James Kakalios is the Taylor Distinguished Professor and Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Minnesota. In addition to his teaching and research on Nanostructured Semiconductors, Dynamics of Granular Media and Fluctuation Phenomena in Neurological Systems, he is the author of four popular science books, The Physics of Superheroes, The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics, The Physics of Everyday Things and the newly released The Physics of Superheroes Goes Hollywood.
Working with the National Academy of Sciences’ Science and Entertainment Exchange, he has provided science consulting for the 2009 Warner Bros. film Watchmen and the SONY 2012 film Amazing-Spider-Man.
His efforts at outreach and science communication have been recognized with national awards from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Institute of Physics, the American Association of Physics Teachers, a Regional EMMY award and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Lincoln (U.K.).
He has served as Chair of the Committee on Informing the Public and the Forum on Outreach and Engaging the Public for the American Physical Society (APS). He is a Fellow of the APS and the AAAS. He has been reading comic books longer than he has been studying physics.
Klopsteg Memorial Lecture Award, American Association of Physics Teachers, 2020
George W. Taylor Award for Distinguished Service, University of Minnesota, 2018
Honorary Doctorate, University of Lincoln (U.K.), 2017
Andrew Gemant Award, American Institute of Physics, 2016
Fellow, American Physical Society, 2015
AAAS Award for Public Engagement with Science, 2014
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2013
Upper Midwest Regional Emmy Award, The Science of Watchmen, 2009
Taylor Distinguished Professor, 2008-present
Charles E. Bowers Faculty Teaching Award, 2003