WIPRO Personnel
Meera Chandrasekhar (co-PI)
Curator's Teaching Professor Emerita
Meera Chandrasekhar (co-PI)
Curator's Teaching Professor Emerita
Meera Chandrasekhar is Curators' Teaching Professor Emerita of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Following her undergraduate education in India, she received a Ph. D. in Physics from Brown University, Providence, RI, in 1976. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Max-Planck-Institut in Stuttgart, W. Germany, she came to MU in 1978. Prof. Chandrasekhar's research interests are in the area of optical spectroscopy of semiconductors, superconductors, and conjugated polymers, with an emphasis on high pressure studies. She is deeply interested in the education of young students. She has developed hands-on physics programs for K-12 students and professional development programs for K-12 teachers.
Her awards include the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching from Baylor University in 2014; Missouri Science Educator Award, STOM, 2008; MU’s Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching, 2006; Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, 1999; and a William T. Kemper Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching in 1997.
Prof. Chandrasekhar has served as Principal or co-Principal Investigator on several educational grants funded by the National Science Foundation, Missouri Department of Higher Education, and Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The most recent NSF-funded project, A TIME for Physics First (2009-2015) supported development and implementation of professional development for a yearlong course for physics in ninth grade, and dramatically increased enrollment in 9th grade physics courses in Missouri.
Linda Godwin (co-PI)
Professor Emerita
Linda Godwin (co-PI)
Professor Emerita
Linda Godwin is a Professor Emerita of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Missouri, Columbia. She is a native of Jackson, Missouri, and received a B. S. degree in Mathematics and Physics from Southeast Missouri State University, and a M. S. and Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Missouri, where her research was in low temperature condensed matter physics.
Prof. Godwin joined NASA, at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, in 1980, working in Payload Operations. She served as a flight controller and payloads officer in the ground Mission Control Center for several flights prior to being selected as an astronaut candidate in 1985. A veteran of four shuttle flights, she has logged over 915 hours (over 38 days) in space over the four space missions. Other assignments included serving as Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office, and as Acting Deputy Director, Flight Crew Operations Directorate. Prof. Godwin also served in the Flight Crew Operations Directorate office as a flight crew representative during development of the future Exploration Program. She also worked with NASA Headquarters representatives on the Liftoff to Learning Series of products for K-12.
She returned to MU in 2011 where she taught physics and astronomy classes and worked with students in undergraduate projects in astrophysics. Prof. Godwin served as Co-PI on a PhysTEC grant to encourage and improve the education of future physics teachers.