Category: News

We are excited to announce the 2025 SMU QuarkNet Workshop to be held 15-17 July 2025.
The website with information and details is available HERE:
The workshop includes morning lectures from SMU/UTSW faculty members on the latest developments in high-energy physics, cosmology, astrophysics, medical physics, and science education. The afternoon activities will feature demos and hands-on activities that the teachers can use in their science classes.

The SMU QuarkNet Team
Heidi Wu, Bruce Boehne, Fred Olness
WEBSITE: https://hywu.github.io/quarknet/

We are pleased to offer our congratulations to Dr. Lucas Kotz. His thesis, entitled “A Novel Approach to Model the Pion Structure Using Advanced Polynomial Functions” was supervised by Professors Pavel Nadolsky and Fred Olness. We are pleased to recognize Lucas for his outstanding diligence and creativity. His ability to navigate and contribute to the highly complex xFitter codebase was truly impressive.

Lucas successfully extended the widely used xFitter framework by integrating custom modules he developed. These enhancements will benefit the high-energy physics community by enabling more precise and flexible uncertainty calculations, supporting a range of current and future experimental analyses.

We are excited to announce the 2025 SMU QuarkNet Workshop, July 15-17 (Tue-Thu), 2025, 9 am to 4 pm.

The workshop includes morning lectures from SMU/UTSW faculty members on the latest developments in high-energy physics, cosmology, astrophysics, medical physics, and science education. In the afternoons, we will have plenty of demos and hands-on activities that you can use in your science classes.

Note that eligible participants (high-school science teachers) will receive a stipend of $120 per day for your participation.

Please fill out the form to register: https://forms.gle/8h1yDBZpRYMEeFWQ7

The SMU QuarkNet Team
Heidi Wu, Bruce Boehne, Fred Olness

On Thursday, 24 October, the Physics Department will host Michel Jurine for a guest lecture on “The art of organ building.” Michel operates a company that builds and restores organs. The company is located just outside Lyon, France.

Michel Jurine will discuss the 18th-century French organ-building legacy that Cavaillé-Coll inherited, particularly from the treatise of Dom Bédos (1766), and chronicle how Cavaillé-Coll revolutionized French organs in the 19th century, leading to masterpieces such as Saint-Sulpice (1862) and Notre-Dame (1868). He will discuss how he uses all this science and art to create his organs today. The presentation will also include a video with Jurine organ demos played by Paris Conservatoire organ professor Thomas Ospital and Notre-Dame de Paris organist Philippe Lefèbvre.

Learn more here: https://www.orgues-micheljurine.com/en/company.html

The physicists are coming!

SMU will be hosting a joint meeting of the Texas Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers (TSAAPT), the Texas Section of the American Physics Society (TSAPS) and Zone 13 of the Society of Physics Students (SPS) on Oct. 17-19.

The event will bring together a diverse group of physicists  — from researchers and teachers to college and high school students — to show off their research, learn from each other and discuss how to enrich physics for all. There will also be plenary talks, sessions and workshops devoted to research, teaching and the interaction between physics and society. And high school physics teachers will receive professional development certificates for sessions and workshops they attend.

Learn more here: https://www.physics.smu.edu/web/TSAPS2024/

A Stellar Legacy:
A Symposium Commemorating Professor John Cotton’s Journey in Astronomy.

Sunday Evening 28 April 2024

[Reservations Required]
The reservation link will be HERE on 15-22 April

https://forms.gle/HDu3cEJ84LEfT1ar8

Featuring guest speaker, astronomer Fritz Benedict

Dear SMU Physics Friends and Alumni,

On behalf of the SMU Physics Department, we are pleased to invite you to the 2024 Physics Symposium, “A Stellar Legacy: A Symposium Commemorating Professor John Cotton’s Journey in Astronomy.”

We will look back across John’s 50+ years at SMU, and also look ahead to upcoming astrophysics and cosmology research in the Physics Department.

The symposium will be held on Sunday evening, April 28, 2024, on the SMU campus [Reservations Required]. The reception will be at 6 p.m., dinner will start at 6:30 p.m., the lecture will begin at 7:00 p.m., and we’ll finish by 8:30 p.m.

Please hold the date, and the above reservation link will be open from 15 to 22 April 2024.
Should you have any questions in the meantime, please contact Ms. Yentel Payne (214-768-2495 or ypayne@smu.edu)

Join us at the crossroads of SMU Astronomy and history.

Thanks again, and we hope you can join us.

Sincerely, the SMU Physics Department

Join us at SMU for the 2024 Total Eclipse

Dear SMU Physics Friends and Alumni,

Please join us in front of Dallas Hall or near the Late Fountain at Airline Garage on Monday 8 April 2024 for the total eclipse.

The eclipse will begin at 12:20pm and the total eclipse will last for approximately 4 minutes starting at 1:40pm.

Eclipse glasses, pinhole projectors, telescopic views of the eclipse, and more will be available.

Thanks again, and we hope you can join us.

Sincerely, the SMU Physics Department

Welcome back to SMU, Spring 2024

We’ve got an exciting Spring semester ahead of us.

Welcome back to SMU, Fall 2023

We’ve got an exciting semester ahead of us.

In this edition of the Friday Newsletter, we look ahead to graduation and the conclusion of the academic year, and we celebrate accomplishments!

Continue reading “Physics Department Friday Newsletter for May 6, 2022”