Two UO scientists named fellows of American Physical Society

UO chemistry professor Andrew H. Marcus and Robert M. Schofield, a research assistant professor of physics, are among 125 scientists selected as fellows by the American Physical Society.

Marcus, whose research focuses on the structure and dynamics of large molecules in biological environments, joined the UO faculty in 1996 following two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago. His research provides a bridge from basic laser science to chemical physics to biophysics.

The APS cited Marcus for his contributions in developing new experimental methods in fluorescence spectroscopy and using the methods to understand chemical and physical processes in biological and material systems.

Among the problems that Marcus studies are the ways that biological molecules, such as proteins and DNA, recognize and interact with one another. Marcus also uses the methods he has developed to study how light is converted by chemical systems and nanostructured materials into other forms of energy, such as electricity.

Robert SchofieldSchofield's work has allowed scientists to capture on Earth the motions produced by far-away colliding stars and exploding galaxies. The APS cited Schofield "for leadership in identifying and mitigating environmental factors which impact the sensitivity of terrestrial gravitational wave detectors and elimination of spurious noise sources in LIGO."

LIGO refers to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, a facility in Hanford, Wash., where Schofield is part of an international research team searching for gravity waves.

Marcus earned a bachelor's degree in 1987 from the University of California at San Diego, and a doctorate in 1994 from Stanford University. He won a Research Corporation Innovation Award in 1997 and a National Science Foundation Early Career Development Award in 1998.

Schofield earned a doctorate in 1990 from the UO after earning bachelor's degrees in 1982 and 1983 in experimental psychology and physics from Brigham Young University. He did postdoctoral work in the UO Institute of Molecular Biology and Sweden's Lund University before joining the UO as a scientist.

The two UO scientists will receive certificates at an upcoming APS meeting. Their names and award citations will appear in the March issue of APS News.

The APS Fellowship Program recognizes members who have made advances in knowledge or teaching. Those advances can be through original research and publication, significant innovative contributions in the application of physics to science and technology or significant contributions to the teaching of physics or service and participation in APS activities.

Each year since the APS was founded in 1899, members have selected no more than one half of one percent of their peers as fellows.

—By Jim Barlow, Public Affairs Communications