Spring 2024 Seminars
(All seminars take place in RNS 210 unless otherwise indicated)
February 14 – Physics Summer CURI and Research Opportunities Information Session. Watch Video
March 6 – From genes to geometry: how biology uses physics to sculpt a visceral organ, Noah Mitchell’12 University of California, Santa Barbara.
March 8 – Spiking at the Edge: Excitability at interfaces in reaction-diffusion systems, Colin Scheibner ’17 Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University.
March 13 – Physics Alum journey from Olaf to Grad School, Jessye Gassel ’21 PhD student at George Mason University. Watch Video
April 4 – How to fight Cancer with Physics: a Medical Physicist Assistant’s Perspective, Jack Thull ’20 Medical Physicist Assistant Mayo Clinic Rochester. Watch Video
April 23 – A history of the Universe: From the big bang to today, Dr. Keith Olive, University of MN
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Fall 2023 Seminars
September 13 – Physics Phaculty Demo – Your phavorite physics phaculty opher some of their best demonstrations and hear about the upcoming colloquium schedule phor the phall!
October 12 – High-energy physics: a very brief primer, Shoaib Munir, St. Olaf Physics Dept. Watch Video
November 8 – Nucleosynthesis Studies in Astrophysics, Christopher West, St. Olaf Physics Dept. Watch Video
STEM Job and Internship Panel for Summer 2024 – Watch Video
November 15 – Low-loss silicon nitride photonics for Earth Science & Astrophysics applications, Hani Nejadriahi, postdoctoral fellow at NASA JPL’s Microdevices Laboratory. Watch Video
December 8 – General Relativity, LIGO, and a One Hundred Quintillion Mile Race, Jay Tasson, Carleton College Physics Department. Watch Video
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Spring 2023 Seminars
(All seminars take place in RNS 210 unless otherwise indicated)
February 8 – Physics Summer CURI Student Information Session, Brian Borovsky, Jordan Dull and Anne Gothmann. Watch Video
March 8 – Phighting Cancer with Physics: The Role of a Medical Physicist in Radiation Oncology, Nellie Brovold’ 18, Clinical Medical Physicist – Mayo Clinic. Watch Video
March 15 – Trapped Ion Quantum Computing at Quantinuum, Lucas Sletten ’15, Quantinuum Computing. Watch Video
April 5 – Radiation Modeling at Hypersonic Speeds, Sara Swenson, University of Colorado Boulder. Watch Video
April 19 – Physics in action to understand our changing ocean, Dr. Jennifer MacKinnon, Ocean Dynamics group at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and UC San Diego. Watch Video
April 26 – Alumni Post-College Pathways Panel (TEAM-UP event). Watch Video
May 3 – Particle Physics talk, Prof. Ben Messerly, 3pm. Watch Video
May 10 – Little Shop of Physics – Community Engaged Physics talk, Heather Michalak, Colorado State, Watch Video
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Fall 2022 Seminars
(All seminars take place in RNS 210 unless otherwise indicated)
September 14 – Physics Phaculty Demo – Your phavorite physics phaculty opher some of their best demonstrations and hear about the upcoming colloquium schedule phor the phall! Watch Video
September 28 – Organic crystals in future solar cell technology, Jordan Dull ’16, St. Olaf College. Watch Video
October 12 – Panel: 3M Society of Women Engineers
October 26 – Joint Poster Session with Carleton
November 9 – Quantum Computing with Electron Spins in Semiconductors, John Nichol ’06, University of Rochester. Watch Video
November 21 – Astronomy research, careers in the field and graduate school, Emily Moravec ’14, Green Bank Observatory. Watch Video
December 7 – Climate modeling and the stratosphere: future changes to the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation, Kevin DallaSanta ’04 Watch Video
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Spring 2022 Seminars
February 9 – Summer CURI Projects in Physics – Physics faculty will highlight their ongoing research projects. RNS 210 OR Watch Video
February 23 – Physics in Industry: Transitioning from academia into a successful career in semiconductor manufacturing, Dr. Mark Wilson Engineering manager within the Yield Department and Intel Corp. Watch Video
April 13 – Opportunities in Materials Science Research, Gabe McAndrews ’19 and Raymond Wieser ’19. Watch Video
April 20 –Parametric Design and Computational Modeling for Complex Engineering Applications, Emily Johnson ’16, University of Notre Dame.
