Departmental Colloquium

Speaker: Seong-Gon Kim (Mississippi State University) Title: Flat-surface-assisted and self-regulated oxidation resistance of Cu(111) Abstract: Oxidation can deteriorate the properties of copper that are critical for its use, particularly in the semiconductor industry and electro-optics applications. This has prompted numerous studies exploring copper oxidation and possible passivation strategies. In situ observations have, for example, shown

Speaker: Dr. Hunter Waite Jr. (NASA, SwRI) Title: Jupiter and the Galilean Moons: The Ongoing NASA Juno Mission to Jupiter and Future Exploration of Europa by the NASA Clipper Mission Abstract: New results and future plans for planetary missions exploring the Jupiter system will be presented. Juno has been exploring the system for several years

Speaker: Dr. Mariel Pettee (LBNL) Title: Machine Learning for High-Energy Particle Physics Abstract: 10 years ago, in the summer of 2012, CERN announced the discovery of the Higgs boson, marking the end of a half-century quest to complete the Standard Model. Later that year, a deep neural network called AlexNet outperformed other models by an

Speaker: Thejesh Bandi Title: Atomic Clocks: the workhorses of precision timing Abstract: Precision timing is ubiquitous in our everyday lives. For instance, the workings of telecommunication networks, power grid synchronization, navigation – GPS/GNSS, imaging of Blackholes etc all need precision timing in its background, without which it is impossible to operate these technologies. The precision

Speaker: Azadeh Keivani (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center) Title: Horizontal Growth: Transitioning from Academia to Industry Abstract: Transitioning from academia to industry provides a great opportunity for a physicist to develop new skills while utilizing the previously acquired knowledge and skills. The industry can also hugely benefit from the unique perspective a physicist possesses. While

Speaker: Sukanya Chakrabarti (University of Alabama, Huntsville) Title: Towards Precision Measurement of Dark Matter Abstract: For more than a century now, our inference of the mass distributions (including dark matter) in galaxies has been based on modeling the positions and velocities of stars, i.e., using kinematic analyses, which assume equilibrium. These kinematic estimates can be

Speaker: Jason Terry (University of Georgia) Title: Analyzing Planet Forming Environments with Deep Learning Abstract: Protoplanetary discs - the birthplaces of planets - offer unique opportunities to advance our theories of planet formation. Observing these rich physical environments reveals mechanisms and conditions that lead to stellar systems, but the overall process is still poorly understood.

Speaker: Hansung Gim (Montana State/ University of Alabama) Title: Exploring the submillimeter properties of the black hole in Henize 2-10 Abstract: It is well known that massive black holes (BHs) were almost exclusively found in the giant galaxies. However, recent studies have shown that these BHs are much more common in dwarf galaxies than previously

Speaker: Jamileh Beik Mohammadi (Loyola University) Title: Spintronics: Research and Education Abstract: From a small electric motor or a cellphone in a village in Alabama to Voyager, space stations, and Mars rovers, magnetic devices are vital to many applications. Spintronics offers promising solutions for magnetic devices such as memories and sensors. The technological significance of

Speaker: Kun Wang (Mississippi State) Title: Probing and Controlling Quantum Transport and Energy Conversion at the Molecular Scale Abstract:  Molecules - the smallest unit of matter - have been playing a pivotal role in today’s materials science, nanotechnology, and quantum science. The capability to manipulate physical and chemical behaviors of single molecules and understand how