Freshman learning community on Photons!

Details here. A quick synopsis:

Although light is as old as the universe, it is only a century ago that light was understood as a particle: The Photon. Since then, the photon has been at the heart of our modern life, from the internet to space exploration and one possible future source of renewable energy. This community will explore the past, present and future of the photon and its impact on our lives. This FLC would be of interest to students interested in exploring Electrical Engineering, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, or Physics.

Research Opportunity

A colleague just asked me if I knew any undergrads interested in spending the summer doing an internship at Argonne national lab. The project would involve developing an electrostatic switch using ultrananocrystalline diamond films. If you don't know what that means, it would be working with a lot of really cool vacuum and electronic equipment. :-) Travel money and stipend are likely to be covered.

If you were thinking about a research internship for the summer, and have an interest in the solid state physics or ECE areas, it might be something worth looking in to. Let me know if you'd like to know more, I'll put you in contact with my colleague.

Undergrad research conference @ UA

UA’s Third Annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Conference will be held on April 15 at the Bryant Conference Center. To participate, an undergraduate student must register his or her project by submitting an application form and abstract describing the project by March 8.

An online application, along with more details, is posted at http://www.osp.ua.edu/UndergradResearch.html. A student must have a faculty mentor in order to participate in the conference. Please inform your undergraduate students of the upcoming conference and encourage them to participate. Please let me know if you have questions.

Summer opportunities

Thought I'd make you aware of a few summer research opportunities:

Nebraska Summer research program. UNL has a particularly strong program in magnetic materials and devices.

Boston University summer research program in biophotonics. They have a rather new center for biophotonics, and BU is located in the heart of Boston.

University of Massachusetts/Amherst. Program in cellular engineering.

Northwestern university. Research areas include ceramics, polymers, nanocomposites, photonics, nanoparticles, molecular electronics and biomaterials.

Graduate research competition!

Please join the UA Department of Physics and Astronomy as a special guest for a showcase of our graduate student research, on Friday, Nov. 20, from 5-7 p.m., in the first-floor hallway of Gallalee Hall. This open-house poster presentation and competition will share projects of seasoned researchers along with those who are just getting started. Stop in any time during the evening until 6:15 to vote for your favorite presentation, and attend the awards ceremony at 6:30.

We'd be honored if you'd join us to support and encourage our future scientists and to learn more about physics research at the University. Please help us spread the word. See you there,

http://uanews.ua.edu/2009/11/open-house-featuring-ua-physics-students-research-set-for-nov-20/

Gary J. Mankey, Graduate Director
Department of Physics and Astronomy

PH111: student talks schedule

I've made up a preliminary schedule for your talks, which you can find here.

As a reminder, talks should be about 20 minutes in length, with a question & answer period of about 5 minutes following each talk. Timing will be rather strictly enforced so we can get through all of your talks in only three class periods. Finally, keep in mind that it is expected that all group members contribute to the oral presentation.

The first set of talks is on 16 November, which is only two weeks away ...

Advising Season

If you didn't see the email from me already ... here it is. It is advising season again, and time to figure out what to take next semester.

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Dear Physics Majors (and potential Physics Majors),

If you don't know already, I am the undergraduate adviser for physics and astronomy. Once again, it is advising time. Some time during the next two weeks, I would like to sit down with each of you and informally discuss how things are going, what your plan is, and try to answer any questions you might have. This is your chance to ask all sorts of difficult questions, and I will do my best to answer them. Most likely, I can tell you what courses you still need to take, what requirements you have left to fulfill, or how you might get more involved in our program, for instance.

I am available to meet in either my Gallalee office (rm 110) or my Bevill office (rm 228), whichever is more convenient for you. Below, at the bottom of this post, is a list of times and places I am available. If you would like to set up an advising meeting, send me a quick email (pleclair-at-ua.edu) indicating your preferred time block and location (Bevill or Gallalee).

Recall that you need to have your 'advising hold' cleared each semester in order to proceed with registration. This means you need to meet with *someone*, who can then have your advising hold cleared electronically. There is no longer a need for paperwork, but you still need to be advised. Along those lines, this semester Dr. Mewes (tmewes-at-ua.edu) and Dr. Williams (drwilliams3-at-ua.edu) have agreed to help out with advising. If your schedule does not fit with mine, you have occasion to see Dr. Mewes or Dr. Williams for other reasons, or would just rather see them instead, you can feel free to contact them as well.

Finally, some of you are far enough along and well-organized enough that you basically know what you need to do. Fair enough. If this is the case, email me your proposed schedule for the S10 semester, and if I don't see any problems with it, I'll clear your advising hold and we'll call it a day.

My free times
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Mondays: 1:15-3:45, Gallalee
Tuesdays: 10-3:45, Bevill
Wednesdays: 1:15-3:45, Gallalee
Thursdays: 10-6, Bevill
Fridays: 12-6, either location.

Best Regards,

-Dr. LeClair