Wednesday, May 7 2008
Academic Computing Fellowship
Garrett Evans has won a 2008-2009 Academic Computing Fellowship from the Penn State Graduate School. The award covers tuition and stipend, and also provides funds for travel and other support. Garrett has worked with both Dezhe Jin and John Collins on computational neuroscience topics and the Fellowship award described his proposal in this area as 'innovative'.
Garrett's work involves understanding the complex dynamical and computational properties of systems of neurons and neural connections (synapses), components which are mostly well-understood in isolation. He employs both analytical and computer simulation methods.
Tuesday, Apr 15 2008
WISE Recognition Award
Professor Milton Cole has been selected to receive the WISE Recognition Award, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the recruitment, retention and mentoring of women in science.
Tuesday, Apr 1 2008
Science Exhibition Reception
The Center for Gravitational Wave Physics invites you to attend a Science Exhibition Reception highlighting the scientific achievements of the Center's students, postdocs and technical staff. Center members will be on hand with poster exhibits of their work and refreshments will be available.
Center for Gravitational Wave Physics 2008 Poster Reception
April 25, 2008; 3: 30 p.m. to 5:0 p.m.
Third floor Chemistry/Life Sciences building
Friday, Mar 28 2008
Faculty Scholar Award
Professor Nitin Samarth has been awarded the 2008 Penn State Faculty Scholar Medal in the Physical Sciences for his contributions to semiconductor spintronics, an emerging area of condensed matter physics that explores new paradigms for information technology. He has pioneered the development of a variety of spin-engineered semiconductor systems, ranging from the macro- to the nano- scale. These have lead to key discoveries in spintronics, including the observation of long spin coherence times and the spin Hall effect at room temperature. His work has been featured on the covers of Scientific American, Science and Nature. Samarth is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and received the George W. Atherton award for excellence in teaching at Penn State in 2007.
Tuesday, Mar 4 2008
Eunseong Kim wins Lee Osheroff Richardson Prize
The 2008 Lee Osheroff Richardson North American Science Prize, from Oxford Instruments, has been awarded to Eunseong Kim for seminal contributions to the understanding of solid helium.
Tuesday, Feb 5 2008
Departmental Newsletter
The latest edition of the departmental newsletter is now available.
Sunday, Feb 3 2008
"Skinny" Pions Sail Through Nucleus
Like protons and neutrons, pions are built of smaller subatomic particles called quarks. Normally, pions traversing the nucleus feel the strong force of the protons and neutrons they encounter, causing a fraction of the pions to be reabsorbed by the nucleus. If the strong force is described in terms of the underlying quarks and gluons, however, such reabsorption is predicted to disappear. This vanishing act is a result of small-sized, point-like or "skinny" pions being produced in sufficiently energetic collisions between beams of particles and atomic nuclei. Under these circumstances, the escape probability of the pions increases towards unity, just as a pair of oppositely charged particles, when brought close together, can traverse undisturbed through a field of other charged particles. In an experiment at the Department of Energy's Jefferson Lab, a beam of electrons was used to knock pions out of various atomic nuclei ranging from deuterium to gold. The escape probability of the produced pions was found to increase with higher-energy collisions, i.e., the nucleus became increasingly transparent to the pions. This rate of increase, as well as the variation in transparency with different nuclear targets, was found to agree with the predictions of Strikman and collaborators, which assume the pions were produced in a small-size, ie. "skinny," configuration and remained so while traversing the nucleus. The Jefferson Lab pion experiment thus observed for the first time the turning-on of the color transparency phenomenon in the most basic quark-antiquark system.
Thursday, Jan 31 2008
Alumni Association Dissertation Award
Nicolas Yunes, a graduate student in the Department of Physics, has received the Penn State Alumni Association Dissertation Award. The award "is considered to be among the most prestigious available to Penn State graduate students and recognizes outstanding achievement in scholarship and professional accomplishment." Nico, a student of Ben Owen, has collaborated with a number of faculty in the department during his tenure at Penn State. The title of his dissertation is "At the Interface: Gravitational Waves as Tools to Test Quantum Gravity and Probe the Astrophysical Universe." It is interesting to note that Nico is the third physics graduate student to win this award in the last three years. Tony Clark, a student of Moses Chan, won the award in 2006 and Elena Margine, a student of Vin Crespi, won in 2007.
