Former FSU Student Has Nation’s Top Dissertation in Nuclear Physics

Former FSU Student Has Nation’s Top Dissertation in Nuclear Physics

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. A recent doctoral graduate of The Florida State University has earned top honors in his discipline as the author of the nation’s best doctoral dissertation in nuclear physics.

Calem R. Hoffman, who received his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from Florida State in April 2009, has been named the winner of the 2010 Dissertation in Nuclear Physics Award, presented by the Division of Nuclear Physics of the American Physical Society (APS). The award was formally presented to him Feb. 17 at an APS meeting in Washington, D.C.

“To have been nominated for the Dissertation in Nuclear Physics Award was already a great honor, and then to win it was truly amazing,” said Hoffman, who also earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics at Florida State in 2003 and 2006, respectively. “I am happy that this award will bring even more recognition to an already world-class physics department at FSU, and I was excited to represent my alma mater at the American Physical Society meeting.

“I simply had fun every day doing nuclear physics research at Florida State, and this honor was made possible by the opportunities Professor (Samuel L.) Tabor, the physics department and The Florida State University as a whole provided,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman now is a postdoctoral research fellow at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, one of the leading nuclear physics laboratories in the United States. His long-term goal, he said, is “to continue on with fundamental nuclear structure research at the highest level. I hope to continue the advancement of knowledge as it pertains to the structure of nuclei and the fundamental nuclear force.

“Being given the chance to view and participate in top-level nuclear research, especially as an undergraduate, paved the way to my current research position,” Hoffman said. “The knowledge and support I received from the physics department and the entire FSU faculty was truly wonderful.”

At Florida State, Hoffman conducted research under the direction of Tabor, with whom he worked as both an undergraduate and graduate student.

“Calem was the top student in my introductory physics class at FSU, and he just kept getting better!” said Tabor, the Norman P. Heydenberg Professor of Physics. “In his graduate studies, he became an absolute master of every aspect of nuclear physics research, from designing, constructing and performing experiments to conducting an extremely careful analysis of the results to a deep search for the meaning of his work in a wider context.

“His research answered longstanding questions about the structure of atomic nuclei under extreme conditions,” Tabor said. “Calem published the research on which his dissertation was based in the leading nuclear physics journals in the world, and these have helped establish him as one of the world’s leading young nuclear scientists.”

Tabor’s praise was echoed by Mark Riley, chairman of the physics department, who also taught Hoffman in several courses.

“This is a magnificent achievement,” Riley said. ““I remember him being the best student in my modern physics class and doing a great job working with Dr. Tabor as an undergraduate researcher. He then went on to even greater success in graduate school with Dr. Tabor and the nuclear physics group. He is a star, and this award is shining light on this fact.”

A video of Hoffman discussing his research at FSU can be viewed here.

The Dissertation in Nuclear Physics Award was established to recognize and encourage outstanding scholarship as represented by an experimental or theoretical Ph.D. dissertation for a degree awarded by a North American institution within the past two years. It consists of a $2,500 monetary award and an allowance for travel to the APS’ spring meeting.

Hoffman also will receive a certificate from the APS containing the following citation: “For his dissertation describing the investigation of neutron-rich isotopes at the drip line, and, in particular, for the identification of a systematic reduction in the effective p-sd shell gap, indicating a weakening of the gap as neutrons are added.”

In addition to his award, he will give an invited talk on his thesis work at the APS meeting.

Hoffman is an active member of the American Physical Society and the Sigma Pi Sigma and Phi Beta Kappa honor societies.

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