In this issue...

General News	Awards and Honors	Student and Alumni News	Colloquia
Seminars	Presentations and Talks	Publications	Proposals
Travel and Conferences	Visitors	Upcoming Events

January 2001

"The momentum at a national level in the physical sciences is one of decline. We should be disturbed by this trend – the physical sciences are the foundation of the microchip industry, the telecommunications industry, the transportation industry and the petrochemical industry. We are talking about what fuels our engine of U.S. economic growth – high technology and maintaining a commanding lead in a 21^st century global economy." Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
In discussing funding trends for the DOE'S Office of Science

GENERAL NEWS

Bill Hiscock and Ken Krane (Oregon State) will serve as external reviewers of the Physics Department at Utah State University.

SPACE PUBLIC OUTREACH TEAM: The Montana Space Grant Consortium is starting a new education/public outreach program called the Space Public Outreach Team (SPOT).  Similar in design to its successful Mars Public Outreach Program of a few years ago, this project will send undergraduate (and graduate) students to Montana schools to make presentations about space science topics. With the help of the Solar Physics Research Group, the first presentation, "Living With a Star" will be ready to travel to schools sometime in March. For more information about the program, please refer questions (and interested students!) to Mike Murray, 994-7309, murray@physics.montana.edu

Gary Bohannan started work at Wavelength Electronics, Inc. (Bozeman) in January. "I love the job and the people are great," Gary says. Congratulations Gary!

AWARDS AND HONORS

Rufus Cone organized two sessions at the 30th Winter Colloquium on the Physics of Quantum Electronics; the sessions were entitled Spectroscopy of Solids with Applications.

Rufus Cone is on the organizing committees for three additional conferences in 2001: Northwest Section of the American Physical Society; 13th International Conference on Dynamical Processes in Excited States of Solids; and 7th International Meeting on Hole Burning, Single Molecule, and Related Spectroscopies.

Randy Babbitt was appointed chairman of the Holography, Wavemixing, Photorefractives, and Storage subcommittee for CLEO 2002.

STUDENT and ALUMNI NEWS

COLLOQUIA

"Listening to the Early Universe", Ted Bunn, St Cloud State, Jan. 26.

SEMINARS

"Semiclassical Perturbations of Extreme Black Holes", Bill Hiscock, Jan. 25.

Bill Hiscock lead the Ligocyte, Inc. journal club discussion of quintessence and the accelerating universe, January 26.

Condensed Matter Physics
"Takagi Group Dynamics Proposed for Study by 4D NMR in Deuteron Glass Crystals," Hugo Schmidt, Active Materials Seminar, Jan. 30.

"Introduction to Piezoelectricity," Hugo Schmidt, Microgravity/Piezoelectricity Seminar, Jan. 31.

"Systematics of 4f Electron Energies Relative to Host Bands in Rare Earth Doped Optical Materials", Charles W. Thiel, Jan. 31.

PRESENTATIONS AND TALKS

"Toward a New Theory of Understanding Student Difficulties in Learning Astronomy", colloquium by Tim Slater presented at the Department of Astronomy at the University of Toronto on November 26, 2000. "A Systematic Approach to Improving K-12 Astronomy Teaching", invited talk by Tim Slater presented at the American Geophysical Union Winter meeting, December 15, 2000, San Francisco, CA.

"Plenary Conference Talk, Spectroscopy of Rare Earth Materials from 20 Hz to Hundreds of Electron Volts", R. L. Cone, 31st Winter Colloquium on The Physics of Quantum Electronics, Snowbird, Utah, January 7-11, 2001.

"Systematics of Rare Earth Crystal Band Structure by Photoemission for Design of Laser and Hole Burning Materials", C. W. Thiel, H. Cruguel, Y. Sun, G. J. Lapeyre, R. L. Cone, H. Wu, R. W. Equall, R. M. Macfarlane, 31st Winter Colloquium on The Physics of Quantum Electronics, Snowbird, Utah, January 7-11, 2001.

"Compact Laser Frequency Stabilization at 1.5µm using Spectral Hole Burning", G. J. Pryde, T. Böttger, and R. L. Cone, 31st Winter Colloquium on The Physics of Quantum Electronics, Snowbird, Utah, January 7-11, 2001.

