News

Adjunct Professor Don Lincoln is the 2013 recipient of the Outreach Prize from the European Physical Society, High Energy Physics Division. The citation says that Lincoln is being recognized for, "communicating in multiple media the excitement of High Energy Physics to high-school students and teachers, and the public at large.”…

The University of Notre Dame’s International Studies office has announced that it will offer three new opportunities for study abroad in South Korea, Spain and Switzerland in spring 2014. Of special interest to physics majors should be the program in Switzerland.…

Physics graduate student Melinda Varga has been accepted into the 2013 Complex Systems Summer School at the Santa Fe Institute. She was selected for her academic credentials, research and interdisciplinary interests. Selection for the school is highly selective as there is only one spot for every six applicants. The annual program will take place from June 3-28 and consists of lectures, laboratories, and discussions sessions focusing on ideas, tools, and current topics in complex systems research in mathematical, physical, living, and social systems. Students also complete team projects related to topics discussed during the program…

Each year the Department of Physics recognizes undergraduate students with a variety of awards. This year’s honorees are Kevin Kelly, Vu Nguyen, and Kevin McDermott.…

The third annual Hichwa Summer Research Fellowship has been awarded to Vincent Burns. Burns works with Professor Nicolas Lehner as a member of the KODIAQ (Keck Observatory Database of Ionized Absorbers toward QSOs) collaboration. The aim of KODIAQ is to study the diffuse plasma of the universe where the bulk of the baryonic matter may be present. Specifically, we seek to understand how galaxies interact with the IGM at redshift z~2-3.5 (i.e., when the Universe was ~2-3 billion years old).…

Prof. Kathie Newman, Department of Physics, is being recognized with this year’s Director of Graduate Studies Award. The award is given by the Graduate School to recognize the person who has made the most significant impact on graduate studies in his or her program.…

The Graduate Physics Students’ group (GPS) held its second annual Spring Conference on Wednesday, May 1. This conference showcased the research of graduate students across all research groups in the Department of Physics.

There were 16 students who presented posters of their research. The students answered questions during the open sessions, and were judged. Awards for the posters went to Rich Pimpinella (1^st…

Prof. Margaret Dobrowolska-Furdyna, the Rev. John Cardinal O'Hara C.S.C. Professor of Physics, is a recipient of the 2013 Joyce teaching excellence award.  The Rev. Edmund P. Joyce C.S.C. Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching are given annually to faculty who have had a profound influence on undergraduate students through sustained exemplary teaching. Faculty committees in each of seven disciplinary areas review the peer and student nominations. The undergraduate teaching award is supported by a gift from the late Father Joyce’s classmates in the Class of 1937.…

Professor Colin Jessop, Department of Physics, was recently appointed to two research management positions at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. CERN is the world's leading high energy physics laboratory and home of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).…

The Department of Physics at the University of Notre Dame inducted 11 undergraduate physics majors and 2 physics professors into Sigma Pi Sigma on Friday, April 26. Professor Peter Garnavich, faculty advisor of the Society of Physics Students, and Professor Mitchell Wayne, Department Chair, presented the inductees with their honor cords.…