This award is the latest teaching honor for Professor Wilcox. In the past year she has received the Best Should Teach Award, the ASSETT Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award, and the Outstanding Teacher Award from the Department of Physics. 

Professor Wilcox joins a growing list of physics faculty receiving the Excellence in Teaching Award including Heather Lewandowski (2021), Charles Rogers (2016), Oliver DeWolfe (2012), Noah Finkelstein (2007), Paul Beale (2004), Michael Dubson (2001), and Steven Pollock (1998).

Professor Wilcox will be recognized for the award at the 麻豆影院 Faculty Assembly鈥檚 2024 Excellence Awards Ceremony on April 18, 2024. For more information, visit the BFA Excellence Awards website.

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The Royal Thai Embassy鈥檚 Office of Higher Education, Science, Research, and Innovation has awarded Professor Noel Clark the 2023 Friend of Thai Science Award. The award recognizes outstanding contributions in STEM for the benefit of Thailand and humanity. Only two awards are made per year. 

The award was presented to Professor Clark by Dr. Sethapan Krajangwongs, Minister-Counsellor from the Thai Embassy in Washington, D.C at a special ceremony earlier this week.

Two former graduate students, Dr. Nattaporn (A) Chattham and Dr. Apichart (Chart) Pattanaporkratana nominated Professor Clark for the award. Both are now physics professors at Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Thailand. 

During their time in Clark鈥檚 research group studying liquid crystals, Dr. Chattham and Dr. Pattanaporkratana contributed to a research project called the Observation and Analysis of Smectic Islands in Space (OASIS). Supported by NASA, OASIS was the first study of smectic liquid crystal materials in microgravity when it flew on the International Space Station in 2015.

Professor Clark has continued to do research with Dr. Chattham and Dr. Pattanaporkratana in recent years, and he provides guidance for an extension project, 鈥淭hailand Liquid Crystals in Space.鈥� The new project, which focuses on the transport of gases through liquid crystal membranes, is led by Dr. Chattham in collaboration with NASA and the International Space Station National Laboratory.

Upon receiving the award, Professor Clark said, 鈥淲e have a long history together which has made this possible, and it has been such a pleasure to have A and Chart in the group.鈥� He continued, 鈥淭his award is an amazing development of the international collaboration that science brings about.鈥�

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The Best Should Teach Award recognizes faculty for excellence in teaching and academic leadership and is managed by the Center for Teaching & Learning in coordination with the School of Education, and the College of Arts and Sciences at CU 麻豆影院. Launched in 1996 by educator Lindley Stiles and his wife Marguerite Stiles, the Best Should Teach Initiative honors Stiles鈥� motto 鈥淭o those who come, I leave the flame! Hold it as high as you can reach. If a better world is your aim, all must agree: The Best Should Teach.鈥�

Student nominations are a key part of the selection process for the Best Should Teach Award, with one student commenting 鈥淣o one can exemplify [the Best Should Teach] motto better than Dr. Wilcox. I interpret the 'flame' as the desire to learn. It is the desire to want to stand up to challenges, the desire to amplify the grit needed to succeed. Bethany not only invokes this 'flame' when she is teaching, but she knows how to feed it as the semesters drag on to keep it strong and alive inside each and every one of her students.鈥�

Wilcox also received this year鈥檚 ASSETT Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award. This award recognizes a faculty member for their record of excellence in teaching with technology. Recipients must also show demonstrated commitment and leadership in promoting ASSETT鈥檚 mission of advancing teaching and learning within the College of Arts and Sciences.

Professor Wilcox remarked "I want to give a heartfelt thank you to the students in my course for making teaching such a joy, as well as to the students who contributed nominations for these awards. Recognition of the time and energy that goes into setting up a successful and supportive learning environment cannot be more meaningful than when it comes from the students themselves."

In honor of these awards, Professor Wilcox will present the keynote address at the upcoming Fall Celebration of Excellence in Teaching with Technology on September 25.

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