"Semiconductor Lasers Stabilized to Spectral Holes in Rare Earth Crystals", R. L. Cone, T. Böttger, G. J. Pryde, N.M. Strickland, Y. Sun, P. B. Sellin, and J. L. Carlsten, Photonics West - Optoelectronics 2001, in the Symposium on Physics and Simulation of Optoelectronic Devices IX (OE09), January 20-26, 2001.

"Using Physics Education Research Results as a Foundation for Improving Astronomy Teaching", invited talk by Tim Slater presented at the joint winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society No. 197 and the American Association of Physics Teachers No. 122, January 6-11, 2001, San Diego, CA. Winter 2000, AAPT Announcer 30(4), 98. "Toward a New Theory of Understanding Student Difficulties in Learning Astronomy", invited talk by Tim Slater presented at the Nebraska Association of Physics Teachers Annual Conference, January 13, 2001, Omaha, NE. "Assessing Student Learning: A Guide to the Perplexed Instructor", invited talk by Tim Slater presented at the Nebraska Association of Physics Teachers Annual Conference, January 13, 2001, Omaha, NE.

Contributed Talks
"Astronomy and Space Science Public Outreach in NASA's Space Grant Program", contributed by Bill Hiscock to the joint winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society No. 197 and the American Association of Physics Teachers No. 122, January 9, 2001, San Diego, CA. AAPT Announcer 30(4), 98.

Gary Bohannan and Jil Hallenberg, recount their exciting experiences flying experiments with the NASA Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities program, Winter Astronomy Lecture Series, Museum of the Rockies, Jan. 26.

"Nd-Doped Mixed Scandium Garnets for Improved Laser Performance and Compositional Tuning From 937 to 946 nm", A. Braud, F. S. Ermeneux, Y. Sun, R. L. Cone, R. W. Equall, R. L. Hutcheson, C. Maunier, R. Moncorge, N.P. Barnes, H.G. Gallagher and T.P. Han. Advanced Solid-State Lasers 2001, Seattle, Washington, January 28-31, 2001 - presented by Randy Equall and Cedric Maunier.

"Optical Coherent Transient True-Time Delay for Phased Array Processing," W. R. Babbitt, presentation, RF Photonics Systems for Arrays 3rd Annual Review, October 12, 2000.

"Accumulation of Complex Spectral Gratings using a Frequency Stabilized Laser," K. D. Merkel, presentation, RF Photonics Systems for Arrays 3rd Annual Review, October 12, 2000.

"Applications of Phase Modulation and Phase Shift Keying to Inhomogeneously Broadened Materials -- Amplification Using Injection Locking", R. Reibel, M. Tian, Z. Barber and W. R. Babbitt, Poster, RF Photonics Systems for Arrays 3rd Annual Review, October 12, 2000.

"Broadband True-Time Delay" Poster, Mingzhen Tian, Randy Reibel, and Randy Babbitt, RF Photonics Systems for Arrays 3rd Annual Review, October 12, 2000.

Poster Sessions
"Implementing a Formative Evaluation Plan for the Princeton Earth Physics Project", poster presentation by Janelle Bailey & Tim Slater and Robert Phinney & Daniel Steinberg (Princeton Univ.) at the 2000 Winter Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, December 16, 2000 in San Francisco, CA.

"An Online Astrobiology Course for Teachers", poster presentation by Ed Prather, Tim Slater, and George Tuthill at the 2000 Winter Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, December 17, 2000 in San Francisco, CA.

"A Review of Student Concepts Related to Electromagnetic Radiation", poster presentation by Chija Skala, Jeff Adams, Greg Francis, Ed Prather, and Tim Slater at the joint winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society No. 197 and the American Association of Physics Teachers No. 122, January 8, 2001, San Diego, CA. Winter 2000 AAPT Announcer 30(4), 73.

"Talking to the Public About Fundamental Concepts in Cosmology", poster presentation by Jeff Crowder, Susana Deustua (Lawrence Berkeley National Lab), Jack Dostal, and Ed Prather at the joint winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society No. 197 and the American Association of Physics Teachers No. 122, January 9, 2001, San Diego, CA. Winter 2000 AAPT Announcer 30(4), 90.

"Development of an Astronomy Lecture-Tutorial on Astrobiology", poster presentation by Erika Offerdahl, Ed Prather, and Tim Slater to the joint winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society No. 197 and the American Association of Physics Teachers No. 122, January 9, 2001, San Diego, CA. Winter 2000 AAPT Announcer 30(4), 92.

