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Veteran physicist named science dean
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Contact:
Michael Plischke, 604.291.3371; michael_plischke@sfu.ca
Marianne Meadahl, Media & PR 604.291.4323
Michael Plischke, 604.291.3371; michael_plischke@sfu.ca
Marianne Meadahl, Media & PR 604.291.4323
October 13, 2004
Michael Plischke, a 28-year veteran physics professor at Simon Fraser University, is the university's new dean of science. Plischke has served as acting dean since June 2003 and began his four-year mandate in September, 2004.
A condensed matter theorist, Plischke was raised in Montreal, where he received a BSc from Loyola College, followed by a master's degree in physics from Yale and a PhD from Yeshiva University in Manhattan. He chaired the physics department at SFU from 1988-1993 and 1998-2003.
Among pressing issues he faces is the creation of a science department at the Surrey campus. He says challenges include where to house a new department, how to develop it and how to recruit the same quality of students and faculty as on Burnaby Mountain.
Plischke sees some exciting opportunities, such as the fruition of the leadership chair program established in 2002 with the help of the B.C. government's Leading Edge Endowment Fund (LEEF), to promote the province as a centre of excellence for research and development. “We're well on our way to identifying a potential chair holder for salmon conservation and management,” he says. “We're very likely going to put forward another proposal in the area of vaccine development and bio-informatics.”
Plischke also says the faculty of sciences' interaction with SFU's new faculty of health sciences will be an important new initiative, noting that a number of science faculty are already involved.
(digital photo available)
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Website
B.C. Govt. Leading Edge Endowment Fund; www.aved.gov.bc.ca/leading_edge/welcome.htm
A condensed matter theorist, Plischke was raised in Montreal, where he received a BSc from Loyola College, followed by a master's degree in physics from Yale and a PhD from Yeshiva University in Manhattan. He chaired the physics department at SFU from 1988-1993 and 1998-2003.
Among pressing issues he faces is the creation of a science department at the Surrey campus. He says challenges include where to house a new department, how to develop it and how to recruit the same quality of students and faculty as on Burnaby Mountain.
Plischke sees some exciting opportunities, such as the fruition of the leadership chair program established in 2002 with the help of the B.C. government's Leading Edge Endowment Fund (LEEF), to promote the province as a centre of excellence for research and development. “We're well on our way to identifying a potential chair holder for salmon conservation and management,” he says. “We're very likely going to put forward another proposal in the area of vaccine development and bio-informatics.”
Plischke also says the faculty of sciences' interaction with SFU's new faculty of health sciences will be an important new initiative, noting that a number of science faculty are already involved.
(digital photo available)
-30-
Website
B.C. Govt. Leading Edge Endowment Fund; www.aved.gov.bc.ca/leading_edge/welcome.htm