Saturday, Jan 5 2008
Capturing Large Molecule Fish with Small Molecule Bait
The groups of Paul Weiss and Anne Andrews have designed a molecular capture surface that can catch large molecular "fish" with small molecular "bait." A single layer of molecules that resists biomolecule binding is first self-organized onto a gold substrate. This film has inherent defects: these form widely spaced holes into which the tethered "bait" molecules can insert themselves. When the resulting surface is exposed to different proteins, only those with high affinity for the bait bind to the surface. The small bait could be serotonin, a neurotransmitter important in depression and anxiety, and the large fish antibodies. In the future, this type of surface will be used to capture brain receptor proteins or synthetic sensors. The image shows a related structure, wherein stripes of serotonin have been patterned onto the substrate.
Tuesday, Dec 18 2007
Pablo Laguna elected to the Mexican Academy of Sciences
Professor Pablo Laguna is one of four international members elected to the Acedemia Mexicana de Ciencias in 2007. The Academia Mexicana de Ciencias is the Mexican equivalent of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences. The Academia Mexicana de Ciencias, founded in 1959, is an organization of the most distinguished scientists working in diverse institutions in Mexico, as well as Corresponding Members in other countries who are prominent in their disciplines and have contributed in various ways to the development of research in Mexico. A ceremony to celebrate the occasion is planned for March 2008 at Dr. Laguna's alma mater, the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana - Iztapalapa in Mexico City.
Wednesday, Dec 12 2007
Five new APS Fellows from Penn State Physics
Five members of the department, Professors John Collins, Vincent Crespi, Paul Sommers, David Weiss and Xiao-xing Xi, have been elected Fellows of the American Physical Society, with the following citations: "For seminal contributions to the foundation of quantum chromodynamics, including the proofs of a series of factorization theorems, and the analysis of high energy scattering;" "For creative ideas and innovative computations enhancing our understanding of nanoscale matter and predicting new structures and materials with properties possessing technological and/or fundamental scientific value;" "For his significant contributions to experimental cosmic ray physics, for his major part in designing and building the Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory, and his leadership role in using it to obtain novel and important insights into the nature and properties of the highest energy cosmic rays;" "For seminal contributions to laser cooling, precision measurements, the study of atoms in optical lattices, and for the experimental implementation of one-dimensional gases;" "For his extensive and seminal contributions to the science and applications of thin film materials including high temperature superconductors, ferroelectrics, and magnesium diboride."
More...
Friday, Nov 30 2007
Faculty Search
The Department of Physics at The Pennsylvania State University (University Park) invites applications for faculty appointments effective the Fall semester of 2008. Applicants should have a Ph.D. and an outstanding research record. Rank will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.
We seek to recruit in the areas of AMO physics, condensed matter theory and cosmology of the early universe. However, exceptional candidates in any of the department's current areas of research will be considered. These areas are AMO physics, biological physics, condensed matter physics, gravitational physics, particle physics and particle astrophysics.
Candidates at the junior level should submit by email a pdf file containing a letter of application, a curriculum vitae and a brief description of research plans, and arrange for four letters of recommendation to be sent to: facjobs@phys.psu.edu
Nominations and applications for senior positions should be sent to the address above together with a list of at least six references. Applications completed by December 1,2007 will be assured of consideration. However, applications will
be considered until the positions are filled. Job application assistance is available for dual career situations. Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity and the diversity of its workforce.
