Banavar Named Distinguished Professor

5 March 2003 -- Jayanth Banavar, professor and head of the Department of Physics at Penn State, has been named Distinguished Professor of Physics. The honor, which recognizes exceptional teaching, research, creativity, and service to the University community, is designated by the Office of the President of Penn State based on the recommendations of colleagues and the Dean.

"Under Jayanth's leadership, the Physics Department at Penn State has grown very significantly in stature and vibrancy, and it is emerging to be one of the top physics departments in the country," said Moses Chan, Evan Pugh Professor of Physics. "As department head, he works hard in pushing for recognition for his faculty, often ahead of his own accomplishments. The title of Distinguished Professor properly recognizes the intellectual leadership that Jayanth has played in the physics department and in the Eberly College of Science. He has lectured extensively in many leading universities and at the most important national and international meetings. I think I speak for all my colleagues in the department that we are delighted for this recognition for Jayanth and we are very proud of him."

Banavar is a condensed-matter theorist who has authored or co-authored more than 200 journal articles. The focus of his research is application of statistical physics techniques on interdisciplinary problems including such diverse topics as protein folding, fluids in confined geometries, ecology, river-network formation, and spin glasses. 

Banavar joined the Penn State faculty as a professor of physics in 1988 and became department head in 1998. Prior to coming to Penn State, he was a member of the professional staff at Schlumberger-Doll Research from 1983 to 1988. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago from 1978 to 1981 and continued as a postdoctoral member of the technical staff at Bell Laboratories from 1981 to 1983. He earned his doctoral degree in physics from the University of Pittsburgh in 1978 after earning bachelor's and master's degrees in physics at Bangalore University in India in 1972 and 1974. Banavar was awarded a Faculty Scholar Medal from Penn State in 1997 and a Fulbright Fellowship in 1995. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the Association for the Advancement of Science. 

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