"Implementing the K-5 Mathematics Education Standards Using Astronomy", poster presentation by Keri Garver and Tim Slater at the joint winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society No. 197 and the American Association of Physics Teachers No. 122, January 10, 2001, San Diego, CA. Winter 2000 AAPT Announcer 30(4), 112.

"Characteristics of Secondary Schools that Maintain Successful Princeton Earth Physics Project (PEPP) Seismology Stations", poster presentation by Janelle Bailey, Robert Phinney (Princeton U.), Dan Steinberg (Princeton U.), and Tim Slater to the joint winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society No. 197 and the American Association of Physics Teachers No. 122, January 10, 2001, San Diego, CA. Winter 2000 AAPT Announcer 30(4), 113.

"An Online Astrobiology Course for Teachers", poster presentation by Ed Prather, Linda Sauter, Tim Slater, and George Tuthill at the joint winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society No. 197 and the American Association of Physics Teachers No. 122, January 10, 2001, San Diego, CA. Winter 2000 AAPT Announcer 30(4), 113.

"Open-Response Teaching Evaluations: A Comparison of Group Solicited Responses and Individual Student Responses in Introductory Astronomy", poster presentation by Tanis Casey and Tim Slater at the joint winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society No. 197 and the American Association of Physics Teachers No. 122, January 10, 2001, San Diego, CA. Winter 2000 AAPT Announcer 30(4), 114.

"The Need for Courses on Teaching and Learning for Physics Ph.D. Candidates", poster presentation by Tanis Casey and Tim Slater at the joint winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society No. 197 and the American Association of Physics Teachers No. 122, January 10, 2001, San Diego, CA. Winter 2000 AAPT Announcer 30(4), 114.

"A Web-Based Resource on Student Misconceptions and Difficulties", poster presentation by Tom Brown and Jeff Crowder at the joint winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society No. 197 and the American Association of Physics Teachers No. 122, January 10, 2001, San Diego, CA. Winter 2000 AAPT Announcer 30(4), 115.

Workshops
The Impact of Research in Physics Education on the Teaching of Astronomy, presented by Ed Prather, Tim Slater, and Tom Foster (Southern Illinois Univ.) at a pre-conference session at the joint winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society No. 197 and the American Association of Physics Teachers No. 122, January 7, 2001, San Diego, CA.

Tutorial on Using Collaborative Groups in Astronomy Teaching, presented by Tim Slater and Mike Zeilik (Univ. of New Mexico) at the joint winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society No. 197 and the American Association of Physics Teachers No. 122, January 10, 2001, San Diego, CA.

Abstracts Submitted
"Dielectric, Hypersonic and Domain Anomalies of (PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3)1-x(PbTiO3)x Single Crystals", V. Hugo Schmidt and Chi-Shun Tu, U.S. Navy Meeting on Acoustic Transduction Materials and Devices, Baltimore, May 14-16, 2001.

"Semiclassical Perturbations of Extreme Black Holes", William A. Hiscock, Paul R. Anderson, and Brett E. Taylor, submitted to the April 2001 APS meeting, Washington DC.

"Application of Phase Modulated Optical Signals to Inhomogeneously Broadened Materials", Z. Barber, R. Reibel, M. Tian, W. R. Babbitt, to be presented at the March APS Meeting, March 2001."Amplification of High Bandwidth Phase Modulated Signals at 793 nm", R. Reibel, Z. Barber and W. R. Babbitt, to be presented at the March APS Meeting, March 2001."Steady-state accumulated complex spectral gratings for correlation signal processing", N. L. Seldomridge, R. Krishna Mohan, W. R. Babbitt and K. D. Merkel. Accepted for Oral Presentation at CLEO 2001, Baltimore MD, May 2001.

"Broadband True Time-Delay with Optical Coherent Transients", Mingzhen Tian, Randy Reibel, and Wm. Randall Babbitt, Accepted for Oral Presentation at CLEO 2001, Baltimore MD, May 2001.

PUBLICATIONS

"Composition and structure of the Co-Al interface for thin Co films deposited on Al(001) and Al(110) surfaces at room temperature", R.J. Smith, N.R. shivaparan, M.A. Teter, for March APS meeting.

