Interactions The Newsletter of the UB Department of Physics Volume 2, Issue 2 Fall 2009 Dear alumni/ae and friends, In my last letter I indicated that the Department was Our outreach programs continue with the expansion about to undergo one of the periodic evaluations of of our Physics and Arts Exhibition to which new sculp- both its graduate and undergraduate programs. I am tures, paintings, and interactive displays have been pleased to say that this went very well with a strong added. Thanks to Norman Jarosik (Interactions, Fall positive recognition on the part of the evaluating team ’08) for providing us with a microwave gradiometer of the quality of our programs, the quality of new fac- which we have installed on the third floor. It was grati- ulty hires and the general enthusiasm of both faculty fying to have former student Andy Hope stop by and and staff towards common goals. On the other hand remark how he liked what we have done to the building. there was recognition of some serious deficiencies in We are doing something right, and we are grateful to the area of staffing and overall faculty count. It seems all our contributors for their support of the Exhibition. clear that with the present size of UB enrollments the Also, by way of outreach, check out the article in this faculty should be about 35 and the staffing should be issue by Will Kinney on the Science and Art Cabaret. doubled when compared to peer institutions. Unfor- tunately, both of these goals are outside our control Best regards, and becoming more difficult as we deal with continuing budget cuts. Keeping the faculty count at high levels is also chal- lenging because of retirements. Most recently Mike Fuda, Shigeji Fujita as mentioned previously, and, af- Francis M. Gasparini, Chair ter this fall, YC Lee will retire. It seems that a genera- UB Distinguished Professor of Physics tional change is under way. We will miss our former colleagues. YC in particular has been for many years the conscience of our colloquium, with challenging and insightful questions no matter what the subject matter. Currently YC is finishing up his long tenure by spearheading the development of the Ta-You Wu Lec- tureship endowment. He views this as his parting gift to the Department. The success of our young faculty continues with an additional five-year NSF CAREER grant received by Sambandamurthy Ganapathy. His research was fea- tured in the Spring ’09 Interactions. This makes the sixth such grant in the Department, an outstanding overall achievement. Also recently of note among the untenured faculty, Dejan Stojkovic has received NSF support, Ia Iashvili and Avto Kharchilava (Interactions Fall ’08) have received a substantial increase in their NSF funding and Peihong Zhang has added to his NSF support with a grant from the American Chemical Soci- ety. Overall, during the last fiscal year faculty submitted grants totaling over $27M, an all-time high by far. PHOTO: D. Revere, UB Reporter 11/4/2009 Banner: A microwave gradiometer that is closely related to the ones flying on the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe satellite and mapping the cosmic microwave background radiation. This working detector is installed on the third floor of Fronczak and can easily pick up the heat from visitors’ hands placed above the horns at the top of the detector. PHOTO: F. Gasparini Interactions Volume 2, Issue 2 Undergraduate majors with physics classes right from the first semester, rather than the sec- Education ond semester as in the past. This gives us immediate contact with them as they What’s new in undergraduate enter UB. This required a change of the studies recommended sequence of classes. By Dr. Hong Luo The committee used this opportunity to restructure the curriculum so that As most of you know, Dr. Michael Fuda the required mathematics courses can retired about a year ago. He was the be taken at the earliest possible time. Director of Undergraduate Studies for Students typically struggle when mov- twenty-three years. In fact, he was the ing from introductory classes to upper Drs. Strasser and Luo enjoying the picnic with under- only UG Director I knew since joining level classes, mostly because of inad- graduate students at the Society of Physics Students UB. I assumed the Director’s responsi- equate math preparation. It is our hope Cookout on 9/18/09. PHOTO: F. Gasparini bilities in January, 2008, so that I would that taking more math classes before of this growth and attract the brightest have some overlap with him before he the start of upper level physics classes students to our programs. Some of this retired. Boy, wasn’t that a bright idea! will make this transition easier. is already reflected in our current enroll- I don’t think I ever asked anyone as ment. As of this semester, there are 70 many questions on anything as I asked In an effort to attract more students approved majors across all years and Mike in my first 6 months