Carl Wieman

Stanford University

Professor of Physics and Graduate School of Education

Carl Wieman holds a joint appointment as Professor of Physics and of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. He served as the Associate Director for Science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in September 2010-12. Carl previously divided his time between the University of British Columbia and the University of Colorado. At each institution, he served as both the Director of Collaborative Science Education Initiatives aimed at achieving widespread improvement in undergraduate science education and as a Professor of Physics. From 1984 through 2006, he was a Distinguished Professor of Physics and Presidential Teaching Scholar at the University of Colorado. While at the University of Colorado, he was a Fellow of JILA (a joint federal-university institute for interdisciplinary research in the physical sciences) and he served as the Chair of JILA from 1993-1995. Dr. Wieman has conducted extensive research in atomic and laser physics. His research has been recognized with numerous awards including sharing the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001 for the creation of a new form of matter known as Bose-Einstein condensation”. Dr. Wieman has also worked extensively on research and innovations for improving science education; he was the founding Chair of the National Academy of Science Board on Science Education. He has received numerous awards, including the National Science Foundation’s Distinguished Teaching Scholar Award (2001), the Carnegie Foundation’s U.S. University Professor of the Year Award (2004), and the American Association of Physics Teachers’ Oersted Medal (2007) for his work on science education. Dr. Wieman received his B.S. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973 and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1977.