Staff Changes

New Hires

Kevin Black was hired as an Assistant Professor of Physics in May 2010 and will begin working in the department in September 2010. Black received his PhD in Experimental High Energy Physics from Boston University in 2005. His hire was the result of a faculty search in High Energy Physics.

Pankaj Mehta was hired as an Assistant Professor of Physics in March 2010 and will begin working with the Department in September 2010. Mehta received his PhD in Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics from Rutgers University in 2006. His hire was the result of a faculty search in Systems Biology and Statistical Physics.

Logan Chieffo began working with Professor Richard Averitt in May. Chieffo’s research is focused on terahertz spectroscopy.

Jude Laverock began work with the department in January. He works with Professor Kevin Smith in the field of electronic structure studies of materials. Laverock works mainly at NSLS and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Arnab Sen began work with Professor Anders Sandvik in February. His research is focused on frustrated quantum magnets and unusual quantum states of bosonic systems.

Christian Spethmann joined the department in September. He works with Professor Martin Schmaltz on theoretical particle physics.

Jason Amsden joined the department in February working with Professor Ken Rothschild in infrared spectroscopy.

Louis Fernandez joined Professor Sid Redner’s group in March. He is working on the applications of statistical physics to problems of social dynamics.

Yang-Hyo Kim joined the department in April working on the NSF-funded multi-user ultrafast instrumentation facility with Professor Shyam Erramilli.

Clemens Neuenhahn has been working in Professor Anatoli Polkovnikov’s group since April. His research is focused on non-equilibrium quantum dynamics.

Kenta Yamada joined Professor Sid Redner’s group in April. His research is in non-equilibrium statistical physics.

Promotions and Tenuring

Richard Averitt was awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor.

Assistant Professor Andrew Duffy was promoted to Master Lecturer.

Arno Heister was promoted in October from Research Associate to Research Assistant Professor. Heister works with Professors Rohlf and Sulak in the CMS experiment at CERN.

Louis Piper was promoted in October from Research Associate to Research Assistant Professor. Piper works with Professor Smith at the synchrotron light source at BNL.

Leaves and Sabbaticals

Professor Bennett Goldberg spent 6 months of his sabbatical at Boston University reinvigorating his research in nano-optics of condensed matter and biological systems. Goldberg also worked to expand the role of the Center for Nanoscience and Nanobiotechnology across the institution. Goldberg spent the other 6 months of his sabbatical at Tel Aviv University learning new applications of biosensing and proteomics.

Professor Jim Miller was elected co-spokesman of the Mu2e Experiment and spent a significant amount of time at Fermilab working on the development of this project on a teaching buy-out. Professor Miller’s participation in the experiment as co-spokesman brought prestige to Boston University, furthered his research career and was quite beneficial for the High Energy Physics community.

Professor Kenneth Rothschild took a leave of absence to work closely with AmberGen, Inc. to develop a prognostic “signature” assay to predict the course of colorectal cancer (CRC), the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. The assay, based in part on spin-off technology from his research at BU, has the potential to save thousands of lives by predicting which of the 150,000 CRC patients each year in the U.S. should be treated to prevent metastasis relapse. Given the seriousness of colorectal cancer as one of the leading causes of cancer death the research which Professor Rothschild conducted has the potential of being of great societal importance.

Professor James Stone took a leave of absence to undertake a Jefferson Science Fellowship at the State Department. Having worked with NSF and DOE in the past, Professor Stone was able to make real contributions to policy making at this critical time for our economy, especially in public financing of basic research, which included the construction of very large instruments for high energy physics.

Departures

Professor Ulrich Heintz left our department to move to a faculty position at Brown University.

Continue reading: Awards and Accomplishments