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Deborah Jin Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Atomic, Molecular or Optical Physics

Thank you for helping us reach our goal!

The American Physical Society and the APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (DAMOP) wish to express their deep gratitude to the donors who have contributed to the tremendous success of the Deborah Jin Memorial Endowment Campaign. We are pleased to announce that this effort has exceeded its goal by almost 50%, and that we can officially honor the outstanding contributions of our highly respected and admired colleague, Debbie Jin, by renaming the Fund the Deborah Jin Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Atomic, Molecular, or Optical Physics and by empowering others to follow in her footsteps.

The APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (DAMOP) is pleased to launch an endowment campaign to memorialize internationally renowned physicist Deborah Jin. The purpose of the Deborah Jin Memorial Endowment campaign is to raise an additional $100,000 to supplement the existing endowment fund known as the APS Award for "Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Atomic, Molecular, or Optical Physics." The income from this endowment will supplement travel for additional finalists and provide new funding to enable students to attend the annual, DAMOP Meeting, with an emphasis on enhancing the diversity of student attendees.

Deborah Jin

About the Award

Upon reaching our goal, this Award Fund will be renamed the Deborah Jin Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Atomic, Molecular, or Optical Physics. If, however, the fundraising effort will not reach its intended goal within three years, the existing funds will be used on this DAMOP Award related activities until depleted.

The award recognizes doctoral thesis research of outstanding quality and achievement in atomic, molecular, or optical physics and encourages effective written and oral presentation of research results. Given annually, it consists of:

  • A $2,500 stipend
  • A certificate citing the achievements of the recipient
  • A travel allowance of $1,000 for finalists to attend the DAMOP Annual Meeting, at which the recipient will be selected and presented the award.

Generously sponsored by M Squared Lasers, your additional support will allow DAMOP to honor Deborah Jin and recognize young researchers in perpetuity.

About Deborah Jin

Deborah Jin, "Debbie" to her many students and friends, was a path-breaking physicist. She is perhaps most remembered for her work opening up the field of ultra cold fermionic gases, but she made pioneering contributions to the world of ultra cold molecules and to other areas at the intersection of AMO physics with condensed matter physics. Elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences at age 36, she was a powerful advocate for women in physics, and the recipient of APS and international honors too numerous to list here. Her death at the peak of her career, at age 47, was an incalculable loss to physics.

Debbie Jin was dedicated to mentoring young scientists. Her students and postdocs remember her fondly, and many have gone on to careers in physics. Three of her former students won the DAMOP thesis award. To her friends, family and students it seems particularly appropriate that her memory be honored by the renaming of that same APS Award.

Thank You to Our Donors

The American Physical Society would like to thank these generous donors for their contributions to the Deborah Jin Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Atomic, Molecular or Optical Physics:

$10,000 and Above
Anonymous (1), Steven and Jean Chu, Celeste Landry and Eric Cornell, Nancy and Markus Greiner, The students, faculty, and staff of JILA, John and Lindy Hall, Angel J. Torio and Meerie Joung, Carl Wieman and Sarah Gilbert

$5,000 - $9,999
Christopher Monroe, Thomas Rosenbaum, Francesca, Peter, Rainer and Rudi (IQOQI)

$1,000 - $4,999
Anonymous (4), Alain Aspect, Immanuel Bloch, Cheng Chin, Marilu Chiofalo, Jean Dalibard, Brian DeMarco, Peter Engels, Steven Girvin, Kate P. Kirby, Daniel Kleppner, Minhyea Lee and Mike Hermele, Stephen Leone and Mary Gilles, Marc Levinson, Mikhail Lukin and Susanne Yelin, Michael Matthews, Kang-Kuen Ni, Scott Papp and Cindy Regal, William and Jane Phillips, Juan Restrepo and Ana Maria Rey, Steven Rolston, Christopher Salomon, Jacob Taylor and Jean Park, Shihkuang Tung, Ronald Walsworth, Dajun Wang, Deborah Kay Watson, Carl Williams, Jun Ye and Ying Zhang, Joshua Zirbel

$500 - $999
Dan and Kathy Dessau, Timothy Gay, J. Keith and Minnie P. Joung, Wenhui Li, Zheng-Tian Lu, James Porto, David Wineland

Up to $499
Anonymous (4), Maria Allegrini, Thomas Allison, John Bollinger, John Brandenberger, F. Fleming Crim, Jr., Steven Cundiff, Shovan Dutta, Mark Edwards, G. Barney Ellison, James Faller, Robert Field, Jingshan Han, Michael Highman, Ifan Hughes, Randall Hulet, Gary Ihas, Kevin Jones, Ki Sub and Myung Joung, Mark Kasevich, Karen Kheruntsyan, Svetlana Kotochigova, Mats Larsson, Maciej Lewenstein, Nathan Lundblad, Henning Moritz, Arjendu Pattanayak, Mark Raizen, Thomas Schenkel, Margaret Song, Joseph Thywissen, Christopher Ticknor