Physics Family News
Professor Anthony Mezzacappa, Newton W. and Wilma C. Thomas Chair of Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics, was honored with the university's 2022 Alexander Prize. Named for former UT president and U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander and his late wife, Honey, the award recognizes superior teaching and distinguished scholarship. Professor Mezzacappa (pictured with Provost John Zomchick) has also been named a College of Arts and Sciences Excellence Professor.
For his "pioneering work on the theoretical framework of correlated electron systems and describing their importance through elegant written and oral communications," the American Physical Society awarded Distinguished UT Professor/Distinguished Oak Ridge National Laboratory Scientist Elbio Dagotto the 2023 David Adler Lectureship Award in the Field of Materials Physics. The honor is awarded annually to a scientist making outstanding contributions to materials physics and who is notable for high quality research, review articles, and lecturing.
Associate Professor Andrew W. Steiner, who holds a joint appointment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society "for pioneering a data-driven approach to constraining neutron star properties and the dense matter equation of state that combines advanced statistical methods, state-of-the-art nuclear theory, experimental constraints on bulk nuclear properties, and astrophysical data." He becomes the 10th APS Fellow on the current physics faculty.
Professor Hanno Weitering won a trifecta of 2022 honors. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science "for outstanding contributions to the fundamental understanding of correlated phenomena at interfaces and in thin films and for distinguished academic leadership," bringing the UT Physics AAAS Fellow count to three active faculty members. He was selected as a UT Chancellor's Professor, a designation honoring extraordinary scholarly attainment in an individual discipline or field and a record of excellence in teaching and service to the university. Last but not least, in March he was honored with the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Research Career Award.
Assistant Professor Tova Holmes has a challenging but welcome task: looking for hidden physics with particles no human can see. She'll pursue this aim with an Early Career Research award from the US Department of Energy Office of Science. The grant began last summer and includes $750,000 of support over the next five years. Holmes is part of the research group using the Compact Muon Solenoid detector to study high-energy particle collisions in the search for new particles, and new physics, at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva.
Assistant Professor Larry Lee gives vintage tech equipment a second life, as he engineers audio waveforms to show images from experimental particle physics—painting musical pictures through his ColliderScope project. For this innovative means of bringing science to the general public, he was awarded the College of Arts and Sciences Outreach Teaching Award. The Department of Physics and Astronomy has won 11 College Honors since 2016 for outstanding research, teaching, advising, and outreach.
We've got new team members! Paula Keaton is our Travel Administrator. She worked with Clayton Homes for several years and also has experience working for the Microbiology Department. Tamria Cameron is our Graduate Program Assistant. She joined the department after 23 years with Knox County Schools. Amanda Blair is our Grants and Payroll Manager. She joined the department from Student Health Services.
Physics was well-represented at the College of Arts and Sciences staff awards, where Business Manager Mike Roach received one of two financial support awards and Senior IT Technologist II Brad Gardner won the technical support award.
Back to Cross Sections, Spring 2023