General NewsAwards and HonorsStudent and Alumni NewsColloquiaSeminarsPresentations and TalksPublicationsProposalsTravel and ConferencesVisitorsUpcoming Events| General News |
Awards and Honors |
Student and Alumni News |
Colloquia |
| Seminars |
Presentations and Talks |
Publications |
Proposals |
| Travel and Conferences |
Visitors |
Upcoming Events |
October 2000
The world was made, not in time, but simulataneously with time. There was no time before the world."
Saint Augustine
A Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
Alan L. Mackay
p. 17, #64
GENERAL NEWS
The Montana Science Olympiad will host nearly 1500 middle and secondary
school science students on Tuesday, November 21. The Olympiad is held every year on
the campus of Montana State University Bozeman and there are more than 30 events being planned.
The Olympiad depends on volunteers and we
need your assistance.
If you could donate several hours on Nov. 21, please contact Joan Muhs at 994-3580, or email: muhs@physics.montana.edu
John and Pat Hermanson's daughter, Heidi, had a daughter on Nov. 5th at 9:45 a.m.: Madison Page Nagel, 7#11 oz.
Brian Handy will be leaving us on Nov. 17th to take a new position with the IT consulting firm of Catalyst, Inc., in Tokyo, Japan. Good luck Brian in your new position!
AWARDS AND HONORS
Congratulations to Dana Longcope!
Dana Longcope, assistant professor of physics, was one of 59 scientists nationwide to receive this year's
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Created by President Clinton in 1996, the awards
are "the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their
independent careers," according to a White House press release. Dana is the *ONLY* recipient from ANY EPSCoR state!
The Solar Group's web site, "Nuggets" Weekly Science Notes, has been chosen as a selection for the Scout Report for Science & Engineering (September 13, 2000) , the premier biweekly collection of useful Internet sites for researchers, educators, and students in the life sciences, physical sciences, and engineering. The target audience is science and engineering academics: faculty, students, staff, and librarians.
STUDENT and ALUMNI NEWS
Ph.D. Orals The Casimir Effect, John Chesbrough, Oct. 4.
Mark B. Ritter, MSU Undergraduate and 1981 winner Of the Apker Award, is the manager of the communication design and architecture section of IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY. Following graduation at MSU, Ritter earned his PhD in applied physics at Yale University, finishing in 1986. Ritter's research interest is now in the area of fiber optic data communication technologies and circuit design.
COLLOQUIA
"SNAP Supernova/Acceleration Probe. An Experiment to Measure the Properties
of the Dark Energy", Susana Deustua, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Oct. 13.
"Industrial Careers for Physicists", Jim Wessel, Seagate, Oct. 20.
SEMINARS
Relativity Astrophysics and Solar Seminars
"The Runaway Greenhouse Effect", Mike Obland, Oct. 19.
"What is Berry's phase?" Jonathan Witte, Oct. 26.
Condensed Matter Physics
Part I: "What makes Surface Science 'surface' science?" Dick Smith, Oct. 18.
Part II: "What makes Surface Science 'surface' science?" Dick Smith, Oct. 25.
OpTeC Seminar
PRESENTATIONS AND TALKS
Invited Talks
"Overview of Glitch Theories", Bennett Link, Spin and Magnetism in Young Neutron Stars Conference, Institute for
Theoretical Physics, Univ. of Cal. Santa Barbara, Oct. 2.
"Sigmoidal Morphology as a CME Predictor". David McKenzie, the First S-RAMP (Solar-Terrestrial Energy Program: Results, Applications, and Modeling Phase) conference, , Sapporo, Japan. Oct. 2-6.
"Downflows above LDE flare arcades", David McKenzie, Kwasan Observatory of Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, Oct. 10.
"Alloy Formation at the Co-Al Interface for Thin Co Films Deposited on Al(100) and Al(110) at Room Temperature", R.J. Smith, N.R. Shivaparan, M.A. Teter, 47th International Symposium of the American Vacuum Soc., Boston, MA, Oct. 2-6.
