Amazing astronomy photos

The folks over at PetaPixel  held an astronomy photography contest and have now posted the winners. Above is the overall winner. The picture is described as

First up is the overall winner and winner of the Earth and Space category taken by Australian photographer Mark Gee and seen at the top. It’s called “Guiding Light to the Stars,” and it shows the Milky Way seemingly emerging from the light of a New Zealand lighthouse.

See the rest of the photos at Introducing the Winners of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013 Contest

Truly larger than life

A. Einstein statue on the Washington mall.

One of the figures that looms larger than life in our nation's capitol is Albert Einstein. While we can't all be Einsteins, we can all make contributions to science and science education (in and out of the classroom). This photo was taken by Dean David Brakke.

Ever wonder what physicists do?

David Saltzberg, right, hosts his "Geek Of The Week," UCLA student Andrew Peck.

Professor David Saltzberg, UCLA has one of the cooler jobs in physics. He is the consultant for the award winning television show Big Bang Theory to make sure that all the science is correct. There is a great article about him and his role in the program on NPR today.

If you don't already have enough reasons to consider starting a career in physics JMU, maybe this helps.

Bohemian Gravity

The title says it all:

The Annual Department Photo

At our opening meeting this year, we once again posed for our annual group photo. The weather outside was a bit iffy so we opted to do the photo in room 2212.

Back row: Steve Whisnant, Kim Emerson, Costel Constantin, Art Fovargue, and Shanil Virani
3rd row: Gabriel Niculescu, Ioana Niculescu, Sean Scully, and Scott Paulson
2nd row: Brian Utter, Jason Haraldsen, Joe Mahler, and Mark Mattson
Front row: Kevin Giovanetti, Keiko Fukumura, Giovanna Scarel, and Elizabeth Jeffery

Absent: Chris Hughes, Klebert Feitosa, Harold Butner, Anca Constantin, Adriana Banu

JMU Plays Role in the APS/AAPT Physics Department Chairs Meeting

On May 30 and 31 this year, Steve Whisnant represented JMU as a a member of the steering committee for the annual Department Chairs Meeting. This meeting hosted jointly by the American Physical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers give department chairs from across the nation to gather and share ideas.

The APS web site has all the details and several quotes from Steve about ideas we pursue at JMU for recruiting (that seem to be working!).

Anca Constantin's Search

There is also a story on the JMU banner page now about our own Dr. Anca Constantin and her research. This makes two stories that currently showcased that highlight the work of our faculty and students.

When Dreams Become Real

There is a great article about one of our outstanding students, Devin Buennemeyer. I urge everyone to go read it. 

Incoming class of Physics majors

We are on track for another banner year. In Phys 105, we have a total of 43 enrolled! Three of these are already JMU students who are changing majors but the remainder are new students to the program. This is a significant increase from last year's record class of 34.  Shanil Virani is doing an excellent job with the recruiting and here we see the evidence.

May Commencement 2013

This spring saw a another fine group of students heading out into the world. Our graduating class this year was 14, a bit off our peak, but numbers in the pipeline suggest that this is about to turn around. We are proud of all of our students, large class or small.

We wish them all well and ask that they all keep in touch. And when they are rich and famous...donate!

There are more pictures found here.

SuperMoon on June 23?! Don't Believe the Hype!

At several of our FREE public Saturday afternoon shows this month at the John C. Wells Planetarium at JMU, we have been asked about claims made online regarding the "SUPERMOON" on June 23. Maybe you've seen this image online:

Some places have even gone so far to suggest that this "super moon" will cause natural phenomena such as severe weather or earthquakes!! My response? Don't believe the hype -- this is just bad science!!

Let's dig deeper. You may have seen images on Facebook or elsewhere stating that June's full moon will be the "largest and closest". While true you really couldn't tell the difference between June's full moon and any other month's full moon -- the effect is small! It certainly will not be as large as seen in the posters used to advertise the event! To demonstrate, here's an animated gif that a fellow planetarium colleague has created showing all the full moons in 2013.

