Rice’s Padley, Morosan elected fellows of the American Physical Society

Rice physicists Paul Padley and Emilia Morosan have been elected fellows of the American Physical Society (APS), a nonprofit organization working to advance knowledge of physics through its research journals, scientific meetings and educational outreach activities.

Paul Padley

Padley, a professor of physics and astronomy, and Morosan, a professor of physics and astronomy, of chemistry and of electrical and computer engineering, are among 155 newly elected fellows announced by the society this month.

Padley, a particle physicist, was honored for his work at the European Organization for Nuclear Research’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) program, specifically for his leadership and innovations in scientific operations of the LHC’s Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) and his work on the $40 million Endcap Muon System, one of the major subsystems of the massive 13,000-ton CMS.

He is also recognized for his work on the D0 experiment at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, one of two experiments that discovered the top quark.

Emilia Morosan

Morosan, a condensed matter physicist, was honored for her experimental contributions to the understanding of correlated magnetic and superconducting materials through the synthesis and study of unconventional magnetic systems, heavy fermion compounds and superconductors.

Morosan’s research at Rice is focused on the design and synthesis of new compounds with unconventional electronic and magnetic ground states. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation EPiQS (Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems) investigator has been recognized with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship for Experienced Researchers, among other honors.

The APS Fellowship Program was created to recognize members who have made advances in physics through original research and publication, made significant innovative contributions in the application of physics to science and technology or made significant contributions to the teaching of physics or service and participation in the activities of the APS.

Founded in 1899, APS has more than 56,000 members worldwide. Fellowship is one of its most prestigious honors, with the number of newly elected fellows each year limited to no more than 0.5 percent of membership.