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K-State Today

May 6, 2013

Meet one of K-State's newest university distinguished professors: Ryszard Jankowiak

Submitted by Communications and Marketing

Ryszard Jankowiak

Kansas State University has chosen five faculty members as its newest university distinguished professors: James Edgar, Stephen Higgs, Ryszard Jankowiak, Philip Nel and Mike Tokach.

Each day K-State Today will individually spotlight each new university distinguished professor. University distinguished professor is lifetime title and the highest honor that the university bestows on its faculty. It is given following a universitywide competition conducted by the provost.

Ryszard Jankowiak is a professor of chemistry and ancillary professor of physics.

Jankowiak is one of the world's leaders in high-resolution, frequency domain, laser-based spectroscopies -- a field that allows for the elucidation of excited electronic state structure and measurements of ultrafast dynamics in complex biological systems. His work is complementary to various time-domain spectroscopies, and helps explain the excited electronic state structure by providing information not possible through other methods. His current research interests include molecular electronic spectroscopy, laser-based spectroscopies, low-temperature protein dynamics, as well as the excitation energy and electron transfer processes in photosynthesis.

Since joining Kansas State University in 2005, Jankowiak has receive more than $2 million in research funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, National Cancer Institute and others. He has published more than 200 papers in refereed journals and has presented more than 100 lectures at international conferences and more than 50 invited talks at various universities around the world. His honors include the 2012 Professorial Performance Award, Outstanding Senior Scientist for the Sigma Xi Society K-State chapter, the R&D100 Award for the CE-FLN System, International Cancer Technology Transfer Award and the Iowa State University Professional and Scientific Excellence Award.

At Kansas State University, Jankowiak has advised seven advanced-degree students, eight postdoctoral research fellows, six undergraduate students and several students in the Research Experiences for Undergraduates summer program. He is a member of the American Association of the Advancement of Science, New York Academy of Sciences, American Chemical Society, fellow of the International Union Against Cancer and a fellow of the Australian Institute of High Energetic Materials. He serves as the associate editor for Versita Open Access Book Publisher, and is on the executive committee of the Kansas State University Research Foundation and an editorial advisory board member of Scientific Journal International.

Jankowiak earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Poland's Teachers College in 1969, his master's degree in solid-state physics from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland in 1974 and his doctorate in condensed matter physics and spectroscopy from Technical University of Gdansk in Poland in 1981. During his obligatory military service, he earned the rank of second lieutenant in the Polish navy in 1975. From 1981-1985 he worked at the department of physical chemistry in Philipps University in Marburg, Germany, and from 1985-2005 at the Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory at Iowa State University, where he established a highly-visible research program in chemical carcinogenesis.