Can you tell the difference? NOPE! So all this nonsense is just that! Don't believe the hype!!

NOTE: In a past blog post regarding a "Super Moon", while remaining skeptical of the whole notion, I stated that "... if this event gets people outside to enjoy our night sky that is slowly disappearing because of light pollution, then I think that's 'mission accomplished' ". I still support that idea, and in fact, I think every full moon is a beautiful site! Indeed it still amazes me today that we have sent 12 astronauts to walk on that body [and if you think it is wrong that we don't recognize that tremendous accomplishment, please sign my online petition!]. But since this meme keeps coming back again and again, it important that we debunk the bad science! 

So if you see this idea circulating amongst your social network, set them straight!

Shanil Virani
Director, John C. Wells Planetarium

Infrared and thermoelectric power generation

On May 23 2013, the undergraduate students Yosyp Schwab, Harkirat Mann and Brian Lang presented new findings on radiative polaritons and thermoelectric and infrared power generation at the 91^th Annual Meeting of the Virginia Academy of Science,Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Blacksburg (VA).  Here are the details of the two oral presentations:

Yosyp Schwab, H. S. Mann, and G. Scarel, “The signature of radiative polaritons: dielectric function and simulated spectra”

and

Harkirat S. Mann, Y. Schwab, B. N. Lang, A.E. Masters, and G. Scarel, “Fluctuations in thermoelectric and infrared power generation”.

On the other hand, under an extremely high humidity (!!! see photo) on May 15 Dr. Scarel presented some of the latest results of the Group at the Fudan University, Department of Microelectronics; Shanghai (China).  The title of the talk was: “Atomic layer deposited oxide films for infrared and nighttime solar cells”.

We hope to get more results during the summer!

 

Nanodays Event 2013!

Usually when the weather is nice people do not like to visit museums, but our Nanodays event had over 80 people visiting the Explore More Discovery Museum in Harrisonburg, VA.  This event gave the possibility to young K-12 kids to learn cool stuff about Nanotechnology!  I hope now they know why water cannot penetrate certain textiles, or why some metals like to have a "memory" of their own!

Spring Picnic 2013

On April 7 we once again descended on Purcell Park for the annual spring picnic. In addition to the usual soccer game there was a bit of slack-lining and shelter climbing. Oh yeah, there was good food provided by the cook, Costel Constantin. More pictures are found here.

The end of the semester is approaching fast (or slow, depending on your point of view). This is typically the last gathering of the majors before graduation. At least they can now study on a full belly.

Department Video

Just before spring break this year, a video crew visited out department and spent the day interviewing and videoing us as we teach, engage students in research, and talk about our outreach programs. This video is part of a collection of videos make at physics departments across the country to be showcased on the APS TV YouTube channel. These videos are being promoted vigorously at the APS March Meeting in Baltimore, March 18-22, 2013.

As you can see from the APS YouTube site, we are one of 17 domestic and 1 international Physics Department being highlighted. There are few undergraduate only departments included, so we are especially proud of being an example of a such a department.

Enjoy the video and come for a visit some time to see it in person.

Symposium 2013

On March 16th, we held our annual Spring Symposium in which our students present their work from the previous year. This year there were 15 excellent presentations on a wide variety of topics spanning the universe from sub-atomic to galactic scales.

Our special guest this year, Dr. Dennis McNabb from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, gave a departmental colloquium on Friday afternoon and a public lecture Saturday evening in Wilson Hall. His public presentation was entitled: "Harnessing Fusion Power on Earth".


This year the symposium was held in the John C. Wells Planetarium and more photos are found here.

JMU Physics Awarded PhysTEC Grant to Support Physics Teacher Education

JMU is about to become one of the newest PhysTEC-supported sites in a nationwide effort to improve and promote the training of physics teachers. As high school physics enrollments continue to climb, only around a third of high school physics teachers have a major in physics or physics education. In fact, a 2010 American Association for Employment in Education report ranked physics as the subject with the highest demand for teachers out of 60 subjects considered. 

