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




March 2001

Writing about the physics job market can be dangerous because, like the weather in New England, “If you don’t like it, just wait a while.” Over the past eight years, the physics job market has steadily improved, with much of the growth due to the strong economy and the burgeoning high-tech industry. There appears to be a reaffirmation on the part of business, industry, government, and academia of the important coupling of science and technology to the health of the economy. Recent statistics and a variety of indicators show the current physics job market in the US to be bullish.1 Much of the growth has been in industry, and physicists are increasingly being lured into a variety of fields including software and consulting. As we look ahead, the physics “pipeline,” particularly the number of undergraduate physics majors at US colleges and universities, is a critical issue that will affect the health of academic research in physics and ultimately the availability of highly trained physicists in the workplace.

Kate Kirby, Roman Dzujko, and Patrick Mulvey
The Physics Job Market: From Bear to Bull in a Decade
Physics Today, April 2001

1 Many of the statistics and employment trends can be found on the AIP statistical Research Center Web Site.


GENERAL NEWS

The Physics Department would like to include information about Physics alumni on our www pages by adding an Alumni web page. If you would like to be included please email your name and some brief information about where you are now, your family, and whatever else you would like to have included to: webmaster@physics.montana.edu. We encourage you to include pictures in jpg format. Also, if you have your own web page, include the address (URL) and we will include a link from the Alumni page. You can also send the information via USPS to: 
Montana State University 
Physics Department 
264 EPS Building 
Bozeman MT 50717 
Attn: Webmaster

AWARDS AND HONORS

 Tim Slater was awarded the College Letters and Science Award for the Outstanding Teacher.

Erika Offerdahl received the College Letters and Science Outstanding Senior Award. Erika is completing a Directed Interdisciplinary Studies(DIS) program in astrobiology through the physics department.

STUDENT and ALUMNI NEWS

PhD Thesis Defense
“Superfluid Effects on Thermal Evolution and Rotational Dynamics of Neutron Stars”, Michelle Larson, Mar. 27.

COLLOQUIA

“Semiconductor Lasers Stabilized to Spectral Holes in Rare Earth Crystals with Precision of a Part in 1013”, Geoff Pryde, Physics Department and The Spectrum Lab, Montana State University-Bozeman, Mar. 2.

“Stopping Light via Hot Atoms", Professor Marlan O. Scully, Burgess Distinguished Professor of Physics, Director of the Center for Theoretical Physics, and Director of the Institute of Quantum Studies Texas A&M University and Max-Planck Institüt für Quantenoptik D-85748 Garching, Germany, Mar. 19.

“Extracting Work from a Single Thermal Bath: The-One-Atom Quantum Heat Engine", Professor Marlan O. Scully, Burgess Distinguished Professor of Physics, Director of the Center for Theoretical Physics, and Director of the Institute of Quantum Studies Texas A&M University and Max-Planck Institüt für Quantenoptik D-85748 Garching, Germany, Mar. 20.

“Superconductivity in an organic insulator at very high magnetic fields”, Dr. Luis Balicas, Visiting Scientist, Condensed Matter Theory Group, National High Magnetic Field Lab Tallahassee, Florida, Candidate for Condensed Matter Physics Faculty Position, Mar. 29.

SEMINARS

Relativity, Astrophysics, Solar and Space Seminars
“3-dimensional simulation of emerging flux tube”, Tetsuya Magara, Mar. 1.

“Reconnection of Twisted Magnetic Flux Tubes as a Solar Flare Mechanism”, Mark G. Linton, Naval Research Lab, Mar. 8.

“Measuring and mapping the cosmic gravitational wave background’, Neil Cornish, Mar. 22.

Condensed Matter Physics
"New Revolution in Low Energy Electron Diffraction Spectroscopy", H. Wu, University of Hong Kong, Mar. 21.

PRESENTATIONS AND TALKS

Invited Talks
"The Sun as We See It", David McKenzie, colloquium to the Physics Department at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, on the Sun and solar activity, Mar. 23.

Contributed Talks
The Physics of Astrobiology, presented by Ed Prather, Tim Slater, and George Tuthill at the National Science Teachers Association National Convention in St. Louis, MO, Mar. 22.

AstroMath: Integrating Math and Astronomy for Elementary Grades, presented by Mary Lara (Flagstaff, AZ), Keri Garver, and Tim Slater at the National Science Teachers Association National Convention in St. Louis, MO, Mar. 25.

Hands-On Solar Science Activities: Fun-Time with Sun-Time, presented by Donna Governor (Pensacola, FL) and Tim Slater at the National Science Teachers Association National Convention in St. Louis, MO, Mar. 22.

Space Weather Alert, presented by Cheri Morrow (Space Science Institute), Ed Prather, and Tim Slater at the National Science Teachers Association National Convention in St. Louis, MO, Mar. 23.

Interstellar Real Estate: Searching for Habital Zones, presented by Ed Prather and Tim Slater at the National Science Teachers Association National Convention in St. Louis, MO, Mar. 22.

Abstracts Submitted
"Nulls in the coronal magnetic field", by Dana Longcope and Petrus Martens, presented at the meeting High-Resolution Solar Magnetography from Space: Beyond Solar-B, in Huntsville, AL, 3-5 April 2001.

