He may not wear a striped shirt and blow a whistle, but West Virginia University Physics professor Mohinder Seehra is one of the best referees around.

Seehra, who has been a member of the WVU faculty since 1969, has been named an Outstanding Referee by the American Physical Society, which annually recognizes only about 150 out of its 42,000 active referees.

The Society’s recognition, which is a lifetime award, recognizes scientists who have been exceptionally helpful in assessing manuscripts for publication in the APS journals.

“APS expresses appreciation to all referees, whose efforts in peer review not only keep the standards of the journals at a high level, but in many cases also help authors to improve the quality and readability of their articles—even those that are not published by APS,” said Amy Halsted, spokesperson for the organization.

The selection is made based on two decades of database records on over 50,000 referees who have been called upon to review manuscripts. The basis for selection is the quality, number and timeliness of their reports, without regard for membership in the APS, country of origin or field of research.

“It is great to see a faculty member recognized for the countless hours of work that go into the peer review process,” said Earl Scime, chair of the Department of Physics. “Its hard to convey to someone not involved in refereeing just how much work it takes, and there is rarely any way to reward faculty for such efforts.

“Professor Seehra has had a long and distinguished career here at WVU and it is wonderful to see him so honored.”

The 2010 honorees come from 30 different countries, with large contingents from the US, Germany, UK, Canada, Spain and France.

Seehra studies the structural and magnetic properties of nanoparticles. The goal of his research is to produce particles of transition metals in desired shapes and sizes and with very narrow size distributions. These nano particles have practical applications in catalysis and in medicine for diagnosis and treatment of disease. His other area of expertise and current interest is coal science.

Seehra joined WVU as an assistant professor after receiving his doctoral degree from the University of Rochester in 1969. He is a Fellow of the United Kingdom’s Institute of Physics and the American Physical Society.

The names of all Outstanding Referee honorees are listed at http://publish.aps.org/OutstandingReferees.

The American Physical Society is one of the world’s largest professional body of physicists, representing over 45,000 physicists in academia and industry in the US and internationally. It has offices in Ridge, NY and College Park, MD. For more information, visit www.aps.org.

-WVU-

01/25/10

CONTACT: Rebecca Herod, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
304-293-7405, ext 5251; Rebecca.Herod@mail.wvu.edu