As the shortage continues, there is a pressing need for inspired teachers with a solid foundation of physics content and insight into the challenges and opportunities unique to physics pedagogy.

With a $300k grant from PhysTEC (Physics Teacher Education Coalition), JMU will become the newest comprehensive site to address this need. The award was announced in 2012 to fund efforts implemented starting in Fall 2013 and is coordinated by a project team that includes collaboration among faculty in Physics & Astronomy (Brian Utter, Scott Paulson, Mark Mattson), Psychology (David Daniel), the College of Education (David Slykhuis), and Harrisonburg High School (Andy Jackson). The overarching goal is to offer a program in which students can explore teaching as an option, gain teaching experience, learn about physics pedagogy, and engage with a community of fellow students. A few of the main PhysTEC elements that will be implemented in Fall 2013 include:

• Physics Pedagogy Course: A two-credit 200-level physics teaching methods course developed by JMU Psychology Professor David Daniel, an expert in the science of learning and STEM education, in collaboration with local physics teachers, will be offered each fall. The class focuses on Pedagogical Content Knowledge -- that is, the study of effective teaching strategies specifically in the context of physics education. Topics such as metacognition, scaffolding, technology, conceptual change, and pre-conceptions are discussed in terms of the challenges in teaching and learning physics.

• Teacher in Residence: Each year, an experienced high school physics teacher will work for a year in residence in the Department of Physics and Astronomy as a local expert in high school physics teaching. As a front-lines expert, the TIR will serve as a voice of experience in the pedagogy course, a mentor for students interested in pursuing teaching, a liaison with the College of Education, and a motivator and organizer for the JMU physics teaching community.

• Learning Assistant Program: Beginning in 2011, introductory physics courses included a new way to grapple with the sometimes challenging concepts that students encounter in learning physics. Undergraduate Learning Assistants (LAs) were hired to facilitate weekly tutorials that focus on conceptual stumbling blocks that many students encounter. “Tutorials in Physics,” based on the work of the Physics Education Research group at the University of Washington, focuses on common hurdles in learning physics. In weekly prep meetings, LAs anticipate the likely problems and discuss strategies for facilitating the discussions. While primarily intended to improve the learning of students in introductory physics, the LA program offers the ideal way for sophomore physics majors to get teaching experience (and get paid!).

These are just a few of the many plans that are part of our PhysTEC program. We’re excited about these and other opportunities for our students that will be enabled by our collaboration with PhysTEC and we’re looking forward to a great start in the fall!

For additional information on JMU PhysTEC or the Secondary Education Track in Physics, please contact Dr. Brian Utter (utterbc@jmu.edu). 

New Grant Awarded to Costel Constantin

Yesterday, in a small ceremony with President Jon Alger and Provost Jerry Benson, the second round of 4VA mini-grants were awarded. Last fall, Costel was among the first group to be awarded one of these. This time, he was the first at JMU to receive what is called a Step-up Grant. The mini-grants are $5,000 and intended to seed a new collaborative initiative with colleagues at other Virginia institutions. The Step-up grant is a good bit larger - $20,000.

More details are found here.

Congratulations to Costel on this big step forward in his research.

Planetarium Director Named 2013 NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador

Shanil Virani, faculty member in the Department of Physics and Astronomy & Director of the $1.5 million, state-of-the-art hybrid John C. Wells Planetarium, has been named as a 2013 NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Solar System Ambassador! 

The Solar System Ambassadors Program is a public outreach program designed to work with motivated volunteers across the nation. Solar system ambassadors communicate the excitement of JPL's space exploration missions and information about recent discoveries to people in their local communities.

