Department News

2000-2001

• Colgate University approves a new tenure stream position in Biophysics to start in Fall 2002. Search to begin this fall. 

• According to a recent report from the American Institute of Physics, Enrollments and Degrees Report by P.J. Mulvey and S. Nicholson (August 2001), our department is one of twenty six nationwide averaging more than ten graduates per year in 1997-1999. 

• Cottrell College Science Award to Colgate to support Professor Joseph Amato's research project, "Vortex Dynamics in Superconducting Thin Films with Artificially-implanted Pinning Centers" (Research Corporation, May 2001).

• Professor Steven Chu, Stanford University and 1997 Physics Nobel Laureate, to receive honorary degree from Colgate University at the 2001 Commencement (Spring 2001).

• Picnic 2001!

• Spring Conference Presentations of in-house research:

  • "Linewidths of single photon transitions in Mn_12 acetate and other molecular magnets."
    Beth Parks, Joseph Loomis* (American Physical Society, March 2001).

  • "AFM Production of Periodic Pinning Arrays in Superconducting Niobium Thin Films,"
    Joseph C. Amato, Jason Stewart,* Patrick Heaney* (American Physical Society, March 2001).

  • "Experiments on a New Optical Geometric Phase in Gaussian Beam Mode Transformations," E.J. Galvez, H.I. Sztul* and P.J. Haglin* (American Physical Society, May 2001).
    *Colgate Students

• Books Published in 2001:

  • Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico, updated & revised edition by Anthony Aveni (University of Texas Press)

  • Nature Loves to Hide by S. Malin (Oxford University Press)
    

• 2001 Graduating Class: 14!

  • Physics: Colleen Campbell, Jessica Frank, Preston J. Haglin, Nathan Hall, Joseph Loomis, John McVeigh, Henry Sztul, Jesse Young.

  • Astronomy-Physics: Lauren Heilig, Mariah Lyndacker, Benjamin Oaks-Lee.

  • Astrogeophysics: Elizabeth Roller, Jennifer Ward

  • Pre-Engineering: Walid Muslih

• Colgate University has announced the commitment to purchase a new research-grade CCD camera imaging system for the 16" telescope in our Foggy Bottom Observatory (Spring 2001).

• Donation to the department: A high-power argon laser by Dr. Frank Cangemi  (December 2000).

• Prof. Charles Holbrow elected president of the American Association of Physics Teachers (November 2000).

• Astronomy research done by Tom Balonek and Christy Tremonti '97 in collaboration with Prof. Jay Pasachoff, colleagues and students at Williams College appeared in Nature (Summer 2000).

• A New computer classroom in Lathrop 154 (Summer 2000). Its main user is the Computational Mechanics class, taught by Vic Mansfield.

• Books Published in 2000:

  • Between the Lines by Anthony Aveni (University of Texas Press)

  • Theory of Spinors by M. Carmeli and S. Malin (World Scientific).
    

• Four grants awarded to members of our department in 2000!

  • National Science Foundation - CCLI Program (Galvez, Holbrow, Parks) "Photon Quantum Mechanics for Undergraduates" (May 2000).

  • Research Corporation (Galvez) "Geometric Phase of Optical Beams Possessing Angular Momentum" (May 2000).

  • Research Corporation (Parks) "Terahertz Spectroscopy of Semiconductor Nanocrystals" (May 2000).

  • National Science Foundation - RUI Program (Galvez) "Rydberg Atoms in Combined Static and Microwave Fields" (July 2000).