Contents
CHAIR’S WEEKLY MESSAGE
“The Flood”
The memory of water pouring down from ceilings in the Fondren Science Building in 2011 is still fresh. Faculty in our department who were there when the sprinkler system pipe burst in the Fondren Science Building cupola can still recall the devastation to labs, offices and other property. It was truly devastating. To have a high-pressure source of water burst so high up in the building and rain water down on every floor below is not something you easily forget.
What caused this to happen in 2011? Back then, it was under-insulated pipes in a part of the building easily subject to exterior freezing temperatures. Fondren Science Building was then merely a victim of the Laws of Thermodynamics and Mechanics as water expanded as it froze, increasing pressure on the remaining liquid water and eventually cracking the pipe.
On Wednesday, it happened again to Fondren Science Building. All things considered, the 2021 flood, nearly 10 years to the week since the last one, was moderate compared to the 2011 flood.
In this case, a sprinkler system pipe in a graduate student office on the 1st floor of the building ruptured. Water flooded large parts of the first and basement levels. The most significant damage identified so far has been severe damage to a Chemistry research laboratory and flooded offices and hallways. It seems, for now, that widespread damage to a variety of research and teaching capabilities is avoided.
It’s still bad. The Departments of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology are all continuing to take stock of the damage.
In this issue, we have a look at the flood that unfolded this week, and whose ramifications continue to be understood. In the hopes that next week, as classes resume on campus and we find a way to move forward together, we look at some things going on in the department next week and beyond. There is an election to vote in and a seminar on quantum information science to look forward to!
For now, though, I look forward to helping those of you who have suffered material losses in this flood event. We will rebuild. Again.
Sincerely,
Stephen Jacob Sekula Chair, Department of Physics |
DEPARTMENT VIEWS
Scenes from the Flood
The bursting of pipes in Fondren Science Building is an unfolding situation. As we go to press, another burst pipe – this time in an HVAC system in the basement on the west side of the building – has been identified. Below are photos from Prof. David Son (Department of Chemistry) of the situation about an hour after department heads were notified of the leak in the sprinkler system. We are grateful to Prof. Son for traveling to campus in bad winter conditions to assess the damage.
In the gallery below, the one picture showing the interior of an office is that of the office where the pipe burst. It is normally home to four of our graduate students in physics. We were fortunate it was under-stocked with personal items, books, etc. due to the ongoing pandemic forcing people to remain largely away from campus.
Dr. Maurice Garcia-Sciveres (LBNL) presents a Seminar on Quantum Information Science and High-Energy Physics (HEP)
The next event of the Spring 2021 Department Speaker Series is on Monday, February 22, at 4pm. We welcome Dr. Maurice Garcia-Sciveres (LBNL) to speak on quantum information science, quantum computing, and the impact and applications for high-energy physics. Major initiatives are in place to support this nascent area of information science, and Dr. Garcia-Sciveres will provide an introduction to both the ideas and the ongoing efforts.
Miss a Colloquium or Seminar? Don’t Panic … They’re Recorded!
You can catch up on the Spring 2021 (and Fall 2020!) Physics Speaker Series by checking out your favorite subjects from archives! Explore supermassive black holes, the new Electron-Ion Collider planned for construction in the U.S., new ideas about dark matter or other novel particles or forces, or the basic research needs for future scientific instrumentation in HEP … all from your personal devices! Enjoy our archive of the Physics Speaker Series Talks below.
FACULTY NEWS
If you have something to share please feel free to send it along. Stories of your activities in research, the classroom, and beyond are very welcome!
The Lost Week of Classes: How to Proceed
The winter disaster that struck all of Texas cost us an entire week of instruction. The Provost’s office issued guidance this morning on how to handle this, for now. Not all questions are answered, as is clear from the guidance:
- Assume that our students, staff and faculty colleagues have not had access to technology or other possible resources this week.
- Treat Monday, February 22nd as if it were Monday, February 15th and stay on the altered calendar until further notice.
- Do not ask your students to come to class having done any additional work or asynchronous viewing of materials that would not have been expected by the 15th. The most well-intentioned gestures, such as providing students with optional asynchronous content, are creating confusion.
The emphasis in the third bullet is provided by the Department Chair, to make clear that no faculty member or class instructor is allowed to assume that students can do work to prepare for class on Monday (etc.) that is beyond the scope of what would have been expected last Monday, Feb. 15.
