Kelly Gaffney, a professor of photon science at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University, is among the 2024 fellows of the American Physical Society (APS). Fellowship recognizes members for their outstanding efforts to advance physics. This includes exceptional research, significant contributions to the application or teaching of physics, and service to APS.

Gaffney is a professor of photon science at SLAC and a principal investigator at the Stanford PULSE Institute, a joint SLAC/Stanford institute for ultrafast energy science. Ultrafast science is research that focuses on the femtosecond timescale – millionths of a billionth of a second, or faster.

Gaffney was recognized by the APS Division of Chemical Physics for “seminal contributions to the development of novel ultrafast X-ray methods and their application to solution phase chemical and molecular dynamics.”

APS Fellows are nominated by their peers. According to APS, no more than one-half of one percent of the society’s membership are elected as fellows each year.