UCSD Professors in the Biology and Physical Sciences Divisions Honored for Achievements

MAY 16, 2001

By: Brett Howell and Kim McDonald

Five professors in the Biology and Physical Sciences Divisions at the University of California, San Diego are being recognized for their achievements. They are Kim Baldridge, Robert E. Continetti, M. Brian Maple, Ivan K. Schuller and Nicholas C. Spitzer.

Kim Baldridge and Robert E. Continetti have been named Fellows of the American Physical Society for their outstanding contributions to the field. Only one-half of one percent of the total APS membership is selected to be a fellow in the society each year.

Baldridge, an associate adjunct professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, serves as a principal scientist at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. She was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society on the recommendation of the society's Division of Computational Physics "for her development and application of methods for quantum calculations in molecular structure and reactivity." Baldridge received her Ph.D. from North Dakota State University and came to UCSD in 1997. Since her arrival, she has won a Fulbright Award and the Agnes Fay Morgan Research Award.

Continetti, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry, received his bachelor's degree from John Hopkins University in 1983 and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989. Continetti became a faculty member at UCSD in 1992 after completing his postdoctoral research at Berkeley. Since that time, he has won many awards, including the David and Lucile Packard Fellowship in Sciences and Engineering, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award and the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship. He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society on the recommendation of the society's Division of Chemical Physics "for fundamental contributions to the study of photodetachment and photodissociation processes in neutral and ionic molecules and clusters."

M. Brian Maple and Ivan K. Schuller are among the most cited researchers in the last 20 years and as a result the Institute for Scientific Information in Philadelphia is recognizing both as Highly Cited Researchers for Scientific Information. Both are listed in the Highly Cited Researchers database, an Internet-based resource of the world’s most-cited authors.

Maple, professor of physics and director of the Institute for Pure and Applied Physical Sciences and the Center for Interface and Materials Science, attended San Diego State University, where he graduated with distinction in mathematics and physics in 1963. In 1969, he received his Ph.D. in physics from UCSD, where he has continued to work. He is the current holder of the Bernd T. Matthias Endowed Chair in the physics department. Maple was also recognized with an Excellence in Teaching Award from UCSD in 1983 and was named Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in 1987. His current research areas are experimental low-temperature condensed matter physics and surface physics. He is considered a world leader in developing high-temperature superconductors. A Fellow of the American Physical Society, Maple has received a John Simon Guggenheim Research Fellowship and an Alexander von Humboldt Award for Senior Scientists.

Schuller, a professor of physics, received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Chile in 1965 and his master's and doctoral degrees from Northwestern University in 1972 and in 1976, respectively. He joined UCSD in 1987 and his current research interests lie in superconductivity, magnetism and amorphous and layered materials. He heads the UCSD Thin Film Laboratory and is the UCSD leader for the materials and devices layer of the newly created California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology. Among his achievements, Schuller won a "Technology 100" Award in 1981 for Significant Technological Development and has been named a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He also received an Outstanding Scientific Accomplishment in Solid State Physics from the Department of Energy in 1987, was elected a member of the Chilean and Belgian National Academies of Science and won the Wheatley Award of the American Physical Society in 2000.

Nicholas C. Spitzer, professor of biology and chair of the Biology Division's Neurobiology and Computational Neurobiology Section, has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. After receiving a Ph.D. from Harvard University, Spitzer was a postdoctoral fellow at both Harvard and University College, London. Since joining UCSD in 1972, Spitzer has also been the recipient of a Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Spitzer's research focuses on the early stages of development of the nervous system and the regulation of neuron differentiation.