To have Shanil speak at your school, community or church group, email him at planetarium@jmu.edu

The Solar System Ambassadors Program is sponsored by the JET PROPULSION LABORATORY in Pasadena, CA, an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and a lead research and development center for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Faculty Member in Residence

Steve Whisnant has been selected to be the Faculty Member in Residence in London for the spring semester 2014.

It is time to take a little JMU physics to the international stage and include some non-majors in the experience.

Giovanetti Selected for Provost's Award

The 2012 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship goes to our own Dr. Kevin Giovanetti! Congratulations!!

More details are found on this page.

Just as an added bit of information: This recognition was first awarded in 2008 so this marks only the 5th year. Of the five recipients, two are in Physics and Astronomy -- Kevin and Ioana Niculescu.

Our plan to take over the world is on track.

Radiative polaritons at JMU

Radiative polaritons are known since their theoretical description by Fuchs and Kliewer in the sixties.  However, the reason why they are radiative was not explained, the existence of the radiation emitted was not proved, and the frequency range of that radiation was never found.  Three undergraduate students at JMU with the help of collaborators at the University of Utah and Howard University have done all this: Anita discovered why radiative polaritons are radiative, and Yosyp discovered the existence of the emitted radiation.  Yosyp and Harkirat found that the "radiated" radiation exists in the microwave to far-infrared frequency range.  For more details see the paper:  A.J. Vincent-Johnson, Y. Schwab, H.S. Mann, M. Francoeur, J.S. Hammonds, and G. Scarel, “Origin of the low frequency radiation emitted by radiative polaritons excited by infrared radiation in planar La₂O₃ films”.  J. Phys: Condens. Matter 25, 035901 (2013).

Saturday Morning Physics 2013

Registration is now open!

Meet the Scientist: Saturday Morning Physics

For the third year, the Physics and Astronomy Department in collaboration with JMU’s Outreach & Engagement, invite high-school students and science teachers to take part in an engaging enrichment program developed in a sequence of six easy-to-follow scientific exploration events.

Register online!

Saturdays

January 26-March 2

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

James Madison University- Bioscience Building

$45/student

For detailed program information, please click here!

Questions ? email outreach@jmu.edu or call 540/568-5532

Virginia Academy of Science - Undergraduate Research Meeting

On Saturday October 27 2012, the Virginia Academy of Science Fall Undergraduate Research Meeting took place at the Reynolds Community College in Richmond.  The JMU Undergraduate student in Physics Harkirat Mann presented a poster entitled "The origin of fluctuations in the heat and radiation excited Seebeeck effect".  Harkirat and his advisor, Dr. Govanna Scarel, describe an apparatus that will help understanding whether an environment free of humidity and heat variations aids in observing delicate voltage transients.  Harkirat will build the apparatus in the next months, and the results of the research will help him and his group to improve the research on harvesting infrared radiation by transforming it into electricity.

Intruguing non-linear phenomena discovered at JMU!

How is it possible that a voltage signal excited by infrared radiation decays as the excitation source remains on?  Anita Vincent-Johnson, who graduated in physics at JMU on May 2012, found that the strange phenomenon might be due to chaotic transport in a thermoelectric power generator interacting with infrared radiation.  The mystery is not fully unveiled and the team of Dr. Scarel continues the investigations.  The latest news were published today:

A.J. Vincent-Johnson, A.E. Masters, X. Hu, and G. Scarel, “Excitation of radiative polaritons by polarized broadband infrared radiation in thin oxide films deposited by atomic layer deposition”.  J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A vol. 31, 01A111 1-4 (2013).

Why Study Physics?

Why should you study physics? Maybe you want to have a job when you graduate -and- make a lot of money? Perhaps you want to go Medical School? How about Law School? Or maybe Business School? Did you know that acceptance into these very competitive programs is (largely) based on your performance on standardized tests like the MCAT, LSAT, & GMAT? Did you know that Physics majors have the highest scores on these tests? That they have the lowest unemployment rates when they graduate? That they have amongst the highest paying jobs with an undergraduate degree in Physics? Besides, PHYSICS IS FUN! Learn more by watching this short clip, and then learn more about the Physics and Astronomy program at James Madison University

Come learn more about Physics & Astronomy at our OPEN HOUSE this Saturday from 9am to noon! Meet students & faculty, tour our labs, watch really cool physics demos, and learn more about the department, our scholarships, and the process at 10am and 11am in Room 2212 in the Physics & Chemistry building!

