Physics Archives - Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences

Listen: Physics Professor, Jodi Cooley Talks About Dark Matter on Science Friday

Science Friday Originally Posted: June 9, 2018 Planets, stars, and physical “stuff” make up a tiny fraction of the universe. Most of the universe’s mass is instead invisible dark matter, which makes itself known not by luminance, but by its gravitational influence on the cosmos. The motions of galaxies and stars require dark matter to be explained. Yet despite decades of searching and millions of dollars spent, physicists still haven’t been able to track down a dark matter particle. In this segment, physicists Jodi Cooley and Flip Tanedo, and Gizmodo science writer Ryan Mandelbaum talk about how experimentalists and theorists are getting creative in the hunt for dark matter—and why a few physicists say it’s time to abandon the chase and rewrite the rules of [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-06-11T07:52:37+00:00 June 11th, 2018|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Faculty News, Physics|Comments Off

The Most Interesting Player On The PGA Tour Isn’t Tiger Woods; It’s Bryson DeChambeau

Forbes Originally Posted: June 4, 2018 Hardly anyone beyond regular PGA Tour viewers would know the name Bryson DeChambeau in spite of his stellar résumé. Since turning pro in 2016, he has won two events, including Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament this past weekend against a very strong field. Before that, he became only the 5th player to win both both the NCAA Championship and the U.S. Amateur. What makes him one of the most interesting players to come along on the PGA Tour is that he has chucked a homogenized element of golf — the use of different length clubs (for irons) — in favor of using a single-length shaft for all of his irons (here are details on his clubs). While it may seem like minor thing, playing with one-length irons [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-06-07T10:21:54+00:00 June 7th, 2018|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Physics|Comments Off

SMU alum wins Memorial on second playoff hole

Columbus Dispatch Originally Posted: June 2, 2018 Bryson DeChambeau majored in physics at Southern Methodist University. He went on to win the Memorial with a birdie on the second playoff hole Sunday, June 3. Bryson DeChambeau is no Einstein, but he would like to meet the man. And who knows, given the uncertainties of time-space travel the encounter could happen. Until then, DeChambeau must be content to discuss matters of physics with members of the golf media whose eyes glaze over when the 24-year-old starts in on the mechanics of swing theory (as opposed to string theory, which also interests him). “I’m not going to give too much away,” he said of nagging questions concerning his swing concepts. “But it’s got to do with anatomical [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-06-04T10:34:18+00:00 June 4th, 2018|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Physics|Comments Off

Discovering the stars, changing her future: Jasmine Liu ’18

SMU News Originally Posted: May 30, 2018 Invisible to the naked eye, the variable star ROTSE1 J000831.43+223154.8 flickers in the northern sky. It hides within an ancient star map formed, it was said, when the king of the gods transformed his most heroic steed into a constellation. For Jasmine Liu ’18 – an SMU physics student and Hamilton Undergraduate Research Scholar – it represents a crowning achievement in her University career. As a student living in Dallas, it was fitting that her work helped unveil a variable star in the Pegasus constellation. The city of Dallas long ago adopted the winged horse of Greek song and story as its own – not as a myth but as a symbol of striving, of inspiration, of looking [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-05-31T09:04:13+00:00 May 31st, 2018|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Physics, Undergraduate News|Comments Off

SMU hosts Dallas ISD middle schoolers for a day

WFAA Originally Posted: May 24, 2018 About 200 of Dallas ISD's Rusk Middle School eighth-graders took over SMU's campus on Thursday for an end of the year field trip rewarding their academic success. DALLAS -- About 200 of Dallas ISD’s Rusk Middle School eighth-graders took over SMU’s campus on Thursday for an end of the year field trip rewarding their academic success. Exposing students to a college campus, early on, can have a major impact. That is why teachers say it was so significant when Southern Methodist University extended an invitation to Rusk Middle School "We’ve walked around campus to see if we’re comfortable here,” said Kelli Colli. The SMU campus was busy with excited middle school students who were getting a sneak-peek into the [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-05-25T08:07:50+00:00 May 25th, 2018|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Events, Physics|Comments Off

