Fred H. Pollak—Going Out with a Bang

Hunter College Professor of Physics Steven G. Greenbaum, executive officer of the doctoral program in Physics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York

To celebrate the life and work of Fred H. Pollak, distinguished professor emeritus of physics, the Brooklyn College Physics Department held a symposium in early December. The symposium was organized by his colleague Professor of Physics Micha Tomkiewicz. Pollak, a pioneer in semiconductor research and the creation of modulation spectroscopic techniques, died last June at the age of seventy-three. The daylong event included technical presentations by leaders in theoretical and applied physics, chemistry, engineering, and mathematics—Pollak's former mentors, postdoctoral fellows, students, and colleagues in research and commerce.

The symposium began with comments from  Pollak's widow, Carol Magai, professor of psychology; director of the Intercultural Institute on Human Development and Aging; and dean of research at Long Island University, Brooklyn campus. The comments and a poem by Mary Oliver entitled "Thirst," were read by D. Brenda Adjei, director of the Office of Grants and Research at LIU, Brooklyn campus.

"He was always surrounded by people who wanted to speak with him," said Distinguished University Professor of Physics Godfrey Gumbs. "He was always the tallest in the group, not only in height," Gumbs, also the Chianta and Stoll Professor of Physics at Hunter College, told the audience in the Brooklyn College Library Woody Tanger Auditorium. Gumbs, in his presentation on high-frequency single electron pump research and the promising revelation that electrons appear to take time to tunnel through semiconductor bands, remembered his collaborator's sage advice to be "cautious about reaching conclusions."

Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Harry D. Gafney, Queens College, presented an application of the photonic research funded by one of the many grants that Pollak helped to attract to Brooklyn College and the University. The CUNY Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) in Photonic Applications—one of the eighteen CATs established by the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology, and Innovation (NYSTAR) to support research, development, and commercialization—may generate a great deal of income for the University, especially if the Department of Homeland Security picks up on its application of spectroscopy to scan shipping container contents. Until recently, Gafney served as the acting director of the CUNY CAT.  Pollak had served as the first deputy director under City College Professor of Science and Engineering Robert R. Alfano, director of the CCNY Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers.

Joseph Birman, distinguished professor of physics, City College and the Graduate Center, gave an overview of the history of charting the transmission of light through solids, and spoke of current work as a continuation of Pollak's, focusing on his own research with hybrid organic and inorganic semiconductor solids in search of a smoother passage for electrons through material. "If Fred were here," he said, "I wouldn't have been able to finish the talk" because of all the questions he would have asked.

Especially intriguing to all participants was the presentation on mathematical finance given by Morrel Cohen, a member of the National Academy of Sciences currently associated with the Rutgers University Department of Physics and Astronomy Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics Research Group and with Princeton University. An informal collaboration between Pollak and Cohen led to the analysis of stock market trading. A huge amount of data later, Cohen realized still more was needed, but time being money, the project was abandoned before the curve to predict stock option pricing and derivatives was perfected.

Several of the symposium's participants had benefited from Pollak's expertise when they were students. Robert P. Silberstein, a research scientist at Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems, did his postdoc with Pollak. He remembered "facing danger every day" as they experimented with hazardous chemicals and metals in search of elegant electrodes, engaging electrolytes, and smooth semiconductor junctions. "Nature is a dance and Fred knew all the steps," said Silberstein, a sentiment echoed by presenters throughout the day, as the "savvy entrepreneur," "who knew all the ropes," and "taught us what we needed to know to succeed" was lauded for his many accomplishments. Silberstein presented on electrolyte electro-reflections.

National Medal of Technology Laureate Jerry M. Woodall, the Barry M. and Patricia L. Epstein Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

National Medal of Technology Laureate Jerry M. Woodall, the Barry M. and Patricia L. Epstein Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, reviewed his extensive collaboration with Pollak during the time that Woodall worked as a "sample-maker" at IBM.

At lunch in the newly renovated Brooklyn College Conference Center, the assembled symposium participants reminisced over tiramisu and coffee.

Beginning in 1972, Pollak, an experimental physicist, was the director of the Maxwell R. Maybaum Institute of Material Sciences and Quantum Electronics at the Belfer Graduate School of Science at Yeshiva University. In 1978 Yeshiva decided to close the institute. "It was Yeshiva's loss and our gain," said Professor of Physics Emeritus Joseph B. Krieger, then chairperson of the Physics Department. The College had a strong nuclear physics faculty, but no standing in solid states. With Pollak's arrival, and the subsequent recruitment of Micha Tomkiewicz, formerly a chemist at Union Carbide, that changed. Professor of Physics Brian B. Schwartz, who was the dean of the school of science and dean of research at the time, referred to Professors Pollak and Tomkiewicz as the "dynamic duo," who attracted new faculty to the Physics Department, increased its funding, and augmented its stature.

Pollak, as director of the Semiconductor Institute at Brooklyn College, was soon made a Broeklundian Professor of Physics. In 1988 he became a distinguished professor. "His work gave luster and prominence to the College," said Brooklyn College President Christoph Kimmich. Complementing his roles in the Physics Department of Brooklyn College and the Ph.D. program in physics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Pollak served as deputy director of the New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Ultrafast Photonic Materials and Applications at the City University of New York and as associate director and head of the Materials Group for the New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Telecommunication at Polytechnic University. Pollak also participated in the Committee of Concerned Scientists and was a director and fellow of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers and a fellow of the American Physical Society.

After lunch, participants returned to the Tanger Auditorium for presentations by more of Pollak's associates, including Maria Tamargo, professor of physical and inorganic chemistry, City College, who specializes in molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth and characterization of semiconductor materials for photonic and electronic applications. Ying-Sheng Huang, professor, Department of Electronic Engineering and Technology, National Taiwan Institute of Technology in Taipei, spoke on the growth and characterization of RuO2 and IrO2 nanocrystals. Brooklyn College Chairperson and Professor of Physics Raymond T. Tung gave a talk, entitled, "Interface Dipole: From Schottkey Barriers to High-K/Metal-Gate."  Brooklyn College Associate Professor of Physics Kai Shum addressed the "Peculiar Temperature Dependence of the CuSnI3 Band-gap."  Pollak's former graduate student Todd Holden, assistant professor of physics, Queensborough Community College, summarized Pollak's publications and the citations of Pollak's work by other members of the scientific community . He presented his own recent work on "Nanoscale surface photovoltage spectroscopy of CdSe/ZnCdMgSe quantum dots structures."

The morning session of the symposium was chaired by Orest J. Glembocki, Pollak's first graduate student at Brooklyn College, now an Office of Naval Research staff physicist; remarks at lunch were moderated by Brooklyn College Professor of Physics Peter Lesser; and the afternoon session was chaired by Paul M. Amirtharaj, chief of the Radio Frequency and Electronics Division of the Army Research Laboratory, Pollak's first postdoctoral fellow at Brooklyn College.

The symposium concluded with a reading of written communications from colleagues around the world and a note to Carol Magai from her late husband's younger brother, George, a professor of neurobiology at the University of Texas, Austin.