Physics professor wins Robert Foster Cherry Award

Baylor University has named Dr. Meera Chandrasekhar, professor of physics and astronomy and Curator’s Teaching Professor of Physics at the University of Missouri, as the 2014 recipient of the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching. The Cherry Award is the only national teaching award—with the single largest monetary reward of $250,000—presented by a college or university to an individual for exceptional teaching.

“Baylor University is very pleased to honor Dr. Chandrasekhar with Baylor’s 2014 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching,” said Dr. Elizabeth Davis, executive vice president and provost at Baylor. “Dr. Chandrasekhar is an internationally known teacher/scholar who combines an impressive academic record with a stellar reputation for the extraordinary impact she has had on undergraduate and graduate students.

The Cherry Award program at Baylor is designed to honor great teachers, stimulate discussion in the academy about the value of teaching and encourage departments and institutions to value their own great teachers. Along with a record of distinguished scholarship, individuals nominated for the Cherry Award have a proven record as extraordinary teachers with positive, inspiring and long-lasting effects on students.

As the 2014 Cherry Award recipient, Chandrasekhar will receive the $250,000 award and an additional $25,000 for the physics department at the University of Missouri. She is expected to teach in residence at Baylor during the spring 2015 semester.

Chandrasekhar was named a finalist for the Cherry Award in April 2013, along with fellow distinguished teacher/scholars Joan Breton Connelly, PhD, professor of classics and art history, New York University, and Michael K. Salemi, PhD, professor emeritus of economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As Cherry Award finalists, each professor received $15,000, while their home departments also received $10,000 for the development of teaching skills.

Chandrasekhar earned her bachelor of science degree in physics and mathematics from M.G.M. College, Mysore University in India, in 1968, master’s degrees in physics from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India, in 1970 and Brown University in 1973, and a PhD in physics from Brown University in 1976. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Max-Planck-Institut in Germany, she joined the University of Missouri faculty in 1978.

Chandrasekhar’s research interests are in the area of optical spectroscopy of semiconductors, superconductors and conjugated polymers, with an emphasis on studies of high pressure. She has a strong interest in the education of young students and has developed hands-on physics programs for students in grades 5-12 and summer institutes for K-12 teachers, activities for which she has received several awards.