Click on the image frame below to see our "WHY PHYSICS?" video!

The Big Reach of JMU Physics...

With blogs, Facebook, twitter, etc, and even teaching, we can sometimes forget just how far and wide the discussion reaches and just how small our planet becomes. Three recent examples demonstrates clearly just how large the reach is of JMU's Department of Physics & Astronomy.

1. Dr. Giovanna Scarel on WMRA's The Spark!

WMRA, the Valley's local NPR affiliate hosts a weekly show called "The Spark". This show is WMRA's look into "creativity", they "dig into whatever people are passionate about in the WMRA region: sculpture, model railroading, costume-making, poetry, whatever". On Friday, May 11, Dr. Giovanna Scarel was profiled on "The Spark". What is a photon?  Solid state physicist Dr. Giovanna Scarel explains photons and why such tiny things are intriguing. If you missed the interview, you can find the audiocast of it here.

2. Saturday Morning Physics Student Discovers a Pulsar!

For the past two years, Dr. Adriana Banu has organized a 6-week winter enrichment program for area high school students. The idea is to get them exposed to "cutting edge" physics, and to bring some of the excitement of the lab into the classroom for students to witness firsthand. 

Cecilia McGough, a senior at nearby Strasburg High School, participated in the 2nd Saturday Morning Physics program at JMU. After her SMP experience, Cecilia spent the summer working at the Green Bank Radio Telescope in West Virginia where she became just the 6th high school student to discover a pulsar! A pulsar is a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation as the star rotates extremely quickly, just as a lighthouse sweeps out a bright patch of light as it rotates. McGough's pulsar has a period of 185.549 milliseconds and is about the size of Washington D.C.!

3. John C. Wells Planetarium's 2012 End-of-the-World Debunking Reaches South Africa!

At the start of the year, much nonsense was spread on the internet about the Mayan calendar coming to an end, and how that portends the end of the world! Recently, JMU invited Dr. Phil Plait (the "Bad Astronomer") to debunk claims like these and others found online that the end-of-the-world is coming this December (more on this soon!). However, prior to his visit, Planetarium Director Shanil Virani wrote his own article for the Planetarium's website. While this was featured in a local newspaper article,  we very surprised to get the email below from a teacher in SOUTH AFRICA that were studying some of these doomsday claims! One of the students in the class actually referred to the Planetarium's 2012 debunking in their discussion and showed the website to her teacher! The email below was sent to Shanil Virani this past summer and is reprinted with permission from the author. 

From: Pauline Smith 

Subject: Excellent Article on JMU Website

Date: July 26, 2012 

To: Shanil Virani

 

I have just had the pleasure of reading your online article on Debunking the 2012 Doomsday Prophecies, and may I say – Bravo!

 

One of my learners brought up the subject of the end of the world in December 2012, and another mentioned your article in refuting her classmate’s assertion that “we’re all going to die before Christmas anyway!”

 

I found the blend of hard science and popular culture an unusual but effective tool to calm the hysteria and ‘talk them out of the trees’.

 

I especially liked your suggestion that the Planetarium be made the beneficiary if an individual is that certain of his or her imminent destruction!

 

Thank you for a well written article, and an unexpected laugh for an otherwise cold and wet Thursday.

 

 

Kind Regards,

 

Pauline Smith CLINICAL TRAINER HR: Learning and Development Tel: +27 (0)21 427 4516 61 St Georges Mall Cape Town E-mail:  Website: www.mhg.co.za

 

The moral of the story? JMU Physics has an enormous reach! From the Valley, to South Africa, to the distant reaches of the Cosmos! 