"Magneto-thermal instabilities in an organic superconductor," M. M. Mola, S. Hill, J. S. Brooks, and J. S. Qualls, at the 48th Annual Midwest Solid State Conference and Solid State Theory Symposium, Grand Forks, ND (Oct. 2000).
"Rare Earth Spectroscopy, Materials for Spectral Hole Burning Devices, and Laser Frequency Stabilization to Ultranarrow Spectral Holes", R. L. Cone, T. Böttger, and G.J. Pryde, Atomic Physics Seminar, Physics Department, Yale University, October 27, 2000.
Contributed Talks
"Do semiclassical zero-temperature black holes exist?", Bill Hiscock, 10th Midwest Relativity Meeting, Oct. 28,
Oakland University.
"Unequal Arm Gravitational Wave Interferometers", Shane Larson, 10th Midwest Relativity Meeting, Oct. 27, Oakland University.
"The Interactions of Polarized Light and Magnetic Systems", Yves Idzerda, Analytical Physical Inorganic Seminar Series at MSU, Oct. 6.
"ToF SIMS as a Tool to Study Surface Diffusion of Large Molecules on Material Surfaces: Application to Diffusion of PDMS, Cocaine, and Heroin on a Gold Coated Si Surface", Recep Avci, Analytical Physical Inorganic Seminar Series at MSU, Oct. 13.
"Laser Frequency Stabilization at 1.5um Using Spectral Hole Burning", T. Böttger, G. J. Pryde, P. B. Sellin, N. M. Strickland, J. L. Carlsten, and R. L. Cone, Optical Society of America Annual Meeting, Providence, Rhode Island, Oct 22 - 26, 2000.
"Numerical Studies of Frequency Stabilization Using Transient Spectral Holes in Rare-Earth Crystals", G. J. Pryde, T. Böttger and R. L. Cone, Optical Society of America Annual Meeting, Providence, Rhode Island, Oct 22 - 26, 2000.
Poster Sessions
Abstracts Submitted
PUBLICATIONS
Publications Submitted
"Active region Transient Brightenings. A simultaneous view by SXT, EIT and TRACE", by D. Berghmans, D. McKenzie and
F. Clette, submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics.
"Composition and Structure of the Co-Al interface for thin Co films deposited on Al(100) and Al(110) surfaces at room temperature", N.R. Shivaparan, M.A. Teter,and R.J. Smith, submitted to Surface Science (Oct. 2000).
Publications Accepted
The paper, "Supra-arcade Downflows in Long-duration Solar Flare Events", by McKenzie & Hudson, was accepted for
publication in the book "Magnetic Reconnection in Space and Laboratory Plasmas", which is a special issue of the journal
"Earth, Planets and Space (EPS)".
"Topology is Destiny: Reconnection Energetics in the Corona" by D. Longcope and C. Kankelborg, proceedings of the Magnetic Reconnection 2000 conference; to be published in a special issue of the journal Earth, Planets, and Space.
"Flux jumps and melting of the vortex lattice in k-(ET)2Cu(NCS)2", M.M. Mola, S. Hill, J. S. Qualls, J. S. Brooks, Synth. Met. (Oct., 2000).
"Magneto-thermal instabilities in an organic superconductor", M. M. Mola, S. Hill, J. S. Brooks, and J. S. Qualls, International Journal of Modern Physics B (World Scientific Publishing Company).
Publications
"Curved Reality," Arthur Eisenkraft and Larry D. Kirkpatrick, Quantum 11 #1,
p. 30 (September/October 2000).
"A Cosmic Ray Spark Chamber for Astronomy Education and Public Display", John Belz, Montana Space Grant Consortium, $29,298.
"Laboratory Activities for Understanding Research in Astronomy", Montana Space Grant Consortium $60,000, Ed Prather, Tim Slater, and Greg Bothun (U Oregon).
"Collaborative research: high frequency EPR and dynamics of single molecule magnets," NSF, $334,782 for 36 months. Stephen Hill.
Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team proposal submitted to the National Science Foundation entitled "Quantum Effects in Single Molecule Magnets," $1,996,359 for 48 months. MSU team member: Stephen Hill. Other team members: Andrew Kent (New York University), George Christou (University of Indiana), David Hendrickson (University of California at San Diego), and Naresh Dalal (Florida State University).
Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team proposal submitted to the National Science Foundation entitled "Template-Constrained Synthesis and Characterization of Nanomagnetic Materials," $1,828,060 for 48 months. Team members at MSU: David Singel, Stephen Hill, Mary Cloninger, Mark Young, and Yves Idzerda; and at Temple University, Trevor Douglas.
Proposals Funded
Geoff Pryde, Tom Böttger, Rufus Cone, Lei Meng, and Xiaoguang Sun attended the Optical Society of America Annual Meeting in Providence, Rhode Island. Tom Böttger attended a short course on Fiber-Optic Amplifiers given by Douglas W. Hall, Corning, Inc.
Geoff Pryde, Tom Böttger, and Rufus Cone visited the Atomic Physics Laboratories at Yale University on October 27.
Rufus Cone traveled to Providence, RI, for Optics Society of Americas Annual Meeting to make two presentations, Oct. 23-26.
Mikhail Drobijev traveled to Atlanta, GA, Georgia Tech, for Nanoscience Technology, Oct. 14-18.
Larry Kirkpatrick traveled to the American Center for Physics to participate in the AAPT Executive Board meeting on October 13-15. At the meeting he presented the results of the "Five-Year Review of the AAPT Executive Officer."
Larry Kirkpatrick traveled to Princeton to serve as Chair of the Board of Examiners for the GRE Physics Exam on Oct. 27-29.
David McKenzie travelled to Sapporo, Japan, to attend the First S-RAMP (Solar-Terrestrial Energy Program: Results, Applications, and Modeling Phase) conference between Oct. 2-6. David then travelled to Kyoto, Japan, to present a solar seminar at the Kwasan Observatory of Kyoto University, on Oct. 10.
Mike Murray traveled to the Western Alliance of Planetariums Conference in Houston and Dallas from Oct. 2-8.
Dana Longcope attended the PECASE Award Ceremony in Washington, DC, Oct. 23-25.
Bill Hiscock and Mike Murray represented the Montana Space Grant Consortium at meetings of the National Council of Space Grant Directors and the National Space Grant Alliance in Salt Lake City, Utah, Oct. 14-17. Hiscock, as Chairman of the Board, presided over the Alliance meeting.
Bill Hiscock and Shane Larson attended the 10th Midwest Relativity Meeting at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, Oct. 27-28, as well as the Parkerfest on Oct. 26, celebrating the 60th birthday of Professor Leonard Parker of the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
John Belz travelled to Dugway Utah October 25-31 to operate the HiRes cosmic ray observatory.
Dick Smith attended the 47th International Symposium of the American Vacuum Soc., Boston, MA, Oct. 2-6.
John Hermanson, Bill Hiscock, Stephen Hill, Neil Cornish, Bob Swenson, and Alan Craig attended the State annual NSF-EPSCoR conference at the Gallatin Gateway Inn, Oct. 19.
Monty Mola, Chris Palassis, Darin Arbogast and Adam Stern attended the 48th Annual Midwest Solid State Conference and Solid State Theory Symposium, Grand Forks, ND.
Randy Babbitt, Mingzhen Tian, and Randy Reibel traveled to Boulder, CO, to attend MURI review. Oct. 11-13.
Brian Welsch traveled to Washington, DC, for NASA SSM Review Panel and to visit the Naval Research Lab, Oct. 9-15.
Gerald Lapeyre traveled to Berkeley, CA, for research at ALS (Oct. 7-12); Salt Lake City, UT, for Optical Prop. Workshop (Oct. 14-18); and Madison, WI, for SRC Research (Oct. 26-29).
Tim Slater attended the National Science Teachers Association regional meeting in Boise, ID, Oct. 4-8.
Janelle Bailey traveled to Boston and interviewed 6 high school teachers at 4 high schools as part of the external evaluation of the Princeton Earth Physics Project, which is placing seismology stations in high school physics classrooms.
