Edward E. Thomas Jr. is an American

plasma physicist Plasma ()πλάσμα
, Henry George Liddell, R ...

and a Professor of Physics at

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

. He currently serves as the university's associate dean for research and graduate studies and is also the university's Charles W. Barkley Endowed Professor for

diversity and inclusion The business case for diversity stems from the progression of the models of diversity within the workplace since the 1960s. In the United States, the original model for diversity was situated around affirmative action drawing from equal opportunit ...

. He is a fellow of the National Society of Black Physicists (2011), the Alabama Academy of Sciences (2012) and 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 ...

(2015). Thomas's work involves experimental and computational plasma physics, specifically in the areas of

dusty plasma A dusty plasma is a plasma containing micrometer (10−6) to nanometer (10−9) sized particles suspended in it. Dust particles are charged and the plasma and particles behave as a plasma. Dust particles may form larger particles resulting in "gra ...

s and the flow of highly

magnetized Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particles ...

plasmas. He is currently the director of Auburn University's Magnetized Plasma Research Laboratory, a multi-user facility for the study of highly-magnetized

Early life and career

Thomas received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

from Florida Institute of Technology in 1989. He also attended the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT) for graduate studies, working on the Alcator C-Mod and then earning a masters degree in 1993. He later moved to Auburn University where he graduated in 1996 with a Ph.D. in Physics and won an Outstanding Dissertation Award from the National Society of Black Physicists. Upon graduation, Thomas began working as an assistant professor at

Fisk University Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1930, Fisk was the first Africa ...

until 1999. He later returned to Auburn and joined the physics department, where he was promoted to associate professor in 2002 and then full professor in 2007. In 2012, Thomas became the Lawrence C. Wit Professor at the College of Science and Mathematics, and in 2015, the Charles W. Barkley Endowed Professor in the Department of Physics. In 2017, Thomas was promoted to Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies and relinquished his role as Lawrence C. Wit Professor.

Scientific contributions

Thomas studies multiple aspects of plasma physics, including wave-particle interactions in plasma-phase materials and the effects of

microgravity The term micro-g environment (also μg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is more or less synonymous with the terms ''weightlessness'' and ''zero-g'', but emphasising that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small (on the I ...

upon dusty plasmas. Between 1998 and 1999 while at

and subsequently at Auburn University, Thomas received a series of

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

(NSF) grants to develop the use of particle image velocimetry in the study of

s. He was later honored for this work in 2015 by election as a Fellow to the

. In 2009, Thomas led the development of the Magnetized Dusty Plasma Experiment (MDPX), a US$2.1 million

superconducting magnet A superconducting magnet is an electromagnet made from coils of superconducting wire. They must be cooled to cryogenic temperatures during operation. In its superconducting state the wire has no electrical resistance and therefore can conduct mu ...

laboratory funded by Auburn University and the NSF. The experiment was designed as part of a multi-user collaborative facility for the study of

s (i.e. the Magnetized Plasma Research Laboratory) and was completed in May 2014. Thomas then began operation of the facility as its director, together with his colleague Uwe Konopka. In 2015, Thomas served an associate editor of the '' Journal of Plasma Physics.''

Honors and awards

Thomas was elected a fellow the National Society of Black Physicists in 2011 and the Alabama Academy of Sciences in 2012. In 2015, Thomas was elected a Fellow of the

for "''the development of particle-image velocimetry in the study of dusty plasmas and for exemplary service to the plasma physics community''".

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Edward Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century African-American scientists American plasma physicists Auburn University faculty Florida Institute of Technology alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Auburn University alumni Fellows of the American Physical Society 21st-century African-American scientists