What Was New.....
PROF. CRISTINA MARCHETTI RECEIVES "EXCELLENCE IN LOWER DIVISION TEACHING" AWARD FOR 2003
Prof. M. Cristina Marchetti has been chosen for the Syracuse Department of Physics "Excellence in Lower Division Teaching" Award for calendar year 2003. This award specifically recognizes Prof. Marchetti's significant investment of time and effort in PHY212, General Physics II. The student response to the course was notably positive, with comments such as "A+", "excellent job teaching and keeping class interesting", "great examples", "enthusiastic, clear, and well thought-out", "lively and interesting". The committee also recognizes Prof. Marchetti's organization of lectures and staff, her generous office hours, and efforts to improve the course.
Peter Saulson elected Fellow of the American Physical Society
Prof. Peter Saulson was elected to Fellowship in the American Physical Society at the November
2003 meeting of the Council of the Society.
http://sunews.syr.edu/fullstory.asp?id=1007036
on the occasion of his being selected as Syracuse University’s 2003-04 University Scholar/Teacher of the Year.
Ed Lipson appointed as physics chair
With unanimous faculty endorsement, Prof. Edward Lipson has accepted appointment by
Dean Cathryn Newton as chair of the Department of Physics for a three-year term commencing
July 1, 2003. Prof. Lipson is a noted biophysics researcher. He received his doctorate at the California
Institute of Technology. Lipson was a postdoctoral researcher at Caltech in the laboratory of
Max Delbruck for several years before coming to Syracuse as a professor in 1976.
With Prof. Marvin Goldberg, Prof. Lipson designed the innovative and popular class at
Syracuse, "Science for the 21st Century." Prof. Lipson has previously served as Director
of the Graduate Biophysics Program, and as Associate Chair and Acting Chair of the Department of Physics.
Peter Saulson elected LIGO spokesperson
Peter Saulson, professor of physics at Syracuse University, has been elected as the new
spokesperson for the LIGO Scientific Collaboration ("LSC"). LIGO is the Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-Wave Observatory; there are actually two LIGO sites, one in Livingston,
Louisiana, and one in Hanford, Washington. LIGO is funded by the US National Science
Foundation; the LIGO scientific collaboration (http://www.ligo.org) includes over 35 institutions
from around the world, and involves several hundred scientists. Peter's personal statement about
his candidacy as spokesperson:
"Here we are in the middle of LIGO's S2 run. The instruments are working remarkably well.
So is the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. Both of these accomplishments are cause for celebration.
It would be tempting to call them miraculous, except that we know they are due to a tremendous
amount of hard work on the part of many people.
While looking back with pride on what we have accomplished, it is easy to recognize the challenges
ahead. Here are the ones that strike me most forcefully right now:
We need to successfully navigate the next phase of our plans to bring the interferometers toward
design sensitivity, while increasing the duty cycle of observing. On the way, we need to bring our
data analysis efforts to maturity, involving all of the skills at our disposal.
We need to push ahead with Advanced LIGO. Its success is crucial to the success of LIGO as a
scientific instrument. This needs to proceed alongside of intensive exploitation of the LIGO I
instruments, as well as an active research program on even more advanced technology for the "LIGO III" era.
We need to build our relationships with the international community that will form the global
network of detectors that we need in order to do the best gravitational wave astronomy. We've
forged intimate ties with GEO, and have a new relationship with TAMA based on a different model.
But we need to include VIRGO, most likely in yet another kind of relationship. And while we have
built a very successful relationship with ALLEGRO, other valuable groups in the resonant-mass
community are looking for ways to join us.
I think that the LSC is well poised to play its role in meeting these challenges. There are perhaps
small changes that we need to consider in how we work. For example, our meeting schedules are
tight as they are, yet we need to accommodate more discussion of analysis results. We have a big
challenge coming in staffing shifts for S3 and beyond. The LSC Executive Committee structure
should be looked at, and perhaps its membership should be augmented. We might also consider
amending the Charter to create the position of Vice-Spokesperson, in part to relieve some of the
burden of the Spokesperson's job and in part to smooth the process of becoming Spokesperson.
Mostly, though, I think we just need to approach the next few years with the same spirit that
we have put into our work so far. These are exciting times!"
