Professor Howard Milchberg was named a 2013 fellow of the Optical Society of America (OSA). The number of OSA Members recommended for election to Fellow each year is limited to less than 0.5 percent of the total OSA Membership.  Fellows are selected based on their overall impact on optics, as gauged through factors such as specific scientific, engineering, and technological contributions, a record of significant publications or patents related to optics, technical leadership in the field, and service to OSA and the global optics community.

These distinguished Fellow Members will be recognized individually at meetings throughout 2013. Specific information on each new Fellow Member’s accomplishments are published in the February issue of Optics and Photonics News.

Alessandra Buonanno and Jayanth Banavar are among the new Outstanding Referees selected by the editors of the APS journals. Initiated in 2008, the highly selective Outstanding Referee program recognizes scientists who have been exceptionally helpful in assessing manuscripts for publication in the APS journals. Selections are based on two decades of records on the number, quality and timeliness of referee reports.

The full list of Outstanding Referees is located at, http://publish.aps.org/OutstandingReferees

“The Day I Said ‘Nyet!’ to Gorbachev… and Other Life Tales of a Famous Soviet Scientist”

Distinguished University of Maryland Professor Roald Z. Sagdeev discussed “The Day I Said ‘Nyet!’ to Gorbachev… and Other Life Tales of a Famous Soviet Scientist” with journalist Daniel Zwerdling on February 7, 2013 at the Marriott Conference Center on the UMD campus. Sagdeev ran the Soviet space program and advised Soviet leaders on the nuclear arms race. He spoke about love, communism, physics and the end of the Soviet Union with Daniel Zwerdling, an award-winning correspondent and investigative journalist with National Public Radio. 

President Obama presented the National Medal of Science to Professor Sylvester James "Jim" Gates Jr. on Friday, Feb. 1.

Gates, the John S. Toll Professor of Physics and Director of the Center for String & Particle Theory, is a UMD Distinguished Scholar-Teacher and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and the Maryland State Board of Education. In addition to his seminal work in supersymmetry, supergravity and string theory, Professor Gates is a well-known advocate for science and science education here and abroad. He has been a frequent guest on NOVA productions on PBS and a featured presenter at the World Science Festivals. He has delivered the annual Karplus Lecture to the National Science Teachers Association and has received the Public Understanding of Science and Technology Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The National Medal--the nation's highest award in science--was established in 1959 and is administered by the National Science Foundation.

In addition, Professor Gates was recently named a University System of Maryland Regents Professor.

For more images from the Friday medal ceremony, see the links below.

Credit: Ryan K Morris/National Science & Technology Medals Foundation

Washington Examiner photos

Getty Images

CRI

Yahoo/Reuters