Baylor University in Waco, Texas, has announced that Meera Chandrasekhar is the winner of the 2014 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching. She is the Curator’s Teaching Professor of physics and professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Missouri.
Dr. Chandrasekhar was selected from among three finalists that were announced in April 2013. She will receive a $250,000 prize and a visiting professorship at Baylor. She plans to spend the spring 2015 semester at Baylor University. As part of the award, an additional $25,000 will be given to the physics department at the University of Missouri.
Robert Foster Cherry earned his bachelor’s degree from Baylor University in 1929. He enrolled in the Baylor Law School in 1932 and passed the Texas State Bar Examination the following year. With a deep appreciation for how his life had been changed by significant teachers, he made an exceptional estate bequest to establish the Cherry Award program to recognize excellent teachers and bring them in contact with Baylor University students. The first Robert Foster Cherry Award was made in 1991.
Professor Chandrasekhar has taught at the University of Missouri for 35 years. She is a graduate of Mysore University in India. She holds a master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras and a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. in physics from Brown University.
Professor Chandrasekhar has received numerous teaching awards throughout her academic career. Her research interest focus on optical spectroscopy of semiconductors, superconductors, and conjugated polymers.