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Dr. Charles Su and Dr. Charles Thompson
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Dr.
Charles Thompson and Dr. Q. Charles Su have been named the Fall 2005
and Spring 2006 Arts and Sciences Lecturers. The Arts and Sciences
Lecture Series was established by action of the Arts and Sciences
Council in 1968 to honor faculty members whose scholarly contributions
are particularly noteworthy and to provide a more general audience for
faculty research that is too often known only to disciplinary
colleagues. “Dr. Thompson and Dr. Su are very deserving of the
distinction that comes along with being named an Arts and Sciences
Lecturer,” said Dean Olson. “Both have not only reached the heights of
scholarly achievement in their respective disciplines, but they also
epitomize the values of Illinois State as they maintain an unparalleled commitment to their students.”
Dr. Charles Thompson received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in Zoology from Indiana University. After serving on a post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Georgia, a post-doctoral teaching fellowship at Miami University, and on faculty at the State University of New York-Geneseo, Thompson came to Illinois State
in 1978. While at ISU, Thompson has secured over $900,000 in grants. In
addition, he has established a publication record of three edited
books, over 50 journal articles, and numerous research abstracts.
Professor Thompson has also served as a visiting scientist at the
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, the University of Oxford, and the University of Glasgow.
Thompson's research focuses on bird behavior and ecology—in
particular, the evolutionary basis of sexual selection and mate choice.
"Dr. Thompson is a renowned scholar and an international authority
on avian ecology and behavior," according to one of his colleagues. "He
has played a major role in the recruiting and the mentoring of a large
number of additional ecologists [to the Department], all of whom have
together made the ecological section within Biological Sciences one of
our strengths and very likely the strongest ecological group within
Illinois." Thompson will deliver the Fall 2005 Arts and Sciences
Lecture.
Professor Q. Charles Su came to ISU in 1994 after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester and serving on a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Max-Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Germany.
His research covers a wide array of topics in laser-matter
interactions, from laser controlled matter creation to non-invasive
body imaging techniques, studied from classical, quantum mechanical,
and quantum field theoretical viewpoints. He is the discoverer of a new
field regime that revealed for the first time atomic stabilization
effects, and his work led to the resolution of the 75-year-old Klein
paradox. Su's work has earned external
funding from organizations such as the National Science Foundation and
the U.S. Department of Energy. His research has been published in more
than 85 manuscripts in internationally renowned journals and has been
cited more than 1,200 times by colleagues worldwide. Professor
Su has supervised three postdoctoral fellows and directed 31
undergraduate student research assistants, including a recipient of the
American Physical Society's Leroy Apker Award. His students have been
selected as best undergraduate researchers in atomic molecular and
optical physics six times, which is the most chosen from any
institution in the nation. "He is an excellent researcher with a
world-class reputation for his high-quality theoretical atomic
physics," said an international colleague of Su's. "His work has been
extremely influential and has defined the direction of a great deal of
current work in this area." Su will deliver the Spring 2006 Arts and Sciences Lecture. The Arts and Sciences Lecture, alongside the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Scholarly Achievement, is the highest honor bestowed on a faculty member by the College.
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