Prof. Margaret Dobrowolska-Furdyna, the Rev. John Cardinal O'Hara C.S.C. Professor of Physics, is a recipient of the 2013 Joyce teaching excellence award. The Rev. Edmund P. Joyce C.S.C. Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching are given annually to faculty who have had a profound influence on undergraduate students through sustained exemplary teaching. Faculty committees in each of seven disciplinary areas review the peer and student nominations. The undergraduate teaching award is supported by a gift from the late Father Joyce’s classmates in the Class of 1937.
Dobrowolska received this same honor in 2008, and in 2010 was the receipient of the Shilts/Leonard Teaching Award in the College of Science. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS).
Dobrowolska's research interests involve magnetospectroscopy of semiconductor heterostructures, i.e., systems composed of ultrathin layers of different semiconductor compounds, with thicknesses in the range of a few atomic monolayers. Such an arrangement leads to new effects which are of great interest both in fundamental physics and in device applications. Magnetospectroscopic studies provide important insights into the electronic structures and optical properties of these novel systems.