Congratulations to all celebrated at 2nd annual Faculty Book Fest

Dedman College News Originally Posted: May 17, 2018 Congratulations to all the faculty celebrated at the Dedman College & Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute’s 2nd Annual Faculty Book Fest on Tuesday, May 8, 2018. See below for a list of Dedman College faculty books When the World Seemed New: George H.W. Bush and the End of the Cold War Jeffrey Engel, Department of History Partners with God: Critical and Theological Readings of the Bible in Honor of Marvin A. Sweeney Serge Frolov, Department of Religious Studies with Shelly L. Birdsong No Resting Place: Holocaust Poland Rick Halperin, Department of History Booker T. Washington in American Memory Kenneth M. Hamilton, Department of History The Culturalist Challenge to Liberal Republicanism Michael Lusztig, Department of Political Science Statistical Modeling for Degradation Data [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-05-17T09:55:27+00:00 May 17th, 2018|DCII, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Events, Faculty News, History, Physics, Political Science, Religious Studies, Statistical Science|Comments Off

May Commencement Information

If you are looking for May Commencement information click here. Schedule of events Commencement Speaker Message from the President and Provost On behalf of the Southern Methodist University community, we invite you to attend SMU's 103rd Commencement Weekend, May 18 and 19, 2018. The activities that make up Commencement Weekend showcase some of the University's best traditions and are designed to recognize the pride we all feel in our students' accomplishments. The Baccalaureate Service on Friday evening enables graduating seniors and their guests to worship together. Later, as these seniors march through the Rotunda of Dallas Hall for the tradition known as Rotunda Recessional, they mark the end of their undergraduate years and the beginning of their lifelong association with SMU as alumni. On Saturday [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-05-14T11:50:56+00:00 May 14th, 2018|Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Earth Sciences, Economics, English, Events, History, Jewish Studies Program, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Religious Studies, Sociology, Statistical Science, Tower Center, World Languages and Literatures|Comments Off

SMU physicist and her students join national laboratories, other universities in high-stakes hunt for elusive dark matter

SMU Research Originally Posted: May 7, 2018 SMU physicist and her students join national laboratories, other universities in high-stakes hunt for elusive dark matter “One of our major concerns is background particles that can mimic the dark matter signature in our detectors.” — Jodi Cooley SMU physicist Jodi Cooley is a member of the international scientific team that will use a powerful new tool to understand one of the biggest mysteries of modern physics. The U.S. Department of Energy has approved funding and start of construction for SuperCDMS SNOLAB, a $34 million experiment designed to detect dark matter. SuperCDMS will begin operations in the early 2020s to hunt for hypothetical dark matter particles called weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs. “Understanding the nature of dark matter is one [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-05-07T08:54:39+00:00 May 7th, 2018|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Faculty News, Physics|Comments Off

Barry C. Barish, Nobel Prize-Winning Physicist, to Receive Honorary Doctorate From SMU During 103rd Commencement, May 19

SMU News Originally Posted: May 1, 2018 Nobel laureate Barry Clark Barish, Ph.D., Linde Professor Emeritus of Physics at the California Institute of Technology and a leading expert on cosmic gravitational waves, will receive an honorary doctoral degree during SMU's 103rd all-University Commencement ceremony. The event begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 19, 2018, in Moody Coliseum. Barish shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017 for his work in establishing the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the first observations of gravitational waves – disturbances in the fabric of space and time predicted by Albert Einstein based on his General Theory of Relativity. He will receive the Doctor of Science degree, honoris causa, from SMU during the ceremony. The entire event will be livestreamed at smu.edu/live. On Friday, May [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-05-01T09:27:27+00:00 May 1st, 2018|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Physics|Comments Off

Nobel laureate Barry C. Barish to receive honorary SMU doctorate during 103rd Commencement, May 19, 2018

SMU Forum Originally Posted: April 26, 2018 Nobel laureate Barry Clark Barish, Ph.D., Linde Professor Emeritus of Physics at the California Institute of Technology and a leading expert on cosmic gravitational waves, will receive an honorary doctoral degree during SMU’s 103rd all-University Commencement ceremony. The event begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 19, 2018, in Moody Coliseum. Barish shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017 for his work in establishing the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the first observations of gravitational waves – disturbances in the fabric of space and time predicted by Albert Einstein based on his General Theory of Relativity. He will receive the Doctor of Science degree, honoris causa, from SMU during the ceremony. On Friday, May 18, Dr. Barish [...]

By Katherine Nickles| 2018-04-27T08:56:25+00:00 April 26th, 2018|Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Dedman College Research, Events, Physics|Comments Off