March
29, 2002
Kudos
Column
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Photo: Ben Barnhart
Physics
professor Janice Hudgings (left) and Charis Quay Huei Li
'01 observe light from a vertical-cavity surface-emitting
laser being back-reflected into the laser from an external
mirror. A small amount of the light is coupled out of the
beam path using a beam splitter; that light is sent to a
photodetector and a spectrometer for analysis.
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Quantum Leaps
Janice Hudgings, Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Physics,
has received a National Science Foundation CAREER award of $375,000
for her proposal "Stability and Polarization Control of Single
Mode Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers Exposed to Optical
Feedback." Says Donal O'Shea, dean of faculty, "These
prestigious awards are granted to a select few researchers at
an early stage of their career. Not only must the research be
exceptionally promising, but the proposer must have the research
integrated with a strong educational plan. The reviewers lauded
the fact that Hudgings's work would be relevant to developing
new nanoscale photonic devices and might even have a much broader
impact on quantum devices. They were enthusiastic about the linkages
proposed with industries and the possible commercial applications
of Hudgings's work. They were absolutely ecstatic about the way
in which Hudgings proposed to integrate scientific inquiry at
all levels of the undergraduate curriculum and the way she has
already used the Web to encourage women to pursue careers in physics
and engineering." This is the third CAREER award to be given
to an MHC faculty member. Craig Woodard, associate professor of
biological sciences, and Sean Decatur, associate professor of
chemistry, each received one. Hudgings also just heard that she
has been awarded a 2002 Career Enhancement Fellowship for Junior
Faculty from Underrepresented Groups by the Woodrow Wilson National
Fellowship Foundation, with support from the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation. Notes O'Shea, "Given that only a handful of these
fellowships are awarded each year, it is a coup that our faculty
have won two of them in the first two years of the program. Clare
Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Jill
Bubier got one last year."
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Photo: Fred LeBlanc
Karen
Hollis is shifting her research focus from blue gourami
fish to stink bugs.
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Out with the Fish,
in with the Bugs Karen Hollis, professor of psychology and
education, has received the James McKeen Cattell Fund Fellowship,
which supports the science and application of psychology. Says
O'Shea, dean of faculty, "Typically, between five and
seven such awards are made per year, and the list of those who
have received them reads like a who's who in psychology.
It's also very unusual for them to go to someone from a college;
in fact, only six of the 175 awardees since 1974 have been from
colleges." The award will enable Hollis to spend next year
away from campus to make the transition from studying fish to
studying insects.
Tectonic Text Melinda
Darby Dyar, visiting associate professor of astronomy and geology,
and a colleague from Idaho have received a grant for $417,244
for three years from the National Science Foundation for the development
of a 3-D interactive mineralogy textbook. Their book will subsume
some of the materials in Dyar's CD Hands-on Mineral Identification.
Says Donal O'Shea, "The idea is to produce an inexpensive
textbook with black-and-white illustrations. Included with the
text will be two CDs whose color pictures can be rotated, exercises,
and a database that will allow identification of minerals."
The Mineralogical Society of America will publish the text.
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