I am delighted to start off the latest edition of the Physics Newsletter. The past couple of years have been great, with numerous accomplishments by our students, staff and faculty, which gives all of us pride. The stories in this edition provide a sense of these achievements, which I hope you will enjoy.
One of our most important accomplishments in the past two years is that six spectacular faculty have joined our department: Prof. Daniel Brandenburg, Prof. Jackie Chini, Prof. Mike Chini, Prof. Geraldine Cochran, Prof. Pierre Heidmann, and Prof. Kaeli Hughes. It was truly a pleasure to help recruit these amazing scholars to our community. There is a feature on each of them in this magazine. Please read about their backgrounds and their plans as they are getting started here in the department.
In addition, many of our established faculty continue to be highly successful with their scholarship and instruction. This includes many newly awarded federal research grants. The department’s research programs are currently supported by 108 active grants and had nearly $19M in research expenditures in 2023. The faculty’s successes have been recognized by several university, national and international awards. Among these is the pinnacle award in physics, the Nobel Prize, awarded to Professor Emeritus Pierre Agostini in 2023! We are so proud of Prof. Agostini and honored that he joined the department back in 2005 to continue his work in attosecond science, which he does in close collaboration with Prof. Lou DiMauro. An article featuring the Nobel Prize award ceremony and the science behind this award is in this magazine, which I encourage you to read.
Our undergraduate and graduate student programs remain strong and impactful with just under 400 undergraduate majors and just over 200 graduate students. We graduated 84 undergraduates and 30 graduate students this past year. We remain one of the top producers of graduates with physics undergraduate and graduate degrees. In fact, in 2021-2022 we had 100 undergraduate students receive their degrees, which put our department at the second highest producer of physics undergraduate degrees in the country that academic year. Many of these students have earned awards and scholarships, and then go on to great careers in industry and academia. Some of these successes are highlighted in the newsletter.
An essential part of our department is the outstanding staff, who provide key support for the research and teaching missions of the department. The department currently has 18 administrative staff, 20 research staff and 20 instructional staff. During my time as chair, I am very happy to report that the department has hired 34 outstanding staff. Both the new and veteran staff members work great together supporting each other and the department. They are wonderful to work with and I am grateful for all that they do.
To maximize the success and impact of our department, it is critical that our community be welcoming and supportive of all members. Furthermore, our department is constantly working in teams to solve problems and answer important questions in a wide range of research areas, in our instruction and even in our administration. The most effective teams have members with diverse backgrounds and skill sets. I am proud that our department continues to work on these goals. We are part of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Driving Change project that “aims to effect lasting culture change on research university campuses by creating a more inclusive learning environment for all.” The department is also participating in a National Science Foundation pilot project to create inclusive graduate programs. Our Bridge Program continues to bring in 2-3 excellent students annually, who in 1-2 years become prepared for physics graduate school. We have spectacular student-led programs such as the Polaris mentoring program, which connects first-year physics and astronomy majors with a physics or astronomy graduate student mentor. Please have a look at the article on the success and impact of this outstanding student-run program.
I am so grateful to everyone in our physics community for their commitment, effort and support of this highly impactful and successful department. It is amazing how quickly the end of my 4-year term as department chair has arrived. It has been an honor to have served as chair. I am delighted to share that starting July 1, 2024, Prof. Ralf Bundschuh is set to take over as department chair. He has been a faculty member of the department for 23 years and will undoubtably provide outstanding leadership over the coming years.
I hope each of you enjoy reading about some of the many great successes and accomplishments over the past couple of years.
Sincerely,
