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Physics Students and Faculty Recognized at 2008 Chancellor's Honors

April 10, 2008

The department brought home numerous honors at the Chancellor’s Honors Banquet on April 9, including recognition of Professor Lee Riedinger as Macebearer, the highest faculty honor at UT Knoxville. This past year Riedinger returned to the department full-time as a professor of physics after serving both the university and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in a number of administrative posts. As his citation reads, “no one has done more for the collaboration between Oak Ridge National Laboratory and UT than Riedinger; over the past 25 years, he has initiated or been an integral part of every major joint program between the two organizations.” Riedinger joined the physics department in 1971 and served as head from 1996 until 2000. He also served as director of both the Science Alliance and the Joint Institute for Heavy Ion Research and spent six years with ORNL as deputy director of science and technology and associate director for university partnerships.

Professor Pengcheng Dai was honored with an award for Research and Creative Achievement in recognition of his contributions to the understanding of high-temperature superconductors. A respected leader in neutron scattering, he has published his findings in 35 papers over the past three and half years alone.

Taking student honors were graduate students Usama Al-Binni and Songxue Chi and undergraduate Jack Hunt for Extraordinary Professional Promise, and Matt Hollingsworth for Extraordinary Academic Achievement. Matt was also honored as a Top Collegiate Scholar.

Another recent physics award winner is undergraduate Jeff Tithof, who placed first in the College of Arts and Sciences Natural Sciences category at the Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement (EURCA) held April 2-4. Jeff was also honored with a Phi Kappa Phi award for his work, entitled, “New Covariant Constraints for New Forces of Nature.”