Welcome to Interactions

Once again, I send my greetings to all of you. I am now in the middle of my fourth year as department head, and I continue to look for the ways and means to marshal our programs forward. As I write this, the leaves have turned and we are awaiting our first accumulating snow of the fall. I must admit this is not an event that I routinely celebrate, but it is a fact of living in the Midwest. This is the season of change and there are quite a few that we want to share with you.

We are going to have several retirements this academic year. Profes­sors David Miller, Lazlo Gutay, Virgil Barnes, Andrew Hirsch, Mark Haugan and Sherwin Love will be moving on to other pursuits at the end of the year. Together, this group represents 264 years of devoted service to our department! That’s right, 264 years. I’m sure many of you have fond recollections of classes or interactions with this group. I’m sure that as a group these colleagues have impacted the lives of thousands of individ­uals over the course of their careers. We will miss their service to both the department and University.

Professor Wei Cui also stepped down at the beginning of the academic year to pursue a position as project scientist for a Chinese X-ray satellite project. This has been a passion of Wei’s, and we wish him all the best.

Our faculty and staff were, as usual, collecting rewards for their excel­lent work and service to the department, the University and the scientific community at large.

Professor Erica Carlson was chosen to be a member of the inaugural class of 150th Anniversary Professors, Professor Laura Pyrak-Nolte was promoted to the rank of Distinguished Professor and Professor Marc Caffee was elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union.

All of this year’s awardees can be found within, including those bestowed upon our excellent staff and student body for their service and scholarly achievements.

Interesting and exciting times are coming for the department. Still, some of my fondest memories are the interactions I have with you, our devoted alumni. Your visits to campus are always a pleasure, and we are always happy to recognize your lifelong achievements.

I hope that I will get to meet more of you both in West Lafayette and on the road.

All my best,
John P. Finley