Barbara Jane Garrison (born March 7, 1949) is an American chemist who is emeritus professor at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

. She is the former Shapiro Professor of Chemistry and head of the department. She is a Fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

, American Chemical Society,

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

and American Vacuum Society.

Early life and education

Garrison was born in Big Rapids, Michigan. Her father, "Gary" Garrison, was a medic during World War II. Upon returning to the United States, he studied at Ferris State University, the first in his family to attend college. Her mother grew up in Missouri. In 1956, the Garrison family moved to Phoenix, Arizona. She was encouraged by her father to work on maths and physics. As a teenager, Garrison played clarinet in the marching band, and was involved with the

Girl Scouts of the USA Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as simply Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. Founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, it was organized a ...

. She attended Camelback High School, where she eventually decided to focus on physics. She graduated as one of the top five students in the class, and was awarded a scholarship to attend the

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. She majored in physics and maths, but took her quantum mechanics classes in chemistry. After graduating, she moved to the University of California, Berkeley, where she realized she was interested in the physics of molecules. She transferred her speciality to chemistry, and worked on

Penning ionization Penning ionization is a form of chemi-ionization, an ionization process involving reactions between neutral atoms or molecules. The Penning effect is put to practical use in applications such as gas-discharge neon lamps and fluorescent lamps, whe ...

. During her graduate degree, she started to work with IBM in San Jose on molecular modeling. After graduating, Garrison joined Purdue University.

Research and career

Garrison moved to the

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), commonly referred to as the Berkeley Lab, is a United States Department of Energy National Labs, United States national laboratory that is owned by, and conducts scientific research on behalf of, t ...

, where she used a super computer to perform basic molecular dynamics simulations. In 1979, she moved to

, where IBM provided her with a mainframe for computational calculations. She was particularly interested in simulating the sputtering process. Garrison was interested in surface structures and the emission of organic molecules. She started a collaboration that saw her simulating ablative photodecomposition.

Awards and honors

* 1984 Peter Mark Award * 1990 Penn State Faculty Scholar Award for Outstanding Achievement in Physical Sciences and Engineering * 1990 Akron Section Award * 1994 Francis P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal from the American Chemical Society * 1994 Elected Fellow of the

* 1994 Elected Fellow of the American Vacuum Society * 2004 Eberly College of Science Distinguished Alumni Service Award * 2009 Elected Fellow of the

* 2010 Honored in festschrift issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry C * 2010 Elected Fellow of the American Chemical Society * 2015 American Vacuum Society Theodore E. Madey Award

Selected publications

* * *

Personal life

Garrison was married on April 19, 1978.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrison, Barbara J. 1949 births Living people American women chemists Pennsylvania State University faculty Fellows of the American Chemical Society Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Purdue University alumni Arizona State University alumni Scientists from Michigan People from Big Rapids, Michigan American women physicists American physicists 21st-century American women