CHAIR’S WEEKLY MESSAGE
Contents
“A Kind of Spring Fever”
It seems like the fall term barely began just moments ago, but already we’re thinking about the spring. January Term proposals are flying through the air. Teaching assignments for our spring courses are due next week. For spring, the “marching orders” are to try to at least maintain the number of in-person seats for the spring term as in the fall, and the negotiation of classroom assignments is coming up fast. But let’s not give up on the fall so quickly.
In this week’s newsletter, we preview the next event in the fall physics speaker series. We switch from the subatomic to the cosmic on Monday, with a look at what the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) is telling us about one of the unsolved mysteries of astrophysics: the origin of fast radio bursts from outer space. Speaking of astrophysics, don’t forget that the Astrophysics Lunches begin on Monday at noon – see below for the details!
We don’t have any new student items this week, but we did hear from a recent alumnus of the physics department. If you want to see what Matthew Rispoli (SMU’12) is up to, check out his Alumni News section below!
One of the things that was personally very important to me, especially in the din of uncertainty and confusion over COVID-19 and policies/plans related to the pandemic, was to try to return us to the life of the mind. After all, the University is one of the key engines in society that drives not only the creation of new knowledge, but the training of the next generation of creative thinkers. Key to this is an engagement of the mind in intellectual pursuits; like a muscle, the brain must be constantly exercised to maintain its performance and strength. On the Back Page of this newsletter, you will find the latest physics challenge brought to our attention by our department’s de facto “Puzzle Master,” Prof. Randy Scalise. Current undergraduate students should especially pay attention to the Back Page this issue – a prize is on the line!
Talk of spring is in the air. Let’s move through this noise and focus on the present. While planning for the future is important, let’s not forget to also be in the moment. Moments have rarely been as precious as they are right now, in the middle of a global storm.
Sincerely,
Stephen Jacob Sekula Chair, Department of Physics |
DEPARTMENT VIEWS
Next Seminar: Dr. Kendrick Smith (The Perimeter Institute) on “Fast Radio Burst Results from the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME)”
The Physics Department Speaker Series continues on September 21 with Dr. Kendrick Smith from the Perimeter Institute speaking on “Fast Radio Burst Results from CHIME”. This continues our “Computing the Cosmos” series for September. This will be a more in-depth seminar on this month’s theme, with a focus on how a new, fast radio interferometric telescope might tell us more about “fast radio bursts,” whose origin is a central, unsolved problem in astrophysics. Zoom connection information is available to SMU-affiliated participants; the public YouTube stream is available for everyone.
https://www.physics.smu.edu/web/seminars/
Astrophysics Lunches to Resume September 21 (12-1pm)
This is just a brief reminder that the Astrophysics Lunches do resume on Monday, September 21! They are virtual-only for this semester. Please see the previous newsletter for details of this event.
As always, everyone is encouraged to sign up on the calendar (https://astrohep.org/smu/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=astro_journal_club – restricted to members of the department) to propose topics and then lead that meeting. Presenters can discuss their own research, summarize a recent paper, present a pedagogical introduction to a subject, etc. There is no requirement to prepare slides or to fill an hour.
If you wish to participate and want to know how to do so, contact Prof. Joel Meyers.
Miss a Colloquium or Seminar? They’re recorded!
If you missed an event in the Department Speaker Series, never fear! A positive side-effect of remote-only talks is easy recording. You can find all events so far this semester streaming online here:
Most Recent Talk: Vincent Cheung (UC Davis)
FACULTY NEWS
Congratulations to Prof. Jodi Cooley and Prof. Pavel Nadolsky on their promotions to Full Professor!
We especially want to congratulate Professors Jodi Cooley and Pavel Nadolsky for their recent promotion to the rank of Full Professor, the highest professorial rank at SMU! Promotion to Full Professor indicates that the candidate has achieved a high level of significant work in research, teaching, service to the university and the community of practice, and other substantive contributions. Please find below information about their backgrounds and their research plans for the coming years.
Professor Jodi Cooley
Dr. Jodi Cooley received a B.S. degree in Applied Mathematics and Physics from the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee in 1997. She earned her Masters in 2000 and her Ph.D. in 2003 at the University of Wisconsin – Madison for her research searching for neutrinos from diffuse astronomical sources with the AMANDA-II detector. Upon graduation she did postdoctoral studies at both MIT and Stanford University. Dr. Cooley is a Principal Investigator on the SuperCDMS dark matter experiment. She has won numerous awards for her research, teaching and mentoring. In 2012, she was a recipient of a prestigious National Science Foundation Early Career Award, one of only a handful of recipients nationwide in physics for that year. In 2018 she was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for her for contributions to the search for dark matter scattering with nuclei, particularly using cryogenic technologies. In 2019 she was the recipient of the Klopsteg Memorial Lecture Award from the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT).
