May 11, 2009 -- Dr. Gabriel A. Cwilich, associate professor of physics at Yeshiva College, has been appointed director of the college’s Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Honors Program. Cwilich, an expert on wave propagation in disordered materials and the physics of disordered systems, has taught physics at the college since 1991 and served in faculty leadership roles in the honors program for eight years. Cwilich was chosen from a large pool of applicants representing a wide range of academic disciplines after an exhaustive national search. Over the past decade, Cwilich has been active at the nexus of science and culture, as scientific advisor for several theater productions, both on- and off-Broadway and in several countries outside of the U.S. His work in this area has been discussed on NPR’s Science Friday, in the New York Times and numerous publications around the world. Cwilich studied physics in his native Argentina before moving to the U.S. to earn a doctorate in theoretical physics at Rutgers University. He was a postdoctoral research associate at the Institute for Physical Science and Technology at the University of Maryland and Washington University in St. Louis. “Dr. Cwilich will bring his own brand of energy and creativity to this position and will build on the accomplishments of this past year,” Dr. David J. Srolovitz, dean of Yeshiva College, said. Cwilich served as the program’s associate director this past year. He succeeds its current director, Dr. Joanne Jacobson, who will be taking a long-planned leave of absence this fall to pursue her academic interests in American studies. “We are grateful for Dr. Jacobson’s thoughtful leadership of the honors program during the past year. She and Dr. Cwilich led the program to its most vibrant year to-date,” Srolovitz said. “This year we have one of the highest numbers of students completing honor theses, the largest set of course offerings, a student-led academic conference and a French language immersion program in New York and Paris.” Cwilich said he looked forward to expanding the program after this year’s success. “We’re in a very good position to further develop the program, which is the entry point for introducing curricular innovations that benefit the whole college,” he said. “We plan to bring in important scholars to address the honors students and teach classes at the University.”