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Department of Physics and Astronomy • Department Office/Services • Welcomes • Congratulations • Research Overview

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Department of Physics and Astronomy • Department Office/Services • Welcomes • Congratulations • Research Overview ACADEMIC YEAR 2018/19 Department of Physics and Astronomy • Department Office/Services • Welcomes • Congratulations • Research Overview Chair’s Colloquium 2018/19 DEPARTMENT STAFF Department Office Axel Drees Department Chair Nathan Leoce-Schappin Assistant to Chair Graduate Programs Jac Verbaarschot Director Donald Sheehan Assistant Director Undergraduate Programs Bob McCarthy Director Diane Diaferia Assistant Director Business and Grants Management Jin Bentley Lead Manager Vicky Grove Manager Introducing Department Staff/Services - 2 DEPARTMENT STAFF Technical Support Staff Frank Chin Director of Laboratories Rich Berscak Building Manager Instructional Laboratories Bent Nielson Manager Andrzej Lipski Assistant Manager Machine and Electronics Shop J. Eksi Manager P. DiMatteo, J. Thomas Equipment Designer M. Jablonski, J. Slechta Technical Staff Gene Shafto Technical Staff Introducing Department Staff/Services - 3 NEW FACULTY Phil Armitage Professor Department of Physics & Astronomy CCA at the Flatiron Institute Ph.D. University of Cambridge, UK - 1996 Professor at University of Colorado, Boulder Canadian Inst. for Theoretical Astrophysics, Toronto MPI for Astrophysics Munich Phil is a professor of astrophysical and planetary sciences. His research focuses on the formation and evolution of planetary systems and the physics of accretion in protostellar and black hole environments. He holds a joint position with the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Simons Foundation's Flatiron Institute as Group Leader for Planet Formation. Welcome - 4 NEW FACULTY Jan C. Bernauer Assistant Professor Department of Physics & Astronomy RIKEN BNL Research Center Fellow Ph.D. Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 2010 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Laboratory for Nuclear Science Jan is a professor for experimental nuclear physics. He participated in nuclear physics experiments worldwide to investigate the structure of the proton, in particular "the proton radius puzzle", and other questions related to the structure of strongly interacting matter. He will hold a RIKEN BNL Research Center Fellow ship. Welcome - 5 NEW FACULTY Jenifer Cano Assistant Professor Department of Physics & Astronomy CCQ at the Flatiron Institute Ph.D. UC Santa Barbara, 2015 Center for Theoretical Science at Princeton University Jen is a professor of theoretical condensed matter physics. She studies topological phases of matter and is interested in the classification, experimental probes, material realizations of topological insulators and semi- metals, and in the bulk-boundary correspondence. She will hold a joint position with the Center for Computational Quantum Physics at the Simons Foundation's Flatiron Institute. Welcome - 6 NEW FACULTY Cyrus E. Dreyer Assistant Professor Department of Physics & Astronomy CCQ at the Flatiron Institute Ph.D. UC Santa Barbara Rutgers University Cyrus is a professor of theoretical condensed matter physics. His research involves developing and implementing first-principles methods based on density functional theory to explore materials for electronic and optoelectronic devices. He will hold a joint position with the Center for Computational Quantum Physics at the Simons Foundation's Flatiron Institute. Welcome - 7 NEW FACULTY Will M. Farr Associate Professor Department of Physics & Astronomy CCA at the Flatiron Institute Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010 Lecturer at University of Birmingham, Institute of Gravitational Wave Astronomy, Northwestern Will is a professor of astrophysics. His research interests include gravitational- wave astronomy, compact object formation and evolution, the gravitational dynamics of planets and stars, and astrostatistics. He will hold a joint position with the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Simons Foundation's Flatiron Institute as Group Leader for Gravitational Wave Astronomy. Welcome - 8 UNDERGRADUATE MAJORS Factor 2.4 in 10 years Welcome - 9 UNDERGRADUATE MAJORS Factor 2.4 in 10 years National Trend factor 1.5 Welcome - 10 GRADUATE STUDENT CLASS 2018 Class of 77 graduate students from 15 countries 29 PhD program 3 MSI program 40 MA program 5 MAT program Russia The Netherlands Romania Germany Turkey Iran Japan US Greece Korea China Taiwan Vietnam India Brazil Graduate Students from 15 Countries Welcome - 11 GRADUATE STUDENT CLASS 2018 Welcome - 12 GRADUATE STUDENT CLASS 2018 Welcome - 13 GRADUATE PROGRAM Graduates in 2017/18: PhD Program: 20 degrees 18 moved to postdoc positions MA/MS Program: 13 degrees 9 now in PhD programs MAT Program*: 6 degrees 3rd in nations 5+ club *2016/17 Highlights: 2018 DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship Sydney Andrew Advised by Alan Calder 2018 Presidents Distinguished Doctoral and Mike Zingale Thesis Award: Hans Niederhausen Core collapse of Advised by Joanna Kiryluk Supernovae Measurement of the High Energy Astrophysical Neutrino Flux Using Electron and Tau Neutrinos Observed in the Ice Cube Congratulations - 14 MA IN TEACHING (MAT) PHYSTEC The 5+ Club Award given to an institution who graduates 5 or more highly qualified physics teachers per year who become certified to teach physics and are placed in classrooms. Thriving Physics Teacher Education Programs Programs who frequently get into the 5+ Club. PHYSTEC is studying these thriving programs as model programs to see how to improve physics teacher education in general. Stony Brook is one of 8 thriving programs, ranked 3rd in terms of number of placed teachers. • Congratulations - 15 FACULTY PROMOTIONS Marivi Fernandez-Serra Associate Professor to Professor Neelima Sehgal Assistant Professor to Associate Professor Congratulations - 16 FACULTY AWARDS Distinguished Prof. Edward Shuryak receives the 2017 APS Herman Feshbach Prize in Theoretical Nuclear Physics "for his pioneering contributions to the understanding of strongly interacting matter under extreme conditions, and for establishing the foundations of the theory of quark-gluon plasma and its hydrodynamical behavior". Congratulations - 16 FACULTY AWARDS Prof. Martin Rocek (YITP) recognized by the 2017 Neuron Award's for his many contributions to theoretical physics and for being a “role model and inspiration for younger generations of scientists". Private Foundation in the Czech Republic Research Prof. Gabor David was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit for his accomplishments in experimental nuclear physics. David received his PhD at SBU 1991 Congratulations - 17 FACULTY AWARDS Distinguished Prof. Chang Kee Jung Was named fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Distinguished Prof. Chang Kee Jung 2018 Dean's Award for Excellence in Graduate Mentoring Award is given for the deep devotion to mentoring and the important contribution to academic excellence at Stony Brook University. Congratulations - 18 FACULTY AWARDS Associate Prof. Rouven Essig (YITP), and collaborator, received nearly $1-million from the Heising- Simons Foundation for the SENSEI experiment (Sub-Electron Noise Skipper-CCD Experimental Instrument) a novel, ultra-sensitive, table-top direct- detection experiment that will search for dark matter. Assistant Prof. Navid Vafaei-Najafabadi receives SBU-BNL Seed Grant for “Enabling the Efficient Radiation Sources of the Future Through Investigation of Plasma Instabilities” Congratulations - 19 FACULTY AWARDS 2018 SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence Congratulations - 20 RESEARCH AT STONY BROOK • High Energy & Particle Physics • Nuclear Physics • Condensed Matter Physics • Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics • Astronomy and Astrophysics • C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics • SCGP: Simon Center for Geometry and Physics • IACS: Institute for Advanced Computational Science • Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology • CFNS: Center for Frontiers in Nuclear Science • CASE: Center for Accelerator Science and Education • Flatiron Institute: Centers for Computational Astrophysics and Quantum Physics • iSTEM: Center for Science Education • Many research opportunities at BNL Research - 21 HIGH ENERGY & PARTICLE PHYSICS Collider Experiments – ATLAS at LHC John Hobbs Bob McCarthy Giacinto Piacquadio Michael Rijssenbeek Dimitri Tsybychev Nucleon Decay and Neutrino Experiments Chang Kee Jung Clark McGrew Michael Wilking Research - 22 High Energy Experiment: ATLAS Group Faculty: Hobbs, Piacquadio, McCarthy, Rijssenbeek, Tsybychev Post docs: Thomas Calvet, Lily Morvaj, Vakhtang Tsiskaridze Graduate students: Chris Hayes, Yan Ke, Yidi Qi, (Alyssa Montalbano – now at SFU) and new students welcome! Research Scientists: Chris Bee, Dean Schamberger Not in pictures: D. Tsybychev, Y. Qi Research primarily related to Higgs Boson Measuring expected decays for the 1st time: H → bb (See recent press release) H → μμ Looking for modifications to reactions, pp → WW (Higgs intermediate in this process) Searching for new physics: Heavy Higgs, H’ → WW Light pseudoscalars, H → aa → μμbb Also searching for anomalous quartic gauge couplings Also upgrade electronics design, testing, production. An opportunity to design and build equipment! 9/28/18, Stony Brook Press Release NUCLEAR PHYSICS 2018 - Nuclear Physics Nuclear Experiment ranks #3 in US up from #4 Jan Bernauer Axel Drees Joanna Kiryluk Abhay Deshpande Tom Hemmick Krishna Kumar Nuclear Theory Dima Kharzeev Sergey Syritsyn Jac Verbaarschot Edward Shuryak Derek Teaney Ismail Zahed Research - 26 21st Century Nuclear Science Probing nuclear matter in all Its forms & exploring their potential for applications
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