Dr. Cooley’s current research interest is to improve our understanding of the universe by deciphering the nature of dark matter. She and her collaborators are building a new upgraded dark matter detector with sophisticated cryogenic detectors that are sensitive to the lowest mass dark matter particles. Construction is ongoing in SNOLAB, an international underground research laboratory located in Sudbury, Canada. The first competitive dark matter results from this experiment are expected from short runs that will take place in detector test facilities before the full payload is installed. First science data from the full payload is expected in 2023.
Professor Pavel Nadolsky
Dr. Pavel Nadolsky received his doctorate from Michigan State University in 2001 and originally joined SMU as a postdoctoral research fellow from 2001 to 2004. He then went on to conduct further postdoctoral research with the High Energy Physics Theory Group at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois from 2004 to 2007. He returned to SMU and joined the faculty in our department in 2008. In 2011, Dr. Nadolsky was a recipient of a prestigious Department of Energy Office of Science Early Career Award, one of only 5 particle theorists nationwide to be awarded such a distinction that year. He is currently the Co-spokesperson of the Coordinated Theoretical-Experimental project on Quantum chromodynamics (CTEQ) Collaboration. He has served on the SMU Faculty Senate and as the Director of Graduate Studies in Physics.
Dr. Nadolsky’s primary work is on the theory of elementary particles at hadron colliders, which explores physical objects at the tiniest distances accessible to modern science. His recent efforts focus on observations of fundamental particle states at the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland. Dr. Nadolsky develops theoretical models predicting how particles are produced through strong and electroweak interactions. Without such models, observations of new effects at the LHC would be difficult, if not impossible. Dr. Nadolsky leads a research group at SMU that includes students and postdocs working together on studies of elementary particles. The group is most recognized for detailed CTEQ-TEA models of the internal structure of protons that are necessary for many theoretical computations. This is a a fascinating area of research that combines quantum theory, computer simulations, multivariate statistical analysis, and machine learning. The SMU group leads world efforts on this subject by performing large-scale analyses of collider data utilizing the full power of SMU’s M2 high-performance computing cluster. Dr. Nadolsky is also a leading member of the global community that advances planning and development for the Electron-Ion Collider, a new machine to be constructed at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the U.S. during the coming decade.
STAFF NEWS
Staff In-Office Schedule for Week of September 21
The in-office staff schedule for the week of September 21 is as follows:
- Monday: Michele
- Tuesday: Lacey
- Wednesday: Michele
- Thursday: Lacey
- Friday: Lacey
Of course, both are always available on Microsoft Teams, by Email, or by phone.
Full staff in-office calendar for September:
STUDENT NEWS
We have no student news items this week, so we simply remind everyone that if you have something to share please feel free to send it along. Stories of students in research, the classroom, internships or fellowships, awards, etc. are very welcome!
ALUMNI NEWS
If you are an alum of the doctoral, masters, majors or minor programs in Physics at SMU and wish to share news with the community here, please send your story to the Physics Department and we’ll work with you to get it included in a future edition.
Matthew Rispoli (SMU’12)
We were very pleased to receive some news from Matthew Rispoli, who earned a B.S. in Physics at SMU in 2012. Matthew writes:
Matthew Rispoli (SMU’12, Harvard’19)
I recently graduated with my PhD in physics from Harvard University. My PhD research explored dynamic quantum phase transitions through the use of atomic physics experimental platforms for simulating quantum systems. The day after graduation, I got married to my partner, Melis Tekant, a biophyisicst at MIT! Since then, I have spent my time going between Boston and New York where I work at PDT Partners, a quantitative investment manager. (PDT stands for “Process Driven Trading”)
THE BACK PAGE
The Physics Teacher’s September Physics Challenge! (“A fall with a bang”)
The Physics Teacher’s September Challenge was selected by SPS Faculty Advisor and our department’s informal “Puzzle Master,” Prof. Randy Scalise, who was highlighted in this month’s issue as a regular contributor of challenge solutions. Dr. Scalise invites you to try to solve this month’s challenge. The first correct solution he receives (scalise@physics.smu.edu) from a student member of our Society of Physics Students will be awarded a prize. The winner will get to select from the following four books,
- Gleick, J. “Chaos: Making a New Science“.
- Crease, R. P. and Mann, Charles C. “The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-Century Physics“.
- Thorne, K. “Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy“.
- Greene, B. “The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality“.
Solutions must be complete enough to understand your strategy, reasoning, and methods; providing answers with no explanations are not acceptable. Dr. Scalise urges submitters who believe they have the correct answer to, of course, also submit their solution to The Physics Teacher using the email address challenges@aapt.org. Make sure to follow the journal’s guidelines for submissions (see below). The deadline is the last day of this month.
A small firecracker is suspended 0.60 m from the ceiling and 3.0 m from the floor in a very large room. The firecracker explodes, and the fragments fly off in all directions with the initial speed of 8.0 m/s. Find the radius of the area on the floor in which the fragments land. The collisions of the fragments with the ceiling are elastic, and the collisions
The September Physics Challenge from TPT, September, 2020
with the floor—inelastic. The acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s2.
