March 2, 2010

Robert L. Merlino

SHORT BIO-SKETCH

Address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA  52242

Office: 405 Van Allen Hall

Phone: 319-335-1756 (office)     319-335-1753 (FAX)

E-mail: robert-merlino@uiowa.edu

Homepage: http://www.physics.uiowa.edu/~rmerlino/

EducationAL AND PROFESSIONAL HISTORY

Education

• Ph.D. Physics,  August 1980, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

• B.S., Physics, May 1973, St. Joseph's College, Philadelphia, PA

   

Professional and Academic Positions

• 1992 -              Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa

• 1994-1995       Associate Chair, Department of Physics and Astronomy

• 1986-1992       Associate Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa

• 1981-1986       Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa

• 1980-1981       Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Applied Physics, Columbia   University, New York, NY

Visiting Positions

Honors and Awards

• Alpha Sigma Nu (National Jesuit Honor Society)

• Sigma Pi Sigma (National Physics Honor Society)

• Fellow of the American Physical Society 2002 (citation)

• 2010 American Physical Society, Outstanding Referee

Professional Society Memberships

American Physical Society (Fellow 2002)

TEACHING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

Contributions to Instructional Programs

2004-Developed a new GE natural science  course: 20:006   The Physics of Everyday Experience: How Things Work (3 cr)

Students Supervised

 Ph.D. Candidates

M. S. Candidates

Postdoctoral Scientists

            Su-Hyun Kim               2004-2009

Undergraduate Honors Students

            Jackson Loomis                       1990                B.S. (honors) Physics

            Evan Sengbusch                       2007                B. S. (honors) Physics and Mathematics

Undergraduate Research

            Ross Fisher                              2005-2007

            Nathan Quarderer                    2006-2007      

            Monique J. Cook                       AGEP Summer Program 2004

Present undergraduate advisees: 3

SERVICE

Department

• Associate Chair, 1994-1995

• 2010-11 Qualifying Exam Committee

College

1985-88 Educational Policy Committee

University

1984-86 University Patent Committee

Community Service

• 1989-1993 - Member of the Iowa City Regina Catholic Education Center Board of Directors

• Adult Counselor, Boy Scout Troop 218, Iowa City, IA

Profession

Service on Editorial Boards and Guest Journal Editor

• Guest Editor of The Special Topic: Dusty Plasmas Tutorial Papers from the 41^st Annual

• Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics in Physics of Plasmas, October 2000 Issue.

• Guest Editor: Special Issue on Dusty Plasmas of the IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 2001.

• 2005-2007: Editorial Board of Physics of Plasmas (American Institute of Physics)

• 2008-2011: Editorial Board of Physics of Plasmas (American Institute of Physics)
• 2011-2014: Editorial Board of Physics of Plasmas (American Institute of Physics)
• 2011- Editorial Board, Journal of Plasma Physics

 National and International Committees

• American Physical Society, Division of Plasma Physics, Publications Committee, 1989-1992

• Organizing Committee:  Second International Workshop on the Interrelationship between Plasma Experiments in the Laboratory and Space, Banff, Canada, June 1993

• Organizing Committee: Third International Workshop on the Interrelationship Between Plasma Experiments in the Laboratory and in Space, Pitlochry, Scotland, July 1995

• International Scientific Committee: The Fifth Symposium on Double Layers - Potential Formation and Related Nonlinear Phenomena in Plasmas, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan September 17 - 19, 1996.

• Review Panel: NSF/DOE Partnership in Basic Plasma Science and Engineering, National Science Foundation June 2-5, 1997.

• International Advisory Committee: The Second International Conference on the Physics of Dusty Plasmas, ICPDP-99,  Hakone, Kanagawa, Japan, May 24-28, 1999.

• Program Committee for Invited and Contributed Papers, APS Division of Plasma Physics, 1998

• Co-Organizer (with G. Ganguli) of a Mini-Conference on Dusty Plasmas at the 1999 Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics, Seattle, WA

• Session Organizer: “Waves in Dusty Plasmas” URSI Jan. 2002, Boulder, CO

• Program Committee for Invited and Contributed Papers, APS Division of Plasma Physics,  2002.

• 2004-05 APS Division of Plasma Physics Fellowship Committee

• 2009   International Advisory Board, Summer College on Plasma Physics, International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy

• March 2009: Coauthor “Roles Current Status, Opportunities, Future Trends, and Funding Issues for Laboratory Plasma Astrophysics,” A State of the Profession Position Paper Submitted to the Astro2010 Decadal Survey of the National Research Council (NRC).

• 2010 Member of C16-Commission on Plasma Physics, IUPAP

• 2012 APS DPP Program Committee

Service to The American Physical Society

• 2000-2001 APS Division of Plasma Physics Distinguished Lecturer, "Dusty Plasmas in the Laboratory and Space
   

• 2005 APS  Selection Committee The Nicholson Award for Humanitarian Outreach, Vice-Chairman
   

• 2006 -2007 Chair, APS  Selection Committee The Nicholson Award for Humanitarian Outreach.
   

• 2008 Vice Chair Selection Committee for the James Clerk Maxwell Prize
   

• 2009 Chair, Selection Committee for the James Clerk Maxwell Prize.

Journals Refereed

Physics of Plasmas (Editorial Board)

Physical Review Letters

Physical Review E

Physics Letters A

Journal of Geophysical Research

Geophysical Research Letters

Journal of Applied Physics

Plasma Sources: Science and Technology

Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion

IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science

Planetary and Space Science

Journal of Plasma Physics

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics

New Journal of Physics

The Journal of Chemical Physics

Reviews of Modern Physics

Applied Physics Letters

Canadian Journal of Physics

Journal of Atmospheric and Solar Terrestrial Physics

 publications

RECENT FUNDING HISTORY

• 2007-2010, Department of Energy, Grant No. DE-FG02-04ER54795, "Basic laboratory studies of dusty plasmas and velocity driven shear EIC waves," $624,570
   

• 2010-1011, NSF MRI Program, "Acquisition of Instrumentation for Imaging Plasma Waves and Particles," $346,568
   

• 2010, ARRA Supplement to Department of Energy, Grant No. DE-FG02-04ER54795, $155,000.
   

• 2010-1013, NSF/DOE Partnership on Plasma Science, "Experimental investigations of fundamental processes in dusty plasmas, $780,049, pending