April 27 – Landscape Evolution Modeling: Growing and Eroding Mountains using Physics & Python, Dr. Shelby Ahrendt ’17. Watch Video
May 4 –Investigating quantum speed limits with superconducting qubits, Dr. Singh, Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at the Colorado School of Mines. Watch Video
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Fall 2021 Seminars
(All seminars take place in RNS 210 unless otherwise indicated)
September 15 – Physics Phaculty Demo – Your phavorite physics phaculty opher some of their best demonstrations and hear about the upcoming colloquium schedule phor the phall! Watch Video PART 1 & PART 2
November 10 – Decoding retinal ganglion cell activity from starlight to sunlight, Kiersten Ruda ’13, postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. Watch Video
December 1 –What does it really mean for a lake to “turn over”? Radiatively driven convection in a deep lake, Jay Austin, UM Duluth. Watch Video
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Spring 2021 Seminars
(All seminars take place virtually with Zoom)
February 24 – 3:00 pm – Energy systems planning under extreme weather events, Speaker Armando L. Figueroa Acevedo, a Strategic Advisory Consultant at Black & Veatch, the Vice-Chair of the IEEE Resource Adequacy Working Group, and a certified Professional Engineer. Watch Video
February 24 – 4:15 pm – Information Session on Physics Faculty CURI Projects, Prabal Adhikari, Alden Adolph, Brian Borovsky, and Anne Gothmann. Watch Video
March 31 – 3:00 pm – Building students’ physics identity through communities of practice, including public engagement efforts, Kathleen Hinko, physics education research at Michigan State University. Watch Video
April 21 – 3:00 pm – Factors that control near-source infrasound at open-vent volcanoes: A case study at Villarrica Volcano, Chile, Bryan Rosenblatt, Boise State University.
May 5 – 3:00 pm –Radio-Active CoWS: Studying the Interplay Between Radio Galaxies and Galaxy Clusters, Emily Moravec, postdoctoral researcher at the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences and a support scientist at the Czech node of the European ALMA Regional Center. Watch Video
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Fall 2020 Seminars
(All seminars take place virtually with Zoom)
August 26th – 3:00 pm – Tracing galactic-scale magnetic fields across cosmic time Speaker Anna Williams, Macalester College. Watch Video
September 23 – 3:00 pm – Design of Knitted Superelastic Tire Treads for Next Generation Non-Pneumatic Rover Tires Speaker Henry Koon ’16, University of Minnesota.
October 7 – 3:00 pm – Quantum Computing with Electron Spins in Semiconductors Speaker John Nichol, University of Rochester.
October 21 – 3:00 pm – Physics, mathematics, and computations are pivotal to address power engineering problems Speaker Hugo Villegas Pico, Iowa State University. Watch Video
November 4 – 3:00 pm – Physics majors Rahaf Youseff (Title: Characterizing Noise in Quantum Computing) and Evan Strong (Title: 2D Topological Defects in Liquid Crystals) present summer 2020 research projects. Watch Video
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Spring 2020 Seminars
(All seminars take place in RNS 210 unless otherwise indicated)
February 19th – 3:00 pm – Composite Posts for Enhanced and Tunable Adhesion Speaker Helen Minsky, Carleton College. Watch Video
February 26 – 3:15 pm – The Quantum World through Wigner functions Speaker William Case, Grinnell. Watch Video
CANCELLED – March 4 – 2:00 pm – Life after undergrad: What can I do with my physics major? Speakers Brian Borovsky, Alden Adolph, Anne Gothmann and Eric Hazlett. View slides from presentation. Watch Video.
If you are interested in learning about the field of biomedical engineering, watch the video below. This is the final product of an Independent Study by Kyle Palermo. Karim Khalid contributes to the video as well, based on his IS in the topic last year. Watch Video.
