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Introduction to University of Rochester Department of Physics and Astronomy

Introduction to University of Rochester Department of Physics and Astronomy. Professor Arie Bodek Chair, Physics and Astronomy University of Rochester August 2006. University of Rochester.

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Introduction to University of Rochester Department of Physics and Astronomy

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  1. Introduction to University of RochesterDepartment of Physics and Astronomy Professor Arie Bodek Chair, Physics and Astronomy University of Rochester August 2006

  2. University of Rochester • The smallest major research university (among the 29 tier-one research universities) in terms of students and faculty (but not in terms of research funding and facilities) • About 3500 undergraduates (900 per year) • About 3000 graduate students • About 300 faculty in the College (River Campus) • About 300 faculty in the Medical School • (also Eastman School of Music, and Laboratory for Laser Energetics). • Physics and Astronomy Ranked 2nd Nationwide in Overall Graduate Student Satisfaction • Aim to provide a supportive environment to our faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates. • Promote collaboration between departments and research laboratories

  3. Recent Graduate Student National Awards to UR Graduate Students in Particle Physics - as an example • 2006 APS Tanaka Award for Best PhD Thesis in Experiment Particle Physics Nationwide (Florencia Canelli) • URA Best PhD Thesis in Particle Physics at Fermilab 2004, 2002, 2001 (out of 50 PhD Theses each year) (Canelli, Yang, Fitch).

  4. Selected Recent UR Faculty National Awards - choose one example per year • 2006 Adoph Lomb Medal of the Optical Society of America - Prof. John Howell • 2005 Sakurai Prize in Theoretical Particle Physics of the American Physical Society - Prof. Susumo Okubo • 2004 Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics of the American Physical Society - Prof. Arie Bodek • 2003 New State Professor of the Year Award - Carnegie Foundation - Prof. Steve Manly • 2002 Esther Hoffman Beller Award of the Optical Society of America - Prof. Emil Wolf • 2001 Elected Member of the National Academy - Prof. Len Mandel

  5. Department of Physics and AstronomyAt the University of Rochester • Chair (final year of term) Arie Bodek • Associate Chair (TA and RA support) Frank Wolfs (06-07) Assistant Chair Sondra Anderson • Faculty Executive Committee - Nick Bigelow, Dan Watson, Frank Wolfs • Teaching Faculty: 30 primary in Physics and Astronomy + 10 (joint appointments) + 35 (Cross Disciplinary Physics) • Research Faculty - 10 • Research Associates - 40 • Graduate Students -100 (15-20/year) • Undergraduate majors - 60 (15-20/year) • Technical and Administrative Support

  6. Examples of a few Facilities • Department Barnes Computing Center - 3 system managers • Barnes Laboratories: Electronics, Design and Machine Shops (Design Engineer, Electronic Tech, Machinist) • Research Labs in Particle and Nuclear Physics • Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) • Spitzer Space Telescope (+ local Mees Observatory) • Institute of Optics + Other Optics Centers • Center for Photoinduced Charge Transfer Reactions • B&L Research Laboratories in Astrophysics, Condensed Matter, Quantum Optics... etc. • Strong Medical School (Biological/Medical Physics) • Facilities at Xerox and Kodak, and collaborating UR departments. • Experiments at Fermilab, Jefferson Lab, CERN, Brookhaven, CLEO (Cornell), JPARC (Japan)

  7. Research area 1 -Physics at small distances: 16 faculty • Particle Physics (12 faculty) • Bodek, Demina, Ferbel, Melissinos, McFarland, Slattery, Thorndike, (+new search) (Particle Experiment) • Das, Hagen, Rajeev, Okubo, Orr (Particle Theory) • Nuclear Physics (4) - Cline, Manly, Wolfs, Schroeder (Nuclear/Particle Expt) • Experiments at Fermilab (MINERvA - Neutrinos, CDF, Dzero), CERN (LHC-CMS), Cornell (CLEO), BNL (RHIC), LBL, and Japan (JHF-JPARC neutrinos) and other facilities

  8. Research area 2 -Physics at intermediate distances Condensed Matter Physics • 5 faculty + 20 collaborating faculty • Gao, Bocko , Rothberg -Experiment • Shapir, Teitel , (Jordan) - Theory • About 20 participating faculty in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering Electrical Engineering departments and LLE Quantum Optics and Optical Physics • 8 faculty + 10 collaborating faculty • Bigelow, Howell, Boyd, Novotny -Experiment • Eberly, Wolf, Stroud, Agrawal, Jordan - Theory • About 10 faculty in Institute of Optics/LLE: Biological and Medical Physics • 4 faculty (+new faculty search) + 5 collaborating facuty • Foster, Zhong, Knox, Conwell -Exp /Theory • 5 Collaborating Faculty from Medical Center

