SPS Outstanding Chapter Advisor Award - 2019

Dr. Alina Gearba-Sell is a Professor and Director of Advanced Programs in the Department of Physics at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), as well as faculty advisor of the USAFA SPS and Sigma Pi Sigma chapters.  She was elected President of the national organization of the Society of Physics Students in 2017.  Dr. Gearba received her Ph.D. in Physics in 2001 from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest in Romania.  She furthered her knowledge in physics at Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, and in the United States at Colorado State University and Kansas State University.  Prior to joining the USAFA faculty in 2014, Dr. Gearba was an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), where she was inducted into Sigma Pi Sigma.  Dr. Gearba has been an active contributor to her research field, with many presentations, publications and grants.  Her current research program involves precision measurements of critical parameters of optical atomic clock ions and is funded by the National Science Foundation.  Dr. Gearba has been recognized with several awards, including the Frank J. Seiler Award for Research Excellence in the Basic Sciences and Civilian of the Year by USAFA, the Mentoring Award and Student Organization Advisor of the Year by USM.