We look at the next event hosted by the Society of Physics students on considering and applying for graduate studies, and we take a peek at the next speaker series event on using the Higgs particle to look for previously unknown forces and particles in nature, and advertise the next Astrophysics (Virtual) Lunch event!
Contents
CHAIR’S WEEKLY MESSAGE
“DID YOU KNOW IT’S MIDTERM?”
You wouldn’t know it, but it’s midterm. Because of the loss of spring break and a lack of compensatory mental health days, there is nothing to mark the moment. There is no gap, no pause, no chance for intellectual renewal. As many students have expressed aloud, or silently through eyes that broadcast a dangerous level of burn-out, there is only the relentless march forward through the syllabus. There is no Good Friday holiday, there is no May 4 reading day … there is only the race toward an intense final exam period with no chance to catch one’s breath.
One year ago, everything changed. A pandemic was announced, and everything shut down. Travel for research, unless deemed truly essential, was shut down. Faculty in general were in a panic about how to transform their classes for the digital-only return from spring break. Students were, for the most part, sent home and not permitted to return to campus.
That’s a big change.
Now, we are halfway through the spring 2021 semester. In this semester alone we’ve already seen pandemic restrictions topped off with punishing winter weather. It sure doesn’t feel like halfway. It feels, strangely, like another day in the never-ending month of March, 2020. That was a March we never really escaped. I take hope from the fact that the end of this current crisis is much closer than it’s ever been, thanks to multiple vaccine availability an increasing distribution. I take hope from responsible people who continue to behave responsibly, recognizing that we are together in all of this, even while apart, burdened with the glorious duty of protecting others from ourselves while also protecting oneself.
This last week, I was reminded of how much I miss … deeply and painfully miss … the kinds of spontaneous and light-hearted human interactions we lost in March 2020. A former student and teaching assistant of mine “Zoom bombed” my honors physics class on Monday night. Our schtick is to playfully pick on one another, each labeling the other as generally annoying. It’s all a ruse (I think). I have tremendous respect for the student, and I want to believe that goes both ways (I am nothing if not hopeful). In the before-times, she might have walked into the physical classroom before class started and grabbed an undeserved slice of pizza and fired off some snarky comments to the delight (or horror?) of the other students in the class. Of course, once students realize this is all in fun, and out of a kind of deep mutual respect rooted in shared past academic experiences, it helps them to relax and think that, perhaps, faculty are more approachable than they at first appeared. This banter sets a kind of expectation that maybe, one day, they also can have a serious (if jokey) professional relationship with a faculty member … just like this former student standing in front of them, eating their pizza.
I miss that. To get a small taste of it in a Zoom meeting was nice, but it was a bittersweet reminder of how long a year is … and how we’ve never really managed to escape March 2020. At least, not yet.
There is hope, of course, and I choose to cling to that even as I force myself to be patient. All of us are facing this kind of tension now.
At least, for the moment, we have things that we can use to distract ourselves at what should be midterm. The Society of Physics Students at SMU will host a graduate school-focused workshop and panel event. On Monday, we resume the Department Speaker Series with a look at searching for new kinds of particles and forces using our new friend, the Higgs particle, with expert perspective provided by our own Prof. Allison Deiana.
Sincerely,
Stephen Jacob Sekula Chair, Department of Physics |
DEPARTMENT VIEWS
Prof. Allison Deiana (SMU) speaks on Searching for New Physics through Higgs Boson Pair Production
The next event of the Spring 2021 Department Speaker Series is on Monday, March 15, at 4pm. We welcome our own Prof. Allison Deiana (SMU) to speak about the search at the Large Hadron Collider for evidence of a more fundamental theory underpinning the Standard Model of particle physics. This talk will focus on the search for Higgs boson pair production in a final state with two bottom quarks and two tau leptons, spanning recent results in the resonant and non-resonant searches and including new techniques developed to search for highly Lorentz-boosted events.
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.
Astrophysics Lunch on Monday, March 15
The next Astrophysics Lunch event will be held on Monday, March 15 at noon. The events are currently virtual. Prof. Bob Kehoe will be discussing a paper titled “Optimizing Photonics Ring-Resonator Filters for OH-Suppressed Near-Infrared Astronomy.” If you are interested in participating in the event, please contact Prof. Joel Meyers for the connection information.
These Astrophysics Lunches are meant to be a chance for people to present ideas, research, or questions of interest to them (and likely others) in a conversational format. The format is designed to be flexible, and discussions can focus on a paper, recent research, a pedagogical introduction to a subject, a recent news release, a summary of a workshop or conference, etc. Discussion leaders need not fill the whole hour, and responsibilities can be split among multiple leads.
Contact Prof. Joel Meyers for more information!
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!
STAFF NEWS
Staff In-Office Schedule for Week of March 15
The in-office staff schedule for the week of March 15 is nominally as follows:
- Monday: Lacey
- Tuesday: Michele
- Wednesday: Michele
- Thursday: Michele
- Friday: Lacey
Of course, both are always available on Microsoft Teams, by Email, or by phone.
Full staff in-office calendar for March:
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!
Next Society of Physics Students Event: Graduate School Workshop and Graduate Student Q&A on March 24
SMU’s Society of Physics Students is hosting a workshop presentation on the process of applying to graduate school in physics and the basic information around graduate school in physics. The event will take place on Wednesday March 24th at 6:30 PM.
The SPS encourages any undergraduate students who are interested in continuing into physics graduate school to join and learn more about physics graduate program opportunities. The event will feature several current SMU physics graduate students who will share their experiences in graduate school and answer questions from students.
Please RSVP for the event using the link in the flyer (also shared below). The organizers will send out Zoom connection information only to registrants. If you are an SMU student, please register using your SMU email address.
RSVP link: https://forms.gle/u9ueSJoRJ4gCWjGd7
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
Join the Society of Physics Students at SMU Today!
Are you an SMU student? Are you a member of the Society of Physics Students?
If not, here is your chance: follow the link and join the SPS today!
https://smu.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/sps
