revised 2/1/05

THE WORLD YEAR OF PHYSICS

The World Year of Physics (WYP 2005) is a worldwide celebration of physics and its importance in our everyday lives. Physics not only plays an important role in the development of science and technology, but also has a tremendous impact on our society. WYP aims to raise the worldwide awareness of physics and physical science.

The year 2005 marks the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein's “miraculous year” in which he published three important papers describing ideas that have since influenced all of modern physics. This year provides the opportunity to celebrate Einstein, his great ideas, and his influence on life in the 21st century.

A vital part of World Year of Physics 2005 will be an infusion of funds to Physics on the Road programs across the United States . Orange Physics, the Syracuse University Department of Physics outreach program was one of sixteen recipients of a $10,000 grant from the American Physical Society.

Orange Physics will be bringing physics to the people and spreading the word of WYP2005 in the Carousel Mall Atrium on Saturday, February 12 from 10:00 – 5:00. Stop by the location and have fun as you get your hands into physics and discuss the experiments with our volunteer teachers, students, and faculty.

For more information on WYP2005, see: http://www.physics2005.org/

 

THE DEPARTMENT WELCOMES NEW FACULTY MEMBERS

Dr. Christian Armendáriz-Picón  earned his Ph.D. in 2001 from Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich in cosmology, relativity, and 
elementary particles, theory. A native of Barcelona, Christian did his undergraduate studies in theoretical physics at 
ETH Zurich. He is currently completing a postdoctoral appointment in the Enrico Fermi Institute at the
University of Chicago. His work in cosmology and related areas has significant overlap with that of Mark Trodden.

Dr. Liviu Movileanu, of Texas A&M University System Health Sciences  Center, received his Ph.D. from the University of Bucharest 
in 1997 in biological physics. He intends to join our inter-institutional program in Structural Biology, Biochemistry, and 
Biophysics (SB3). Liviu's expertise includes membrane biophysics, biophysical chemistry, and electrophysiology, 
notably single-channel-recording techniques in planar lipid bilayers. He exploits single-molecule detection techniques, 
membrane-protein engineering, and other biochemical and biophysical  methods to characterize the interaction of 
polypeptides and other biopolymers with large transmembrane channels. 

Dr. Britton Plourde will join us in January 2005 from UC Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 
2000 in experimental condensed matter physics. Prior to that he earned two bachelors degrees in physics and in 
music performance at the University of Michigan, and two masters  degrees, similarly, at UIUC. Britton's 
research overlaps the fields of low temperature physics and fundamental quantum mechanics. He is interested
specifically in  investigating macroscopic quantum coherence in superconducting nanoscale devices with intended 
applications in quantum computing.

WHAT WAS NEW.....