Fall Picnic 2012

On September 16 the department picnic was held in Purcel Park out by the pond. There was a great turnout and good food all around.

Although it was cloudy and a bit cooler that we hoped, there was a warm fire and good friends. And lots of fun.

The rest of the photos are found here.

The 2012-2013 Academic Year Begins

So, here we are again.

Beginning of the school year and there are once again a few new faces in the crowd. For those of you who haven't visited us lately (and why aren't you stopping by?!), here's the key in order from left to right...

Front row:
Adriana Banu, Harold Butner, Sean Scully, Keigo Fukumura, Anca Constantin, Steve Whisnant

Second row:
Kim Emerson, Costel Constantin, Klebert Feitosa, Elizabeth Jeffery, Ioana Niculescu, Gabriel Niculescu

Third row:
Art Fovargue, Shanil Virani, Jarrett Lancaster, Kevin Giovanetti, Herb Slade, Chris Hughes

and hiding in the back;
Giovanna Scarel and Mark Mattson

Missing here are Brian Utter who is on sabbatical in Germany this year and Scott Paulson who is taking his Research Semester this fall and is working at UVa.

And so, with smiling faces (most of us any way), we greet the new year and prepare to excite our record entering class of 36 new physics majors!

7 Minutes of Terror: Mars Curiosity Lands TONIGHT!

On Saturday, November 26 at approximately 10:02AM (EST), Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) lifted off from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 41 en route to Mars. After more than 8 months in flight, MSL arrives very LATE tonight! The SUV-sized rover it is carrying, called Curiosity, is expected to touchdown on the surface of the Red Planet at 1:31AM (i.e., early Monday morning). After traveling 566 million kilometers, imagine a remote-controlled Cadillac Escalade landing in a dust storm.

This will be no easy feat. In fact, arriving and surviving touchdown would be an enormous scientific and engineering accomplishment. The landing sequence is incredibly risky (see image and 7 Minutes of Terror) and of Mankind's 39 missions to Mars, we've been successful only 15 times. I fully expect very late tonight to be the 16th time we've been successful in landing on Mars but it is important to be aware of the risk of failure and to recognize the extraordinary accomplishment if successful.

Despite the poor odds, we continue to go. Why? Mars Curiosity will open a new opportunity to study the habitable environment of the Red Planet. If you have come to the John C. Wells Planetarium recently, you will have heard me say during my star talk that in my opinion, the greatest discovery in science would be the discovery of life outside of Earth. While NASA's Kepler mission has done an extraordinary job discovering exoplanets, some even in the so-called "habitable zone" where water (should it exist) would be in its liquid form, the best evidence of life outside of Earth may come from within our Solar System, Mars in particular.

Previous missions to Mars has confirmed the hypothesis that Mars had liquid water in its past. But does Mars host life currently? Did it in the past? The answers to these questions have been inconclusive so far. This is where Mars Curiosity comes in. It is landing in Gale Crater, a carefully-chosen landing site after 5 years of analysis. This ~93 mile-wide-crater is an ancient impact basin for which there is very good evidence to suggest an ancient river once flowed through it. It is also a site with mineral-rich terrains and a mountain right in the middle where Curiosity will spend most of its time working to learn if it had an environment where microbes may have thrived.

This story begins tonight! Join me on twitter tonight where I will provide updates and commentary. You can watch NASA TV's feed online if your cable tv carrier does not carry it. Note that once Curiosity lands, it will be 14 minutes for us to receive telemetry that touchdown was successful and another 14 hours to get the first high resolution images that Curiosity will snap from its landing site.

My 2-year old son and I watched the launch on that Saturday morning after Thanksgiving Day and I am going to try to keep him up tonight for this historic landing!