Wednesday, Nov 28 2007
ECoS Staff Customer Service Award
Ms. Megan Meinecke of the Physics department office staff was awarded the ECoS Staff Customer Service Award at the 15th Annual Eberly College of Science Staff Recognition Reception. Ms. Meinecke joined the Physics Department just three years ago and now holds the titles of both Undergraduate and Graduate Coordinator, manages and oversees many of the day-to-day activities in the Physics main office, and has been named to several departmental and College committees, including the climate committee and Physics Department Graduate Task Force. One of the letters nominating her for the award cited her as someone "...to whom everyone (staff and faculty) look to for guidance, instruction, and as a role model of efficiency, dedication, and the highest standards of performance at Penn State." Ms. Meinecke graduated from Penn State University in 2004 with a degree in Economics.
Tuesday, Nov 27 2007
Astronaut Scholarship Foundation
Mr. Vincent Viscomi (Astronomy/Astrophysics, Physics, and Math major, Class of 2008) has been awarded a $10,000 fellowship from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF). The award was presented to him by Space Shuttle Astronaut Capt. Robert `Hoot' Gibson at a ceremony at the HUB this November. Viscomi is pursuing triple majors in astronomy & astrophysics, physics and mathematics. He plans to complete a doctorate in physics and conduct research in particle physics and cosmology at a major research institution. He works with Prof. Doug Cowen of the Physics Department for the Penn State affliliated IceCube Neutrino Observatory as an undergraduate assistant, where he has helped to develop computer software that assists in the detection of neutrinos. Mr. Viscomi is a member of the Schreyer Honors College and was also a recipient of a Goldwater Scholarship in Spring 2007.
Wednesday, Nov 21 2007
Compact for Faculty Diversity Institute
Stephon was a featured speaker in the opening session of the 14th annual Compact for Faculty Diversity Institute, a three-day conference on teaching and mentoring hosted by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), an educational advocacy organization based in Atlanta. Hundreds of doctoral candidates, faculty and university administrators participated in the three-day conference on teaching and mentoring and to address the shortage of racial and ethnic minority faculty members on college and university campuses nationwide. Here is an excerpt from the associated article.
"Speaking on the barriers to access and success as faculty, institute presenters shared their experiences of overcoming the pitfalls of the professoriate.
You definitely need a strong back, said Dr. Stephon Alexander of Penn State University, to a crowd of students during Fridays opening session. You will face many challenges, but none of them harder than the challenges that those who preceded you faced.
Alexander, an assistant professor of physics, refused to believe that physics was an area academia reserved for the White and privileged. Haunted by the stereotype that people of color do not succeed in the field of mathematics and science during his undergraduate career at Haverford College, Alexander worked harder to succeed at his postgraduate endeavors.
After studying at Imperial College in London, then landing a job at Stanford University, Alexander experienced some not so subtle stereotyping.
They assumed that I was the affirmative action kid, said Alexander.
Alexander emphasized the importance of persistence and self-identity. He advised students to be strong and to insert their own brand of originality and passion in their field. Promising that ones passion for their profession would not go unnoticed. For me, doing physics is like playing jazz, said Alexander who is also a musician. When I do physics, no one does it the way that I do it. "
More...
Tuesday, Nov 20 2007
Cosmic rays and active galactic nuclei
The Pierre Auger Collaboration has found evidence that the
highest energy cosmic rays are produced by active galactic
nuclei. This international collaboration of physicists
announced in the cover story of the November 9th (2007)
issue of Science Magazine that they observe a statistically
significant correlation between the arrival directions of
the highest energy cosmic rays and positions of these
objects that are less than 240 million light years from
Earth. Active galactic nuclei are believed to be
supermassive black holes that are consuming gas and dust at
the centers of some galaxies. The correlation is based on
27 particles, with energy in excess of 10 Joules each, which
were recorded while the observatory was being constructed in
Argentina. The array of detectors in Argentina has now
reached its full size of 3000 square kilometers, and a
northern site for the Auger Observatory is planned for
southeast Colorado. The Penn State team involved in this project include
Sanjeevi Atulugama, Jose Bellido, Stephane Coutu, Adrienne
Criss, Michael Roberts and Paul Sommers. Paul Sommers was also elected co-spokesperson for the Pierre
Auger Collaboration beginning in November 2007.
