John Brandenberger, the Alice G. Chapman Professor of Physics, is the 2005-06 recipient of the Excellence in Scholarship or Creative Activity Award.

Brandenberger, a member of the Lawrence faculty since 1968, is a specialist in laser spectroscopy and time-resolved flourescence spectroscopy and has played a leading role in earning national recognition for Lawrence’s physics department as one of the country’s best undergraduate programs.

His research on atomic structure has been supported by grants from the Research Corporation, the National Science Foundation, NASA, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the General Electric Foundation, and the Keck Foundation. In 1999, he became the first physicist in Lawrence history to be elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

In presenting the award, President Jill Beck cited the “imagination and energy” Brandenberger brings to the classroom and the laboratory.

“For generations of Lawrence students, you have provided a model for the conduct of scientific investigation in the context of a liberal education,” she said. “Your success as a scholar has shown in dramatic fashion that high-quality research can be done at an undergraduate institution and can serve as an important part of students’ education. Your creative, intelligent, and forceful advocacy for scholarly work is truly remarkable.”


Read a profile of Professor Brandenberger