Assistant Professor Kara Hoffman has received the 2009 Richard A. Ferrell Distinguished Faculty Fellowship, which recognizes outstanding personal effort and expertise in physics as well as dedicated service to the UMD Department of Physics. The Fellowship, established in 2001, honors Dr. Richard A. Ferrell, a deeply-respected physicist who joined the University in 1953, served 40 years, and remained active in the department even after his retirement. Dr. Ferrell died in 2005 at his nearby University Park home.

Professor Hoffman is a particle astrophysicist whose current areas of focus are AURA (the Askaryan Underice Radio Array) and the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole. She was the recent recipient of an NSF CAREER award and in 2007 received the Board of Visitors' Distinguished Junior Faculty Award from the College of Computer, Mathematical and Physical Sciences.