The faculty will have to be patient as the Provost and other academic leaders solve the new problem created by shifting the schedule by 1 week without also providing any extension to the semester.
Prof. Jodi Cooley Elected to the Graduate Council of the Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies
Congratulations to Prof. Jodi Cooley, who stood for and won election to the membership of the Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies’ Graduate Council. As noted on the council’s home page, “The Moody School Graduate Council, consisting of faculty representing SMU graduate programs, meets regularly with the Dean of the Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies and advises the Dean on policies that apply to graduate students across the university and on procedures of the Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies. The Council includes faculty from SMU’s four Ph.D.-granting schools: The Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, the Lyle School of Engineering, the Meadows School of the Arts, and the Simmons School of Education and Human Development.”
STAFF NEWS
Staff In-Office Schedule for Week of February 22
The in-office staff schedule for the week of February 22 is nominally as follows:
- Monday: Lacey
- Tuesday: Michele
- Wednesday: Michele
- Thursday: Lacey
- Friday: Michele
Of course, both are always available on Microsoft Teams, by Email, or by phone.
Full staff in-office calendar for February:
STUDENT NEWS
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!
Ishwita Saikia Running for the Student Member-at-Large Position of the Texas Section of the APS!
Third-year PhD student Ishwita Saikia was nominated for, and is now standing for election to, the Texas Section of the American Physical Society’s Executive Committee. She is running for Student Member-at-Large. All members of the TSAPS are eligible and encouraged to vote. Voting is open through March 10, 2021 at 11:59:00 PM Central Time.
According to the bylaws of the TSAPS,
The Executive Committee shall consist of the Officers of the Section, the most recent Past Chair, the Council Observer, four Members-at-Large elected to staggered three-year terms and two student Members-at-Large elected to staggered two-year terms …
https://engage.aps.org/tsaps/governance/bylaws
A “member-at-large” is a person serving in an executive council seat, and duly elected to the seat, with no specific duties but often selected for expertise or their area of representation. As noted above, Ishwita is running for election for the student member-at-large, and will bring her perspective as a graduate student to that role.
In the department, Ishwita has served as the physics representative to the Graduate Student Assembly (GSA) and presently serves as the graduate student representative on the Physics Chair’s Student Advisory Council, which works with the Department Chair to identify issues that affect students and facilitate departmental action to address those issues.
ALUMNI NEWS
If you are an alum of the doctoral, masters, majors or minor programs in Physics at SMU, or have worked in our program as a post-doctoral researcher, and wish to share news with the community, please send your story to the Physics Department and we’ll work with you to get it included in a future edition.
THE BACK PAGE
Help
Most members of the department have suffered a loss of some kind this week. Some graduate students were without power and heat for over 24 hours. Burst pipes have stopped running water for students, staff, and faculty alike. Even with running water, many people are under “boil water” notices because the water is poorly treated or of insufficient quality for consumption due to systemic failures.
If you need help, there are many resources available for getting assistance. As the road conditions improve again starting today, it will be easier to get out and get things you need. Here are some places you can go for help even as the immediate crisis ends.
- Emergency Support: if you are facing a life-threatening emergency of any kind (severe illness, severe cold, physical injury, etc.) please immediately call 911 on your phone and request emergency aid to your location. Before you ever have to face an emergency, it’s a good idea to write down some facts you can provide to the responder on the phone, such as your address and your full name, and contact info for a person to be notified of your situation (e.g. a close friend in the area, etc.).
- Dallas Non-Emergency Police Support: Call 214-744-4444 to request support for or report situations that are non-life-threatening. Other phone numbers for specific Dallas public services through the police department are here: https://dallaspolice.net/resource/helpfulNumbers
- State Non-Emergency Support: If there are critical services and supplies needed for your family and home, you can call 211 anywhere in the state of Texas for assistance.
- North Texas Food Bank: https://ntfb.org/
- If you are food or water deprived and are worried about having sufficient resources to afford either, reach out to the NTFB. They are a wonderful organization and they want to help.
- SMU Office of Student Support: https://www.smu.edu/StudentAffairs/OfficeoftheDeanofStudents/StudentSupport
- For SMU students, if you are just not sure where to turn please reach out to the Office of Student Support. In the past, they have provided food pantry information and other support for students. They may have new ongoing programs in the wake of the winter disaster.
