VT Physics - The Jamie Dunn Award

James (Jamie) Richard Dunn was born on April 4, 1954 in Queens, New York. He was the third of six sons in the Dunn family. Jamie went to college and received his B.S. degree from the State University College of New York at Oneonta in 1976 and joined our Physics Department in the Winter Quarter of 1977. Jamie was an exceptionally kind and generous graduate student whose deep enthusiasm for physics was only matched by his enthusiasm for life. One would, without exaggeration, see a budding Renaissance man in Jamie. He loved life and participated in every facet of it with great vigor. He actively fostered a spirit of good will in the department and was an advocate for graduate student involvement throughout his tenure. His boundless energy and inquisitive nature was infectious. Jamie was President of the Society of Physics Students and served on the Faculty Graduate Committee as graduate student representative.

Upon completion of his Ph.D. requirements Jamie became Professor A. L. Ritter's first graduate student. He completed a thorough background literature search on (e,2e) spectroscopy, designed several major pieces of apparatus for the spectrometer and built a vacuum system. He assembled the instrumentation for measuring crucial parameters of the electron gun used in the spectrometer and developed the computer codes for initial testing and calibration of the electronic instruments that were used. Jamie was preparing the samples for his first experiments but did not live to write up the results.

On September 12, 1981 Jamie was in a fatal motorcycle accident here in Blacksburg, Virginia.

In recognition of his work a Ph.D. was posthumously awarded and presented to his family at the June 9, 1984 Commencement Ceremony.

In memory of their son the Dunn family set up the Jamie Dunn Award. It is meant to reinforce and acknowledge something of Jamie which we feel in some small way is carried on by the recipient of this award. Someone who embodies a love of physics and life in general, and indulges in both. He was of enthusiastic and kind nature, exhibited concern for his fellow human beings, and appreciated opportunities to gain knowledge whenever they presented themselves.

Established in 1982, the Jamie Dunn Award is given to a second-year graduate student who has actively fostered a spirit of good will in the department and has demonstrated a deep enthusiasm for physics.