Congratulations to alumnus Mats Selen on being named 2016 U.S. Professor of the Year by Carnegie Foundation and Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE)! Mats Selen is being recognized as the Outstanding Doctoral and Research Universities Professor.

The award recognizes the highest level of excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring, a scholarly approach to teaching and learning, and significant contributions to undergraduate education at the home institution and community and to the teaching profession.

Mats, currently a physics professor at the University of Illinois, received both a B.S. (1982) and a M.Sc. (1983) in physics from Guelph before completing a Ph.D. at Princeton University.

A feature article on Mats Selen, the award and his achievements [1] is available on the Physics Illinois website. Part of the article describes how Mats originally planned on becoming a veterinarian, only to change course when he took an introductory physics class taught by former physics professor Jack MacDonald. Professor Innes MacKenzie (now University Professor Emeritus) was also a very important role model and mentor to him: “Innes was in the lab tinkering all the time. He was an amazing designer of experiments and he had the most amazing ideas for applying physics to everyday problems. I wanted to be just like him.”