Significant Changes Over the Past Year

September 2024

According to College Factual, the Physics Department now ranks 7 out of 50 colleges and universities in the Southeast US for our Bachelor of Science degree and 2 out of 22 in the Southeast for our PhD program (tied with the Georgia Institute of Technology).  We are continuously striving to provide the best education for our students.  

Our Academic Coordinator, Candace Ring, moved on to another position within the University last spring.  Our new Academic Coordinator is Carrie Munson.   Prior to starting at WFU, Carrie was a teacher for 13 years most recently in Massachusetts. After graduating from Wake with a biology degree, she and her family lived in 11 different states before ending up where it all started. Carrie has two sons who are studying at Montana State University. She enjoys hiking with her two dogs and husband, reading, playing tennis,and powerlifting.

We are sad to report that George Holzwarth passed away on March 13, 2024.  George joined the physics faculty of Wake Forest University in August 1983.   While he officially retired in 2004, he remained active in his biophysics research to the very end.  Before joining WFU, George earned a BS degree in physics from Wesleyan University in 1959 and a Ph. D. in biophysics from Harvard University in 1964.  He served as a faculty member at the University of Chicago 1967-1974 and on the Research staff at Exxon Corporate Research 1974-1983.  Throughout his long career, George enjoyed finding ways in which physics concepts and methods can be used to address interesting and challenging biological questions. George would have been very happy to learn that his last paper, “Directional change during active diffusion of viral ribonucleoprotein particles through cytoplasm” in collaboration with his students, Doug Lyles from the medical school, and others has now been published. The family is arranging for an annual biophysics colloquium as part of the physics colloquium program in George’s honor. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/winstonsalem/name/george-holzwarth-obituary?id=54682