In 2001, the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics Executive Committee established the Katherine E. Weimer award to "recognize and encourage outstanding achievement in plasma science research by a woman physicist in the early years of her career."

Dr. Katherine E. Weimer was a pioneering research physicist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory at Princeton University. She made many important contributions in magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium and stability theory for magnetically confined plasmas. Her obituary, written by John Johnson and John Greene, appeared in September 2001 in Physics Today. A list of her peer-reviewed journal publications may be found at Publications.

The Division of Plasma Physics has historically experienced significantly lower representation of women in its ranks compared to other divisions (7% vs. 11% in 2010). This award will play an important role in recognizing the contribution and potential of women in plasma science and will help to attract and retain women in this field.

The standard APS prize and award guidelines, which apply here, may be found at this address.

The Award endowment was funded with $15,000 from DPP and $15,000 raised from generous contributions from friends and colleagues of Katherine Weimer and includes contributions from discretionary funds of fusion/plasma science research laboratories.

The 2011 Weimer Award
The award is open to any female plasma scientist. The nominee's Ph.D. must have been received within the ten-year period prior to the nomination deadline of April 1, 2011. Nominations are active for one selection cycle (three years). The award consists of $2,000 and funds for travel to the annual meeting where the award is to be presented, as well as a certificate citing the contributions made by the recipient. The recipient will be invited to give a talk at the Division's annual meeting.

Previous award recipients
Professor Yu Lin of Auburn University (2002) "for creative and significant contributions to theoretical and computational research in nonlinear physics in the boundary layers of space plasmas"
Dr. Elena Belova of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (2005) "for pioneering analytical and numerical contributions to the fundamental physics of magnetically confined plasmas"
Dr. Lin Yin of Los Alamos National Laboratory (2008) "for major contributions to the understanding of instabilities and magnetic reconnection in space plasmas and of the physics of relativistic laser-plasma interactions through complex modeling" 

Award Committee 2011
Nominations should be sent to the chairman:
Dr. Mary Ann Sweeney
Sandia National Laboratories
Org. 1610 (Pulsed Power Program Management and Integration)
P. O. Box 5800
Albuquerque, NM 87185-1191
Phone: 505-845-7307

There is no provision for online submissions; however, electronic submissions may be emailed to masween@sandia.gov.

Committee members:

Mary Ann Sweeney, chairman, Sandia National Laboratories
masween@sandia.gov

Catherine Fiore, past chairman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
fiore@psfc.mit.edu

three members, to be decided