"Richard Williams" Archive

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: Williams, Fernandez, Jayawickreme

Congratulations to Richard Williams, professor emeritus of physics, whose proposal entitled “Improvements of Scintillators mainly Experimental WFU subcontract from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab” has been funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and by (subaward/subcontract from) the University of California.

Congratulations to Luis Fernandez, assistant professor of biology, whose proposal entitled “PRO-Agua Project: Peru” has been funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and by (subaward/subcontract from) the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University.

Congratulations to Eranda Jayawickreme, associate professor of psychology, whose proposal entitled “Strengthening Character Through Challenge and Failure” has been funded by the John Templeton Foundation and by (subaward/subcontract from) Arizona State University.

Categories: Faculty NewsInside WFU

Proposals funded: Comstock-Ferguson, Fernandez, Williams

Congratulations to Lindsay Comstock-Ferguson, associate professor of chemistry, whose proposal entitled “Mechanisms and Biological Functions of SPOUT methyltransferases” has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and by (subaward/subcontract from) The Ohio State University.

Congratulations to Luis Fernandez, assistant research professor of biology, whose proposal entitled “Rapid Environmental Assessment of Mercury Release, Fate and Transport” has been funded by the Research Foundation of SUNY.

Congratulations to Richard Williams, adjunct professor of physics research, whose proposal entitled “Improvement of Scintillators mainly Experimental WFU subcontract from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab” has been funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and by (subaward/subcontract from) the University of California.

Categories: Faculty NewsInside WFU

Proposals funded: Williams, Thonhauser, Bonin, Muday

Congratulations to Richard Williams, professor emeritus of physics, whose proposal entitled “Improvement of Scintillators mainly Experimental WFU subcontract from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab” has been funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and by (subaward/subcontract from) University of California.

Congratulations to Timo Thonhauser, associate professor of physics, whose proposal entitled “Synthesizing Novel Metal Organic Frameworks with tailored Physical, Chemical, Optical, and Electrical Properties” has been funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and by (subaward/subcontract from) the University of Texas at Dallas.

Congratulations to Keith Bonin, professor of physics, whose proposal entitled “Real-Time Dopamine Signaling and Ethanol Drinking Behavior” has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and by (subaward/subcontract from) Wake Forest University Health Sciences.

Congratulations to Gloria K. Muday, professor of biology, whose proposal entitled “Flavonoid regulation of root architecture through reactive oxygen species signaling” has been funded by the National Science Foundation.

Categories: Faculty NewsInside WFU

Proposals funded: Jayawickreme, Kim-Shapiro, Carroll, Salsbury, Williams

Congratulations to Eranda Jayawickreme, assistant professor of psychology, whose proposal entitled “Strengthening Character Through Challenge and Failure” has been funded by the John Templeton Foundation and by (subaward/subcontract from) Arizona State University.

Congratulations to Daniel Kim-Shapiro, professor of physics, whose proposal entitled “Antidote for inhaled CO poisoning based on mutationally engineered neuroglobin” has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and by (subaward/subcontract) the University of Pittsburgh.

Congratulations to David Carroll, professor of physics, whose proposal entitled “Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy for Accelerating Peripheral Nerve Regeneration and Preserving Neuromuscular Junctions” has been funded by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) and by (subaward/subcontract from) WFU Health Sciences.

Congratulations to Fred Salsbury, associate professor of physics, whose proposal entitled “Computational Biosciences Support” has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and by (subaward/subcontract from) WFU Health Sciences.

Congratulations to Richard Williams, professor of physics, whose proposal entitled “Improvement of Scintillators mainly Experimental WFU subcontract from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab” has been funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and by (subaward/subcontract from) the University of California.

Categories: Faculty News

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