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Fall 2019 Seminars
(All seminars take place in RNS 210 unless otherwise indicated)
September 11 – (Wednesday) 3:00 pm in RNS 210 – Physics Phaculty Demo – Come see your phavorite physics phaculty opher some of their best demonstrations and hear about the upcoming colloquium schedule phor the phall!
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Spring 2019 Seminars
(All seminars take place in RNS 210 unless otherwise indicated)
February 13, 2:00 pm – Odd Elasticity: Soft Engines from Active Solids Speaker Colin Scheibner class of 2017 physics major and physics Ph.D. student at University of Chicago. Watch Video
February 27, 3:15 pm – Interfacial dynamics: droplets and suspensions Speaker Sungyon Lee, Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota speaking on fluids, energy and the environment. Watch Video
March 6, 3:15 pm – From nuclei to stars: A journey in nuclear physics Speaker Shelly Lesher, University of Wisconsin Lacrosse department of physics on nuclear physics
March 20, 3:15 pm – Physicist as Entrepreneur – Renewable Energy, Climate Change, and Working to Solve Big Challenges Speaker Jimmy Randolph ’06, Founder and Chief Technical Officer of two renewable energy companies, TerraCOH and Darcy Solutions. Watch Video.
April 17, 2: 15 pm – Atom-thick physics: the progeny of graphene Speaker Erik Henriksen, Assistant Professor at Washington University Department of Physics Watch Video
May 1, 7:00 pm in RNS 150 – The Physics of Football Speaker Timothy Gay, Ph.D., Professor or Physics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Watch Video
May 3, 4:00 pm – Honors Day Poster Session, Regents Hall of Natural Science Fourth Floor Atrium
May 15, 3:15 pm – Directed Undergraduate Research (DUR) presentation Watch Video
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Fall 2018 Seminars
September 12 – (Wednesday) 3:00 pm in RNS 210 – Physics Phaculty Demo – Come see your phavorite physics phaculty opher some of their best demonstrations and hear about the upcoming colloquium schedule phor the phall!
September 27 – (Thursday) 11:20 am in RNS 210 – Learn about the Engineering Dual Degree program at Washington University in St. Louis – PIZZA Provided!!!!
September 28 – (Friday) 1:15 pm in RNS 150 – Building a Comprehensive Picture of Stellar Evolution Speaker: Natalie Gosnell, Associate Professor of Physics at Colorado College. View slide presentation. Watch video.
October 31 – (Wednesday) 3:00 pm in RNS 210 – From Flocking Birds to Swarming Bacteria: A Study of the Dynamics of Active Fluids Speaker: Xiang Chen Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota. Watch Video.
November 1 – (Thursday) 6:00 pm in RNS 210 – Physics summer Opportunities Panel. Come listen to your phellow physics peers talk about their physics or engineering related summer experiences. Watch Video
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Spring 2018 Seminars
February 21 – The Role of the Physicist in Proton Radiation Therapy Speaker Nicholas Remmes Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medical Physics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
February 21 – Summer Opportunities Student Panel, Panel: St. Olaf College Physics Majors
March 7 – Using Classical Mechanics to Study Quantum Mechanical Systems Speaker Jim Perez Ph.D. Professor of Physics, Luther College Watch Video
March 23 – Messing with Mother Nature: Climate Change and Climate Engineering Speaker Thomas Ackerman Ph.D., Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, and Director of the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO), University of Washington Watch Video
April 11 – Joint Poster Session with Carleton College
April 25 – Emergent phenomena: from starlings to spin liquids Speaker: Rebecca Flint Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Physics, Iowa State University Watch Video
May 2 – Divide & Concur: Conquering Constraints Speakers: Prof. Amy Kolan, and St. Olaf College physics majors Brian Nevins ’19, Shane Kosieradski ’18, Zhifei Yang ’19 Watch Video
May 6 – Grad School Panel discussion – Panelists: Kali Gustafson ’17 ( masters in structural engineering), Trevor Stewart ’18 (masters in electrical engineering), Emma Dawson ’18 (PhD in physics), Brynna Freitag ’18 (masters in mechanical engineering)
May 9 – Acoustic Propulsion: It’s Not Rocket Science Speaker: Emma Dawson ’18, St. Olaf College Physics Major Watch Video
Fall 2017 Seminars
September 13 – Physics Phaculty Demo – Come see your phavorite physics phaculty offer some of their best demonstrations and hear about the upcoming colloquium schedule for the phall! – Watch the Video
September 28 – Speaker: Suyog Shrestha Pushing the Frontiers of Knowledge at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider – Postdoctoral Research Associate in Physics from the Ohio State University working at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland – Watch the Video
October 11 – Building Better Batteries for the Body Speaker: Erik Scott ’87, Ph.D., Bakken Fellow, Technical Fellow and Director of Advanced Development at Medtronic Incorporated, Restorative Therapies Group.
