KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — An East Tennessee scientist has begun a three-year stint as chair of the Applied Physical Sciences section of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Gerald Mahan will organize voting on new academy members and identify members who will conduct studies at the request of Congress, which created the group in 1863 as an advisory group to the federal government. Mahan holds a joint appointment as a Distinguished Scientist at the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
He specializes in solid-state physics, both theoretical and applied, and is currently at work on the use of metals and semiconductors to create extremely thin refrigeration units.
Mahan has been a part of the UT-ORNL Science Alliance since 1984.