Physics and Astronomy Faculty Named to Endowed Chairs

Barrett Rogers '84, Thayer '86

International Paper Professorship in Honor of Andrew C. Sigler '53 Tuck '56

I study plasma, the fourth state of matter—how free electrons and nuclei interact—and fusion energy, a clean and limitless source of electricity. It is essential to the present generation that we develop this technology, because oil will run out in a generation or two and we must have some clean alternative. Other clean sources, including solar, are insufficient. But progress in fusion research is limited, mainly by scarce funding. Europe and Japan are far ahead of the United States. We need an urgent, crash program to have this energy source available. I loved my time here an undergrad, so when job in my field opened here, I eagerly applied.

Teaching students is a joy—their energy and ability energize everything. They keep me fresh. The funds from the endowed chair will be very helpful in funding students at all levels to do research with me.

Lorenza Viola

James Frank Family Professorship

I fell in love with quantum mechanics as an undergraduate in my native Trento, Italy. My research in quantum information science is driven by the challenge of developing better physical, mathematical, and information-theoretic tools to model and control the behavior of quantum-mechanical systems of increasing complexity. I enjoy my field's intrinsically cross-disciplinary nature, and I love to share my enthusiasm for physics with undergraduates and graduate students.

Dartmouth is unique in its aspiration of nurturing excellence in teaching with research—something I am deeply committed to. Certainly the beauty of Northern New England also played a role in my decision to come to Dartmouth. And a main appeal, professionally, was the possibility to bring my expertise and vision in establishing what was, at the time, a wholly new field of research—one in which I believed Dartmouth could succeed, capitalizing on its pioneering contributions in classical computational sciences. Sixteen years later, I'm proud that Dartmouth is solidly on the map of theoretical quantum information science, as well. This has been a challenging year on so many fronts. I feel honored and brightened up by such a recognition in this moment.