November 8 – Near-field optics for investigating biomolecular self-assembly below the diffraction limit of light Speaker: Keisuke Hasegawa Ph.D., Department of Physics at Grinnell College
November 29 –Controlling Absorption with Nanophotonics: Photovoltaics and New Optical Materials Speaker: Vivian Ferry Ph.D., Chemical Engineering & Materials Science Department at the University of Minnesota
Spring 2017 Seminars
February 8 – Nanoscience Research at the University of Minnesota Speaker: James Marti, Ph.D., Senior Scientist and Outreach Coordinator, Minnesota Nano Center, University of Minnesota See Video
March 8 – 3:10 pm Precipitation formation and marine stratocumulus as a natural laboratory
March 13 – 3:10 pm Assembling new coral-based tools for reconstructing ancient environmental change
March 15 – 3:10 pm The frontiers of air pollution research using observations from space
April 5 – 2:00 pm The Two-Higgs-Doublet Model Speaker: Patrick Kneschke, PhD. student at University of Stavanger, Norway. See Video
Tuesday, April 18 – 7:00 pm in RNS 297 – Careers in Engineering: Next Steps After St. Olaf Speaker: Nick Rydberg ’08, Vice President of Engineering, Minnesota Health Solutions See Video
April 19 – 2:00 pm From Newtonian Physics to Tube-Jack Testing: A Preservation Engineering Career Path and Doctoral Work Speaker: Elizabeth Manning ’07, PhD, Structural engineer-in-training at Meyer Borgman Johnson (MBJ) in Minneapolis See Video
April 26 – 7:00 pm in RNS 297 – Graduate School Panel
Fall 2016 Seminars
September 14 – Physics faculty demo – Come see your favorite physics professors offer some of their favorite demonstrations and hear about our colloquium schedule for the fall! See Video
September 23 (Friday-3:30) – Graduate Research Life and Atomic Layer Processing for Nano-devices Speaker Nate Eigenfeld ’11, UC Boulder, Mech Eng. See Video
September 29 (Thursday 3:15 in RNS 150) – Physics & Chemistry joint seminar – Speaker: Arthur White from Iowa State, Materials Chemistry
October 3 (Monday 6:15-9:15 pm at the University of Minnesota, Physics and Nanotechnology Building) Women in Physics & Astronomy group at the U of M present: Life After Undergrad. More info and RSVP click here.
