AWARDS
Spafford also received the Harold F. Tipton
Lifetime Achievement Award from (ISC) 2, a
nonprofit organization that educates and
certifies information security professionals.
It recognizes his years of achievements.
“His work has propelled us light years
ahead of where we would be without his
contributions,” awards committee chair
Corey Schou says.
“For most of my 27 years at Purdue, I
have been trying to increase our trust in
computing systems deployed in critical
situations and to improve the educational
process to allow us to produce experts who
can add to that trust,” Spafford says.
“My efforts have been focused not only
at Purdue, but in the community at large.
It has not been a solo effort, but one
that several others have joined in as an
undertaking.”
‘Giant’ Molecules Win Purdue
Professor Hamburg Prize for
Theoretical Physics
Chris Greene, the Albert Overhauser
Distinguished Professor of Physics,
has won the 2013 Hamburg Prize for
Theoretical Physics for his work on “giant”
molecules.
Greene was honored for his theory of an
unusual binding mechanism in ultracold
quantum gases and the existence of
huge Rydberg molecules, electronically
excited molecules that behave in unique
ways and can exhibit exaggerated sizes.
His prediction, published in 2000 with
coauthors Alan Dickinson and Hossein
Sadeghpour, helped to trigger the
experimental discovery of these unusual
Rydberg molecules in 2008.
The prize, which is jointly awarded by
Joachim Herz Shiftung and the Hamburg
Centre for Ultrafast Imaging (CUI), includes
$53,444 and a research and teaching visit at
the University of Hamburg.
“In being awarded the Hamburg Prize, Chris
joins a very elite group of physicists who
have made fundamental contributions to
our understanding of quantum systems,”
says Andrew Hirsch, interim head of the
Department of Physics at Purdue.
Purdue Professor Named
Pop Tech Science Fellow
Jonathan Wilker a professor of
chemistry and materials engineering,
was tapped last fall as an “ambassador
of science” as one of the 2013 class of
Pop Tech Fellows.
Wilker’s research focuses on understanding
and mimicking the adhesives produced
by oysters, mussels and barnacles in
order to create new materials including
wet-setting adhesives for use in medicine
and construction and materials to keep
boat hulls clean without harming the
environment.
“There’s a lot of applications you might be
able to think of for a biologically produced
adhesive, something that can set in a wet
environment and something that makes
really strong bonds to a surface,” says
Wilker. He shared some of his ideas as
a featured speaker at Pop Tech’s annual
conference last fall in Camden, Maine.
Pop Tech is a global community of
innovators that helps promising scientists
become more effective communicators
and leaders. The science fellows program
is designed to help promising scientists
become more effective communicators,
collaborators and leaders and to develop a
corps of highly visible and socially engaged
scientific leaders, according to Pop Tech.
Fellows are chosen through an invitation-only nomination process and selection
by the program’s advisory board, which
includes science and communications
leaders and working scientists.
Chris Greene Jonathan Wilker
38
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“His work has propelled us light years
ahead of where we would be without his
contributions,” awards committee chair
Corey Schou says.
“For most of my 27 years at Purdue, I
y g s u ut
c pi ste o ii
t i n an to m ve t c o
pr ess a d e p t
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‘Giant’ Molecules Win Purdue
Professor Hamburg Prize for
Theoretical Physics
Ch i n , he A t
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molecules.
Greene was honored for his theory of an
unusual binding mechanism in ultracold
quantum gases and the existence of
huge Rydberg molecul s, electronically
excited molecules that behave in unique
ways and can exhibit exaggerated sizes.
His prediction, pu lished in 2000 with
coauthors Alan Dickinson and Hossein
Sadeghpour, helped to trigger the
experimental discovery of these unusual
Rydberg molecules in 2008.
The prize, which is jointly awarded by
Joachim Herz Shiftung and the Hamburg
Centre for Ultrafast Imaging (CUI), includes
$53,444 and a research and teaching visit at
the University of Hamburg.
“In being awarded the Hamburg Prize, Chris
joins a very elite group of physicists who
have made fundamental contributions to
our understanding of quantum systems,”
says Andrew Hirsch, interim head of the
Department of Physics at Purdue.
Purdue Professor Named
Pop Tech Science Fellow
Jonathan Wilker, a professor of
chemistry and materials engineering,
was tapped last fall as an “ambassador
of science” as one of the 2013 class of
Pop Tech Fellows.
Wilker’s research focuses on understanding
and mimicking the adhesives produced
by oysters, mussels and barnacles in
order to create new materials including
wet-setting adhesives for use in medicine
and construction and materials to keep
boat hulls clean without harming the
e vironment.
“There’s a lot of applications you might be
able to think of for a biologically produced
adhesive, something that can set in a wet
environment and something that makes
really strong bonds to a surface,” says
Wilker. He shared some of his ideas as
a featured speaker at Pop Tech’s annual
conference last fall in Camden, Maine.
Pop Tech is a global community of
innovators that helps promising scientists
become more effective communicators
and leaders. The science fellows program
is designed to help promising scientists
become more effective communicators,
collaborators and leaders and to develop a
corps of highly visible and socially engaged
scientific leaders, according to Pop Tech.
Fellows are chosen through an invitation-only nomination process and selection
by the program’s advisory board, which
includes science and communications
leaders and working scientists.
hrs ree e o a k r
