|
WELCOME to the Department of Physics. The Department is committed to education and research in physics, the study of the fundamental universal laws that govern the behavior of matter and energy, and the exploration of the consequences and applications of those laws... continued
Latest News:
 Next Colloquium,
Friday February 12th:
"Chemistry in Unusual Places:
Nonlinear Optical Studies of Liquid Interfaces",
Professor Rob Walker,
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, MSU
|
MSU helped design solar telescopes to be launched this week.
Solar physicists at Montana State University helped design and calibrate four telescopes that are now scheduled to be launched Wednesday, Feb. 10, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Click here for the full MSU News story...
Should the launch be delayed, the viewing event will be rescheduled. Updates will be available on the Montana Space Grant Consortium's Web page and on the MSU Solar Physics Group's Web page.
For more information on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), visit the SDO webpage.
Dick Smith (02/08/10)
|
Congratulations to Jayson Nissen for his 2010 Alumni Association/Chamber of Commerce Award for Excellence. The Award for Excellence signifies exceptional achievement - both academically and in community leadership - over a student's entire MSU career. The selection for this award recognizes Jayson as one of MSU's most outstanding seniors. In turn, each student winner chooses a faculty or staff person who has served as a great inspiration as well as a great mentor during the student's time at MSU. This person also receives an Award for Excellence. Jayson selected Dr. Carla Riedel, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Physics, for her exceptional guidance and inspiration. Congratulations, Jayson and Carla! We are all proud to celebrate your excellence.
Dick Smith (02/05/10)
|
In case you haven't seen the news in your otherwise busy days, NASA Headquarters has officially announced this week, through their press release, the selection of the SSEL Explorer-1 Prime nanosatellite to ride into space with NASA's Glory Spacecraft on November 22 of this year. This is a historically important event because, to our knowledge, NASA has never launched a satellite for a university other than official NASA satellite missions selected under their highly- controlled Science research Program. Montana State shares this unique distinction with University of Colorado, and a consortium of Kentucky universities. This represents the first, of what NASA anticipates will be multiple launch opportunities for university- built CubeSats to get rides into space on rockets launched from United States soil. A large number of Montana State undergraduate students (more than 100) have been working on this project for well over two years. The satellite was designed, built, and is being tested in the Space Science and Engineering Laboratory. Montana Space Grant Consortium is the project sponsor.
Links to two relevant articles:
NASA article
MSU News Service
Dick Smith (01/30/10)
|
Dr. Brian Welsch from Space Sciences Lab, Berkeley, is the 2010 winners of the Karen Harvey prize. The citation reads: "The 2010 Karen Harvey prize is awarded to Brian Welsch for his role in the development of correlation techniques to measure velocities at the solar surface". Brian obtained his Ph.D. at MSU in 2002, working in the group of Professor Dana Longcope.
The Karen Harvey Prize was established in May 2002 in honor of the late Karen Harvey. The award is given by the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society in recognition of a significant contribution to the study of the Sun early in a person's professional career. Previous winners of the Karen Harvey prize in our department include Dana Longcope (2003) and Jiong Qiu (2007). Congratulations to Brian and Dana!
Dick Smith (01/22/10)
|
The NASA Montana Space Grant Consortium (MSGC) is pleased to announce Dr. Angela Des Jardins as the new Director. Dr. Des Jardins was previously the Deputy Director and Interim Director of MSGC. Her responsibilities will also include directing Montana NASA EPSCoR.
Dr. Des Jardins received her BS and Ph.D. degrees in physics from Montana State University. During her time as a student at MSU, Dr. Des Jardins was involved in several NASA and MSGC programs, including the NASA Academy and the Space Public Outreach Team (as a presenter and a manager).
Under Dr. Des Jardins' leadership, MSGC will continue to strive to raise the level of accomplishment of its goals, which are to: develop and connect interdisciplinary aerospace education programs that will build and enhance opportunities for involvement in space-based science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) in Montana; strive to build a Montana aerospace workforce, integrating women, under-represented minorities and persons with disabilities; network Montana colleges, universities, aerospace industries, and government with national aerospace programs in government and industry, especially NASA centers and other Space Grant Consortia; and to expand and enhance aeronautics and NASA-related research activity in Montana colleges and universities.
Dick Smith (01/22/10)
|
The 2009-2010 issue of Confluence magazine is now available. In case you're not familiar with it, Confluence is the annual magazine for the College of Letters and Science at MSU.
Copies of the magazine were sent to all L&S faculty and staff via campus mail. If you did not receive a magazine and would like a copy, please send an email to Jody Sanford (jody.sanford at Montana dot edu).
The magazine is also available online as a PDF file. Note in particular the articles on pages 8, 12, 13, 17, and 25.
Dick Smith (1/05/10)
|
Welcome to our two new Research Faculty
Dr. Robert (Bob) Leamon joined the department on November 1, 2009.
Bob received his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware in 1999, and then joined Dick Canfield at MSU as a post-doctoral scholar, investigating the nature of solar coronal mass ejections and the solar wind. Dr. Leamon then took a position as Principal Support Scientist, performing basic science, mission operations for the SOHO satellite, and future mission planning at NASA/GSFC. Since 2006, Bob has worked with ADNET Systems, Inc., continuing investigations of solar wind models using results from the Solar Dynamics Observatory.
Now, he has been invited to work under an Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) agreement at NASA headquarters, supporting various aspects of solar physics through the Living with a Star program. Dr. Leamon is currently PI on one grant, and co-I on a second. The initial IPA will run for two years, beginning in 2010, with a possibility for renewal. During this time he will advise a minimum of one graduate student at MSU, working in collaboration with Dr. Dick Canfield, Research Professor at MSU. While on the IPA agreement, Bob will be working at NASA GSFC, and residing in Greenbelt, MD. Welcome, Bob!
Dr. Piet Martens
has returned to the Physics Department at MSU, effective December 1, 2009, after working for two years at the Center for Astrophysics in Boston. Dr. Martens received his Ph.D. in Astrophysics (Cum Laude) in 1983 from the University of Utrecht. He joined the Research Faculty at MSU in 1999 as an Associate Research Professor after working as a Research Associate at NASA-GSFC (3 years), a Research Scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (4 years), a Research Scientist at Lockheed Solar and Astrophysics Lab (3 years), and as SOHO Science Operations coordinator with the European Space Agency (5 years). At MSU-Bozeman he was promoted to Research Professor in 2004. In 2008, Piet rejoined the astrophysics staff at the Harvard Center for Astrophysics, and remained as an Affiliate Professor with the Physics Department at MSU. While at MSU Piet worked with graduate and undergraduate students, mentored post doctoral scholars, and voluntarily taught graduate level classes. He assisted in running the solar REU program, and consequently developed a similar REU program at CfA. Piet has considerable experience in theoretical modeling, data analysis, mission operations, and space instrumentation. His research interests include long-term solar activity in the context of the Sun-Earth connection, solar and stellar X-ray and EUV emission, MHD of solar flares, particle acceleration, coronal loop models, filaments and their eruptions, solar and stellar wind, solar and stellar dynamos, and nonlinear processes. Piet is currently advising two graduate students at MSU, and is PI on several grants. Be sure to give Piet, Kathleen, and their five children a warm welcome during these cold days. And, if you don't see Piet in the hallways, look for him at Bridger Bowl. Welcome back, Piet.
Dick Smith (12/07/09)
|
|
|