Sheldon Stone receives Chancellor's Citation for Exceptional Academic Achievement
Syracuse University physicist Sheldon Stone has dedicated his career to unraveling the secrets hidden in
the tiniest forms of matter; secrets that may someday help scientists understand how the universe was formed.
He is renowned as one of the world's foremost experts on the physics of heavy or beauty quarks. For his
accomplishments in the field of particle physics, Stone will receive a Chancellor's Citation for Exceptional
Academic Achievement.
"Sheldon Stone is an exceptional physicist universally known and respected by the national and
international community," says Purdue University physicist David H. Miller, who was the spokesperson
for the CLEO experiment at Cornell University from 1992 to 1995. "He is recognized as one of the world's
experts on the fundamental physics of quarks and leptons and is at the forefront of basic research that
is answering some of the most fundamental questions regarding the evolution of the universe."
One of the problems inherent in the study of particles that have an extremely short lifespan-counted in
picoseconds (trillionths of a second)-is that physicists must first invent the technology to detect and
analyze the particles. In addition to his groundbreaking observations of the elusive subatomic particles
that fascinate him, which are published in literally hundreds of scientific papers, Stone is an international
leader in designing and building the tools used to detect the particles.
In 1978, Stone designed part of the original CLEO I particle detector that was installed in Cornell's Wilson
Laboratory. He then played a key role in the first observation of a particle with a beauty quark (B meson)
and the subsequent determination of many of its properties. In 1989, a new detector, CLEO II, was built,
which had more capabilities to detect particles than the original. It was Stone's idea to construct
a massive CsI crystal calorimeter for the detector that would be used for high-resolution photon detection,
and he led the team that constructed the device. Five years later, he led a team of researchers, mostly from SU,
in building a key upgrade for the detector. The result was CLEO III and the Ring Imaging Cherenkov Counter
(RICH), a one-of-a-kind technology that was installed during the summer of 1999.
"Part of the culture of doing physics is that you have to create the hardware because it is integral to
the physics," Stone says. "We're one of the few university-based research groups who do both hardware
and physics analysis." Stone says the RICH project was "insanely difficult," but the detector is yielding
great data. "I don't think it would ever be built again in the same way," he says of the detector. "Some of
the components are really quite remarkable."
Stone is now a co-spokesperson and lead researcher in a consortium of 28 universities participating in a
$150 million experiment with the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Il., called BTeV
(pronounced bee-tev). Fermilab is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and operates the world's
highest-energy particle accelerator. Stone and his group of researchers plan to design and build an array
of particle detectors that will fill an entire building located on the lab's circular accelerator.
"Although many scientists contributed to the successful BTeV proposal, Sheldon Stone is the mother of BTeV,"
says Eric Schiff, chair of SU's physics department. "I have immense admiration for his vision, daring and
energy in leading this project."
--Judy Holmes, Syracuse Record 2/10/03.
Peter Saulson receives 2002 Departmental Award for Excellence in Introductory Science Teaching
Peter Saulson has been chosen for the Department's 2002 Award for Excellence in Introductory Teaching Award.
Saulson was selected by a faculty committee consisting of Mark Bowick, Alan Middleton, and Rafael Sorkin.
Faculty members who taught lower-division physics and astronomy courses in 2002 were eligible. The committee
notes that "This award recognizes Peter's investment of thought and effort in creating a new version
of PHY101/PHY111 (lectures and labs.) The student response to this course has also been extremely positive,
with outstanding essay comments and unsurpassed ratings on his combination of stimulating and instructive
lectures, ability to increase interest in science, and organization
Michael Turner to give Phi Beta Kappa Public Lecture on Cosmology
Michael
S. Turner will be visiting Syracuse University as the 2002-2003 Phi
Beta Kappa
Visiting Scholar (http://www.pbk.org/advocacy/visitscholar/turner.htm),
and he
is being hosted by the Syracuse chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society
and the
Department of Physics. He will give a public lecture entitled, "The
Dark
Side of the Universe: Beyond Stars and the Starstuff We Are Made of,"
(abstract below) at 4 PM on Thursday, February 6, 2003 in room 202-204
Physics.