The 2012--2013 Academic year

This year's incoming class is a new department record: 34 freshmen and 2 transfers for a total of 36. In addition, one of the freshmen is our first ever Dingledine scholar,  Devin Buenemeyer. This is a real honor for the department. We are extremely proud of her and delighted that she has chosen physics and our department. The graduating class this year was small (13) but next year's promises to be sizable (20 or more). With the addition of Shanil Virani as our recruiter, we have great expectations. Shanil has many excellent idea and a tremendous amount of energy. Jon Staib has passed the baton with a clear lead for the department and Shanil is ready to run (forgive the Olympics metaphor). Don't be surprised if remarkable things happen.

We have a strong incoming class this year. We have some very excellent students as upperclassmen. We are growing and getting better.

This year we add Keigo Fukumura and Jarrett Lancaster. Elizabeth Jeffery is staying with us for another year or two and searches to fill open positions are going to commence in a month or two. Costel Constantin is moving into a tenure track position. Brian Utter is going on sabbatical in Germany and Scott Paulson is taking the Research Semester in the fall to spend time in Charlottesville. Both are moving their research interests towards biological systems.

The department reached a new high this year in external funding with a total of over $4.77 million. The only tenure track faculty without external funding in the department are the new folks, Costel and Keigo, and they will be funded soon at the rate things are going. Such vigorous research is rare in undergraduate departments and actually not all that common in research institutions We are a young department with only three faculty (Kevin Giovanneti, Chris Hughes and Mark Mattson) hired before 2001.

We are still pushing to open the Madison Radiation Laboratory asap. and proposals are being written to obtain money for experiments there. Discussions with the university administration is continuing.

Every year is better that the last and this year is no exception.

Come visit.

Be part of the amazing PandA@JMU.

Washington Post says there are no science jobs, but...

The Washington Post has an article today about job prospects for scientists. The article, U.S. pushes for more scientists, but the jobs aren’t there, tries to paint a doom and gloom picture of the job prospects for scientists. It points to neuroscience and pharmaceuticals as places that are no longer hiring PhD's and that

it’s questionable whether those youths will be able to find work when they get a PhD. Although jobs in some high-tech areas, especially computer and petroleum engineering, seem to be booming, the market is much tighter for lab-bound scientists — those seeking new discoveries in biology, chemistry and medicine.

Sounds pretty nasty out there, doesn't it? Buried on page two is, however, the key point:

Two groups seem to be doing better than other scientists: physicists and physicians. The unemployment rate among those two groups hovers around 1 to 2 percent, according to surveys from NSF and other groups. Physicists end up working in many technical fields — and some go to Wall Street — while the demand for doctors continues to climb as the U.S. population grows and ages.

Catch that? 1 -2% unemployment for physicists and physicians.  In an economic downturn with overall unemployment of 8.2%? This would be great news in any kind of economy.

So in case you were wondering why an undergraduate degree in physics is the place to start your medical career, this is the reason. Not only is physics a great career choice, it is an ideal "plan B" for charting a path to medical school. What happens if you don't get into medical school? Only good things if you have a physics degree. An undergraduate degree in physics puts you in a place to get a good paying technical job or pursue graduate work for an even higher paying job. And it looks like your chances of finding that good paying job are 98-99%.

Physics. Still the best deal in town.

Don Chodrow Memorial Scholarship Endowment

On behalf of the friends, current and former students and colleagues of Dr. Chodrow, a scholarship in his honor has been created. The Don Chodrow Memorial Scholarship Endowment will provide resources annually for one or more outstanding undergraduates in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

To be eligible for this scholarship, a student must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher and at least four semesters of study. By selecting from among our very best junior and senior physics majors, we honor the tradition of excellence for which Don was such a strong advocate both in and out of the classroom.

To create an endowed fund so that this scholarship is permanent, we must raise at least $25,000 by 2017. You may support this scholarship either by check or by giving on-line. Complete information is found on the web here.

Recognize the difference that Dr. Chodrow made in your life by considering a contribution to this fund. By "paying it forward" you can help us carry on his tradition of student centered education of the highest quality.

