From the 2013 Physics Alumni Newsletter
This past year has been an excellent one for the Physics Department. Our students and faculty have received a number of awards including another National Science Foundation Career Award – this time for Professor Oana Jurchescu (recall that Prof. Timo Thonhauser won an NSF Career Award the previous year), the WFU Reid-Doyle prize for excellence in teaching for Professor Oana Jurchescu, a WFU Teaching Innovation Award from the Teaching and Learning Center for Professor Jack Dostal, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships for graduate students Amanda Smelser and Katelyn Goetz, and the G. W. Greene Scholarship by the Wake Forest Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa for undergraduate physics major Kristine Cantin. Some details on these and other activities and awards are given below.
The number of students in our Department continues to grow. This fall we have 35 juniors, 16 seniors, and 43 graduate students. Our tradition of undergraduate research also continues. Last year over 30 undergraduate students engaged in research with our faculty. If you look around Olin, you will see posters and publications in our halls bearing the names of both our undergraduate and graduate students. You can also read about some of the students and their research projects at http://www.wfu.edu/physics/profiles/profiles.html
The National Science Foundation Career Award received by Professor Oana Jurchescu, is a national award to recognize the excellence of the scholarship and teaching of America’s outstanding young professor/scientists. It is the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious award in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. The award is given to outstanding scientists to build a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research.
The Reid-Doyle Prize for Excellence in Teaching which Professor Oana Jurchescu received recognizes faculty who are in the early part of their careers. Professor Jurchescu’s teaching style has been described by her students as “challenging and rewarding”. When Provost Rogan Kersh announced the award at the Spring Convocation, he finished with a quote from one of Professor Jurchescu’s past students who wrote: “She encourages her students to give their best and to extend their reach, never accepting ‘good enough.’ The Physics Department has now had four winners of the Reid-Doyle Prize for Excellence in Teaching: William C. Kerr (1976), Rick Matthews (1982), Martin Guthold (2005), and Oana Jurchescu (2013).
The Teaching Innovation Award from the Wake Forest University Teaching and Learning Center which Professor Jack Dostal won was for developing (with his award co-recipient Dr. Stewart Carter of Music) the class entitled “The Physics of Music”. The Teaching Innovation Award is to recognize the effort that goes into reworking traditional courses or introducing new courses, using new methods or finding ways to apply theories of learning to the practice of teaching.