Name Homer Neal Role Professor | Fields Particle physics | |
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Born June 13, 1942 (age 81)
Franklin, Kentucky ( 1942-06-13 ) Institutions CERN, University of Micihigan Alma mater Indiana University
University of Michigan Notable awards Sloan Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship (1980)
Edward A. Bouchet Award (2003) Books Beyond Sputnik: U.S. Science Policy in the Twenty-first Century Education University of Michigan (1966), University of Michigan (1963), Indiana University Bloomington (1961) Awards Guggenheim Fellowship for Natural Sciences, US & Canada | ||
Homer Neal - Saturday Morning Physics - 10/18/08
Homer Alfred Neal (born June 13, 1942) is an African-American particle physicist and a distinguished professor at the University of Michigan. Neal is President of the American Physical Society in 2016. He is also a board member of Ford Motor Company, a council member of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and a director of the Richard Lounsbery Foundation. Neal was the interim President of the University of Michigan in 1996. Neal's research group works as part of the ATLAS experiment hosted at CERN in Geneva.
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Biography
Neal grew up in highly-segregated Franklin, Kentucky, and was forced by his neighbors there to break off relations with a white friend with whom he had bonded over a shared interest in ham radio. He received his B.S. in Physics from Indiana University in 1961, and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1966. From 1976 to 1981, Neal was Dean for Research and Graduate Development at Indiana University, and from 1981 to 1986 he was provost at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Neal holds Honorary Doctorates from Indiana University, Michigan State University, Notre Dame University.
Science policy
Homer Neal is a notable figure in U.S. science policy. From 1980 to 1986, Neal served as a member of the National Science Board of the National Science Foundation, the federal agency responsible for the funding of basic research. While on the National Science Board he chaired the committee that produced the Board's first comprehensive report on undergraduate science education. He has also served as Chairman of the Physics Advisory Committee of the National Science Foundation. Over the course of his career, Neal has delivered testimony on numerous occasions to Congress.
Neal has also served as Regent of the Smithsonian Institution and serves and has served on numerous advisory committees for science, research and policy organizations including Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, the Board of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Fermilab, and others. He has served as a member of the National Research Council Board on Physics and Astronomy and as a member of the American Physical Society (APS)'s Panel on Public Affairs. He is a recipient of the Society's Bouchet Award. He is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
In 2013, Neal was elected to be the next Vice-President of the American Physical Society, an association representing over 51,000 physicists in academia, national labs, and industry in the United States and worldwide. In 2015, he served as President Elect and will serve as President of the APS in 2016. Homer Neal is a co-author of Beyond Sputnik: U.S. Science Policy in the 21st Century, a popular textbook and website on science policy. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Journal of Science Policy & Governance.