Alumni Highlights
Written by Nora Berrah: Debadarshini (Jolly) Mishra successfully defended her PhD thesis in May 2024 in Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics. Jolly gave several presentations at national and international conferences and is the co-author of 8 publications. She is now a postdoc at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and was hired before her thesis defense to […]
[Read More]2024 Physics PhDs Awarded
Bren Backhaus Advisor: Jonathan Trump Thesis: “Emission-Line Properties of High-Redshift Galaxies and their Black Holes” Dharma Basaula Advisor: Serge Nakhmanson Thesis: “Mesoscale Modeling of Thermoelectric Materials” Mitchell Bredice Advisor: Vasili Kharchenko Thesis: “Kinetics, Nucleation, and Relaxation Dynamics of Ion-Seeded Nanoparticles” Michael Davino Advisor: Carlos Trallero Thesis: “Strong-field Physics from Atoms to Nanoparticles” Ashok Gurung Advisor: […]
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UConn Celebrates National Academies Members
On August 27, 2024, scholars, trustees, and friends of UConn gathered at the University of Connecticut School of Law to honor members of the university community elected to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Established by an Act of Congress in 1863, the National Academy of Sciences was followed by the National Academy […]
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Department Head greeting
Dear Friends of UConn Physics, Last year, I wrote to you as a new Interim Head of Physics and only barely a month into my appointment. During the past year, we conducted a search for a permanent head and I was selected. For this, I am very grateful for the trust and support I received […]
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UConn Physics Department Hosting January 2025 CU*iP.
Every year, the American Physical Society (APS) sponsors CU*IP – Conference for Undergraduate Women and Gender Minorities in Physics – at several locations around the country. This year, led by Prof. Nora Berrah, UConn Physics applied to host this national conference in Storrs and our proposal was accepted for January 24-26, 2025! The purpose of […]
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In Memoriam: Lawrence “Larry” Kappers
Lawrence “Larry” Kappers, passed away on Friday, August 2, 2024. Professor Lawrence (Larry) Kappers (aka “Kap”) retired in 2009, having joined the UConn Physics Department in 1973. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia and completing postdoctoral appointments at the University of Minnesota and Oklahoma State University, he developed an active research program […]
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UConn STARs visits Hartford Public High School
The UConn STARs group visited Hartford Public High School (HPHS) to teach physics for a total of eight class periods from May 6th-9th, 2024. UConn brought 16 undergraduate students from the STARs program to HPHS for our annual outreach program, during which we interacted with about 100 high school students. We collaborated with physics teacher […]
[Read More]In Memoriam: Thaddeus Burch
Father Thaddeus J. Burch passed away May 14, 2024 in Wauwatosa, WI. He was 93 years old, a Jesuit for 75 years and a priest for 62 years. His life combined his deep religious faith with a quest and appreciation for the world of physics. In addition to his two bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and […]
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Prof. Moshe Gai Awarded 2024-2025 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award
Professor Moshe Gai, the director of the Laboratory for Nuclear Science, aka the Astrophysics Laboratory, https://astro.uconn.edu, was awarded a 2024-2025 Fulbright US Scholar Award to teach and do research in Romania. He will spend five months at the newly constructed world highest power laser lab (10 PW), the Extreme Light Infrastructure Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP), recently […]
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Nobel Prize Winner, Professor Adam Riess, Katzenstein Distinguished Lecturer
The University of Connecticut, Department of Physics is proud to announce the 26th Annual Katzenstein Distinguished Lecturer that will be on Friday, November 15th.
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Professor Nora Berrah Elected to National Academy of Sciences
UConn physics professor Nora Berrah has been elected as a member of the National Academy of Science (NAS), becoming the fifth member from the UConn community to join the selective national society.
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2024 Sigma Pi Sigma Honors Society Celebration!
Congratulations to 2024 Sigma Pi Sigma Honors Society Inductees!
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UConn’s Old Planetarium Gets a New Upgrade
Connecticut’s oldest planetarium will soon be back in action. Once used for education and outreach for UConn faculty, students, and community members, the planetarium fell into disuse in the last several years, but Department of Physics Assistant Professor-in-Residence Matt Guthrie has been working hard with skilled facilities staff, including CLAS Facilities Team Leader Brett DeMarchi, to bring this piece of UConn history back into working order.
