Skip to main content

Faculty promotions at Purdue approved by board

2020-04-10

Writer(s): John P. Finley

Three Physics and Astronomy professors have been promoted by the Purdue University College of Science. On April 2, 2020, Purdue University announced faculty promotions had been approved by the Board of Trustees.  These promotions are affective with the 2020-2021 academic year.  Kyoung-Soo Lee and Tongcang Li were promoted to Associate Professor and Yulia N. Pushkar was promoted to Full Professor of Physics and Astronomy.

Kyoung Soo Lee

Kyoung-Soo Lee is an observational astronomer that studies star formation in the early Universe and the growth of structure from a cosmological point of view. Her work has been of high impact and is a tour-de-force of observational acquisition and analysis. She is involved in the graduate program, with her students and postdocs publishing in top tier journals. In summary, Soo Lee is a leader in the field of galaxy formation and evolution. Her research has resulted in 50 publications in top tier journals and her work has garnered praise in the astronomy community. Soo has well positioned herself to exploit upcoming tools such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST).

 

Tongcang Li

Tongcang Li is an Atomic, Molecular, and Optical physicist that studies fundamental physics utilizing very small structures. His work has utilized optical traps to manipulate small dielectric particles that are then used to probe nonequilibrium thermodynamics and phenomena related to the Casimir force and the Casimir torque for example. He is a prolific author with high profile results published in top tier journals. He maintains a substantial group and won an NSF CAREER grant in 2016. His recent work has been recognized by the APS as a top 10 research highlight of 2018 when his group produced a 60 billion RPM top in his lab. In summary, Tongcang Li is a rising star in the world of opto-mechanical manipulation and he has many demonstrable recognitions of his impact.

 

Yulia Pushkar

Yulia Pushkar is an experimental biophysicist whose research work involves O-O bond formation in natural photosynthesis, molecular mechanisms in O-O bond formation catalysis, and an additional direction related to imaging brain tissue and the presence of Mn. Her work in these areas has led to cover articles in no less than 3 top tier journals and is widely recognized for its creativity and thoroughness. She is an excellent mentor to her students, winning two student awards, and continues to be very active in the graduate program. She is a prolific author of articles in top tier peer reviewed journals. In short, Yulia Pushkar is an experimental biophysicist that is doing cutting edge work on photosynthesis utilizing ultra-fast spectroscopy and synchrotron facilities such as the Advanced Light Source.

 

Last Updated: Mar 30, 2023 2:24 PM

Department of Physics and Astronomy, 525 Northwestern Avenue, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2036 • Phone: (765) 494-3000 • Fax: (765) 494-0706

Copyright © 2023 Purdue University | An equal access/equal opportunity university | Copyright Complaints

Trouble with this page? Disability-related accessibility issue? Please contact the College of Science.