Karen Flodman Dow

Mary Lyon Award

February 6, 1991

Karen A. Dow, Class of 1982. Dedicated scientist, we recognize today your fundamental achievements in the field of physics, and your inspiration to those inside and outside your field with whom you have been associated.

After receiving your A.B. magna cum laude in physics and mathematics, you joined the department of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a graduate student, working with the research group at the Bates Linear Accelerator as its first woman Ph.D. candidate. Quickly becoming the local expert on the data acquisition system, you provided assistance to younger graduate students and many others.

During your thesis research on the tritium and 3He nuclei, you took the major responsibility in the group for data analysis, including corrections, calibration, and error analysis, with the theoretical understanding of a superior experimentalist. With your collaborators, you published a paper on the topic in the prestigious Physical Review Letters.

Following receipt of your Ph.D. and bypassing the customary postdoctoral fellowship route, you joined the group at Bates as a staff physicist working on the parity violation experiments. You continue to maintain and tailor the data acquisition system, and are now in charge of the new experiments which will be the first ever to probe the strangeness content of the nucleon.

A frequent volunteer lecturer and guide for visitors to the laboratory, you have also worked closely with high school students who come to Bates to participate in research and have served as judge at community science fairs.

Your consistent qualities of character and citizenship have pioneered a path for other aspiring physicists to follow. In recognition of your achievements, the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College is proud to present to you its Mary Lyon Award.