Summer 2004 -- Vol. 21

Nigel Higson		Lawrence W. Ramsey

Nigel Higson, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, and Lawrence W. Ramsey, professor of astronomy and astrophysics, have been named heads of their respective departments.

Nigel Higson succeeds Gary L. Mullen, Professor of Mathematics, who served as head of the department since 1997. "Dr. Higson personifies what our department, college, and university are trying to achieve—national and international eminence in research, a deep commitment to teaching and to our students, and a strong sense of loyalty and responsibility toward Penn State," comments Daniel J. Larson, the Verne M. Willaman Dean of the Eberly College of Science.

A specialist in the comparatively new area of noncommutative geometry, Higson has received much recognition for his research, including a Sloan Foundation Fellowship in 1992, the André Aisenstadt Prize of the Center for Mathematical Research in Montreal in 1995, the Israel Halperin Prize of the Canadian Operator Symposium in 1995, and the Coxeter James Prize of the Canadian Mathematical Society in 1996. In addition, he was among the first group to be honored as Fellows of the Clay Mathematics Institute in 1999 and he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences of the Royal Society of Canada in 2000.

Higson's specific research specialty is operator-algebra theory, a subject that has roots in the mathematical foundations of quantum theory and in Fourier analysis and that has powerful consequences in the fields of topology and geometry. His recent work focuses on the Baum-Connes conjecture, a broad program that connects operator-algebra theory to problems in other areas of mathematics. Along with Paul Baum, Evan Pugh Professor of Mathematics at Penn State, and Alain Connes, their coworker in Paris, Higson is responsible for the current form of the Baum-Connes conjecture.

An accomplished and popular teacher, Higson played a key role in his department's receiving its largest educational grant, which established at Penn State the program titled "Vertical Integration of Research and Education in the Mathematical Sciences" (VIGRE). This grant provided $3,000,000 over a five-year period to improve mathematical instruction at all levels. In recognition of his outstanding teaching achievements, Higson was honored at Penn State with the Eberly College of Science Student Council and Alumni Society's C. I. Noll Award in 1999 and with the University's Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2001.

Lawrence W. Ramsey, succeeds Peter Mészáros, Distinguished Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, who served as head of the department since 1993.

Ramsey has been a member of the Penn State astronomy faculty since receiving his Ph.D. degree from Indiana University in 1976. One of his greatest achievements during this time has been his role as the project scientist for one of the largest and most unique telescopes in the world, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, which is located in West Texas and is operated jointly by Penn State and four other partner universities. Ramsey has been intensely involved in the design, construction, operation, and management of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope since 1983, when he invented the concept for this telescope along with Daniel W. Weedman, also a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State at that time.

"Dr. Ramsey has provided inspiration and leadership for the large team of astronomers, students, and technicians who have worked on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, giving all involved world-class training in cutting edge scientific
technology," says Daniel J. Larson, dean of the Eberly College of Science. "His scientific achievements and his leadership will have a great impact on the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Eberly College of Science."

The telescope, which saw its first starlight in 1996, received the 1997 Discover Magazine Award for Technological Innovation for its innovative design. This design so dramatically reduces costs that it immediately opened the door to a new construction era for such large-sized telescopes. In June 1998 for example, the government of South Africa approved the construction of the South African Large Telescope (SALT), the first clone of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope. SALT, which saw its first starlight in November 2003, is now in the engineering commissioning phase and will be the largest single optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere.

Now known worldwide for his pioneering work in fiber-optic astronomical instrumentation as well as with the Hobby-Eberly telescope, Ramsey is leading the Penn State effort on the Fiber Instrument Feed and Medium Resolution Spectrograph for the telescope. His research interests, in addition to astronomical instrumentation, include visible and near-infrared spectroscopy of pre-main-
sequence and late-type stars. 

In addition to his current position at Penn State, he is a senior research fellow at the University of Texas at Austin and the project scientist for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope.

He currently serves as chair of the management oversight council for the international Gemini Observatory, and is member of the board of directors of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) and of the South African Large Telescope.

He was honored by the Alumni Society of the Penn State Eberly College of Science with its Distinguished Service Award in 1997, and by the Alumni Society of St Louis University with its Distinguished Alumni Award in 2001.

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