Schuessler/Mitchell/Heep Chair established in physics

Dr. Hans A. Schuessler was honored at a luncheon yesterday (May 5) for his donation to Texas A&M University which, combined with a donation from George P. Mitchell ’40 and matching funds by the Heep Foundation, establishes the Schuessler/Mitchell/Heep Chair in Experimental Optical and Biomedical Physics.
Distributions from this endowed fund will be used to support the work of the faculty chair holder and can be used at the chair holder’s discretion to advance the programs of the Department of Physics.

“The department is on the verge of several ambitious projects,” Schuessler said. “I wanted to help these projects along. I am very grateful to all my teachers, colleagues and students with whom I have worked — all made possible by A&M, and I am very happy to be a part of this institution.”

Schuessler said he made his donation to honor both his late first wife, Renate, as well as his wife Zoreh. Both were instrumental in helping him in his work.

The Chair is part of the Heep Matching Funds program at Texas A&M and will be credited to the “One Spirit, One Vision” campaign at the university.

The establishment and endowment of the Heep Foundation was the culmination of more than a half century of legendary devotion to Texas A&M University by Herman F. and Minnie Belle Heep. Herman F. Heep ’20 served on the Board of Directors of the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College System from 1957, and at the time of his death in 1960, he held the position of Vice President of the Board.

In addition, Heep was a founder of the Texas A&M Development Foundation, serving as its chairman from its creation in 1953 until his death. He bequeathed a substantial sum to the permanent assets of the Development Foundation and also contributed generously to The Association of Former Students. Until her own death March 21, 1993, Mrs. Heep continued to make numerous significant contributions to Texas A&M University in addition to her enduring gifts to the Heep Foundation.

“The Heep Foundation has enjoyed the success of the matching fund program aimed at enhancing the endowed positions within the College of Science and elsewhere,” said James B. Bond, president of the Heep Foundation. “It is always rewarding to see the funding of third party donors be enhanced to a status deserving special recognition. When the product of that generosity reaches the level of a million dollars and creates an endowed Chair, it is a signal event. When the third party generosity comes from an esteemed member of the faculty, such as Professor Hans Schuessler, whose gift gave origin to the final funding of this chair, the Heep Foundation is unusually proud and pleased to be a part of the process.”

Schuessler’s work is world renowned. He has served as visiting associate professor at the University of Washington and visiting scientist at the University of Mainz and GSI in Germany. He has been collaborating on research done at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland and currently is performing experiments at Texas A&M in optical and bio-physics. He is leading the laser laboratory at the Texas A&M University Institute for Biosciences and Technology in Houston, on-line nuclear structure laser spectroscopy at TRIUMF in Vancouver, Canada and stored ion spectroscopy at the Max-Planck-Institute for Quantum Optics at Garching, Germany. He was awarded Eminent Scientist status at RIKEN at Tokyo, Japan for his contributions to study short lived isotope with a novel ion trap, which he invented. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of both the American and European Physical Societies and Sigma Xi.

-aTm-