Murnane

Dr. Margaret Murnane is a Fellow at JILA and a member of the Department of Physics and Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Colorado. She received her B.S and M.S. degrees from University College Cork, Ireland, and her Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1989, and joined the faculty of physics at Washington State University in 1990.

In 1996, Professor Murnane moved to the University of Michigan, and in 1999 she moved to the University of Colorado. She runs a joint research group and a small laser company with her husband, Prof. Henry Kapteyn.

Prof. Murnane's research interests have been in ultrafast optical and x-ray science. Prof. Murnane is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America. In 1997 she was awarded the Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award of the American Physical Society, in 2000 she was named a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow, in 2004 she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and in 2006 she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Honors & Awards

• 2021 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics (shared with Henry Kapteyn)
• 2020 Fellow National Academy of Inventors Society (shared with Henry Kapteyn)
• 2019 R&D 100 Award for Quantum Microscope (KMLabs – JILA team)
• 2019 Colorado Governor's Award for High Impact Research (shared with Henry Kapteyn)
• 2018 Presidential Distinquished Service Award for the Irish Abroad (Science, Technology, and Innovation)
• 2018 Science Foundation Ireland St. Patrick’s Day Science Medal for Academia
• 2018 Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science, University of Notre Dame
• 2017 Frederic Ives Medal/Quinn Prize by OSA
• 2015 Honorary Doctorate, Uppsala University
• 2015 Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science, University College Dublin
• 2014 Moore Foundation Experimental Investigator Award
• 2013 Honorary Member, Royal Irish Academy
• 2012 Chairman Appointment, President's Committee on the National Medal of Science
• 2012 Willis Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics (shared with Henry Kapteyn)
• 2011 Boyle Medal
• 2010 Appointed to the President's Committee for the US National Medal of Science
• 2010 R.W. Wood Prize of the Optical Society of America (shared with Henry Kapteyn)
• 2010 Arthur L Schawlow Prize in Laser Science of the American Physical Society (shared with Henry Kapteyn)
• 2009 Ahmed Zewail Award of the American Chemical Society (shared with Henry Kapteyn)
• 2008 National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship
• 2008 Distinguished Professor, University of Colorado
• 2007 Fellow of the Association for Women in Science
• 2006 Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 2005 Distinguished Alumnus Award, University College Cork (Ireland)
• 2004 Member, National Academy of Sciences (USA)
• 2003 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
• 2003 Richtmyer Memorial Lecturer of the American Association of Physics Teachers
• 2001 Fellow of the American Physical Society
• 2001 Loeb Lecturer, Harvard University
• 2000 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow
• 1998 Fellow of the Optical Society of America
• 1997 Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award of the American Physical Society
• 1993 Presidential Faculty Fellowship of the National Science Foundation
• 1992 Sloan Foundation Fellowship
• 1991 Presidential Young Investigator Award of the National Science Foundation
• 1990 Simon Ramo Award of the American Physical Society

Affiliations

JILA, University of Colorado at Boulder and NIST

JILA Center for Atomic, Molecular & Optical Physics