Heather Lewandowski

American physicist

Heather J. Lewandowski

JILA fellow

Alma mater| University of Colorado Boulder
Michigan Technological University
Scientific career
Institutions| University of Colorado Boulder
Imperial College London
University of Oxford
Thesis| Coherences and correlations in an ultracold Bose gas (2002)

Heather Lewandowski is a professor of physics at the University of Colorado Boulder. She looks to understand the quantum mechanical processes in making chemical bonds. She uses time-varying inhomogeneous electric fields (in a Stark decelerator) to achieve supersonic cooling. She also studies how students learn experimental skills in instructional physics labs and help to improve student learning in these environments. She is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

## Early life and education

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Lewandowski grew up in Laurium, Michigan.[1] She studied physics at Michigan Technological University and graduated summa cum laude in 1997.[2] Whilst at Michigan Technological University, Lewandowski was a member of the Husky Pep Band.[2] She joined the University of Colorado Boulder for her graduate studies, working with Eric Allin Cornell on Bose gases. During her PhD she observed Bose–Einstein condensate gases, where she could see atoms in different spin states. She described a simplified system to create Bose–Einstein condensate in 87Rb.[3] Her system included a compressed Ioffe-Pritchard trap and large, powerful laser beams.[3] The trap includes powerful permanent magnets and low power electromagnetic coils.[4] She completed her PhD thesis Coherences and correlations in an ultracold Bose gas in 2002.[5] She was a finalist for the American Physical Society Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in AMO Physics Award.[6]

## Research

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Lewandowski was awarded a National Research Council postdoctoral fellowship from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and joined Jun Ye's atomic physics group.[7] Here she developed the systems to create low temperature beams of OH, from H2O seeded in Xenon during a supersonic expansion.[8][9] This set-up dramatically improved the precision of measurements of transitions of hydroxyl radicals.[8] This understanding will help scientists refine the fine-structure constant and help to establish where it has remained constant since the Big Bang.[1][10]

One of her students with a doubled pulse dye laser in 2008

In 2005 Lewandowski was made an assistant professor of Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder and Fellow of the JILA.[1] She was awarded an Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Award in 2007.[11] She was also awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, which allowed her to study the interactions of ultracold atoms.[12] She was also awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation fellowship. The dipole-dipole interactions in molecules are anisotropic, and can be used to control collisions in polar molecular systems.[12] She continues to use Stark deceleration to produce cold molecules, then traps them inside electric and magnetic fields to extend their interaction times.[12][13][14] She has studied the collisions of these cold molecules with rubidium atoms.[12][15] She became an associate professor of physics in 2012.[1][16] She has been investigating collisions between ammonia and rubidium. In 2013 she took part in a Royal Society International Exchange Fellowship, working at Imperial College London.[2]

She was made a Fulbright Program scholar in 2018 and joined the University of Leeds.[17]

### Physics education research

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Since 2011 Lewandowski has been involved with physics education research and has been a member of the AAPT since 2007.[18][19] She serves on the board of the Advanced Laboratory Physics Association (ALPhA).[20] She has been involved in the creation of the Recommendations for the Undergraduate Physics Laboratory Curriculum which was endorsed by the AAPT executive board in 2014.[21] She has looked at transforming laboratory courses.[22][23] She has looked at the ways to incorporate modelling into upper-division laboratories.[24] In 2015 she organised the National Physics Education Research Conference.[2] She was awarded the American Association of Physics Teachers Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to the AAPT and American Physical Society Wolff-Reichert Award 2018.[25] These awards recognise her commitment "scholarly transformation of advanced laboratories".[26]

### Awards

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* 2019 American Physical Society Wolff-Reichert Award for Advanced Laboratory Instruction Award[6][27][28]
* 2019 American Association of Physics Teachers Homer L. Dodge Award[25]
* 2018 Fulbright Distinguished Chair Fellowship[17]
* 2018 American Physical Society Fellow[6][29]
* 2016 Michigan Technological University Presidential Council of Alumnae[30]
* 2013 Royal Society International Exchange Fellowship[2]
* 2012 Merton College International Exchange Fellowship[2]
* 2010 University of Colorado Boulder Chancellor's Award for Excellence in STEM Education[31]
* 2007 National Science Foundation CAREER Award[12]
* 2007 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship
* 2007 Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Award[11]
* 2005 National Institute of Standards and Technology Best Presentation Award[32]

## Personal life

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Lewandowski is married to Donald Woodraska, a physicist at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder.[1]