"Measuring Interfacial Disruption at a Complex Solid-State Interface" Y.U. Idzerda, S. Stadler, Z. Chen. T. Wu, S.B. Ogale, and T. Venkatesan, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett.

"Numerical Integration of Fractional Differential Equations" Gary Bohannan, Journal of Computational Physics.

"Demonstration of Optical Coherent Transient True-Time Delay at 4 Gbit/s", Mingzhen Tian, Randy Reibel, and W. Randall Babbitt, Submitted to Optics Letters, January 2001.

Publications Accepted
"Evidence for a Quasi-Two-Dimensional Proton Glass State in Cs5H3(SO4)4·xH2O," S.G. Lushnikov, S.N. Gvasaliya, A.I. Fedoseev, V.H. Schmidt, G.F. Tuthill, and L.A. Shuvalov, to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. (2001).

"Phase Transitions and Domain Structures in Relaxor-Based Ferroelectric (PbZn1/3Nb2/3O3)0.915(PbTiO3)0.085 Single Crystal," C.-S. Tu, V.H. Schmidt, and I.-C. Shih, Ferroelectrics Lett. 28, #'s 5&6 (2001).

"Acoustic Anomalies at the Glass-Phase Transformation in Cs5H3(SO4)4·xH2O Crystals: Evidence for a Quasi-Two-Dimensional Proton Glass State," S.N. Gvasaliya, A.I. Fedoseev, S.G. Lushnikov, V.H. Schmidt, G.F. Tuthill, and L.A. Shuvalov, to appear in J. Phys.: Condens. Matter (2001).

"Hypersonic and Dielectric Studies of Relaxor Ferroelectric Single Crystals," C.-S. Tu, V.H. Schmidt, C.-H. Yeh, L.-F. Chen, and C.-L. Tsai, to appear in MRS Proc. of Materials for Smart Systems III, Vol. 604 (2001).

Collaborative Learning in the Large Enrollment Astronomy Course, by Jeff Adams and Tim Slater, accepted by the Journal of College Science Teaching for publication in the fall of 2001.

College Student Difficulties in Learning and Reasoning about Radiation and Radioactivity, by Ed Prather, accepted by the Journal of College Science Teaching for publication in the spring of 2002.

Laser Stabilization at 1536 nm Using Regenerative Spectral Hole Burning, P. B. Sellin, N. M. Strickland, T. Böttger, J. L. Carlsten, and R. L. Cone, to appear in Phys. Rev. B 63, April 15 (2001).

"Large Doppler Shifts in X-ray Plasma: An Explosive Start to Coronal Mass Ejection", by D. E. Innes, W. Curdt, R. Schwenn, S. Solanki, G. Stenborg, and D. E. McKenzie, was accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal (Letters).

"Active Region Transient Brightenings: A Simultaneous View by SXT, EIT, and TRACE", by D. Berghmans, D. McKenzie, and F. Clette, was accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

"Shock Formation in Magnetic Thin Films", C. E. Zaspel, Yu. G. Rapoport, K. Yashiro, and S. Ohkawa, accepted for publication IEEE Transanctions on Magnetism.

"Localized Spin Flop State In the Antiferromagnetic Ladder Structure", B. A. Ivanov, C. E. Zaspel, and A. Yu. Merkulov, accepted for publication, Journal of Applied Physics.

"Dynamics of Broadband Accumulated Spectral Gratings in Tm3+: YAG," M. Tian, J. Zhao, Z. Cole, R. Reibel, and W. R. Babbitt, JOSA B, accepted for publication.

Publications
"A Good Theory," Arthur Eisenkraft and Larry D. Kirkpatrick, Quantum 11 #3, pp. 30-33 (Jan/Feb 2001).

"Potential Phase Control of Chromium Oxide Thin Films Prepared by Laser-Initiated Organometallic Chemical Vapor Deposition", R. Cheng, C.N. Borca, P.A. Dowben, S. Stadler, Y.U. Idzerda, Appl. Phys. Lett. 78, 521 (2001).

"On the Nature of Moonquakes", by Janelle Bailey, in The Physics Teacher Journal, 38(9), 522-523, 2000.

"Accumulated programming of a complex spectral grating", K. D. Merkel, R. D. Peters, P. B. Sellin, K. S. Repasky, W. R. Babbitt , Optics Letters, Vol. 25 Issue 22 Page 1627.