Don Chodrow

Physics and Astronomy has lost Don Chodrow to an automobile accident.  On Monday June 18th, Don was involved in a single car accident on I-81.  He was on his way to teach Phys 150 in summer session. He was flown to UVA Medical Center, but never regained consciousness. After organ donation, he was removed from life support on June 20th. One of the bright lights in our department has gone out.

Don was such a big part of our department for the past 32 years that it is impossible to understand what we will be without him. He was always a strong voice for high quality education for all of our students. As the long-time instructor of advanced mechanics (Phys 340), he guided our majors toward understanding physics deeply and broadly. His dedication to teaching is without parallel. He eagerly taught any and every course offered to him.  Don was routinely in front of classes that spanned the spectrum in our department, from GSCI 101 to second-semester quantum mechanics. He was a leader in curriculum development, chairing the Curriculum and Instruction Committee for more than a decade. He guided many students to graduation, successful careers, and graduate school in his role as an academic advisor. Our majors revered him.

His presence also filled the department in a dozen small ways. He was always quick with a laugh or a joke so bad you had to laugh in response.

Don always had a hand on the rudder of the ship that is Physics and Astronomy. We will continue in his absence for he would have it no other way, but without his steady hand our direction is just a bit less well-defined.

We are thankful for all that was gentle and noble in his life. We will miss you, dear friend.

---

The family asks that no flowers be sent. Donations may be sent to Temple House of Israel, P.O. Box 1412, Staunton, VA 24402, or to the Don Chodrow Memorial Scholarship Endowment. We are creating a scholarship in Don's name to continue his long tradition of putting our student's education first.

The Science enabled by Photon Sources: Local interest in Virginia

On May 16 2012 the Workshop on "The Science enabled by Photon Sources: local interest in Virginia" took place at JMU. Several Faculty members of the Department of Physics and Astronomy were in the Organizing Committee (Dr. Whisnant, Dr. Hughes, and Dr. Scarel). Dr. Hughes, Dr. Utter, Dr. Feitosa, Dr. C. Constantin, and Dr. Scarel were among the presenters. The Workshop gave an ample view of the vast capabilities of photon Sources in various fields of Science. Dr. Ward Plummer (Louisiana State University), one of the keynote speakers, gave a historical picture of the evolution of Photon Science and offered an overview of the possible developments. His talk touched topics related to physics and materials science, in particular related to superconducting materials. The need of photon sources to improve the research in materials science was illustrated in the presentations of various JMU faculty members, who underlined the need for better imaging techniques, and more sensitive tools to perform chemical analysis in soft and hard materials. Dr. Peter Abbamonte (University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign), another keynote speaker, illustrated how the mystery of the lack of a band gap in graphene was solved using high energy photons produced in a storage ring. Other presenters from JMU and from other Universities in Virginia and Washington DC described the power of photon sources in understanding phase transitions in oxides, collective excitations, and the properties of photon themselves. Dr. Stefan Vogt (Argonne National Laboratory and Northwestern University), the third keynote speaker, succeeded in convincing that photon sources offer enormous possibilities in the fields of biology and medicine. A new JMU Chemistry faculty member supported the view. Other presentations illustrated new fascinating mysteries awaiting to be investigated with the powerful photon sources in the fields of environmental sciences, electronics and spintronics, and mentioned the technical challenges associated to the process of data acquisition. A radio interview of Dr. Scarel aired on May 11 2012 can be found at http://wmra.org/post/physicist-giovanna-scarel

Here is Dr. Utter ....

Here is Dr. Abbamonte ...

... and here is Dr. Scarel

2nd Annual Video Contest

Judging for JMU physics' 2nd annual video contest is underway.  If you want to take a look at some of the videos high school students from Virginia and Maryland have entered, look here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/drscottpaulson?feature=mhee  

Details about this year's contest are on the department webpage, 

 csma31.­csm.­jmu.­edu/­physics/­Public/­videocontest.­html