extra dimensions in space. Exploring the notion of extra dimensions takes the reader through a history of modern physics right up to the present time, including what has been described as the first "fair and balanced treatment of String Theory." Advance praise has included statements from bestselling authors such as Walter Isaacson (Benjamin Franklin, An American Life), who calls it a "brilliant, thrilling book".

Publisher's Weekly has said " Physicist Krauss offers an erudite and well-crafted overview of the role multiple dimensions have played in the history of physics.... [readers] will be amply rewarded with a unique and impressive survey of scientists' astonishing and evolving understanding of the nature of the universe in all its visible and hidden dimensions."

The first Cleveland signing with be at Joseph Beth's bookstore at Legacy Village on November 2nd. Other opportunities will include the Cleveland Museum of Natural History on November 10th, and the CWRU Physics Department's World Year of Physics event at Severance Hall on November 14th.

The most recent newsletter describing developments in the physics department over the past several years.

Robert Brown has been named a finalist for the 2006 Cherry National Teaching Award being given by Baylor University.

Three finalists for the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching have been chosen from the field of nominees. Each finalist will receive $15,000 and will be invited to present a series of lectures at Baylor University in the fall of 2005. In addition, the home department of the finalists will receive $10,000 to foster the development of pedagogical skills.

The final winner of the Cherry Award, announced in Spring 2006, will receive an award of $200,000, and an additional $25,000 for his or her home department.

March 1, 2005

Among the American Physical Society's report of top physics news stories of 2004, as reported in the February 2005 APS news, two stories relate to work done in the physics department at Case. These are:

1. The work of Dan Akerib and colleagues at CDMS in producing the world's best direct detection limit on WIMP dark matter candidates
2. The work of Glenn Starkman and colleagues showing that the Universe is at least 25 Gigaparsecs in size.. namely that there is no sign of non-trivial topology on these scales.

Congratulations to Glenn and Dan, and to the Department.

October 6, 2004

September 21, 2004

CERCA was awarded Northern Ohio Live Magazine's 2004 Award of Achievement in the "Science and Technology" category for the CERCA/Kavli "Future of Cosmology" conference held here last fall, including Stephen Hawking's talk at Severance Hall and Steven Weinberg's talk at CMNH.

The award makes it quite clear that our community genuinely appreciated the event; it is a wonderful endorsement of CERCA's mission.

April 29, 2004

We are pleased to report that John Ruhl has been appointed by the Polar Research Board (a unit of the National Academies) to a 6-year term as one of the twelve US Representatives (four in each of Life sciences, Geosciences, and Physical Sciences) to SCAR, which is the international "Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research". From the web site (www.scar.org), "SCAR is charged with the initiation, promotion and coordination of scientific research in Antarctica. It also provides scientific advice to the Antarctic Treaty System."

March 15, 2004

We are extremely happy to announce that Bob Brown was just awarded the national American Association of Physics Teachers Excellence in Introductory College Physics Teaching Award. This is the highest award given for introductory physics teaching in the country. This award reflects the incredible job Bob has done over the past decades in innovative teaching, including using the web well before anyone else and developing peer teaching techniques, as well as inspiring scores of undergraduate students to excel. Bob will deliver a lecture at the national AAPT meeting in Sacramento this summer, and will receive a $2000 award at that time. We are sure you will join us in congratulating Bob on this well-deserved honor.

November 19, 2003

Bill Fickinger, Emeritus Professor of Physics, will be awarded the 2004 Robert E. Kennedy Award for Academic Freedom. This prestigious award was established by the Ohio Conference of the American Association of College Professors to recognize individuals who, in a given year or over time, have made significant contributions to the cause of academic freedom.

November 14, 2003

We have just received news that assistant professor Jie Shan has been awarded an NSF Career Award, which will support her research for 5 years. I am sure you will all join me in congratulating Jie! This award also continues an unbroken streak of Career and/or Sloan awards for all of our junior faculty in Physics over the past 8 years.

Oct 23, 2003

Case's Physics Entrepreneurship Program was recognized as a national leader in entrepreneurship education when the program received the Price Institute Innovative Entrepreneurship Educators Award during the prestigious Roundtable on Entrepreneurship Education (REE) held at Stanford University. REE gathers top business, science and engineering faculty from leading universities in the United States to accelerate entrepreneurship education for scientists and engineers.

The award, in its second year, recognizes the nation's most innovative college entrepreneurship programs for scientists and engineers.

From the AAPT Oersted Medal Web Page:

" The Oersted Medal is the Associations most prestigious award. It recognizes notable contributions to the teaching of physics. The recipient, who need not be active in AAPT, presents an address at the Ceremonial Session of the AAPT Winter Meeting. A $5000 award, an inscribed medal, travel expenses to the meeting, and a certificate are presented to the awardee. Established in 1936."

