Cherry Finalist to Discuss MRI Technology

October 17, 2005

Dr. Robert Brown, Institute Professor in the department of physics at Case Western Reserve and finalist for Baylor University's Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching, will discuss MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) technology at a public lecture Wednesday, Oct. 19. "A Simple View of MRI, and Its Increasingly Rich View of Us and our Brain" will begin at 3 p.m. in room D110 at the Baylor Sciences Building.
A graduate of the University of Minnesota, Brown earned his doctorate in physics from MIT. He joined the Case Western Reserve faculty in 1970 and has served as visiting research scientist at SUNY at Stony Brook, the Fermi National Laboratory and Washington University.
Brown has written more than 150 publications and abstracts, including a well-known textbook in the field of MRI physics, and holds six patents. His diverse research includes MRI, rf thermal ablation and heat equation investigations, nonlinear dynamics, muscle fatigue modeling and sensor development, to name a few.
He is a recipient of two undergraduate teaching awards at Case Western, an Undergraduate Computational Engineering and Science Award from the Department of Energy; a John S. Diekhoff and NE Ohio Council on Higher Education Teaching Award; and the 2004 AAPT Excellence in Undergraduate Physics National Teaching Award.
Of the 16 doctoral thesis students Brown has advised, eight have outstanding industrial careers, four are professors of physics, two are at national laboratories, one is an executive in banking and one is a successful author.
The Cherry finalists each will receive $15,000 and will present a series of lectures at Baylor during the fall. Each will present a Cherry Award Lecture on their home campuses during the upcoming academic year. The home department of the finalists also will receive $10,000 to foster the development of teaching skills.
The other Cherry finalists are William Cook, Distinguished Teaching Professor of History at State University of New York at Geneseo, and Anton E. Armstrong, Tosdal Professor of Music at St. Olaf College. Cook delivered his lecture last week, and Armstrong will deliver his lecture on Nov. 1.
For more information, contact Linda McGregor at 710-2923.