We look at those planned partial power outages this and next weekend; we remind people of some recent exciting news in the world of astrophysics and particle physics; and we tease again the final speaker series event of the Spring Term.
Contents
CHAIR’S WEEKLY MESSAGE
“Summer is Coming”
We’re just a few weeks from the end of the Spring Term and of the strangest academic year in my memory. Vaccination against COVID-19 has really ramped up to impressive levels this Spring, and for many of us who are gaining access to the vaccine there is a twinge of hope about summer.
In the Physics Department, this means research and teaching. Teaching will continue this summer as it has this whole academic year: in-person/hybrid or all-virtual at the discretion of the instructor. Research is always more ad hoc, and while the Department urged caution about conducting research operations (e.g. if in-person, do so masked and socially distanced) – and while caution is still the order of the day – there is a hope for something pseudo-normal to happen this summer.
Certainly, as Chair of the Department, I want to support summer research activities. To that end, I encourage the faculty to pay attention to imminent deadlines for undergraduate research funding:
- The Hamilton Scholar proposals are due TODAY. Get yours in to get consideration for summer Hamilton Scholar support. Faculty must submit the application, even if it is developed along with the student. https://www.smu.edu/Dedman/Research/Institutes-and-Centers/DCII/Scholarship/Hamilton
- The “Summer Research Assistant”, or SRA, program is gone. It is replaced with a new program of research, the Summer Research Intensive (SRI) program. Faculty can write a brief proposal which, if successful, will provide half the funding for up to two students. The other half must come from sources identified by the faculty proposal submitter (e.g. a grant). The deadline for this is Monday, April 12 (there is a typo in both the email that was sent by Engaged Learning AND on their website … I have personally verified this was a mistake with the program director and am happy to share this with all of you!). https://www.smu.edu/Provost/Engaged-Learning/Research/URA/Summer-Research-Intensive
Graduate students will be supported by various means (e.g. grants, the department) this summer to conduct their research. I am thrilled at the response especially of first-year graduate students who worked hard to identify research mentors for the summer, start building connections, and laying out some plans for the months ahead. Come June 1, when summer begins formally at SMU, this will be an exciting time.
To support this, I would like the department to be able to provide spaces for students to conduct research. Graduate students should, if they are comfortable, feel free to return to their office spaces this summer, especially if they have been fully vaccinated. Masks and social distancing are still necessary and appropriate, but I anticipate we will slowly resume more in-person work this summer. Undergraduates, or any high school students who might be interning with a research group this summer, would be bound by similar protocols.
Regarding high school students, if you are planning to mentor an area student this summer you are required to fill out specific paperwork. Please contact me for more information.
My aim is to provide access to social and research support this summer through the department, including hybrid brown bag lunches each week, in-person coffee breaks supported by the department (and hosted in the new cafe space in FOSC 16 – more information about that soon!), and seminar support for external speakers to treat us to insights pertinent to summer research. If you have a summer speaker in mind, please communicate that to me so we can get them invited and scheduled! For now, those will be hybrid, with the speaker virtual and possibly a gathering space on campus where locals can participate in the event. More about that soon!
But enough about summer. In this edition of the Friday Newsletter, we look ahead to those planned partial power outages this and next weekend; we remind people of some recent exciting news in the world of astrophysics and particle physics; and we tease again the final speaker series event of the Spring Term.
Sincerely,
Stephen Jacob Sekula Chair, Department of Physics |
DEPARTMENT VIEWS
The Spring Colloquium (May 3) will feature Prof. Pierre Ramond (UFL), Distinguished Professor and 2020 Dirac Medal and Prize Recipient
We are very excited to remind the community that the final event of the Spring 2021 Department Speaker Series will feature Distinguished Professor of Physics Pierre Ramond (University of Florida), who will present a Colloquium entitled “The Unfinished Standard Model.” Most recently, Prof. Ramond was a co-recipient of the 2020 Dirac Medal and Prize for his role in the initiation of Superstring Theory. We will announce more details in the coming weeks, but meanwhile please save the date!
The final event of each major term is intended to be an intellectually rich event for both the department and the SMU Physics Community. We welcome all members of our university and department communities to join us for these events.
No speaker series event on Monday, April 12
We have no scheduled speaker series event on Monday, April 12. This would be a great chance to catch up on some recent exciting astrophysics and particle physics results from the broader community, and we list those here.
- First Results from the Muon g-2 Experiment at Fermilab: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81PfYnpuOPA
- Event Horizon Telescope Measures Magnetic Field Lines Near a Supermassive Black Hole: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DY4x8rQJ4Q
- LHCb and New Results on the flavour changing neutral current transition 𝑏→𝑠ℓ+ℓ−: https://indico.cern.ch/event/976688/
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.
Turn off or protect electronics in your regions of the Fondren Science Building (April 10-11 and 17-18)
Work is scheduled to address a long-standing and important electrical issue that needs to be resolved in the area around SMU. This is likely to result in, at minimum, “electrical service fluctuations” of a short but meaningful duration this weekend and next weekend. The community is asked to prepare ahead of time for such events by verifying un-interruptable power supply (UPS) batteries are operating at nominal capacity on sensitive equipment, or shutting off equipment (computers, instrumentation, etc.) entirely in advance of the scheduled events.
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 April 12
The in-office staff schedule for the week of April 12 is nominally as follows:
- Monday: Michele
- Tuesday: Lacey
- 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 April:
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!
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
Getting Vaccinated
We remind the physics community at SMU that there are two options through SMU to get vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. The SMU Vaccination Site has been receiving weekly or bi-weekly vaccine allocations from the state, and SMU has partnered with Methodist Health to provide access for SMU students, faculty, and staff to vaccination at one of their sites. If you need information about how to connect to these options, please don’t hesitate to contact the Department Chair.
https://www.smu.edu/coronavirus/vaccine