October 12 – Causing a Big Racket with Riny Magnets: emergent 1/f noise in the collections of oscillating nanomagnetic dots – Speaker: Barry Costanzi ’09, visiting professor of physics at St. Olaf College See Video
October 19 – 7:00 pm at the University of Minnesota, Memorial Hall) – Misel Family Lecture series – Quantum Computing & The Entanglement Frontier; Speaker John Preskill, Professor of Theoretical Physics at California Institute of Technology
November 1 (Tuesday 7:00 pm at Carleton College) – Verbrugge physics lecture
November 9 – 3:30 pm St. Olaf & Carleton Joint Physics Poster Session Fourth Floor Atrium at St. Olaf College
November 14 – Physics Seminar -RNS 210 “Feel” your brain: Exploring stiffness of brain cancer with medical imaging
November 21 – Physics Seminar -RNS 210 Fantastic Excitons and How to Find Them
November 28 – Physics Seminar – RNS 290 Snow and Firn: Impact of Microscale Properties on Macroscale Climate Indicators
2016 Spring Semester Seminars
February 17 – Speaker: Holger Müller, Assistant Professor of Physics, University of California, Berkeley; Testing the Standard Model and Searching for the Dark Side Using Atomic Physics See video
March 2 – Speaker: Demian Cho, Assistant Professor, St. Mary’s University-Winona, Minnesota; Neutron Stars as a Laboratory See video
March 30, Speaker: Sam Kelly, Assistant Professor, Large Lakes Observatory and Dept. of Physics, University of Minnesota Duluth; Subsurface Waves in the Oceans and Lake Superior See video
April 6 – Tour of Sage Glass in Faribault, MN. 2:00-4:00 pm
April 11, 3:00 in RNS 290 – Speaker: Patrick Mengyan, Instructor & Post Doc. Research Associate in Physics at Texas Tech University; Magnetism and Mu dynamics in Vanadium Dioxide compounds and other current research interests See video
April 20 – Speaker: Elliot Schmidt ’12, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota; Materials Science: A great career path for the budding physicist or chemist See video
April 20 – Grad School Panel 7:00 pm in RNS 208, Panelists: Elliot Schmidt ’12, Kay Pepin ’10, Jordan Dull ’16, Owen Puls ’16 & Andrew Hoffman ’16.
April 22 – Friday at 3:00 pm – Speaker: Brianna Thomas, Ph.D Candidate in Physics at Purdue University; Quantum Percolation: Electrons in a Maze
April 27 – Physics Career Panel at 7:00 pm in RNS 210. Panelist: Katie Wineman ’11, Steve Hornberger ’87 & Pete Malamen ’71. Networking reception to follow.
May 6 – Honors Day Poster Session for the Sciences – 4:00 – 5:30 pm Fourth Floor Atrium. Appetizers served.
2015 Fall Semester Seminars
September 16 – Faculty Demo show See video
September 30 – Speaker: Pete Dahlberg, University of Chicago. Title: Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy Reveals Ultrafast Energy Transfer Events In Photosynthesis. See video
October 5 – 7:00 pm at Carleton College. Speaker: Paul McKuen, Cornell University. The Art and Science of Nanoscale Carbon
October 21 – Speaker: Michael Rutkowski; Research Associate, Institute for Astrophysics at the University of Minnesota. A (very) abridged view of 25 years of discoveries with the Hubble Space Telescope. See video
December 9 – Speaker: Professor Russell Holmes; Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota Directing excited state transport in organic semiconductors for enhanced photoconversion in solar cells
2015 Spring Semester Seminars
March 4: C3PO: Customizable Computer Coaches for Physics Online Speaker Evan Frodermann ’02, University of Minnesota
March 18: Why Should You Care About Nuclear Fusion? Speaker David Crandall, retired from the U.S. Department of Energy
March 25: From Protons to Pictures: A Physicist in Medical Imaging . Speaker Kay Pepin ’10, Ph.D. Candidate, Biomedical Engineering at Mayo Graduate School
April 15: Career Panel. Panelists Roberto Zayas, St. Olaf Piper Center & Brian Borovsky, St. Olaf Professor of Physics.
April 27: Grad School Panel. Panelists Elliot Schmidt ’12, Lauren Snyder ’12, & Lucas Sletten ’15
April 29: Guiding Cracks with Geometry. Speaker Noah Mitchell ’12, PhD Candidate at University of Chicago
2014 Fall Semester Seminars
September 10: Physics Demonstrations. Come see your favorite physics professors offer some of their favorite demonstrations and hear about our colloquium schedule for the fall!
