 Dr.
Lee Riedinger Wins Francis Slack Award
October 19, 2005
Physics may have taken a certain red-headed kid from Cincinnati to China, but nowhere has his influence been more profoundly felt than in the South. And so the Southeastern Section of the American Physical Society has awarded Lee Riedinger the prestigious Francis G. Slack Award, which he will accept on November 11 at the SESAPS annual meeting banquet.
Dr. Riedinger is a professor of physics, but his current office is at Oak
Ridge National Laboratory where he serves as associate director for university
partnerships. Since his arrival at UT in 1971 as an assistant professor,
the Ohio native has worked tirelessly to promote science in general and
physics in particular. He took leadership roles in establishing some of
the university's greatest successes in scientific collaboration: the Science
Alliance, the Distinguished Scientist Program, the Collaborating Scientist
Program, and the joint faculty and joint institute initiatives. He's been
an honorary professor at Lanzhou University in China, a visiting scientist
at the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark, and a science advisor to a United
States Senator (Howard Baker). In his current role, he builds partnerships
between the national laboratory and universities. In 2004, the U.S. Department
of Energy recognized him with two special recognition awards: one for support
of minority education and another for "best in class" support of historically
black colleges and universities. He has also managed to win continuous external
funding for his nuclear physics research since 1975 and has guided 14 students
to graduate degrees.
As Dr. Homer Fisher, UT Senior Vice President Emeritus, said in his nomination, "Lee has been an outstanding administrator in a number of key positions at UT and ORNL. However, he has never forgotten his roots as a physicist and has maintained his ties to the department, his departmental colleagues, and his students."
The Slack Award is named for Francis G. Slack, a charter member of SESAPS who enjoyed a distinguished scientific career at Vanderbilt University. The honor recognizes scientists who have made significant contributions to strengthen physics research, collaboration, education and outreach through the region.
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