"The Science Objectives of the First Flight of MOSES", by P.C.H. Martens and C.C.K. Kankelborg, for Solar Encounter: The First Solar Orbiter Workshop, May 14-18, Puerto de la Cruz: Spain.

"The Origin of Prominences and Their Hemispheric Preferences", Petrus C. Martens, for the spring AGU/SPD meeting.

PUBLICATIONS

Publications Submitted

Publications Accepted

Publications
"Composition and structure of the Co-Al interface for thin Co films deposited on Al(001) and Al(110) surfaces at room temperature", N.R. Shivaparan, Marcus Teter, and R.J. Smith, Surface Science 476 (2001) 152-160.

"Determination of meteor showers on other planets using comet ephemerides", Shane L. Larson, The Astronomical Journal, 121, 1722 (2001).

"Dynamics of Emerging Flux Tubes in the Sun", Magara, T. 2001 ApJ, 549, 608.

PROPOSALS

Proposals Submitted

Proposals Funded
Dick Smith and Hugo Schmidt received word from the M.J.Murdock Charitable Trust that their proposals to bring in two teachers from Sydney this summer were funded. These awards are for $14,000 each, spread over two years. The goal is to provide high school science teachers with opportunities to work at the cutting edge of science, and thus to revitalize their teaching and help them appreciate the use of inquiry-based methods in the teaching of science. In addition, the award is based on the potential of its impact on the high school setting and students.

REU supplement to "Use of metallic Interlayers to Promote Metal/Metal Epitaxial Growth" NSF 0077534. To support three undergraduate students for Spring and Summer 2001 NSF: Amount $21,750 3/1/01 to 8/31/01

TRAVEL AND CONFERENCES

Keri Garver, Ed Prather, Chija Skala, and Tim Slater attended the at the National Science Teachers Association National Convention in St. Louis, MO, Mar. 22-25.

Michelle Larson traveled to the University of California-Berkeley on Mar. 18 – Mar. 20 for an interview with the Center for Science Education at the Space Sciences Laboratory.

John Hermanson, Hugo Schmidt, Jerry Lapeyre, Richard Smith, Stephen Hill, Yves Idzerda, Recep Avci, Gary Bohannan, Gregory Reinemer, Randy Reibel, Monty Mola, Adam Stern, Damon Resnick, Priti Shah, and Zeb Barber traveled to the APS March Meeting in Seattle, WA, March 11-15.

Charles Kankelborg, John Belz and Mark Munro traveled to Boise, ID, to participate in a balloon flight experiment, Mar. 23-25.

Ezana Negusse traveled to San Francisco, CA, to attend the 15th Annual NCBPS Conference, Mar. 29-Apr. 1.

Yves Idzerda traveled to Chicago, to attend the Organizing Committee of the Physics & Chemistry of Conducting Interfaces (PCSI) Conference, Mar. 31-Apr. 1.

Dave Klumpar traveled to Washington, DC, for a NASA Advisory Panel/GMOWG, Mar. 28-30.

Larry Kirkpatrick attended the annual conference of Pacific Northwest Association for College Physics in Seattle, WA, Mar. 28-Apr. 1.

John Belz attended an advisory committee meeting on the Hi Res Project, in Salt Lake City, UT, Mar. 12-18.

Loren Acton attended a Solar Observatory Council Meeting at the Sacramento Peak Observatory in New Mexico, Feb. 28-Mar. 5. He then traveled to Palo Alto, CA, for SXT data analysis, and on to Kona, HI, to check out the venue for Yohkoh 10th Anniversary Colloquium, Mar. 11-27.

John Carlsten visited ILX Lightwave in Boulder, CO, on a collaborative program, Mar. 10-16, then on to Anaheim, CA, for an Optical Fiber Communication Conference, Mar. 16-22.

David McKenzie gave a colloquium at UNLV Physics Department in Las Vegas, NV, Mar. 22-25.

Tetsuya Magara attended an Astronomical Society of Japan meeting in Chiba, Japan, Mar. 22-Apr. 2.

Neil Cornish attended the Pacific Coast Gravity Meeting in Santa Barbara, CA, Mar. 8-11.

Dana Longcope traveled to Washington, DC, for SH-MOWG Meeting, Mar. 11-13.

VISITORS NEWS

Gina Brissenden, Education Specialist for the American Astronomical Society from the University of Wisconsin, worked with the Physics Education Research Group Feb. 27 - Mar. 6.

Ken and Pat Heller, University of Minnesota, visited the Physics Education Research Group to present their work on understanding how students solve problems and conduct university-wide workshops for faculty.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The annual meeting of the Montana Academy of Science is scheduled to meet in Bozeman this year, Saturday April 21. This offers an excellent opportunity for grads and undergrads to get some experience with presenting results at a professional meeting with a very friendly audience and very low expense (registration fee is $5 for college students, $30 for non-students) If you are interested in talking for 15 minutes about your research please contact me. Abstracts will be due to me March 16. See me for the format. There is also the possibility for a short, refereed publication in the Intermountain Journal of Science. This meeting is usually attended by several high school students doing research as junior members of the academy, and by high school teachers. Thus a presentation, while doing little to impress your peers or granting agency, does offer a chance to recruit good physical science majors to the Bozeman campus. Please consider giving a presentation. For further information, contact Dick Smith.

April 24, 4:15 p.m. End of the Year Awards – 2nd Floor EPS – Atrium.