See also, CWRU's announcement: Case's Krauss first to take trifecta of top physics awards . Where it is pointed out that:

"Lawrence Krauss, the chair and Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics at Case Western Reserve University, has just become the first physicist in history to have been honored with the highest awards from all three major physics organizations in the United States: the American Physical Society, the American Institute of Physics and the American Association of Physics Teachers."

The Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education representing 21 member institutions had an October banquet on our Case campus with the theme, "A Celebration of Teaching Excellence in Northeast Ohio," and with a keynote address by President Hundert. NOCHE Teaching Awards were handed out to two or three college teachers from each of the member colleges. We're happy to report that Bob Brown was one of the recipients.

In presenting the award, it was noted that Bob has recreated the way he teaches his physics classes, making "significant departures from the way he used to do things." One example of such departures was described, "Every ten minutes, the class breaks for an exercise that reflects on the subject matter presented, giving Brown feedback on how well he has taught and how much his students have absorbed."

Oct 17-18, 2003

The general theme of the plenary talks is "Physicists Get Down to Business." Parallel sessions of contributed papers, however, are unrestricted in subject matter. The meeting is co-sponsored by the AAPT Ohio Section, with the co-theme of "No Physics Teacher Left Behind."

Oct 13, 2003

Stephen Hawking presented the 2003 Michelson Morley Award Lecture, "A Brane New World". The talk was archived.

Oct 10-12, 2003

This was the inaugural conference of the new Center for Education and Research in Cosmology and Astrophysics (CERCA) at CWRU. This invitation only meeting, with an unusual format designed to provoke discussion was archived.

Oct 10, 2003

Science Friday visited the Kavli-CERCA Conference to interview some of the prominent guests and take questions from the audience. This part of the conference was open to the public. This event was archived.

Oct 9, 2003

Steven Weinberg talked about "The Origin of the Universe" in the first CERCA public lecture. The talk was archived.

The Ohio Organic Semiconductor Consortium has received its second award in as many years from the Ohio Board of Regents Hayes Investment Fund. The present $1,000,000 award and the previous $900,000 support the acquisition of equipment and facilities for the study and processing of electronically, magnetically, and optically functional polymers and liquid crystals. The consortium includes CWRU, Ohio State, and Kent State Universities with Ken Singer leading the CWRU involvement. Strong ties to Ohio industry in commercializing these materials for applications in the electronics and photonics industries was an important factor in their selection. Ken will be using these funds to acquire a state-of-the-art femtosecond laser system and optical detection system for studying the role of dimensionality in fundamental optical and electronic processes in novel liquid crystal and polymeric semiconductors, as well as nonlinear optical processes in chiral media.

May 2003

The State of Ohio through its "Third Frontier Initiative" has awarded $17.1M to a research consortium involving CWRU, OSU, and Philips Medical Systems. The CWRU research team is headed by Dave Wilson (biomedical engineering) and Bob Brown, and the award is for the development of high-field MRI systems and includes significant faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate student support for the physics department. Along with the Associate Dean of Engineering, Bob represented CWRU at a photo-opp ceremony in Columbus Wednesday, getting his picture taken with Governor Taft.

Wright Centers of Innovation Funding Program and Ohio Biomedical Research Technology Transfer Trust Fund

April 28 - May 3, 2003

This years winner is Brian DeMarco, currently at NIST.

A Wireless Classroom Communications System

Corbin Covault is planning to implement a new system for real-time student interaction using wireless infrared transmitters. The wireless transmitters will allow students to respond quickly and anonymously to conceptual questions and problems on the material that the instructor presents to the class. The wireless system will support a more active and interactive learning environment in the large lecture classroom. Corbin Covault will be implementing this system for use in the P221 Modern Physics course which will be taught during the Fall semester, 2002.

Bob Brown is part of a medical school and engineering group that has successfully gotten a Hayes Ohio Board of Regents award for $2,000,000. While this is largely for equipment in the form of a small-bore high-field MRI system,the award was based in no small part on "unique collaboration and teaching activity." This was based strongly on the research of Brown's group and his ability to create educated graduates who enter the working world/research successfully. PHYS431 was a central part of the education publicized as was his track record with students.

Lawrence Krauss is the 2002 AIP Science Writing Award winner in the Scientist category for his book Atom.

Lawrence Krauss wins the 2001 APS Lilienfeld Prize.

Citation: "For outstanding contributions to the understanding of the early universe, and extraordinary achievement in communicating the essence of physical science to the general public."

Lawrence Krauss wins the 2001 Andrew Gemant Award.

Citation: "the accomplishments of a person who has made significant contributions to the understanding of the relationship of physics to its surrounding culture and to the communication of that understanding." (Previous awardees include: R. R. Wilson, Abraham Pais, Steven Weinberg, Stephen Hawking.)

Perhaps of historical interest.

by Philip L. Taylor and Olle Heinonen was published by Cambridge University Press in December 2001.

Their book, aimed at advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students, leads the reader from the fundamental behavior of electrons and atoms in solids to the most recently explored manifestations of the quantum nature of condensed matter.