News

A husband-and-wife team at the forefront of laser science at the University of Colorado Boulder are following in the footsteps of the Curies, winning a prestigious Benjamin Franklin Medal.

The Franklin Institute announced today that Henry Kapteyn and Margaret Murnane would receive this year’s medal in physics—one of several awards handed out annually by the center named after scientist and founding father Benjamin Franklin.

Kapteyn and Murnane are fellows in JILA, a joint research institute between CU Boulder and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). They have pioneered new advancements in X-ray lasers, devices that shoot out incredibly fast pulses of X-ray radiation.

The Franklin Institute is pleased to announce The Franklin Institute Awards Class of 2020! Henry C. Kapteyn and Margaret M. Murnane, 2020 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics. Now in its 196th year, The Franklin Institute Awards pays tribute to our namesake and America’s first great scientist, Benjamin Franklin, by honoring the greatest minds in science, engineering, and industry. Our newest laureates are making our world safer, healthier, and more connected. They made revolutionary advances in laser technology, learned how forests recover from fires, uncovered the mechanisms behind color vision, and laid the foundation for artificial intelligence. Their work enables technologies never before thought possible and helps us better understand our planet and ourselves. They are mentors and role models for the next generation of science and engineering trailblazers. They are creating a better future for us all.

Mary Rippon, the first CU female professor, and Lucile B. Buchanan, the first African-American woman to graduate from CU, paved the way for women to succeed. These influential women were the first to accomplish what they did, but women who deserve appreciation surround us every day. The 2019 class of Women Who Make a Difference impact our community by serving as teachers, mentors, mothers and advocates. They write, they blog, they include and make countless other contributions big and small.

Congratulations to Diana Rossell-Eddy for winning the first place poster prize at the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics! The APS CUWiP goal is to help undergraduate women continue in physics by providing them with the opportunity to experience a professional conference, information about graduate school and professions in physics, and access to other women in physics of all ages with whom they can share experiences, advice, and ideas.

Catherine Groschner of Mary Scott’s research group at the University of California, Berkeley was awarded a 2019 M&M Student Scholar Award for her presentation titled, “Machine Learning for High Throughput HRTEM Analysis”.

Laura Waller has been selected as a 2019 AIMBE Fellow. The College of Fellows – 2,000 individuals who are outstanding bioengineers in academia, industry, clinical practice, and government. These leaders in the field have distinguished themselves through their contributions in research, industrial practice and/or education. Fellows are nominated each year by their peers and represent the top 2% of the medical and biological engineering community. They are considered the life-blood of AIMBE and work towards realizing AIMBE’s vision to provide medical and biological engineering innovation for the benefit of humanity.