Uwe Thumm


Uwe Paul Erich Thumm is a German-American physicist with research interests in atomic, molecular, and optical physics and nanoscience. A distinguished physics professor at Kansas State University and the J. R. Macdonald Laboratory in Manhattan, Kansas his research team investigates the ultrafast dynamics of electrons and molecular fragments in laser-matter and particle-matter interactions, highly-charged-ion physics, electron–atom collisions, and plasmonic nanostructures. He is the recipient of several awards, including the Senior Research Award of the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation.

Education

Born and raised in Freiburg, Germany, Thumm studied physics and mathematics at the University of Freiburg, the University of Heidelberg and the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, France. He completed his diploma thesis on "Projectile excitation in asymmetric ion-atom collisions" and his PhD thesis on "Charge-exchange mechanisms in ion-surface collisions'' at the University of Freiburg under the supervision of John S. Briggs. During his graduate work Thumm spent seven months as a research associate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Knoxville in Tennessee, USA. After earning his PhD in 1989, he researched electron-atom collisions and the electronic structure of negative alkali ions at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics in Boulder, CO, USA as a postdoctoral research associate before joining the physics faculty at Kansas State University.

Work

Thumm's research focuses on numerical modeling interactions of intense pulses of laser light and of particle beams with atoms, small molecules, clusters, nanoparticles, surfaces, and thin films. He has written and co-authored more than 107 in peer-reviewed journals, three patents, and more than 280 non-refereed publications, abstracts, and press releases. His research has contributed to different areas of physics with noteworthy broader impacts, including:
Outside academia, Thumm worked as a consultant for thermionic energy conversion at Razor Associates in Sunnyvale, CA and Research Director at Advanced Photonics Technologies AG in Bruckmühl, Germany.

Honors