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RIVERSIDE, Calif. — www.ucr.edu — Gary P. Zank, University of California, Riverside professor of physics and director of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society which will present the honor at the Division of Plasma Physics’, (DPP) 46th annual meeting in Savannah, Georgia, Nov. 15 through Nov. 19, 2004.

Zank received the fellowship based on the recommendation of the Topical Group on Plasma Astrophysics, a subgroup of the society. The APS Fellowship Program was created to recognize members who have made advances in knowledge through original research and publication or made significant and innovative contributions in the application of physics to science and technology. They may also have made significant contributions to the teaching of physics or service and participation in the activities of the Society.

Fellowship is an honor that is bestowed on fewer than one half of 1 percent of 43,000 APS members in any given year. Typically, about 200 Fellows are elected each year. APS is the professional society of physicists in the United States, and election to Fellowship represents recognition by one's peers for professional achievement.

“I am delighted to be elected a Fellow to the APS which is, of course, the preeminent physics society in the U.S.A. and is a wonderful recognition, by my peers, of my research,” Zank said.

Zank was cited for his many research contributions to space science. The citation for his Fellowship reads: “For fundamental contributions to the understanding of shocks, particle acceleration and plasma turbulence, and to studies of the solar wind, corona, interplanetary shocks and global heliospheric structure.”

Zank’s nominators wrote “the work of Gary P. Zank is characterized by an extraordinary diversity of interests, with his research ranging from the microphysics of shocks to the large-scale structure of the heliosphere, to the acceleration of cosmic rays at supernova remnant shock waves. Such a range of interests is exceedingly rare today. His work has had great impact on numerous areas of space physics.”

Zank received his Ph.D. from the University of Natal in South Africa in 1987. He is the recipient of the Zeldovich Medal in 1996 (awarded jointly by the Committee on Space Research and the Russian Academy of Sciences), a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award (1994), and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science earlier this year.

The University of California, Riverside (www.ucr.edu) is a doctoral research university, a living laboratory for groundbreaking exploration of issues critical to Inland Southern California, the state and communities around the world. Reflecting California's diverse culture, UCR's enrollment has exceeded 20,500 students. The campus will open a medical school in 2013 and has reached the heart of the Coachella Valley by way of the UCR Palm Desert Center. The campus has an annual statewide economic impact of more than $1 billion.

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