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Leading space scientist to receive UD honorary degree
12:11 p.m., Aug. 16, 2006--Geoffrey Marcy, professor of astronomy at the University of California at Berkeley, will be the featured speaker at UD's New Student Convocation ceremony welcoming the Class of 2010 at 10:30 a.m., Monday, Aug. 28, at the Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center. Marcy also will receive an honorary degree during the ceremony, which is free and open to the public. Marcy's research has focused on the detection of extra-solar planets and brown dwarf stars, and his team has discovered 110 extra-solar planets, allowing study of their masses and orbits. New Student Convocation, a required event for all new students, marks the beginning of the 2006-07 academic year and also is the last time the entire Class of 2010 will come together as a group until graduation. Faculty, staff and other members of the University community are encouraged to attend. Faculty and staff do not need to wear academic regalia and should sit with the students from their departments. After the ceremony, lunch will be served for all guests in the Bob Carpenter Center Concourse. No lunch will be available to new students in the dining halls that day. Bus transportation to the Bob Carpenter Center from Academic Orientation classes will be provided from 9:30-10:15 a.m. from several pick-up locations on the Newark campus. After Convocation, bus transportation back to central campus will be provided to the Smith Hall overpass until 2 p.m. Marcy earned his bachelor's degree in physics and astronomy from UCLA in 1976 and his doctoral degree in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1982. He served as a Carnegie Fellow at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, from 1982-84 and taught physics and astronomy at San Francisco State University, where he now teaches as an adjunct professor. Named Space Scientist of the Year in 2003 by Discover magazine, Marcy has received numerous other awards, honors and fellowships, including the Shaw Prize; the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement; the Carl Sagan Award, from the American Astronautical Society and Planetary Society; the Beatrice Tinsley Prize, from the American Astronomical Society; the Henry Draper Medal, from National Academy of Sciences; the California Scientist of the Year award in 2000; the first ever International Astronomical Union (IAU) Commission 51 Bioastronomy Medal of Honor; and the Manne Siegbahn award, from the physics committee of the Swedish Academy. Article by Martin Mbugua |
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