Office for Research & Discovery

Elliott Cheu is the interim Dean of the College of Science and a Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Arizona. He started his academic career at Stanford University, where he majored in physics. While at Stanford, he participated in research at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), which piqued his interest in understanding the most fundamental elements of the Universe. This interest next led him to Cornell University where he obtained his Ph.D. in physics, with an emphasis on particle physics. After graduate school, Elliott obtained the Robert R. McCormick Fellowship at the University of Chicago, working on the KTeV experiment. This experiment was the first to discover a phenomenon called direct CP violation, which demonstrated the difference between matter and anti-matter. In 1996 Elliott moved to the University of Arizona, and has been here ever since. He currently performs research at the Large Hadron Collider, searching for new phenomena related to dark matter.

Joaquin Ruiz received his B.S. in Geology and B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Miami in 1977. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Michigan in 1980 and 1983, respectively. From 1982 to 1983 he was Assistant Professor at the University of Miami. In 1983 he joined the University of Arizona Geosciences Department as Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1989 and Professor in 1993. He served as head of the Department of Geosciences from 1995 to 2000. He was appointed Dean of the College of Science in 2000, Executive Dean of the Colleges of Letters, Arts and Science in 2009, and Vice President for Innovation in 2013. Dr. Ruiz is past President of the Geological Society of America (2010-2011). He is also a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists, and a member of the American Geophysical Union, the American Chemical Society, the Geochemical Society, and the National Research Council of the National Academies of Science. He is a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences and the Governing Board of the Instituto Nacional de Astronomia, Optica y Electronica in Mexico. He has served as Secretary of the Volcanology Section of the American Geophysical Union, Councillor of the Geological Society of America, and as a National Science Foundation Panel Member for the Instrumentation and Facilities Program and the Centers for Excellence in Science and Technology Program. He has served as Associate Editor of the American Journal of Science, Geology, ReVista, and Geofísica International of the Institute of Geology, UNAM. As a scientist with equal abilities in chemistry and in geology, Dr. Ruiz addresses many first-order problems in the Earth Sciences, such as the development of new isotope systems for studying ore deposits and the tectonic processes involved in the growth and evolution of Mexico. His research team addresses problems ranging from the origins of life to present-day climate change.