NIU Physics News
2012
- Paper co-authored by Prof. Phillippe Piot chosen for journal's list of top articles. This work showed a new, practical way to make a particle beam's current distribution conform to any desired shape. NIU PhD recipient Marwan Rihaoui was also a co-author of the paper.
- Physics majors and Research Rookies Mason Hayward and Joshua Stevens have been named Simmon Scholars. Simmon Scholars are selected based on their academic performance and commitment to the Research Rookies program, in addition to majoring in STEM and/or health fields.
- Professor Andreas Glatz receives $4 million Department of Energy grant for superconductor research
- The New Muon g-2 Experiment at Fermilab has received "Mission Need" approval from the Department of Energy. NIU faculty members Mary Anne Cummings, Michael Fortner, and David Hedin of Physics and Nick Pohlman of Mechanical Engineering are collaborators on this project, which should measure the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon to unprecedented accuracy, probing the Standard Model and possible new physics extensions.
- Adjunct Professor Nestor Zaluzec has received the Microanalysis Society's Presidential Science Award, which honors a senior scientist for outstanding technical contributions to the field.
- The Higgs boson has been discovered! NIU physicists played important
roles as part of the ATLAS detector collaboration team at the CERN Large
Hadron Collider which made the definitive determination, and as part of
the Dzero detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider which provided
strong supporting evidence including the crucial fact that the Higgs
boson decays to bottom quark-antiquark pairs. The Higgs boson is the
first new fundamental particle discovered since the top quark, in 1995.
See the CERN press release, an NIU Today article, the Daily Chronicle article, the AP article,
an NIU Today preview from just before the discovery announcement, and the
Fermilab press release. - NIU Today article on Observatory viewing of transit of Venus.
- Pati Sievert, NIU physics alumna, interviewed in the Midweek about science, physics, and outreach
- Prof. Suzanne Willis receives Eychaner Award
- Prof. David Hedin named APS Fellow. Citation: For his many important contributions to the D0 muon system design, construction, and operation, and his leadership in exploiting muons in a variety of physics studies at D0 both in Run I and Run II of the Tevatron.
- Research Rookie Garrett Wise profiled in the Northern Star
- NIU physicists co-author patent for Proton CT system that generates 3D images. Article in Symmetry Magazine!
- Pati Sievert elected Vice Chair of new APS Forum on Outreach and Engaging the Public; quoted on the Forum's mission
- NIU Research Rookies include two physics students!
- Prof. Blazey accepts 2-year post at White House Office of Science and Technology
2011
- 2011 Departmental and University Awards
- 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded to Dr. Saul Perlmutter, Dr. Brian Schmidt, and Dr. Adam Riess, whose work indicates that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate.
- Prof. Fortner is profiled by the Chicago News Cooperative: The Illinois GOP's Favorite Physicist , and in the New York Times: It Can Take a Scientist to Help Understand Redistricting , and on WBEZ: Redistricting No Mystery to General Assembly Scientist , and in Ohio: New legislative district lines in Ohio can be drawn fairly .
- NIU Observatory featured in Daily Chronicle article
- Physics graduate students Suhr, Calkins, and Cole win prestigious fellowships and awards
- Departmental Student Awards
- Departmental and University Awards
- Prof. Ito demonstrates Japanese archery at Japanese Festival
- Sailesh Chittipeddi, NIU Physics MS graduate, named President and CEO of Conexant by Golden Gate Capital
- Pati Sievert, who started her NIU career in the Department of Physics, wins Supportive Professional Staff Presidential Award for Excellence
- Professor Dhiman Chakraborty named Presidential Research Professor
- High school students and teachers learn about physics as part of QuarkNet
- Liz Holden (MS 2006) has published a short story in the 1/11 issue of the Midwest Literay magazine (p 104) in addition to the Fall 2010 issue of Tryst Literary Magazine and the Winter 2010 issue of The Blinking
- Cursor.
- Zhili Xiao and collaborators find fast, easy way to make hydrogen nanosensors
- NIU grad Chris Chiaverina receives Distinguished Service Citation from the AAPT
- NIU observatory in the Midweek!
- NIU Physics alumnus Sokrates Pantelides '69 named University Distinguished Professor of Physics and Engineering at Vanderbilt University
- Philippe Piot receives Homeland Security grant
- Physics students Matthew Davis and Matt Ellis take STEM third place prize in Undergraduate Research Days
- Fermilab experiments narrow allowed mass range for Higgs boson FNAL press release
- D0 dimuon charge asymmetry FNAL press release
- Dimuon charge asymmetry - paper, talks, media