Volume 11, Number 2, Feb-June 2003

General News

Board of Regents unanimously approved the Center for Bio-inspired Nanomaterials (Idzerda Group).

 Loren Acton has been elected Chair of the Solar Observories Council (SOC) of the Assoc. Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA).  The SOC is  the management oversight committee of the National Solar Observatory. 

Also, I was concurrently elected to the AURA Board of Directors.  Both are one-year appointments.

 Jonathan Cirtain was recommended for a NASA/Goddard Graduate Student Researchers Program fellowship for 2003 with Dr. Joseph Gurman as Goddard Technical Adviser.

 Sachiko Tsuruta served on the NASA/ATP (Astrophysical Theory Program) Review Panel in Washington, DC, during November.

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Awards Honors and New Positions

Sara Maccagnano was among 10 MSU seniors who received an Outstanding Senior Award for Excellence from the COC/MSU Alumni.  Larry Kirkpatrick was chosen by Sara to receive the faculty Award for Excellence.

Kevin Repasky received an award as out-standing instructor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, in recognition of his success teaching ECE courses the last few years.

 Dana Longcope received the Wiley Award for Meritorious Research, May 9 at the Honors Banquet.

 Randy Reibel received the Graduate Achievement Award for outstanding doctoral  thesis research, May 9 at the Honors Banquet.

 Jerry DiMarco, Supervisor of the Physics Teaching Labs, was one of five recipients of the MSU 2003 Employee Recognition Award.

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Invited And Contributed Talks

 "Rocket Science in the Rockies", Charles Kankelborg, Astro Fair, Museum of the Rockies, Mar. 1.

 "Gravitational Waves: A New Window on the Universe", Bill Hiscock, invited colloquium at the  Department of Physics, the College of Engineering, and the Idaho Space Grant Consortium at the University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, Apr. 4.

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Proposals Submitted
 

Proposals Funded

"Hyddrogen Alpha Telescope for the MOSES Rocket Flight", Charles Kankelborg won a $14,000 grant from M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust Partners in Science Program. This award will enable him to form a partnership with Marty Stuart of Bozeman High School to conduct research during the next two summers.

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Colloquia

“Broadband Radar Processing with Spectral-Spatial Holographic Crystals:  Overview, Approach, and 1.0 Gbit/s Experimental Results”,  Kris Merkel, Spectrum Lab, MSU, Feb. 7.

 “Magical Magnetism of EPR (Esoteric Paranormal Resonance)”, Galina Malovichko, Feb. 14.

  "The Fast-Paced World of Neutron Stars”, Sharon Morsink, University of Alberta, Feb. 21.  

“Deep Heating of Accreting Neutron Stars”, Edward Brown, The University of Chicago,  Feb. 24.

 “Photodynamic Therapy: principles and practice”, Sergey Lyass, M.D., Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, Feb. 26.

 “An accelerated history of the Cosmological Constant”, Daniel Holz, Center for Cosmological Physics, Chicago, IL, Feb. 28.

 "Zooming Around the Central Parsec – Gravitational waves from galactic nuclei", Shane Larson, California Institute of Technology, Mar. 3.

 “Building on success-starting and growing a business in Montana. The Zoot Story: from concept to campus”, Chris Nelson, Founder and CEO of Zoot Enterprises, Mar. 7

 "Fuel Cells", John Sears, College of Engineering Montana State University Physics, Mar. 28.

“Photosystem I: following the path of energy and electron transfer”, Sergei Savikhin, Department of Physics, Purdue University, Apr. 4.

 “DEVELOPING TOOLS FOR ATOMISTIC MODELING IN MATERIALS SCIENCE" -The Computational Materials Program at NASA Glenn Research Center, Guillermo Bozzolo, Ohio Aerospace Institute, Apr. 11.

 “SUPERCONDUCTIVITY: An Emerging, Energy Efficient Technology", Dr. Donald U. Gubser, Superintendent of the Materials Science and Technology Division at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Apr. 25.

 “Chromium Dioxide and Spintronics”, Pavel Ivanov, May 2.

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Seminars

Special Seminar:
"Photodynamic Therapy: principles and practice", Sergey Lyass, M.D., Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, Ca, Feb. 26.

Micro Gravity:
"Brief History on Conductive and Piezoelectric Polymers", Jil Hallenberg, Mar. 5.

 "NASA-Langley trip and preparation of PVDF samples for electrode deposition", Laura Lediaev, Mar. 19.