## References

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1. ^ a b c d e "Heather Lewandowski | JILA Science". jila.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
2. ^ a b c d e f "Heather Lewandowski | Alumni and Friends | Michigan Tech". www.mtu.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
3. ^ a b Lewandowski, H. J.; Harber, D. M.; Whitaker, D. L.; Cornell, E. A. (2003-09-01). "Simplified System for Creating a Bose–Einstein Condensate". Journal of Low Temperature Physics. 132 (5): 309–367\. doi:10.1023/A:1024800600621. ISSN 1573-7357. S2CID 9481575.
4. ^ Whitaker, Dwight; Lewandowski, Heather; Cornell, Eric (2000-06-01). "New System to Produce BEC in 87Rb". American Physical Society, DAMOP Meeting. 14: L9.82. Bibcode:2000APS..DMP..L982W.
5. ^ "Graduate Student Theses | JILA Science". jila.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
6. ^ a b c "Faculty Awards | JILA Science". jila.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
7. ^ "Jun Ye Group >>People>>Alumni". jila.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
8. ^ a b "Constant Vigilance | Ye Group". jila.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
9. ^ Lewandowski, H. J.; Hudson, Eric R.; Bochinski, J. R.; Ye, Jun (2004). "A pulsed, low-temperature beam of supersonically cooled free radical OH molecules". Chemical Physics Letters. 395 (1–3): 53–57\. arXiv:physics/0406151. Bibcode:2004CPL...395...53L. doi:10.1016/j.cplett.2004.07.050. S2CID 17861196.1–3&rft.pages=53-57&rft.date=2004&rft_id=info:arxiv/physics/0406151&rft_id=https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:17861196#id-name=S2CID&rft_id=info:doi/10.1016/j.cplett.2004.07.050&rft_id=info:bibcode/2004CPL...395...53L&rft.aulast=Lewandowski&rft.aufirst=H.+J.&rft.au=Hudson,+Eric+R.&rft.au=Bochinski,+J.+R.&rft.au=Ye,+Jun&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Heather+Lewandowski" class="Z3988">
10. ^ Hudson, Eric R.; Lewandowski, H. J.; Sawyer, Brian C.; Ye, Jun (2006-04-14). "Cold Molecule Spectroscopy for Constraining the Evolution of the Fine Structure Constant". Physical Review Letters. 96 (14): 143004. arXiv:physics/0601054. Bibcode:2006PhRvL..96n3004H. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.143004. PMID 16712070. S2CID 9721268.
11. ^ a b "Heather Lewandowski | JILA Science". jila.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
12. ^ a b c d e "NSF Award Search: Award#0748742 - CAREER: Interactions in Cold Molecular Systems". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
13. ^ Parazzoli, L. P.; Fitch, N. J.; Żuchowski, P. S.; Hutson, J. M.; Lewandowski, H. J. (2011-05-10). "Large Effects of Electric Fields on Atom-Molecule Collisions at Millikelvin Temperatures". Physical Review Letters. 106 (19): 193201. arXiv:1101.2886. Bibcode:2011PhRvL.106s3201P. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.106.193201. ISSN 0031-9007. PMID 21668156. S2CID 40443828.
14. ^ Parazzoli, L P; Fitch, N; Lobser, D S; Lewandowski, H J (2009-05-14). "High-energy-resolution molecular beams for cold collision studies". New Journal of Physics. 11 (5): 055031. arXiv:0902.1499. Bibcode:2009NJPh...11e5031P. doi:10.1088/1367-2630/11/5/055031. ISSN 1367-2630. S2CID 18893415.
15. ^ Haxton, Daniel J.; Wrathmall, Steven A.; Lewandowski, H. J.; Greene, Chris H. (2009-08-14). "Theoretical study of the quenching of NH(Δ1)molecules via collisions with Rb atoms". Physical Review A. 80 (2): 022708. arXiv:0903.3909. Bibcode:2009PhRvA..80b2708H. doi:10.1103/physreva.80.022708. ISSN 1050-2947. S2CID 91843885.
16. ^ "A Celebration of Faculty Achievement 2012" (PDF). University of Colorado. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
17. ^ a b "2018-19 American Scholar Award grantees | US-UK Fulbright Commission". www.fulbright.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
18. ^ "School of Mathematics | Georgia Institute of Technology | Atlanta, GA". math.gatech.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
19. ^ "Heather J. Lewandowski". Physics Education Research. 2017-08-09. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
20. ^ "The Back Page". www.aps.org. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
21. ^ "AAPT Recommendations for the Undergraduate Physics Laboratory Curriculum" (PDF). AAPT. Retrieved 2018-01-27.
22. ^ Zwickl, Benjamin M.; Finkelstein, Noah; Lewandowski, H. J. (January 2013). "The process of transforming an advanced lab course: Goals, curriculum, and assessments". American Journal of Physics. 81 (1): 63–70\. arXiv:1207.2177. Bibcode:2013AmJPh..81...63Z. doi:10.1119/1.4768890. ISSN 0002-9505. S2CID 19763584.
23. ^ Zwickl, Benjamin M.; Finkelstein, Noah; Lewandowski, H. J. (2013). "Development and validation of the Colorado learning attitudes about science survey for experimental physics". American Institute of Physics Conference Series. AIP Conference Proceedings. 1513 (1). AIP: 442–445\. arXiv:1207.2418. Bibcode:2013AIPC.1513..442Z. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.748.737. doi:10.1063/1.4789747. S2CID 54739358.
24. ^ "NSF Award Search: Award#1323101 - Incorporating Modeling into Upper-division Physics Labs". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
25. ^ a b "Heather Lewandowski to be Recognized as a 2019 Recipient of the Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT". www.aapt.org. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
26. ^ "Heather Lewandowski awarded APS Advanced Lab Instruction Prize | JILA Science". jila.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
27. ^ "Physics alumnus receives APS award | Physics Newsblog". 30 October 2018. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
28. ^ "2018 Stanley Corrsin Award Recipient". www.aps.org. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
29. ^ "Three JILA Fellows named 2018 APS Fellows | Lewandowski Group". jila.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
30. ^ "Presidential Council of Alumnae (PCA)". Michigan Technological University. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
31. ^ "Past Chancellor's Awardees". Center for STEM Learning. 2015-02-19. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
32. ^ "Awards & Honors | Ye Group". jila.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-27.

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