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2009 Florida State Physics News

• Kirby Kemper named APS Outstanding Referee
• With NSF Grant, Researchers Put Their 'Spin' on Electron Research
• Book sheds light on the life of Paul Dirac
• Circus brings fun to physics
• Bernd Berg elected Secretary-Treasurer of DCOMP
• Ben Thayer Receives Prestigious National Fellowship in Theoretical Particle Physics
• Serbia lauds native son with award in physical science
• Two professors and a scholar/scientist named APS ‘Outstanding Referees’
• Physicists get first look at single top quarks
• A Pioneer in Physics: Philip J. Wyatt
• Physicist tapped to lead Electron Magnetic Resonance program
• Florida State physics professors join prestigious ranks of AAAS fellows
• Researchers named American Physical Society fellows

Florida State physics professors join prestigious ranks of AAAS fellows

	Stephan von Molnár	Huan-Xiang Zhou

Election as a fellow of the AAAS is an honor bestowed upon members by their peers. Fellows are recognized for meritorious efforts to advance science or its applications.

The Florida State faculty members selected as AAAS fellows for 2008, and the language provided on their AAAS citations, are as follows:

• Stephan von Molnár, Professor, Department of Physics, "for seminal research on magnetic polarons, the metal-insulator transition, dilute magnetic semiconductors and magnetic nanoparticles."
• Huan-Xiang Zhou, Professor, Department of Physics, "for distinguished contributions to the field of computational and theoretical chemistry, particularly the theoretical modeling of diffusion-controlled reactions and other processes in biomolecular systems.

"It is always nice to have our talented Florida State researchers recognized by their peers as being among the best in their fields," said Larry Abele, the university's provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. "This is just one more indicator of our strength in the area of scientific research."

Von Molnár came to Florida State in 1994 to accept positions as a professor of physics and as director of the university's Center for Materials Research and Technology (MARTECH). Although he recently stepped down as MARTECH director, he continues to conduct research at the multidisciplinary center, which works to enhance the ability to produce and investigate new materials with novel structural, chemical, magnetic and/or optical properties.

"The physics of magnetism at the nanoscale requires novel scientific thinking and has broad potential for applications in information and biotechnology," von Molnár said of his research. "Florida State, MARTECH and the new Integrative NanoScience Institute, created as part of the university's Pathways of Excellence program, are pursuing research in both areas, focusing on spin electronics and magnetic bio-sensing."

His AAAS recognition "belongs in large part to MARTECH for providing the environment to perform significant scientific research," von Molnár said.

Zhou, a member of the Florida State faculty since 2002, describes his research as geared toward developing a greater understanding of the properties of protein molecules.

"Such an understanding forms the foundation for elucidating the mechanisms of human diseases and for drug discovery," he said. "The recognition of my work through the election as an AAAS fellow is a great honor."

The AAAS (www.aaas.org) is the world's largest general scientific society. It has nearly 120,000 individual and institutional members and 262 affiliates, serving 10 million scientists in fields ranging from plant biology to dentistry. The association also publishes Science, which, with an estimated total readership of 1 million, has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world.

According to the association, "this year, 486 members have been awarded this honor by AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications." With the addition of von Molnár and Zhou, FSU now has 38 current and emeritus faculty members who are AAAS fellows. See the entire list at www.fsu.edu/faculty/fachonors.html#aaas.