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Solar Eclipse Viewing Event: 2-4:30pm Mon Apr 8 on Horsebarn Hill
UConn faculty and students will host a community event to view the solar eclipse at 2:00-4:30pm this Monday, April 8, on Horsebarn Hill (behind the Dairy Bar). Here in Storrs we’ll observe a maximum occultation of 92% at 3:28pm. This is a very exciting and special opportunity, since the next time that our location will […]
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Two physics undergrads among 2024 University Scholars
Two of UConn Physics Department’s undergrads, Rachel Cleveland and Nicholas Thiel-Hudson, have been recently selected as part of the 2024 cohort of UConn University Scholars! These students were selected based on the strength of their proposal. Graduation as a University Scholar recognizes a student’s extraordinary engagement with self-reflective learning and research or creative endeavors.
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A Team Effort is Giving New Life to a Classic Observatory
After years of disuse, the UConn Observatory, featuring a 16-inch optical telescope, is coming back into service. Physics faculty member Matt Guthrie, a driving force behind this rejuvenation effort spoke with UConn Today about the benefits offered by the Observatory both to students and to the community.
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Physics Celebrates 51’st Annual Ascent of Mount Monadnock
On October 14, 2023 40-50 members and friends of the UConn Physics department took part in the 51’st annual ascent up Mount Monadnock, near Jaffrey, New Hampshire. After the hike, the then-hungry hikers descended to the campground near Gilson Pond and enjoyed some well-earned refreshments.
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Nobel Prize Winner, Professor Gérard Mourou, Katzenstein Distinguished Lecturer
The University of Connecticut, Department of Physics, is proud to announce that on October 20, 2023, Gérard Mourou, professor and member of Haut Collège at the École Polytechnique and A. D. Moore Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan and 2018 Nobel Prize winner, will be presenting the 25th Distinguished Katzenstein Lecture.
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Physics Faculty Work to Improve Accessibility and Destigmatize Disability Across CLAS
About 20% of UConn students are supported by the Center for Students with Disabilities. The true percentage of students who need help is even higher. With so many students who require diverse ways of learning, how can faculty make sure their teaching is adequate, effective and inclusive for all students? In order to address this […]
[Read More]Department Head Greetings
Dear Friends of UConn Physics, Before highlighting some of the major events in the Physics Department during the past year, I need to sincerely thank Prof. Barry Wells for his leadership as Department Head for the past five years. Dr. Wells guided the department through the turbulent times of the COVID pandemic and resulting shutdown […]
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Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics Seminar 3:30pm
10/7
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Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics Seminar 2:00pm
10/14
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Edward Pollack Distinguished Lecture presented by Prof. Philip H. Bucksbaum, Stanford University and SLAC National Laboratory 4:00pm
10/14
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UConn Physics Colloquium 3:30pm
10/18
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Astronomy Seminar 2:00pm
10/25
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UConn Physics Colloquium 3:30pm
10/25
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Astronomy Seminar 2:00pm
11/8
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Astronomy Seminar 2:00pm
11/15
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26th Annual Katzenstein Distinguished Lecture 4:00pm
11/15
26th Annual Katzenstein Distinguished Lecture
Friday, November 15th, 2024
04:00 PM
Gant West Building
Adam Riess-Bloomberg, Distinguished Professor and 2011 co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, Johns Hopkins University
In 1929 Edwin Hubble discovered that our Universe is expanding. Eighty years later, the Space Telescope that bears his name is being used to study an even more surprising phenomenon: that the expansion is speeding up. The origin of this effect is not known, but is broadly attributed to a type of “dark energy” first posited to exist by Albert Einstein and now dominating the mass-energy budget of the Universe. Professor Riess will describe how his team discovered the acceleration of the Universe and why understanding the nature of dark energy presents one of the greatest remaining challenges in astrophysics and cosmology. He will also discuss recent evidence that the Universe continues to defy our best efforts to predict its behavior.Adam Riess is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, the Thomas J. Barber Professor in Space Studies at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, a distinguished astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
He received his bachelor’s degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992 and his PhD from Harvard University in 1996. His research involves measurements of the cosmological framework with supernovae (exploding stars) and Cepheids (pulsating stars). Currently, he leads the SHOES Team in efforts to improve the measurement of the Hubble Constant and the Higher-z Team to find and measure the most distant type Ia supernovae known to probe the origin of cosmic acceleration.
In 2011, he was named a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics and was awarded the Albert Einstein Medal for his leadership in the High-z Supernova Search Team’s discovery that the expansion rate of the universe is accelerating, a phenomenon widely attributed to a mysterious, unexplained “dark energy” filling the universe. The discovery was named by Science magazine in 1998 as “the Breakthrough Discovery of the Year.”
His accomplishments have been recognized with a number of other awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship in 2008, the Gruber Foundation Cosmology Prize in 2007 (shared), and the Shaw Prize in Astronomy in 2006.Reception at 3:00pm in the Gant Science Light Court
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UConn Physics Colloquium 3:30pm
11/22
