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University of Massachusetts Office of News and Media Relations
NIH Scientist V. Adrian Parsegian Named to Gluckstern Professorship of
Physics at UMass Amherst
July 14, 2009
Contact:Daniel J. Fitzgibbons
413/545-0444AMHERST, Mass. – V. Adrian Parsegian, a career researcher
at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has been appointed the
Robert L. Gluckstern Professor of Physics at the University of
Massachusetts Amherst.
Parsegian’s appointment with tenure, which is effective Sept. 1, was
made by UMass President Jack M. Wilson after its approval by the
University’s Board of Trustees on June 10. Parsegian was recommended
for the post by UMass Amherst Chancellor Robert C. Holub following a
nationwide search.
Recognized as a leading international scholar in biological physics,
Parsegian received his Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard University in
1965. After a two-year, postdoctoral appointment at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, he joined the NIH as a research physicist. In
1984, he was promoted to head of the Unit on Molecular Forces.
Parsegian became chief of the Laboratory of Structural Biology at NIH
in 1994 and has held the post of chief of the Laboratory on Physical
and Structural Biology since 1997.
During his career, Parsegian is the author of nearly 200 research
articles and a book, `Van der Waals Forces: a handbook for biologists,
chemists, engineers, and physicists,’ published in 2006. Parsegian has
also presented keynote addresses and other invited talks at venues
worldwide and he has chaired three Gordon Research Conferences,
international forums focused on new research in the biological,
chemical and physical sciences and related technologies.
He was the founding editor of Biophysical Discussions and chief editor
of Biophysical Journal. He also served on the editorial boards of
seven other journals. Parsegian was president of the Biophysical
Society and has chaired numerous workshops and conferences, including
a 2008 program at the Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics at the
University of California, Santa Barbara.
Parsegian has received two NIH Director’s Awards, the Distinguished
Service award of the Biophysical Society, the Oesper Award from the
University of Cincinnati’s chemistry department, and honorary degrees
from the Universitat Jaume I in Spain and Yerevan State University in
Armenia.
According to Holub’s recommendation, Parsegian’s appointment is
important to the UMass Amherst physics department’s long-range plans
to develop a strong concentration in biological physics.
The Robert L. Gluckstern Professorship was established in 2001 in
honor of the former department head credited with building the modern
physics program at UMass Amherst in the mid-1960s. Robert Gluckstern
also served as provost at UMass Amherst from 1970-75 before being
named chancellor of the University of Maryland. Gluckstern died last
year.
The professorship is intended for an `individual with a high quality
scientific program who has played, or will play a key role in
providing leadership of the physics department’ at UMass Amherst.
Appointment to the professorship is for seven years and is
non-renewable.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress