Nov 07, 2008 - Claremont, Calif. - Harvey Mudd College (HMC) Professor of Physics James C. “Jim” Eckert has been awarded the American Physical Society’s (APS) 2009 Prize to a Faculty Member for Research in an Undergraduate Institution.

The annual award honors a physicist whose research in an undergraduate setting has achieved wide recognition and contributed substantially to the professional development of undergraduate physics students. The award will be given to Eckert at the APS annual meeting in Pittsburgh, Penn., March 16-20, 2009, where he has been invited to give a talk on his research on the exchange bias between adjacent ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic layers.

The citation for the award reads:

“For the significant contributions he has made to the understanding of the complex exchange biasing mechanism crucial to spin-valve sensors used in the read-write heads of hard disks and for his skilled and enthusiastic inclusion of undergraduates in physics research.”

Eckert, who began his 29th year teaching at HMC this year, has watched three of his students win or be named finalist for the LeRoy Apker Award, which is given annually by the APS for outstanding achievement in physics by an undergraduate: one for students from a Ph.D.-granting institutions and one for students from non-Ph.D.-granting institution.

In addition to his research and teaching in physics, Eckert collaborates with HMC Professor of Literature Jeff Groves on the course Literature 117: Dickens, Hardy and the Victorian Age. The course is described as “topographical literary criticism” and includes two weeks in England, where students visit the cities, towns and countryside about which the renowned authors wrote.

Eckert’s selection was in large part due to the overwhelmingly enthusiastic support of his former students, who were notified of his candidacy by his colleague and research associate, Professor of Physics Patti Sparks, who nominated him.

“Professor Eckert was a big influence on me and taught me a lot about being a scientist and the process of doing research,” said Katherine “Katy” Perdue ‘05, who is currently working on her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, investigating the use of magnetism to look at activity in the brain. “He is extremely dedicated to his students.

“I once had a letter of recommendation get lost so he called it in on a moment’s notice – even though he was in London at the time. He is also very good at dividing big projects into manageable steps so students can make real progress over the course of a summer or their senior thesis. By the time I graduated from Mudd, I had two papers published and had attended two conferences – one in Japan. Many other students in the group had the same experiences, which is a testament to Professor Eckert’s ability to help undergraduates produce very high quality work.”

In her nomination of Eckert, Sparks wrote:

“In his 28 years at Harvey Mudd College, he has engaged over 70 students in research. In the past 10 years he has created a thriving research program in magnetism and magnetic materials, working with 25 students on research projects that span applied work leading to product development and to the physics of spin valves in hard disk read heads. He has published 17 peer reviewed articles, all with student coauthors. He has established a laboratory with over $2 million worth of equipment. His students have access to cryo equipment, atomic and magnetic force microscopes, thin film deposition systems and to magnetometry/transport characterization systems. Professor Eckert has worked with some of the best students in the country, including two Apker winners, Nathaniel Stern (2003) and Stephanie Moyerman (2006), and one finalist, Joseph Checkelsky (2004).

“Certainly publications are a measure of research productivity and relevance. However, I would urge you to consider also the peripheral accomplishments of research in an undergraduate institution, the education of scientists. The best motivation for students is to see that what they are doing is important. When the students go to a major conference and find that well-known physicists, the authors of the papers that the students read, care about what they are doing and, perhaps more importantly, that they have been prepared to go toe-to-toe explaining and defending their work to these same physicists, the students suddenly feel fully vested in the process.”

Eckert was typically reticent to focus on his own achievements when asked about the award. “I prefer to labor in obscurity and let my students earn the awards,” he said. “They are all people of very high character.”

He stays in touch with many of them and keeps up in the progress of their careers and personal lives. “Many of my best friends are my former students,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for their work and they are among the greatest people I’ve ever met.”

Moyerman, who is currently doing graduate work at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), echoed this: “By far, the most influential person in my life at Harvey Mudd was Professor Eckert. He advised me in my path as a physicist, always treating me as an equal instead of a student. More importantly, however, Professor Eckert always encouraged my lab mates and I to pursue our academic and personal endeavors regardless of circumstance. He taught me that nothing is unattainable. Without him, I would certainly not be where I am today. I cannot praise this man highly enough.”

At UCSD, Moyerman is working alongside Professor Eric Fullerton ‘84, Endowed Chair Professor at the Center for Magnetic Recording Research (CMRR) and professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineering. Of Eckert, he said, “Jim has built a well respected thin film magnetism laboratory that is an active part of the research community. It allows students to perform original research, publish their results and present at conferences. This is rather unique for an undergraduate institution. But more important than the quality of the research is the enthusiasm Jim brings to science and instills in his students. I think he is even more enthusiastic than when I first met him. He is a first-rate experimental condensed matter physicist and, more than anyone I know, embodies the prize’s description of ‘providing inspirational guidance and encouragement of undergraduate students participating in this research.’”