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Lawrence Woolf

PhD Physics, '80

Woolf outside wearing a suitLawrence Woolf is a technical fellow at General Atomics (GA) Aeronautical Systems, Inc. in San Diego. He received his PhD in low temperature condensed matter physics from UC San Diego in 1980 and a BA in physics from Rutgers College in 1975. Woolf joined GA in 1982 after work as a postdoc at Exxon. He has been project manager or lead scientist for over 50 programs involving the design, development and/or production of a variety of advanced materials, including multilayer thin-film coatings. He is the author or co-author of 73 scientific publications in materials physics and energy conversion systems, holds 24 patents, and is a fellow of the American Physical Society.

Since 2007, he has also been president and chair of the board of the GA Sciences Education Foundation, where he initiated the GASSSS program that has catalyzed the involvement of over 1,300 employees in K-12 STEM education outreach, has involved over 150 employees in the Chapter One reading tutor program, and has managed the disbursement of over $1.2M in funding to over 70 STEM non-profits. Woolf has developed many educational modules, materials and posters and has given over 100 workshops to teachers and students. He was curriculum advisor/technical reviewer for multiple Lawrence Hall of Science FOSS middle school modules and for the BSCS Science: An Inquiry Approach integrated high school curriculum. He developed partnerships between GA and UC San Diego that has led to financial support for undergraduate research in the School of Physical Sciences and the Jacobs School of Engineering, as well as mentoring and technical interactions. He has mentored two UC San Diego undergraduate and two graduate physics students.

Woolf has been a member of 22 NSF education-related committees, ranging from elementary science education to national laboratory reviews. He has been involved in many APS education committees and activities, including the Forum on Education (as chair), Committee on Education (as chair)  steering committee of the Second Conference on Graduate Education in Physics, APS Excellence in Physics Education Award selection committee, and the  J-TUPP/Phys21 and BPUPP/EP3 task forces. He is currently a member of the EP3 Editorial Board (2025 chair for 2025), was member of the 2024-2025 AIP Advisory Panel for Visioning Engagement with Undergraduate Students (VENUS), and is the US member of IUPAP Working Group 16 on Physics and Industry.