as Director. to our programs, the Committee red- 55 intended majors. We need every- signed PHY117 and PHY118 (honors one’s support to retain our majors and I was on the Undergraduate Studies mechanics and E&M), the first class- help them succeed. Equally important, Committee for many years. However, es that many of our intended majors we need everyone’s ideas and support I didn’t quite know everything involved, take. These first classes are pivotal in to continue to improve our programs. other than the limited number of things communicating the excitement of our that I was involved in. It was only after field. The classes are now more suit- New technology improves I started the job that I really appreci- able for advanced students, by leaving teaching (and learning) ated the work Mike had done, big and out some introductory materials that By Dr. Sambandamurthy Ganapathy small. There was a good reason why these students already know from high and Dr. Arnd Pralle our undergraduate program functioned school physics classes, and so smoothly for so many years. For adding advanced topics. The goal is In today’s world of instant messaging, example, our Department has several to teach them the material and to con- handling a large introductory class of degree programs, some in collabora- vey the excitement that the subject close to a thousand students can be a tion with other departments, like B.S. in richly deserves. This semester is the communication and email nightmare. mathematical physics. Mike managed first time we are using this approach. Instructors are swamped by questions to design the curriculum so that stu- Dr. Dejan Stojkovic is giving it a great via email and students get annoyed dents could succeed in those challeng- start by adding topics from his own re- when responses to their messages are ing programs. There are also many search, relativity and cosmology, and not immediate. Therefore in fall 2007, things, day to day things that have to having more interactive instruction. we set up a central discussion board be taken care of, such as approving for the introductory algebra-based transfer of courses for students out- The Committee is also trying to have physics course on which students post side our Department. Mike established more contact with majors, from recruit- general class questions and home- procedures so that everything can be ing new students to join the programs work questions and other students handled efficiently and smootly. to having exit interviews for graduating may provide assistance. The board seniors. All majors are encouraged to is moderated by one of the instructors Looking forward, the Undergradu- join the Society of Physics Students and the students receive a qualified ate Committee is trying to continue under the guidance of Dr. John Cerne. answer within 24 hours. The students the work that Mike started, namely, to The percentage of high school stu- have quickly accepted the discussion strengthen our program and to make dents taking physics classes has been board as a place to ask for help with adjustments to keep up with changing increasing steadily in the last 30 years, physics problems and concepts. They times. One of the changes recently from below 20% in the 1980s to above appreciate the quick feedback from an implemented was to start our intended 30% now. We need to take advantage instructor but also are actively answer- Banner: Undergraduate students and Dr. Cerne at the Society of Physics Students (SPS) cookout discussing plans for the new SPS robot that will literally destroy the competition at the 2010 UB Bot Wars. PHOTO: F. Gasparini. Undergraduate Education, CONTINUED ing each other’s questions, reaping the problems from the book for a lim- on the use of clickers in the introduc- the benefits of learning by explaining. ited period and homework problems tory algebra-based courses, but click- The number of users and messages are assigned online every week by the ers are also being increasingly used in has risen continuously in the last four instructors. Problems are a mixture of other introductory courses (PHY 107- semesters since offering the discus- multiple choice and numerical prob- 207) in the Department and we believe sion board. Half way through this cur- lems and students get instant feedback they bring a positive experience to the rentsemester 80 students have posted for the answers. student learning as we see from the more than 350 messages. end-of-semester student evaluations. Use of personal response systems Undergraduate students, especially (commonly known as clickers) in large These trends towards electronic tools first year students who take the Col- class rooms had been one of the ex- have been recognized by the textbook lege Physics course, are juggling a lot publishers as well, and several groups of activities and classes causing many are developing new completely inte- of them to come underprepared to lec- grated systems.