EAST LANSING, Mich. – The National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University is not only home to the nation’s premier rare isotope facility, it’s also home to the co-recipient of the 2006 Sackler Prize in the Physical Sciences.
Thomas Glasmacher, professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and associate director of operations at the NSCL, is one of two physical scientists selected from an international pool of researchers to receive the prize this year.
Each year the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize in the Physical Sciences recognizes young scientists, those 40 years old and under, conducting original research that has made a significant contribution to their field. The prize is administered by Tel Aviv University, and each recipient receives $20,000.
Glasmacher earned this recognition for the development of new, ultra-sensitive techniques to study nuclear structure. He shares the prize with Yuri Kovchegov, a professor from Ohio State University.
“We are extremely proud that he got this international recognition,” Konrad Gelbke, NSCL director said. “It is a showcase of the important science we do here at the lab. This award is a big mark of distinction for the lab, physics department and MSU.”
Glasmacher received his doctorate from Florida State University where he was a Fulbright Scholar. He joined the cyclotron laboratory as a research associate in 1992 and became a faculty member in 1995. He has since been recognized as an American Physical Society Fellow, an MSU Lilly Endowment Teaching Fellow and a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award recipient.
The Sackler Prize honors Glasmacher’s research and dedication to his field and the future generation of nuclear scientists.
“It is a great honor to be recognized in this worldwide competition,” Glasmacher said. “Today, experimental nuclear physics is a collaborative between aspiring and established scientists. This recognition, however, should really go to the high-performance team of undergraduate students, graduate students and postdocs who implement these successful experiments.”
MSU’s cyclotron laboratory is the leading rare isotope research facility in the United States. In addition to advancing cutting edge nuclear science research, the facility is responsible for educating the next generation of nuclear physicists, with approximately 10 percent of the nation’s doctorate-level nuclear scientists receiving their training here. Undergraduates, too, benefit from the lab research at NSCL. Glasmacher has directed more than 30 undergraduate students on various projects at the laboratory.
“The Sackler Prize is distinctive in part because it is given to people who are young – and they are the future,” said Naftali Auerbach, professor of theoretical nuclear physics at Tel Aviv University, currently visiting at the MSU cyclotron laboratory. “It means he is one of the best young researchers in experimental nuclear physics.”
Supported by the NSF and MSU, the cyclotron laboratory operates two superconducting cyclotrons to produce beams of rare isotopes. Experiments at the laboratory have been used to learn more about the origins of the elements in the cosmos and to develop better understanding of atomic nuclei.
The NSCL has a current user group of more than 600 scientists and researchers from around the world and built its first cyclotron nearly 40 years ago.
Glasmacher emphasizes the collaborative nature of his award-winning work on the structure of exotic nuclei.
“It is wonderful to have a world-class facility on MSU’s campus and it attracts the best scientists and the best students interested in becoming scientists,” Glasmacher said. “Here we can do both– world-class science research and formal education.”
For more information about the cyclotron laboratory, visit NSCL at http://www.nscl.msu.edu; for more details about the Sackler Prize in the Physical Sciences, go to http://www-nuclear.tau.ac.il/~spps/.
###
Michigan State University has been advancing knowledge and transforming lives through innovative teaching, research and outreach for 150 years. MSU is known internationally as a major public university with global reach and extraordinary impact. Its 15 degree-granting colleges attract scholars worldwide who are interested in combining education with practical problem solving.