JILA News
JILA Fellow Tom Perkins has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Perkins was elected for his pioneering advances in high-resolution studies of single biological molecules.
The American Physical Society announced JILA Fellow Heather Lewandowski as the 2019 recipient of the F. Reichert and Barbara Wolff-Reichert Award for Excellence in Advanced Laboratory Instruction.
The American Physical Society announced JILA Fellow Jun Ye as the recipient of the 2019 Norman F. Ramsey Prize in Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, and in Precision Tests of Fundamental Laws and Symmetries. Ye was recognized for his ground-breaking contributions to precision measurements and the quantum control of atomic and molecular systems, including atomic clocks.
A CU °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï researcher who investigates the unusual behavior of icy objects at the outermost edges of the solar system has been named a 2018 Packard Fellow. Ann-Marie Madigan is one of 18 scientists and engineers receiving this honor, which is handed out annually by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. The award comes with a no-strings-attached, 5-year grant of $875,000 to support “the blue-sky thinkingâ€� of researchers across the country.
CO-LABS presented JILA’s ultrafast imaging team, led by Fellows Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn, the 2018 Governor’s Award for High-Impact Research. Murnane and Kapteyn were honored for their work in revolutionizing ultrafast and nanoscale imaging through the research and development of tabletop x-ray sources. These advancements enable real-time imaging of the structure, chemistry, and dynamics of materials at the level of small collections of atoms. The applications range from improving semiconductor devices and magnetic storage to understanding the fundamental physics and chemistry of complex materials. By designing, developing, and eventually enabling the availability of this technology through KM-Labs, Murnane and Kapteyn have enabled many curious researchers to further their discoveries.
Three JILA Fellows have been named 2018 Fellows of the American Physical Society. The three new Fellows—Andreas Becker, Heather J. Lewandowski, and James K. Thompson—were nominated from varying divisions of APS. Andreas Becker was nominated by the APS Division of Atomic, Molecular & Optical physics for his contributions to the understanding of the behavior of atoms and molecules in intense light fields, including seminal theoretical studies of attosecond dynamics, photoionization, complex electron dynamics in simple systems such as H2, and a better understanding of high-harmonic generation.
The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) announced last week that JILA Fellow Heather Lewandowski will receive the association’s Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT. Lewandowski’s dual research areas are in fundamental experimental molecular physics and Physics Education Research (PER). Within PER, Lewandowski studies how the structures of upper-level labs for undergraduates can best transition students into research lab environments.
JILA Fellows Dr. Tom Perkins and Dr. Konrad Lehnert both received medals from the Department of Commerce last night at the Ronald Reagan Amphitheater in Washington, D.C. Dr. Perkins received the Gold Medal, which is the highest honorary award given by the United States Department of Commerce, or DOC. Perkins was recognized for creating the world’s best atomic force microscope tailored to biological measurements. This device can “grab� onto biological molecules, such as proteins, and measure the tiny forces involved in their folding and unfolding.
JILA’s favorite degenerate, the Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC), has a new home: the International Space Station. This new acheivement is "multi-mega-awesome," according to JILA Fellow Eric Cornell. BECs became a staple for measuring quantum phenomenon when they were experimentally realized in 1995 by JILA Fellows Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman at the °Ç¸ç³Ô¹Ï, and by Wolfgang Ketterle at MIT.
JILA Fellow and NIST Physicist Ralph Jimenez received the 2017 Arthur S. Flemming Award for outstanding public service as a Federal employee. Jimenez was one of 12 honorees across all parts of the Federal government to receive the Flemming Award this cycle. Jimenez was a winner in the Applied Science and Engineering category for his pioneering research on combining microfluidics, ultrafast lasers, biochemistry and molecular biology to dramatically accelerate the creation and characterization of specialized biomolecules to serve as sensors within living cells.