Welcome to the Department of Physics and Astronomy!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Upcoming Physics Dept. Colloquium:
The next Physics colloquium will be on Friday, October 23, and the speaker will be Dr. David Neivandt, Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Maine
CONGRATULATIONS!
Congratulations are in order for Samuel T. Hess, who was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure for the upcoming academic year. Way to go Sam!
WELCOME BACK!
Please welcome back John R. Thompson, Associate Professor of Physics, who has just returned from a year abroad on a Fulbright Fellowship at the Dublin Institute of Technology in Dublin Ireland. It's great to have you back, John!
BEST OF LUCK
In February 2009, Professor R. Dean Astumian received the Humboldt Research Award, one of the most prestigious scientific honors in Germany. During the summer and Fall semesters of 2009, he is on sabbatical, working with the three scientists who nominated him, professors Hermann Gaub, Dieter Braun, and Dr. Kay Gottschalk at the Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich, Germany. Congratulations!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Dome Talks - Public Speaker Series at the Maynard F. Jordan Planetarium
As part of the Jordan Planetarium celebration of the International Year of Astronomy, a series of public speakers willl offer expert insight into the workings of our universe. All talks are free of charge (donations accepted), and will run 45 minutes plus a Q&A and refreshments to follow.
All talks begin promptly at 7pm so meet me at the dome early!
- November 12 - Dr. Neil Comins, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, UMaine
- December 10 - Zach Schiller, Planetarium Presenter, UMaine
RECENT NEWS IN 2009:
-
First Star I Hear Tonight
Student Focus, UMaine Today, May-June 2009 issue
There’s more to the sky than meets the eye. That’s why students at the University of Maine want to listen to the stars and planets.
With the installation of a radio frequency monitoring station on the roof of UMaine’s Bennett Hall, the students hope to eavesdrop on the clicks and beeps common to radio astronomy – a field they haven’t experienced hands-on because of a lack of equipment.
To read more, click here.
- Strengthening Biotechnology & Supporting the STEM Education Initiative in Maine, $883,000
Prof. Susan McKay and Prof. Sam Hess
Excerpted from "UMaine Receives $6.8 Million in R&D Awards" Press Release in UMaine News, 6/9/2009
Scientists at the University of Maine have developed a new way of looking at the molecular organization of cells by creating a microscope system they call FPALM (Fluorescence Photoactivation Localization Microscopy).
They already have used FPALM to image living cells with membranes that contain a protein that enables infection by the influenza virus. They also have used the system to image a variety of other biological and some non-biological systems.
The MTAF funding will be used to renovate and expand Bennett Hall to include an image processing laboratory, equipment to enhance FPLAM capabilities, an office suite for visitors, collaborators and graduate students, an incubator space for commercialization, and a business and communication laboratory for multimedia presentations and internet video conferencing.
The upgrades will enhance the types and number of samples which can be imaged by FPALM and will increase new technology development.
Project collaborators include, Cancer Care of Maine, the Eastern Maine Medical Center, Jackson Laboratory, and the Center for Science and Mathematics Education Research.
Ascendant Energy, Owls’s Head, $575,000 (working with Professors Rosemary Smith and Robert Lad from LASST) “A Solar Center of Excellence: Advanced Photovoltaic Production Facility" (APPF)
- Congratulations to the following people for awards received in Spring 2009:
- GRAD ASSISTANTS RECEIVE TEACHING AWARDS
The UMaine Center for Teaching Excellence has honored graduate teaching assistants Anna J. Schliep (PHY Graduate Student) and Adam Barker-Hoyt (MST Graduate Student) with 2009 Teaching Assistant Awards. Schliep, a Bangor native, who teaches in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, will receive the Teaching Instructor Collaboration Award. Barker-Hoyt, of Howard Lake, Minn., will receive the Teaching Instruction Award; he teaches in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.
- UMAINE COLLEGE HONORS FACULTY, STUDENTS
Outstanding faculty and students in the University of Maine College of Liberal Arts and Sciences received awards for their accomplishments from Dean Jeff Hecker at an April 16 reception on campus. The annual ceremony, co-sponsored by the University Credit Union, also recognized faculty members recently promoted to associate professor with tenure, and graduating seniors earning top honors in their academic departments.
From the Dept. of Physics:
Neil Comins - Service and Outreach Award
Dahan Kim - Outstanding International Student
Samuel T. Hess - Promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure
Physics Dept. News Archives
Selected Recent Publications:
R.W. Meulenberg, J.R.I. Lee, S.K. McCall, K.M. Hanif, D. Haskel, J.C. Lang,
L.J. Terminello, T. van Buuren, "Evidence for Ligand-Induced Paramagnetism
in CdSe Quantum Dots." J. Am. Chem. Soc., 131, 6888-6889 (2009).
R.W. Meulenberg, J.R.I. Lee, A. Wolcott, J.Z. Zhang, L.J. Terminello, T. van
Buuren, "Determination of the Exciton Binding Energy in CdSe Quantum Dots."
ACS Nano, 3, 325-330 (2009).
J.P. McClymer and H.M. Shehadeh, Photon Localization in a Nematic Liquid Crystal, Phys.Rev. A 79, 031802(R) (2009)
Yongfeng Wu, D.J. Batuski, A. Khalil. 2008, "The Fractal Structure of the Universe",
(VDM Verlag Dr. Muellere.K ISBN-978-3-369-03629-9)
Neil Comins, "What would happen to Earth if the moon were only half as massive?" Scientific American, 299(4):104, October 2008.
A. Lita, X. Ma, R. W. Meulenberg, T. van Buuren, A. E. Stiegman, "Synthesis and Characterization of Phase-Pure Manganese(II) and Manganese(III) Silicalite-2". Inorg. Chem., 47, 7302 (2008).
Travis Gould, Joerg Bewersdorf and Samuel Hess, "A quantitative comparison of the photophysical properties of selected quantum dots and organic fluorophores," Journal of Research in Physical Chemistry & Chemical Physics, 222(5-6):833-49, 2008.
T. Gould, M.V. Gudheti, J. Zimmerberg and S. Hess, "Methods for quantification of lateral organization in biological membranes," Microscopy and Microanalysis, 13:12-13, Suppl. 2, 2007.
Dean Astumian, "Microscopic reversibility and reciprocal relations for Brownian molecular machines," Tetrahedron, 64(36):8287-91, Sept. 1, 2008.
Jayendran C. Rasaiah and Jianjun Zhu, "Reaction Coordinates for Electron Transfer Reactions ", J. Chem. Phy. l29, 214503 (2008)
Jayendran C. Rasaiah, Shekhar Garde, and Gerhard Hummer, "Water in Nonpolar Confinement: From Nanotubes to Proteins and Beyond", Ann. Rev. Physical Chemistry 59, 713-740, (2008)
IN MEMORIAM:
KENNETH R. BROWNSTEIN
EDWARD F. CARR
GEORGE C. KRUEGER
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