September 24: Ultrafast Electron Microscopy: Imaging at the Space-Time Limit Speaker David J. Flannigan, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota
October 8: What can you do with a science degree? A career in patents! Speakers Scott Berger ’08 & Jonathan Sry, both of IBM Patent Drafting Center
October 22: Joint Poster Session with students from St. Olaf & Carleton College Physics Departments, 3:30 Fourth Floor Atrium see photos
November 5: The Differences in Onset Time of Conjugate Substorms Speaker James Weygand ’92, UCLA, Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences Department
November 19: Student Panel on Summer RUEs. Speakers: Jon Schut ’15, Sara Swenson ’15, Daniel Hickox-Young ’16, Emily Witt ’17
December 3: What’s Colder Than Cold? Speaker: Eric Hazlett, Professor of Physics, Carleton College
2014 Spring Semester Seminars
February 19: Innovations in Geothermal Electricity Generation: CO2-based geothermal heat mining and waste energy recovery from hydrocarbon production operations. Speaker: Jimmy Randolph PhD, ’06, Chief Technical Officer and Senior Scientist with Heat Mining Company LLC
March 5: Applications of particle physics in cancer treatment at Mayo Clinic . Speaker: Robert Miller, MD, MS, MBA, Vice Chair for Proton Research in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Mayo Clinic
March 12: Pattern formation in fluid flows: creating fingers and toes in viscous flows Speaker: Radha Ramachandran University of Chicago
April 10: Fundamental Symmetries and a Quantized Theory of Gravity Speaker Jay Tasson, assistant professor of physics at Carleton College
April 16: 2D Materials and Molecular Interfaces for Energy and Electronics Speaker: James Johns, University of Minnesota, Chemical Physics
April 17: Physics Career Panel Speakers: Heidi Edmonson ’96, Scott Nelson ’83, Casey Rutherford ’04, Nick Rydberg ’08
May 2: Nuclear Matter in Large Nc QCD with Heavy Quarks Speaker Prabal Adhikari, PhD Candidate at University of Maryland College Park
2013 Fall Semester Seminars
September 11: Hidden Rivers and Lakes of the Northeast Sahara and Implications for the Origin of Mars Channels. Speaker: Dr. Ted A. Maxwell, Senior Scientist Emeritus at the National Air and Space Museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies.
September 18: Why you can run on water (and cornstarch). Speaker: Scott Waitukaitis, Ph. D., University of Chicago
Monday, October 21: The Rare Earths: Top Spot for the Bottom of the Periodic Table. Speaker: Stan Trout, Ph.D.
Friday, November 22: HELICON PLASMA SOURCES FOR SPACECRAFT PROPULSION Speaker: Matt Wiebold, Ph.D. College of St. Benedict & St. John’s University
Tuesday, December 3: IMAGING NANOMAGNETISM: USING SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY TO EXAMINE COBALT RINGS AND WIRES Speaker: Jessica Bickel, Ph.D. Mount Holyoke College
2013 Spring Semester Seminars
February 27: Ultrafast Experiments on Liquid Drop Coalescence, speaker Joseph D. Paulsen ’07, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago.
March 13: Measuring Tissue Viscoelasticity Using Ultrasound, speaker Ivan Nenedic ’06, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic Ultrasound Research Laboratory.
CANCELLED April 5 (Friday): Physics, math, and high performance computing: the role of beauty in numerical analysis and space weather forecasting, speaker Alec Johnson ’97, Ph.D., Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven, Belgium.
April 17: Physics in the Noise: Understanding Magnetism at the Nanoscale, speaker Dan Endean, ’09, Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Minnesota
May 1: Internship: The Who, the How, and the Wow! speakers Trevor Knapp, ’13, Emily Morvec. ’14, Anne Jacobsen, ’13
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2012 Fall Semester Seminars
October 03: Human-Machine Interaction and Traffic Safety: Driver Drowsiness Detection, speaker Dr. Maria Rimini-Döring, senior expert for Automotive Human-Machine Interaction in the Corporate Research and Development Division of Robert Bosch GmbH in Stuttgart, Germany.
October 10: Schrodinger’s Cat & Einstein’s Mouse: Quantum Theory, Measurement & Many Worlds, speaker Arthur Cunningham, St. Olaf Philosophy Department.
October 24: Water Beneath the Ice – Investigations of an Antarctic Subglacial Lake, speaker Bob Jacobel, St. Olaf Professor of Physics.