"Hole Distribution in (Sr, Ca, Y, La)14Cu24O41 Ladder Compounds Studied by X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy", N. Nucker, M. Mertz, C.A. Kuntscher, S. Gerhold, S. Schuppler, R. Neudert, M.S. Golden, J. Fink, D. Schild, S. Stadler, V. Chakarian, J. Freeland, Y.U. Idzerda, K. Conder, M. Uehara, T. Nagata, J. Goto, J. Akimitsu, N. Motoyama, H. Eisaki, S. Uchida, U. Ammerahl, A. Revcolevschi, Phys. Rev. B 62, 14384 (Dec. 1, 2000).

"Study of the KL -> PI+PI-GAMMA Direct Emission Vertex", John Belz et al., Physical Review Letters V86 5, p761-764 (2001).

"K-12 Astronomy Benchmarks from Project 2061", by Tim Slater, in The Physics Teacher Journal, 38(9), 538-540, 2000.

"What Topics are Taught in Introductory Astronomy Courses", by Jeff Adams, Gina Brissenden (Univ. of Wisc.), Doug Duncan (Univ. of Chicago), and Tim Slater, in The Physics Teacher Journal, 39(1), 52-55, 2001.

"Bringing Extra-Solar Planets into the Introductory Physics Classroom", by Ed Prather and Tim Slater, in The Physics Teacher Journal, 39(2), 120-122, 2001.

"A Pacific Teacher Enhancement Program-Toward Other Planetary Systems", by Karen Meech (Univ. of Hawaii), Tim Slater, and Janet Mattei (Amer. Assoc. Var. Star Obser.) in the Proceedings of BioAstronomy 1999: A New Era in BioAstronomy, Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series Volume 213, B. Lemarchand, and K. Meech, editors, pages 679-684, 2000.

"Symmetry Considerations Regarding Light Propagation and Light Polarization for Coherent Interactions with Ions in Crystals", Y. Sun, G. M. Wang, R. L. Cone, R. W. Equall, and M. J. M. Leask, Phys. Rev. B 62, 15443-15451 (2000).

"Study of the KL -> PI+PI-GAMMA Direct Emission Vertex", John Belz et al., Physical Review Letters V86 5, p761-764 (January 29, 2001).

PROPOSALS

" Acquisition and Development of a Synchrotron Compatible Growth and Characterization Facility", NSF - Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program, $304,535, Y.U. Idzerda.

" Acquisition of a Synchrotron Compatible Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Facility for Growth and Characterization of Advanced Nanoscale Magnetic Materials", ONR - Defense University Initiative on Nanotechnology (DURINT) Program, $485,300, Y.U. Idzerda.

"Synthetic Materials for Wireless Technology", DARPA - Metamaterials, $260,227, Y.U. Idzerda.

"X-ray Spectromicroscopy with Magnetic Contrast for Magnetic-Semiconductor Materials and Interfaces", DARPA - Spins in Semiconductors (SpinS), $1,474,583, Y.U. Idzerda.

Proposals Funded
DOE EPSCoR, "Electro-Optic Materials and Devices," $2,400,000 3-year total including 1:1 match, starting Nov. 15, 2000. Jerry Bromenshenk, UM, PI; Lee Spangler, MSU Chem. Dept., Technical PI; Hugo Schmidt, MSU DOE EPSCoR coordinator. There are 11 Technical Co-PI's; 2 at UM, 2 at Tech, 7 at MSU, including Physics Co-PI's Alex Rebane, $120,000, and Hugo Schmidt, $120,000.

Murdock Partners in Science Program, $14,000 for the two years 2001-2002, for David W. McDonald, Sidney, MT High School Physics and Chemistry teacher, to work in Hugo Schmidt's laboratory during summers 2001 and 2002 to gain experience and ideas for incorporation into his lectures, labs, and individual student projects.

"Dental waterline biofilm eradication employing in-line ultraviolet light and multi-layered biocidal metallic coatings", Phase 0 MONTS SBIR program with American Eagle Instruments, Inc. Missoula, MT, $8,000 PI Jerry Lindman (AEI) Co-investigators: Dick Smith (MSU-Bozeman), Jim Gannon (UM-Missoula).

"The Growth of Lithium Borogermanate", NASA Phase II SBIR, $39,888, 2 years, Randy Equall, Scientific Materials, Inc., and Hugo Schmidt (Subcontractor)

TRAVEL AND CONFERENCES

Shane Larson and Mike Murray travelled to Kitt Peak National Observatory Jan. 23-27 to participate in the Advanced Observing Program .

