Dr. Jerry W. Forbes Research Scholarship in Physcis

Dr. Jerry Forbes is a 1963 graduate of WIU with a BS in Physics. Dr. Forbes grew up in Galesburg Illinois and completed his B.S. in Physics and Mathematics at WIU, after which he went on to complete MS in Physics from the University of Maryland and his Ph.D. in Shock Wave Physics in 1976 from Washington State University. Dr. Forbes is one of the leading scientists in the area of Shock Wave Physics and for his work in this field became a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1992. He has spent thirty-three years at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (White Oak and Indian Head laboratories) and seven years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as leader of the High Pressure Materials group in the Chemistry Directorate, four years (2003-2007) at the Center of Energetic Concepts at the University of Maryland’s mechanical engineering department and has been a senior Physicist at the Center for Energetics Technology Center from 2007. While at the White Oak Navy Laboratory he was Material Interaction program manager for the Navy’s Chair Heritage electron beam program from 1976-1983. This electron beam program later became the “Nations Star Wars program” run by the Air Force. In the fall of 2009 Dr. Forbes came back to WIU and gave a seminar at the Physics department on Shock Wave Physics of Condensed Matter. Dr. Forbes was the recipient of the prestigious American Physical Society’s George E. Duvall Shock Compression Science Award in 2015.
This Scholarship was created by Dr. Forbes to demonstrate his commitment to the field of Physics and his on-going support to the students at Western Illinois University.

CRITERIA:
• Students must be actively :involved in an approved faculty-mentored student research project in the Department of Physics
• Undergraduate Physics Major in the RISE (Research Inspiring Student Excellence) program, which requires a minimum GPA of 2.800
• Financial need