Edward Fry Named To Head Texas A&M Physics Department
COLLEGE STATION —
Prof. Edward S. Fry has been appointed head of Texas A&M University’s Department of Physics, announced H. Joseph Newton, interim dean of the College of Science. Fry has been a member of the Texas A&M faculty since 1969.
“I am pleased that Dr. Fry has accepted the appointment,” Newton said. “I feel that both Dr. Fry and the Department of Physics can help provide outstanding scientific leadership for Texas A&M University.”
Fry’s appointment, effective Jan. 1, was the result of an extensive search process that lasted in excess of a year to succeed Dr. Thomas W. Adair III, professor of physics, who has served as head of the department since November 1994 and will return to full-time classroom duties.
“Dr. Fry’s appointment received strong support from the physics faculty and endorsement from Provost Ronald Douglas,” Newton said. “I look forward to working with Dr. Fry and the physics faculty and staff to realize the enormous potential of the department.”
Fry earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in physics from the University of Michigan, where he spent a year and a half as a visiting associate professor from 1977 to 1979.
In addition to academia, Fry served his profession as director of the Texas Laser Laboratory at the Houston Advanced Research Center in The Woodlands, from 1994 to 1997.
Fry’s research interests lie in the areas of atomic physics and light scattering, foundations of quantum mechanics and quantum optics, laser excitation and ionization of atoms, multichannel scattered light polarization analysis and ocean optics.
A fellow of both the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America, Fry also is a member of the scientific research society Sigma Xi, which recently honored him with its Texas A&M Distinguished Scientist Award for 2000.
He was presented the 1995 EG&G Medal of the Society for Optical and Quantum Electronics and received a Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award from the Texas A&M Association of Former Students in 1993.
Contact: Shana K. Hutchins, (979) 862-1237, via e-mail shutchins@tamu.edu, or Dr. Edward S. Fry, (979) 845-1910, via e-mail fry@physics.tamu.edu.
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