 "Preparation and testing of photostrictive ceramics and crystals", Mike Patterson, Mar. 26.

 "Producing photostrictive ceramics and characterizing photoconductive and photostrictive properties of ceramics and crystals", Mike Patterson, Apr. 2.

 "Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Conduction and Reaction Mechanisms", Hugo Schmidt, Apr. 9.

 "Creating Piezoelectric Drivers for the Vibration Isolation System", Joe Polasik, Apr. 30.

Condensed Matter:
"Charge, Spin, and Lattice Coupling in Transition Metal Oxides", John Neumeier, Feb. 10.

 "Quantized and Localized Spin Wave Modes in Small Non-Ellipsoidal Magnetic Elements", Prof. Andrei N. Slavin, Department of Physics, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, Feb. 24.

 "Epitaxial films of chromium dioxide from a new precursor (Cr8021) and research on their application in spin-electronic devices", Pavel Ivanov, Mar. 17.

 "GaN films: growth, characterization and doping", Eugen Trifan, Apr. 7.

 "DEVELOPING TOOLS FOR ATOMISTIC MODELING IN MATERIALS SCIENCE  - The rest of the story",  Guillermo Bozzolo, Ohio Aerospace Institute, Apr. 14.

"Concept for measuring thermal expansion using the Quantum Design Physical Properties Measurement System", Michael Simmonds, Quantum Design Inc., Bozeman, MT and San Diego, CA, Apr. 28.

"The effects of surface modifications on CaF2 investigated with synchrotron radiation induced photoemission methods", Aaron Bostwick,  UW, Jun. 16.

Fuel Cell Seminar
"Analysis of Oxidation Resistance for Coated Steel Interconnect Plates in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells",  Dick Smith, Feb. 5.

Rel/Astro Seminar:
"A Full Sky Search for Sources of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays", Malina Schindel, Feb. 13.

 "The Shape of Space", Joey Shapiro, Mar. 6.

 "Isothermal Shocks as a Radiative Source for AGN Fe K-alpha Line",  Keigo Fukumura, Mar. 20.

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Donations to the Department

2/20/03 Pomona Donates T&M Accessories to Physics

 Pete Baffaro, university support liaison for John Fluke Manufacturing Company has authorized a donation of Pomona brand test and measurement accessories to the MSU Physics Department.  The Pomona products will be used to upgrade the Electronics Teaching Lab, with the remainder stocked in the Physics Engineering Design Lab (PEDL) for general use.

 The donation request listed a broad range of patch cables with connector styles including banana, mini-grabber and BNC.  Fluke also provided Pomona brand 150MHz oscilloscope probes and shielded project boxes.  Over 500 individual items are included in the donation, which has a retail value in excess of $6,000.

 Fluke Corporation acquired Pomona Electronics, a manufacturer of premier electronic test and measurement accessories, from its parent company ITT Industries in 1998.  Pomona has continued to operate under the Pomona name, however Fluke employees manage many of the corporate services, including university relations.

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Alumni

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Publications

Publications Submitted

Publications Accepted
"Preflare Phenomena in Eruptive Flares",  Angela C. Des Jardins and Richard C. Canfield, The Astrophysical Journal.

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Abstracts Submitted

"Geomagnetic Event Observation Network by Students - GEONS", Michelle B. Larson, William A. Hiscock, MSU, Nahide Craig SSL, Berkeley

AAPT Announcer, Vol. 33, p. 141 (Summer 2003).

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Poster Presentations

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PhD Thesis Defense

"Propagating Disturbances in the Lower Solar Corona", Meredith J. Wills-Davey, Apr. 16.

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"Differential Absorption Lidar", Mike Obland,  Feb. 6.

 "Optical Holey Fiber and Super-Continuum Generation", Yihan "Tina" Xiong, Feb. 24.

 "Dynamical Friction in Stellar Systems", Paul Schladensky, Apr. 7.

 "The Ubiquitous Accretion Disk", John "Dick" Chaffer, Apr. 17.

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PHYSICS NEWSLETTER

Compiled & Edited by:Rose Waldon
Contributors:Faculty, Students, Staff, and Alumni
Web Version by Jeremy Gay
Comments and Requests should be directed to:
email:waldon@physics.montana.edu
Mail:  Rose Waldon, Physics Dept., Box 173840, MSU, Bozeman, MT  59717-3840

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