Michael S. Turner is the Rauner Distinguished Service Professor in the
departments of astronomy & astrophysics and physics at the
University of
Chicago; he is the recipient of the university's Quantrell Award for
Excellence
in Undergraduate Teaching, and he is a member of the scientific staff
at the
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. He has been elected a member of
the
National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Physical
Society as
well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has been honored
with the
Warner Prize of the American Astronomical Society, the Lilienfeld Prize
of the
American Physical Society, the Halley Lectureship at Oxford University,
and the
Klopsteg Lecture Award of the American Association of Physics Teachers.
Professor Turner is a cosmologist whose research focuses on the
earliest
moments of creation. He was among the first to appreciate the deep
connections
between elementary particle physics and cosmology. His current research
deals
with the mystery of why the expansion of the universe is speeding up.
His
article on dark matter and dark energy, "More than Meets the Eye,"
was featured in the Best of American Science Writing 2001.
-----------------------
Abstract: The sky is filled with hundreds of billion galaxies, all lit
up by
their stars. Stars account for less than one percent of the material in
the
Universe, and galaxies are held together by a new form of matter --
dark matter
-- that accounts for 1/3 of the stuff in the Universe. The other 2/3
exists as
in an even more mysterious form -- dark energy -- and is causing the
expansion
of the Universe to speed up, rather than slow down.
Salah Nasri chosen
Graduate
Fellow at UCSB’s Kavli Institute
This Spring Salah Nasri will join students from Princeton, Harvard and MIT as one of just four Graduate Fellows at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Nasri, a final year graduate student working with Professors Schechter and Trodden, will spend six months at the KITP as part of this prestigious program and will participate particularly in the workshop "Neutrinos: Data, Cosmos, and Planck Scale". |
Peter Bergmann wins
inaugural Einstein Prize
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Peter
Bergmann has won the inaugural Einstein Prize jointly with Prof. John
A. Wheeler. The Einstein Prize is awarded by the American Physical
Society for work in gravitational physics; it will be awarded
biennially in the future. Peter's citation reads: "For
pioneering investigations in general relativity, including
gravitational radiation, quantum gravity, black holes, space time
singularities, and symmetries in Einstein's equations, and for
leadership and inspiration to generations of researchers in general
relativity." Peter
Bergmann taught at Syracuse University (as assistant, associate, and
full professor) from 1947 - 1982. He was an emeritus professor from
1982 -2002; Bergmann recently passed away. A biographical sketch of
Peter Bergmann is appended below. Joshua
Goldberg, professor emeritus of physics, nominated Peter; Prof.
Goldberg may be contacted for further information: mailto:goldberg@physics.syr.edu,
443-5990 . ------------------------------ Biographical
Sketch: Peter Gabriel Bergmann, March 24, 1915 - October 19, 2002. Peter
G. Bergmann was born in Berlin and received his early schooling there.
Shortly after Hitler came to power, he left for Prague, where he
received his Ph.D. in 1936 under the supervision of Prof. Phillip
Frank. From 1936 -1941 he was a research associate and scientific
collaborator of Dr. Albert Einstein at the Institute for Advanced
Studies in Princeton. Their principal interest was in unified field
theories, and more specifically the Kaluza theory. During the latter
part of this period, he prepared his now classic and authoritative book
"Introduction to the Theory of Relativity," from which generations of
physicists learned the subject in depth. He
served as Assistant Professor of Physics at Black Mountain College in
1941, and from 1941 to 1944 at Lehigh University. From then until 1947
he was engaged in war research on underwater sound at Columbia
University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. In
September 1947 Professor Bergmann joined the faculty of Syracuse
University. During his 40 years there, he guided 32 people through
their dissertations and has contributed actively to the research
efforts of many more. In addition, a comparable number of postdoctoral
people have spent up to two years at Syracuse University either as
Research Associate or as Visiting Professor. All were stimulated by his
clear, sharp physical insights and by his personal warmth as a human
being. His reputation as an outstanding teacher comes from the
thoughtful individual attention which he gave to students. He always
had time for individual attention which he gave to students. He always
had time for anyone who was serious in his study and research. Whether
in a classroom, in his office, in informal discussion, or in a seminar,
discussions took the form of a joint effort, with Peter Bergmann as a
center of inspiration. Peter
Bergmann retired from Syracuse University in May, 1982 and was
appointed as an emeritus professor there. At that time, New York
University offered him desk space and other amenities. While he did not
take on new students, he helped organized and participated in a
relativity seminar headed by Engelbert Schucking. This participation
continued through the spring of 1999, when serious illness drained his
strength. Peter Bergmann passed away on October 19, 2002 at the home of
one of his sons in Seattle, Washington. ---J.
