David Weiss named chair of the Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics of the American Physical Society

David Weiss, professor and associate head of the Department of Physics at Penn State University, has been elected as chair of the Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (DAMOP) of the American Physical Society (APS). DAMOP is the oldest and third largest division of the APS, with over 3,000 members. The chair is an elected position with administrative responsibility for all the division's operations, including the 1,100-attendee annual meeting. "The distinguished history of the division's chairmanship started in 1943 with Nobel Laureate I.I. Rabi," said Nitin Samarth, George A. and Margaret M. Downsbrough Department Head and Professor of Physics, "and has included laureates Arthur Schawlow, Dave Wineland, and Carl Wieman." Previous chairs with Penn State affiliation include the late Erwin Mueller, professor of physics, and Daniel J. Larson, professor of physics and former dean of Penn State's Eberly College of Science.

Weiss's research involves experiments with laser-cooled atoms in optical lattices and other light traps. He uses cold, trapped atoms to make precise measurements of fundamental constants and to test fundamental symmetries. He also uses these atoms as model systems to address issues in atomic physics, condensed-matter physics, quantum mechanics, and statistical mechanics.

Weiss was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2007 and was elected as Vice Chair of DAMOP in 2013. Weiss won a Penn State Faculty Scholar Medal for Physical Science in 2007, a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering in 1997, a Sloan Research Fellowship in 1997, and a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award in 1996.

Weiss earned a bachelor's degree in physics, summa cum laude, at Amherst College in 1985, and earned master's and doctoral degrees in physics at Stanford University in 1988 and 1993, respectively. He was a postdoctoral Fellow at l'Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, France, form 1993 to 1994. He was an assistant professor at the University of California at Berkeley from 1994 to 2001. He joined the faculty at Penn State in 2001 as associate professor of physics, and was promoted to professor in 2005.