Prof honored for science academia
The 2007 Utah Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology was awarded this fall to Tom Wilkerson, a research professor at USU.
“I was really surprised about the award, it was very gratifying,” Wilkerson said. “Some very good people have gotten the award, and it was just a big, happy surprise.”
The governor’s medal is awarded to several people from the state of Utah each year, for “distinguished service to the state of Utah in the fields of science and technology,” according to science.utah.gov. Awards are given in five areas: academia, industry, education, government and special achievement. Wilkerson received the award under the area of academia.
Wilkerson was born in Michigan and earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Before coming to USU, he taught physics and math at the University of Maryland for 34 years. He also worked at the Plasma Physics Lab at Princeton researching magnetic plasmas. His research was part of an ongoing national effort to produce controlled fusion, he said.
He has also worked on three interplanetary satellite programs with NASA, the most successful of which was sent halfway to the moon in a four-day orbit around the Earth to measure solar wind.
Wilkerson has taught physics at USU, but his work at the Space Dynamics Lab is mostly centered around LIDAR systems, which are lasers built to measure particles in the atmosphere. Just as a beam of light can be clearly seen through a cloud of chalk dust because the dust scatters the light, dust and other particles also scatter light when a laser is pointed into the atmosphere, Wilkerson said. The speed it takes for the scattered light to return to the ground can be measured to pinpoint how many particles are in the atmosphere and where they are.
One of these LIDAR systems, Aglite, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and measures particles in the atmosphere around farms. It is run from a trailer and can be taken to farms around the country. The Aglite team has measured the atmospheric pollution around almond groves, cotton gins and swine barns, Wilkerson said.
Wilkerson has been doing LIDAR work since 1972 and has been involved in a lot of the original developments in how to do LIDAR measurements, but he said some of his greatest achievements are the friendships he’s made throughout the years.
“I’ve been privileged to work with a lot of very good young people, as a colleague and a supervisor, and (I’ve been able to) guide them in learning the techniques of research, and (I’ve been) guided by their insights as well.”
Jed Hancock, who has worked with Wilkerson as an optical engineer for the Aglite and Twilite programs, said, “He loves the science and engineering part, but he also loves working with people and mentoring us younger scientists and engineers.
“He got the medal from a lifetime of dedication to science – he literally has a passion for it. We need more people like Tom.”
-kate.r@aggiemail.usu.edu