N. Goldberg, 2002. |
Undergraduate Research - Summer '02 (9/02)
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Scientific
research can be one of the most valuable elements in an undergraduate
student's education. Summer is probably the best season for this
activity, and last summer, six undergraduate students majoring in
physics at Syracuse did research "on the Hill."
See the Undergraduate webpage on Opportunities for research in the Department. |
Commencement
Honors to Black,
d'Agostino, Ydri, Laudal, Smith, and Lowe (5/01)
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Six graduating physics students
have been honored for this year's Commencement and Convocation
Ceremonies. Deirdre Black, a doctoral student, was selected as a
college marshal for the Graduate School, and Hollie Laudal, an
undergraduate student, was selected as one of twelve University
Scholars. Badis Ydri's doctoral thesis, "Fuzzy Physics," was selected
by the Graduate School for its outstanding doctoral thesis prize. At
the Arts & Sciences Convocation, graduating seniors receiving
departmental awards include Mr. Robert D'Agostino and Mr. Joshua Smith
(Award for Academic Excellence) and Ms. Hollie Laudal and Mr. Tyler
Lowe (Neal F. Beardsley Prize). The Neil F. Beardsley Prize was
established in memory of Dr. Beardsley, a distinguished infrared
scientist, by his friends. The award is to be made by the Department of
Physics based upon outstanding academic achievement by an undergraduate
physics major. The faculty of the Department of Physics selects the
recipients. |
Dr. Maxim Marchevsky joins faculty as an assistant professor of physics (5/01).
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Dr. Maxim Marchevsky has been
appointed an assistant professor of physics. Dr. Marchevsky’s research
field is in experimental condensed matter physics, with a particular
focus on magnetic vortices in superconductors. Most recently he has
been a post-doctoral researcher at NEC Research Institute (Princeton),
where he has worked on scanning Hall-probe microscopy of vortex phases
in superconductors, flux dynamics in superconducting wire networks, and
imaging of the magnetic domain dynamics. In 1997, Dr. Marchevsky
received his doctorate from the Kammerlingh Onnes Laboratory at Leiden
University; his thesis on vortex lattice imaging in superconductors was
awarded the C. J. Cok Prijs. Previously Dr. Marchevsky was a researcher
at the Kapitza Institute (Moscow); Dr. Marchevsky’s undergraduate
degree is from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. |
Renovation
of Main Meeting Rooms Completed (1/02).
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Dr.
Steven Blusk joins faculty as an assistant professor of physics (7/01).
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Dr.
Steven Blusk (sblusk@physics.syr.edu)
has been appointed as assistant professor of physics. Dr. Blusk's
research field is experimental high energy physics. Most recently he
has been a research associate at the University of Rochester, where his
research was primarily associated with the CDF experiment at the Enrico
Fermi National Laboratory and with improved measurements of the mass of
the top quark. Dr. Blusk received his doctorate from the University of
Pittsburgh for a thesis on experimental high energy physics; he
received his bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics from Potsdam
College. |
Souder
receives 2001 Sigma Xi Award for Research Excellence
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Paul Souder was recently awarded the 2001 Senior Award for Research Excellence from the Syracuse Chapter of Sigma Xi. Sigma Xi is the national scientific honor society, and is one of the nation's oldest scientific societies. Prof. Souder was honored at the recent meeting of the chapter. Souder was nominated by Prof. Joe Schechter of our Department, who particularly noted two of Souder's contributions. The first was experiments at Stanford Linear Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) elucidating the "proton spin crisis:" the spins of the 3 quarks in the proton explain only about 25% of the angular momentum of the proton. The second contribution involved experiments by the HAPPEX collaboration at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory at Newport News, Virgina. Souder is co-spokesperson of the HAPPEX collaboration, which recently reported results on the distribution within the proton of an important quantum mechanical property known as "strangeness;" the HAPPEX results challenge the current understanding of the role of strange quarks in the proton. Souder is one of the pioneers of particle physics experiments which use spin-polarized particles; in such experiments the spins of particles are mostly aligned instead of pointing in random directions. The spin-polarized techniques were crucial in both of the experiments cited by Schechter. |
Schechter
receives Wasserstrom Prize