Bill Hiscock and Mike Murray attended the AAPT/AAS Meeting in San Diego, CA, from Jan. 6-11, 2001.

Bill Hiscock traveled to Washington DC Dec. 11-14 to visit NASA Headquarters, and to chair a meeting of the Board of Directors of the National Space Grant Alliance.

George Tuthill traveled to Portland State University to develop a multi-institution proposal to NSF, Jan. 25-27.

Loren Acton, Piet Martens, and David McKenzie organized a very successful workshop on point spread function deconvolution for SXT images at the Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, on 18 & 19 Jan. Tough duty.

Loren Acton journeyed to Washington, DC, in January to chair a NASA peer review panel.

Rufus Cone, Charles Thiel, Geoff Pryde, Randy Babbitt, Aleksander Rebane, Kevin Repasky, and Alan Craig traveled to Snowbird, Utah, for the 30th Winter Colloquium on the Physics of Quantum Electronics, January 7 - 11, 2001.

Randy Babbitt traveled to Washington, DC January 6-8, 2001 to attend CLEO 2001 program subcommittee meeting.

Yongchen Sun traveled to IBM Almaden Research Center for optical nutation experiments with Michael Jefferson, Roger Macfarlane, and Peter Sellin, January 17-23, 2001. He also attended the Spectral Hole Burning Storage Review at IBM Almaden Research Center with Alan Craig, Kent Hill, and Peter Sellin of The Spectrum Lab, January 18-19, 2001.

Rufus Cone and Tom Böttger attended Photonics West 2001 in San Jose, CA, January 22-28, 2001.

John Carlsten traveled to ILX in Boulder, CO, for a collaborative program, Dec. 26-Jan. 1.

Stephen Hill attended the 3rd Int'l Conference on New Theories & Applications of Superconductors and Related Materials in Honolulu, HI, Jan. 6-21, and then visited the National High Magnetic Field Labs at U of Florida and FSU, Jan. 27-31.

Gerald Lapeyre traveled to Orlando, FL, for PCSI, Jan. 6-12.

Yves Idzerda attended the 8th Joint Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (MMM) - International Conference on Magnetism (INTERMAG) Conference, San Antonio, TX, Jan. 7-11. Yves Idzerda traveled to the Advanced Light Source (ALS) in Berkeley, CA, to serve as the chair of the Physical Sciences Proposal Review Panel, Jan. 12-14. Yves Idzerda traveled to Washington, DC, to serve as a panelist on the NSF Nanotechnology Exploratory Research (NER) Proposal Review Panel, Jan. 31-Feb. 2.

Randy Babbitt attended a CLEO committee meeting in Washington, DC, Jan. 6-11.

Dave Klumpar traveled to Greenbelt, MD, Jan. 24-26, Goddard Space Flight Center for LWS/Space Environment Testbeds.

Janelle Bailey, Dick Canfield, Bill Klumpar, Dana Longcope, Ed Prather, Tim Slater, and Brian Welsch attended the winter meeting of the American Geophysical Union, December 14-19, 2000, San Francisco, CA.

Attending the joint winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society No. 197 and the American Association of Physics Teachers No. 122, January 6-11, 2001, San Diego, CA, were Janelle Bailey, Tom Brown, Tanis Casey, Jeff Crowder, Jack Dostal, Greg Francis, Keri Garver, Bill Hiscock, Larry Kirkpatrick, Mike Murray, Erika Offerdahl, Ed Prather, Nathan Seldomridge, Chija Skala, and Tim Slater.

Craig Zaspel attended the Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference in San Antonio, TX, Jan. 6-10.

John Belz traveled to Salt Lake City, UT, to operate the Cosmic Ray Observatory, Jan. 13-15.

Chija Skala and Tim Slater traveled to the joint EPO planning meetings of NASA SIRTF and NASA SOFIA at NASA Ames Research Center January 17-19, 2001.

Tim Slater traveled to Omaha, NE, to present a keynote address at the Nebraska Association of Physics Teachers Conference, Jan. 12-14.

John Belz travelled to Dugway Utah on Dec. 1-4 and Jan. 13-15 to operate the HiRes cosmic ray observatory.

VISITORS NEWS

UPCOMING EVENTS