News » Archives » June 2019

New research led by a team of scientists at the University of Notre Dame has called into question the validity of of a past study suggesting semiconductors cannot be cooled optically with lasers, and suggests that the elusive quest to cool a semiconductor using lasers should continue.

Professor Umesh Garg has been selected as the recipient of the BITS Pilani Distinguished Alumnus Award – 2019. The award will be conferred at a special convocation to be held on July 21.

Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani (BITS) is a private institute of higher education and a deemed university. The institute is one among the six Indian 'Institutes of Eminence' recognized by the Government of India in 2018. It has four campuses and focuses primarily on higher education in engineering and sciences and on its management program. Its history, influence, wealth and endowments have made it one of India's most prestigious universities.…

Astrophysicist Jeffrey Chilcote built an astronomical observatory on the campus of his high school with three other seniors in 2004, and used the observatory to photograph moon craters and study the planets. His curiosity about astronomy, and planets in particular, never waned.

The annual Physics Olympics event was hosted by the Notre Dame Department of Physics and the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program on Wednesday, June 12. Rising juniors and seniors in the REU programs at Notre Dame, Purdue, and Michigan State participated in the event, though students in those three programs represent undergraduate institutions from all over the country. Overseeing the event were Umesh Garg…

The University of Notre Dame Freimann Professor of Physics Ani Aprahamian was the  keynote speaker for the graduate commencement ceremony at the American University of Armenia (AUA) on June 8, 2019 in Yerevan, Armenia. Aprahamian is also Director of the A. Alikhanyan National Laboratory (AANL) of Armenia. She congratulated the graduates on the special occasion and encouraged them to join the group of young scientists at the AANL (formerly Yerevan Physics Institute, YerPhI) to reshape the institution as an important player in the transformation of Armenia and science.…

Freimann Professor Ani Aprahamian served as a juror at a regular regional stage of the international youth conference “Falling Walls Lab” that was held in the JINR Visit Centre, Dubna, Russia. The project was launched in Germany and was called in memory of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Its aim is to provide international communication, an opportunity for the youth to present their ideas, scientific concepts, or to propose brand-new ways of solving problems in all spheres of human activities. A presentation should not exceed the time limit of three minutes and should consist of three slides. Winners of regional stages are given a chance to present their projects to the international jury in Berlin.…

Freimann Professor Ani Aprahamian was invited to talk at the International Symposium “The present and the future of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements” in Dubna, Russia. The symposium was organized by Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in the context of celebrations of the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements. The event was dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the periodic law and the development of the periodic table of chemical elements by a Russian scientist Dmitry Mendeleev.…

Michael Hildreth, professor of physics and associate dean for research and graduate studies, has been appointed to the national High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP). HEPAP advises the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) on policies for the support of High Energy Physics. Hildreth will serve a 3-year term.