R. Claude Woods

https://www2.chem.wisc.edu/users/woods

Claude Woods was born March 24, 1940 in Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated with a BS in Chemistry from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1961. He obtained an AM degree (1962) and then a PhD degree (1965) in Physical Chemistry from Harvard University. He served for two years on active duty as a Lieutenant in the US Naval Reserve (1965-1967), during which time he was an officer instructor in Chemistry at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He was a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Department of Chemistry for fifty three years: Assistant Professor (1967-1973), Associate Professor (1973-1977), and Professor (1977-2020), retiring in August, 2020. His major research areas are high resolution spectroscopy, quantum chemistry, astrochemistry, and plasma processing and diagnostics. In 1984 he shared the Nobel Laureate Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry, awarded by the ACS for the outstanding PhD thesis in Chemistry in the United States, with his graduate student Christopher Gudeman. In 1997 he received the Pharmacia-Upjohn Excellence in Teaching Award from the Department of Chemistry, and in 2013 he received the Undergraduate Mentoring Award in Physical Sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.