Members

Name	Length of Term	E-mail
Ted Bahns	2 years	tlbahns@imation.com
Usha Balakrishnan	3 years	usha-balakrishnan@uiowa.edu
Thomas Boggess	3 years	thomas-boggess@uiowa.edu
Kenneth Gayley	2 years	kenneth-gayley@uiowa.edu
Dean Gorrell	3 years	dean_gorrell@marshall.k12.wi.us
Donald Gurnett	3 years	donald-gurnett@uiowa.edu
Bryant Hichwa	3 years	Bryant.hichwa@sonoma.edu
George Ludwig	3 years	ludwiggh@visuallink.com
Wayne Polyzou	3 years	polyzou@uiowa.edu
Evan Sengbusch	3 years
Brian Strayer	3 years	brian.d.strayer@notes.seagate.com
Chad Thompson	3 years	chad_thompson@mac.com
Alan Tribble	2 years	actribbl@collins.rockwell.com
Aaron Votroubek	3 years	aaron-votroubek@uiowa.edu
Scott Wollenweber	2 years	scottdw@wfubmc.edu

Biographies

Ted Bahns

Ted Bahns graduated from The University of Iowa in December 1991 with an M.S. degree in electrical engineering. He has worked at 3M from 1992-1996 in the Optical Recording Department. He continues to work for Imation Corp. (spun off from 3M in 1996) in the Optical Technology Center as a senior staff optical physicist developing new optical disk formats and media. He lives in White Bear Lake, Minnesota.

Usha Balakrishnan

Usha Balakrishnan is currently the Director, Corporate Partnerships, Office of the Vice President for Research for The University of Iowa (UI). Prior to her current position, which she has held since September 1999, Usha managed the patenting and licensing of UI inventions and discoveries for eight years. Usha received her Bachelor of Commerce degree from Bombay University, India, in June 1985 and a Masters in Business Administration from The University of Iowa in December 1988. She is married and has two kids aged 12 and 6.

Thomas Boggess

Thomas Boggess received the Ph.D. in physics from the University of North Texas in 1982. After five years of postdoctoral and faculty appointments at UNT, he became a member of the technical staff at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California. He joined the faculty of The University of Iowa in 1989 as an associate professor and is currently a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, professor of electrical and computer engineering, and member of the Optical Science and Technology Center. His research interests include investigations of ultrafast optical and electronic processes in nanostructured semiconductors with applications to lasers, detectors, and high-speed electronics.

Kenneth Gayley

Kenneth Gayley became an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at The University of Iowa in 1997, he graduated from the University of California at San Diego with a Ph.D. in 1990 and completed postdoctoral studies at the University of Colorado and the University of Delaware before joining the faculty here. He was also the advisor for the Department's Society of Physics Students.

Dean Gorrell

Dean Gorrell graduated from The University of Iowa in May 1985 with a B.S. in physics. He went on to teach physics at West High School in Iowa City until 1992 when he was appointed associate principal of Northwest Junior High in Iowa City. Dean has earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in education from The University of Iowa and is currently the superintendent at Marshall Community School District in Marshall, Wisconsin.

Donald Gurnett

 

Bryant Hichwa

Bryant Hichwa graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. in physics. He received his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from the University of Notre Dame. After postdoctoral work at the University of Wisconsin, he taught physics at Hope College in Michigan. For the last 16 years he has held various R&D positions in industry in optics, thin films and telecommunications. Most recently Bryant was VP of R&D at OCLI/JDS Uniphase and President and COO of MetroPhotonics in Santa Rosa, California and Ottawa, Canada. In the Fall of 2002, he joined the faculty of Sonoma State University as Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Director of the Center for Research and Education in the School of Science and Technology at SSU. His current research interests are in optical MEMS and musical acoustics.

George Ludwig

 

Wayne Polyzou

Wayne Polyzou received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 1979. He is currently a physics professor at The University of Iowa. His research is in relativistic quantum mechanics with applications to few-body nuclear and particle physics.

Evan Sengbusch

 

Brian Strayer

Brian Strayer earned an M.S. in physics and an M.B.A. from The University of Iowa in 1981. He has worked in the Disc Drive industry since graduation and is a Senior Director of New Product Development for Seagate Technology in Minneapolis.

Chad Thompson

Chad Thompson received a B.S. in physics and astronomy in 1997 and his M.S. in experimental plasma physics in 1998 from The University of Iowa. He currently works at E-Markets of Ames, Iowa as a Senior Web Applications Developer and leads several software teams in developing new products.

Alan Tribble

Alan Tribble graduated from The University of Iowa in May 1988 earning a Ph.D. in space physics. He spent eight years doing spacecraft design work for Boeing before joining Rockwell Collins in 1996. He now does Advanced Computing Systems research and resides in Marion, Iowa.

Aaron Votroubek

Aaron Votroubek is the administrator for the Department. He is responsible for all day-to-day administrative and business aspects for the Department, including grant proposals and accounting, human resources, technological support, student records, machine and electronics shops, and administrative support for faculty. Aaron received a B.A. in communication studies from The University of Iowa, and has previously worked as an administrator at The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

Scott Wollenweber

Scott Wollenweber graduated from The University of Iowa in 1996 with a Ph.D. in physics. From 1998-2003, he was employed as a PET (positron emission tomography) physicist and systems engineer at GE Medical Systems. In July 2003, he moved to a position as an Assistant Professor of Radiology & Biomedical Engineering at the Wake Forest University Medical Center where he is an imaging physicist in the PET Center.