Franklin Dollar
Franklin J. Dollar is an American physicist and professor at the department of physics and astronomy at University of California, Irvine. A member of the Pomo tribe, he grew up on a reservation near Geyserville, California. He earned his Bachelor of Science in engineering physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2006 and graduated with a PhD in applied physics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 2012. Dollar joined UCI in 2015 and studies optics there. He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2022.
Early life and education
Franklin J. Dollar is a member of the Dry Creek Rancheria Band of [Pomo Indians]. He grew up on a Native American reservation near Geyserville, California. The reservation had no electricity, internet or running water. He attended Geyserville Educational Park.In 2006, Dollar earned his Bachelor of Science in engineering physics from the University of California, Berkeley. During his first few years at UCB, he worked at a chain drugstore. He then got a job at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where he helped develop advanced optics for the Solar Dynamics Observatory. He continued working at the lab while at UCB. He received his master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2010 and graduated with a PhD in applied physics there in 2012.
Career
After receiving his PhD, Dollar became a postdoctoral researcher at JILA. In the fall of 2015, he joined the department of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Irvine as a professor. Dollar began studying X-ray source production with high intensity lasers at JILA, and continues to do so at UCI.Dollar is the associate dean of graduate studies at UCI's school of physical sciences. He serves on the editorial board of the New Journal of Physics.