Solomon Bililign

Dr. Solomon Bililign is a professor of Physics at North Carolina A&T State University and he has been active in research and education since joining NCA&T in 1993. He did his undergraduate and MS work in Physics at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, PhD at the University of Iowa and a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Utah Department of Chemistry. His area of specialization includes Experimental and Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics /and Chemical Physics. Since Joining NCA&T Bililign has conducted collaborative research at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and University of Connecticut. He was a NIST-JILA visiting fellow in 2000-2001 a visiting professor at the University of Marseille in France and an adjunct professor at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. With NSF funding from Quantum Chemistry program NSF CAREER award from NSF Chemistry division he contributed to the development and building of a nationally competitive research program in chemical physics, the physics research infrastructure and graduate education at NCA&T.  He served as the Department Chair from 2001-2006. Throughout his tenure at NCA&T he provided high quality training and education to undergraduates and developed several new courses in physics, degree programs  (Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences ) and interdisciplinary projects. Through grants from the SLOAN foundation he has been able to attract high quality students to the physics program. Using NSF funds, he provided international experience to NCA&T students in South Africa, France and Ethiopia. He conducted summer camps to school children, visited local schools, helped in science fairs, organized teacher’s workshops, and promoted science education in local schools. His current research uses spectroscopic tools for atmospheric applications. That includes measuring chemical and optical properties of biomass burning aerosols. His group has also participated in three major field campaigns(1) in 2005- the Wintertime INvestigation of Transport, Emissions, and Reactivity (WINTER) campaign (2) 2014: Front Range Air Pollution and Photochemistry Experiment (FRAPPÉ) field campaign and (3) 2010 California Nexus: Research at the Nexus of Air Quality and Climate Change filed campaign(CALNEX).  Bililign has received over 19 million in grants during his tenure at NCA&T the most significant is the $12 million funding to establish the NOAA Interdisciplinary Scientific Environmental Technology (NOAA-ISET) Center in 2006. He is the Director of the Center.  In 2001-2003 he was named "Outstanding Senior Researcher” for NCA&T. In 2010 he was University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts Alumni Fellow, and is the recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, mathematics and Engineering mentoring in 2011. In 2012 he won the Interdisciplinary research team award for NCA&T and in  2006 and 2016 he is named outstanding teacher of the year for NCA&T College of Arts and Sciences.