Colorado State University’s College of Natural Sciences will recognize the achievements of two outstanding faculty members at this spring’s 2021 Professor Laureate Awards: Indrakshi Ray, a professor in the Department of Computer Science, and Robert Wilson, a professor in the Department of Physics.
The event will take place virtually on April 27, 2021 at https://zoom.us/j/96129543598.
The ceremony is open to the public and will include a lecture by Ray on protecting transported goods from cyber-attack.
“I’m so pleased that Bob and Indrakshi were selected as this year’s Professor Laureates, the highest honor the college bestows on our faculty,” said Jan Nerger, dean of the College of Natural Sciences. “They personify the intention of the award – to recognize truly outstanding dedication and contributions in all areas of the tripartite mission. Both are extraordinary teachers, outstanding scholars, and devote time and energy to outreach and engagement.”
Indrakshi Ray
Ray came to CSU in 2001 and serves as the director of the Cybersecurity Center, the site director of the National Science Foundation Industry University Research Consortium on Cybersecurity Center for Analytics and Automation, and as a professor in several areas.
Her laureate lecture will examine the question of whether a cyber-attack can happen in a truck, and how we can detect such attacks. Trucks move 70% percent of all the freight transported in the United States, and various operations of the trucks are controlled by a network of embedded computers.
Robert Wilson
Wilson, the director of the High Energy Physics and Particle Astrophysics Lab, a CSU Program of Research and Scholarly Excellence, has been at CSU since 1997. He will present his laureate lecture at the College of Natural Sciences Teaching & Mentoring Awards Ceremony in the fall.
Wilson’s research focuses on understanding the fundamental building blocks of the universe and the forces through which they interact. He studies “phantom particles” known as neutrinos that are “the most abundant known matter particle in the universe,” he said.
While a hundred billion neutrinos pass through your fingertip every second, they change their identity as they travel through space and matter, thus making them hard to study. Neutrinos’ ability to shapeshift may reveal the secret of how matter survived the Big Bang and enabled humans to be here at all.
Wilson’s research to understand neutrinos involves massive international collaboration involving more than 1,100 scientists and engineers from 30 countries.
“I have always been awed by the accomplishments of past Professor Laureates, so it is a great honor to be recognized by the College of Natural Sciences in this way,” said Wilson.
Professor Laureate Award
The Professor Laureate Award is the college’s highest academic honor, bestowed upon dedicated faculty with outstanding contributions to the missions of research, teaching, mentoring and outreach. The designation is intended to honor recipients and to provide the college with exceptional role models. The title is held for three years and includes an honorarium and two years of research funding.