  9. Physics at intermediate distancesCross-Disciplinary Physics Program • Accelerator Physics (in collaboration with Fermilab) • Atomic and Molecular Physics, Quantum Optics and Engineering (AMO_ • Biological and Medical Physics (Also MD/PhD Program) • Chemical Physics (also Joint PhD in Physics and Chemistry) • Communication, Computational and Information • Plasma Physics and Fusion (Also Joint PhD in Physics and Mech E) • Imaging Science and Astrophysics • Condensed Matter Physics • Low Temperature Physics • Materials Science • Micro-Electronics • Optical and Laser Physics (Also Joint PhD in Physics and Optics) • Joint PhD in Physics and History of Science (with special permission) • 35 External advisors in other departments:. • Internal Advisor in Physics and Astronomy • Approximately 30% of our students do Ph.D. thesis in this 2-advisor mode.

  10. Research area 3 -Physics at large distances • Astronomy and Astrophysics 8 faculty plus collaborating faculty from RIT Forrest, Pipher, Watson, Quillen (+new) - Experiment/Observation- Blackman, Frank, Thomas - Theory And - Collaborative Program with 4 faculty at RIT • Plasma Physics and Laser Fusion - 7 faculty plus LLE Frank, Blackman, Chen, Betti, Simon, Meyerhofer McCrory Exp/TheoryAnd LLE Senior Scientists • Geophysics and Environmental Physics/Climate Tarduno, Blackman, Knox, Douglass

  11. Philosophy of Graduate Education • Graduate Students at Rochester come from a diverse national and international background. • Student level of preparation varies, therefore, students can progress at their own pace. Advanced students can take second year courses and pass the prelim examination after 1 year. Typical students take the prelim exam after 1.5 years. Students who have not taken some undergraduate courses can take upper level undergraduate courses if needed, and take the prelim exam after 2 years. • All students are expected to pass and continue on towards a Ph.D. Our retention rate is high, and the few students who leave the Ph.D. program do so for personal reasons (e.g. changing fields). • The number of available research positions is such that all entering students are expected to join research groups as Research Assistants after one year as Teaching Assistants. • The size of the entering class is determined under the assumption that all students pass the prelim exam and continue on to a Ph.D. i.e. it is not determined by the need for TA’s ( Note that in some large state schools the number of available research positions can accommodate only half of the entering class thus half of the entering students are expected to leave.)

  12. Each year, we aim at a class of 15-20 (TA Slots are 22)

  13. Educational Programs for Graduate Students • Two day TA training session for graduate teaching assistants before classes (one week long for Lab TA’s), followed by Weekly Graduate Research and Teaching Seminars. PHY597 - Attendance required of all first year graduate students • In some courses Teaching Assistants (TA's) conduct recitations and grade homework and exams. Some are taught using a computerized homework grading system and TA's have office hours/help room. In some TA's are also Workshop Leaders, Laboratory TA’s co-teach laboratory sections with undergraduate Teaching Interns (TI's).In some TA's only grade homework /office hours. • Certificate in College Teaching of Physics. A program to train graduate students to teach a course as a full instructor. (for a teaching careers) Graduate TA’s are trained during the academic year as TA’s in an introductory undergraduate physics course. Subsequently, they teach the same course as a full instructor in the summer session. (ask Prof. Watson). • Machine shop and Electronics mini-courses. These mini-courses are offered each summer to the 30undergraduates who participate in our REU Research Experience for Undergraduate) program. They are open to interested graduate students in summer. Undergraduate and Graduate courses in computing, electronics and data acquisition (P322A and P322B) can be taken during the academic year.

  14. Where do our graduate students go • Department has graduated about 750 Ph.D.s . At present, about 250 are faculty members at Universities or Academic Research Institutes • In 1999-2000: 28 Ph.D. Graduates. (14 per year) • Universities+Labs: 18 14 Postdocs (Research) , 3 Assist. Professors, (teaching), 1 Astronaut • Industry: 10 8 Scientists/Engineers, 2 business

  15. Each year, we aim at a class of 15-20 (TA Slots are 22)

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