"Department of Physics" Archive

Physics department accepted into EP3’s Departmental Action Leadership Institute

Wake Forest University’s Department of Physics has been selected to participate in the first Departmental Action Leadership Institute (DALI), which will train physics departments using the Effective Practices for Physics Programs (EP3) to effect change.

The EP3 Guide provides resources for physics departments to help implement best practices in a variety of areas from recruiting majors, preparing them for careers, improving curricula and increasing diversity. The EP3 is a product of the American Physical Society (APS) in collaboration with the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT).

The physics department plans to focus on changes that increase diversity and improve the curriculum in ways that attract more majors.

Associate Professor Eric Carlson, Professor Jed Macosko, and Professor Fred Salsbury have volunteered to serve as change leaders, with Carlson and Salsbury attending a kickoff workshop in College Park, Maryland, from Sept. 9 – 11. After the kickoff, the change leaders will meet virtually bi-weekly with the EP3 team and other change leaders and report back to the department.

Categories: Inside WFU

Proposals funded: Geyer, Guthold, McCord

Congratulations to Scott Geyer, assistant professor of chemistry, whose proposal entitled “Employing atomically precise colloidal synthesis to reveal the roles of stoichiometry, strain and electron density in metal phosphide electrocatalysts” has been funded by the National Science Foundation.

Congratulations to Martin Guthold, professor of physics, whose proposal entitled “Identifying the function of the Fibrin(ogen) alpha-C connector region” has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and by (subaward/subcontract from) East Carolina University.

Congratulations to Emily McCord, news director for 88.5 WFDD, whose proposal entitled “La Noticia’s match for RFA Newsroom Host Grant” has been funded by La Noticia.

Congratulations to Emily McCord, news director for 88.5 WFDD, whose proposal entitled “RFA Newsroom Host Grant” has been funded by Report for America.

Proposals funded: Iltis, Jurchescu, Silman

Congratulations to Ana Iltis, professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Bioethics, Health and Society, whose proposal entitled ” Identifying and exploring solutions to the ethical challenges of ApoL1 testing of donors with recent African ancestry through mixed methods research with stakeholders” has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and by (subaward/subcontract from) Washington University.

Congratulations to Oana Jurchescu, professor of physics, whose proposal entitled “DMREF: Collaborative Research: Organic Semiconductors by Computationally-Accelerated Refinement (OSCAR)” has been funded by the National Science Foundation.

Congratulations to Miles Silman, professor of biology and director of the Center for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability, whose proposal entitled “CINCIA ACIERTA: Alliance for Science and Ecosystem Recovery” has been funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Categories: Faculty NewsInside WFU

Richard Wiliams, retired physics professor, passes away

We are saddened to share that retired physics professor Richard T. Williams passed away July 5, 2021, after a brief struggle with AML leukemia. He was 75. Photograph of retired physics professor Richard Williams working in the lab

Professor Williams earned a BS in physics at Wake Forest in 1968 and was the first Speas Award recipient for distinguished work in physics (the highest undergraduate award). He then earned an MA in 1971 and a PhD in physics in 1974 at Princeton.

After a successful early career at the Naval Research Laboratory, he was recruited back to Wake Forest as the Reynolds Professor of Physics. Professor Williams increased the reputation and visibility of the Wake Forest physics department by helping to establish its PhD program in the 1980s. He mentored the first physics PhD graduate and was the first endowed professor within the department.

After formally retiring from the University in 2017, Professor Williams remained active in research at the Wake Forest Nanotech Center.

Professor Williams’s obituary is available here. A Celebration of Life service will be held on Saturday, August 28, 2021, at 2 p.m. at Salem Funeral and Cremations, 2951 Reynolda Rd, Winston-Salem, NC.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Cancer Society at https://donate3.cancer.org/ or by calling 800.227.2345.

We grieve Professor Williams’s death and extend our condolences to his family and friends, as well as those at Wake Forest who had the opportunity to know him.

Wake Forest offers support and counseling services for all students, faculty and staff. The Counseling Center may be reached at 336.758.5273, the Chaplain’s Office at 336.758.5210. For staff and faculty, there is also the Employee Assistance Program at 336.716.5493.

Categories: Inside WFU

Proposals funded: Anderson, Muday and Pease, Yazdani

Congratulations to Paul Anderson, professor of physics, whose proposal entitled “Studies relating to black hole evaporation and to the validity of the semiclassical approximation in cosmology” has been funded by the National Science Foundation.

Congratulations to Gloria Muday, professor of biology and director of the Center for Molecular Signaling, and James Pease, assistant professor of biology, whose proposal entitled “RESEARCH-PGR: Genomic analysis of heat stress during tomato pollination” has been funded by the National Science Foundation and by (subaward/subcontract from) Brown University.

Congratulations to Saami Yazdani, associate professor of engineering, whose proposal entitled “Local delivery of smooth muscle cell targeted aptamer to inhibit neointimal growth and accelerate vascular healing” has been funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Categories: Faculty NewsInside WFU

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