Two rising stars in the field of physics have been hired to teach and conduct research at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The appointments of Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn as tenured professors of physics were approved March 18 by the CU Board of Regents.
The husband and wife team will join the physics department in mid-August. They also will be fellows of JILA, a joint institute of CU-Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Kapteyn and Murnane work in optical sciences and laser technology development and are considered the world leaders in the fields of ultrafast lasers and coherent soft X-ray generation. They currently work at the Center for Ultrafast Optical Sciences at the University of Michigan.
"Professors Murnane and Kapteyn are award-winning physicists and will make outstanding additions to CU-Boulder's program in atomic, molecular and optical physics, which already is ranked nationally," said Peter Spear, dean of the CU-Boulder College of Arts and Sciences, the home college of the physics department. The hiring was the result of cooperation among several academic units and NIST.
CU-Boulder聮s graduate program in atomic and molecular physics was ranked first in the nation for excellence by U.S. News and World Report in 1996.
"In addition to being world-class researchers, they are excellent teachers who will bring their expertise into the classroom for our undergraduate and graduate physics students," Spear said. "Margaret Murnane also is very active in the Association for Women in Science and will be an excellent mentor and role-model for our women science students."
The experimental research physicists earned their doctorates at the University of California, Berkeley and also taught physics at Washington State University. They also launched Kapteyn-Murnane Laboratories, which manufactures ultrafast laser instrumentation.
"I think it is great that we have been able to hire these two rapidly rising stars in optical physics," said Carl Wieman, distinguished professor of physics and a fellow of JILA. "Although relatively young, they are already leading experts in the generation of ultrashort intense light and its application in physics and chemistry. This is an area of tremendous potential.
"Their presence will ensure that the department of physics and JILA maintain their preeminent position as a world leader in atomic, molecular and optical physics. They are also excellent teachers who are very devoted to their students," he said.
"With their addition we further solidify our position as a leader in the world in atomic, molecular and optical physics," said Professor John Cumalat, chair of the CU physics department. "We expect the synergy to be great with researchers from NIST, chemistry, engineering and physics."
Murnane is considered one of the elite woman physicists in the United States. She received worldwide recognition for winning the Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award, given each year to the top woman physicist under the age of 40. Her other honors include the American Physical Society聮s Simon Ramo Plasma Physics Prize, a Presidential Young Investigator Award, a Sloan Foundation Fellowship and a Presidential Faculty Fellowship. She is a fellow of the Optical Society of America and vice-chair of the National Research Council committee on atomic, molecular and optical sciences.
Kapteyn is the world leader in the development of ultrafast, high intensity pulsed lasers, Cumalat said. Researchers all over the world use the short pulse oscillator that Kapteyn developed. His honors include a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, the Adolph Lomb Medal of the Optical Society of America and a Sloan Research Fellowship. He is a fellow of the Optical Society of America and president of Kapteyn-Murnane Laboratories.
Kapteyn and Murnane will each be paid $82,000 per academic year.