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Joe Schechter (schechte@physics.syr.edu) has been named as this year's recipient of the William Wasserstrom Prize for Excellence in Graduate Teaching; this Prize is awarded annually to a member of the faculty of the College of Arts & Sciences to honor graduate teaching and advising, including the mentoring of thesis students. The honoree is selected by The College's Committee on Instruction from professors nominated by the faculty and students in the College. The award itself is presented at the annual doctoral dinner on May 11. William Wasserstrom was an English professor in the College, and a friend of many members of the Department until his untimely death about 15 years ago. |
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Kameshwar
C. Wali (mailto:wali@physics.syr.edu
), J. D. Steele Professor of Physics Emeritus, has been
selected to receive the Scientist of the Year award of the American
Chapter of the Indian Physics Association. He will be receiving the
award at Prof. Wali's award citation notes that "He has made important contributions to theoretical high energy physics for over 30 years. He has also written extensively on the science and life of Professor S. Chandrasekhar and was a founder of the APS Forum on History of Physics. He is the J.D. Steele Professor of Physics, Emeritus, at Syracuse University." |
Syracuse
completes
detectors
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Mr. Lou Buda, Prof. Paul Souder, and Mr. Charles Brown working on final assembly of the Møller and ep detectors for experiment E-158 at the Stanford Linear Accelerator. The construction of the detectors was a major activity for the last year, and also involved experimental machinists Lester Schmutzler and Phil Arnold, Prof. Richard Holmes, and graduate students Baris Tonguc and Imran Younus. |
Marchetti and
Skwarnicki elected to fellowship in APS
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Professors Cristina Marchetti and Tomasz Skwarnicki of the Department of Physics, College of Arts & Sciences, have been elected to fellowship in The American Physical Society at the November 2000 meeting of the Council of the Society. Each year 1 in 200 members of the Society are elected to Fellowship. Other Syracuse professors who are Fellows include A. P. Balachandran, J. N. Goldberg, M. Goldberg, B. S. Hudson (chemistry), N. Horwitz, G. C. Moneti, F. Rohrlich, R. Sorkin, P. Souder, J. Schechter, S. Stone, and K. C. Wali. |
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Mark
Reed named "Distinguished Alumnus"
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Dr. Mark Reed has been named a "Distinguished Alumnus of the College of Arts & Sciences" by Dean Robert Jensen. Reed is presently the Harold Hodgkinson Professor of Electrical Engineering and of Applied Science at Yale University; he holds joint appointments in the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics. Reed has made pioneering contributions in nanoscale and mesoscopic systems, tunneling and transport in heterojunction systems, artificially structured materials and devices, MEMS, nanotechnology, and molecular electronics. Reed received his
B.S. (honors) degree in physics at Syracuse University in 1977. He
stayed at Syracuse for his graduate education in physics, receiving an
M.S. in 1979 and a Ph.D. in 1983. Reed's thesis advisor was Professor
Arnold Honig. He then joined Texas Instruments as a Member of the
Technical Staff in the Ultrasmall Electronics Branch, where he
co-founded the Reed is the author
of more than 85 professional publications, has given three plenary and
over 75 invited talks, and holds eleven U.S. and various foreign
patents on quantum effect, heterojunction, and molecular devices. His
books credits include Nanostructure Physics and Fabrication (1989),
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Goldberg
and Sorkin - our newest APS Fellows
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The American Physical Society has been the principal professional association for physicists in the United States since its creation 100 years ago. Each year approximately 1 in 200 members of the Society are elected to Fellowship. It is thus a wonderful occasion when two members of the Department are elected in the same year. Marvin Goldberg and Rafael Sorkin, both professors in the Department of Physics, College of Arts & Sciences, have been elected to Fellowship at the November 1999 meeting of the Council of the Society. Other Syracuse professors who are Fellows include A. P. Balachandran, G. C. Fox, J. N. Goldberg, B. S. Hudson (chemistry), N. Horwitz, G. Moneti, F. Rohrlich, P. Souder, J. Schechter, S. Stone, and K. C. Wali. |
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Dr. Mark Trodden joins faculty as an assistant professor (7/00). |
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Search announced for assistant professor in experimental condensed matter physics (9/00). |