November 07: Off Campus Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU): A how-to student panel discussion.
November 20: The Eyes Have It: Investigating How the Brain Behaves and Learns, speaker Dr. Jo Hopp, UW Stout.
November 26: Phase Shifts, Photons, Feedback, and the Hidden Organ in your Eyes, speaker Jay Demas, St. Olaf Assistant Professor of Physics & Biology.
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Spring Semester Seminars 2012
02/23: The Art and Materials Science of the Motorcycle, 11:30 am in Regents 210. Dr. Charles Falco, Professor of Optical Sciences and Physics, University of Arizona. Seminar is sponsored by Physics, Chemistry, and the St. Olaf Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
03/28: Friction on the Small Scale: Incredibly Tiny and Extremely Fast, Brian Borovsky, Department of Physics, St. Olaf College
04/18: Pulsating Heat Pipes: Passive Cooling Mechanisms for Superconducting Magnets, John Pfotenhauer ’79, Professor, Department of Engineering Physics & Department of Mechanical Engineering, Univeristy of Wisconsin–Madison
04/18: Special Event, Physics Alumni Career Panel: What can a physics major lead to? Featuring alums: John Pfotenauer ’79, Dana Morrow ’06, Rolf Jacobson ’01, and Brad Cleveland ’82. Regents Hall 210 at 5:00 pm. Join the Panelists for dinner at 6:30 pm in the Gold Ballroom–bring your caf tray.
5/02: Where’s my Robot? Jason Engbrecht, Associate Professor of Physics, Department of Physics, St. Olaf College
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Fall Semester Seminars 2011
09/14: Penguins Smell Less from Space–Using High-resolution Imagery to Change Polar Science, Paul Morin, Polar Geospatial Center, University of Minnesota
09/28: Favorite Demos (That’s demonstrations, not demolitions–we hope!), Physics Faculty, St. Olaf College
10/12: Antarctic Subglacial Water Systems – A Frontier for Interdisciplinary Research, Dr. Slawek Tulaczyk, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz
10/20, Thursday 2:15 pm in Regents 210: The Neutrino Oscillation Industry, Richard Gran, Associate Professor of Physics, University of Minnesota-Duluth (note change from usual meeting day and time)
11/02: Ice Dynamics and Sea Level Rise–Revising the Prediction, Dr. Knut Christianson, Physics and Environmental Studies Departments, St. Olaf College and Department of Geosciences, the Pennsylvania State University
11/16: Science in the Healthcare Industry: Technology, Career Opportunities and Perspectives from a St. Olaf Physics & Math Graduate, Nadine Nereson, PhD ’91, Senior Manager, Ultrasound R&D, Philips HealthCare
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Spring Semester Seminars 2011
02/23: An Introduction to Spin Transport in Nanoscale Metallic Devices, Michael J. Erickson ’04.
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota
03/16: Biophysical Properties and Applications of Cholesterol in Lipid Membranes, Benjamin Stottrup, Assistant Professor of Physics, Augsburg College
04/13: Time-Resolved Contrast-Enhanced MR Angiography: Rapid Imaging Techniques for Evaluation of the Peripheral VAsculature with MRI, Casey Johnson ’06, Doctoral Candidate, Biomedical Engineering, Mayo Graduate School, Mayo Clinic
04/14, Thursday 4:00 pm: My (Second) Favorite Disk: Understanding Saturn’s Rings, Dr. John Weiss, Assistant Professor of Physics & Astronomy, Carleton College
04/27: Applications of Particle Physics in Cancer Treatment (and update on the Northfield Mayo Clinic Radiation Therapy Facility) Robert C. Miller, M.D., Consultant and Professor of Oncology, Mayo Clinic and Mayo College of Medicine
04/28, Thursday 4:00 pm: Gravitational Lensing: Exploring the Hidden Universe using a Dark Matter Lens, Joshua Nollenberg, Assistant Professor, Physics & Astronomy, Macalester College
05/05, Thursday 4:00 pm: Evidence for an Unfolded Border-Collision Bifurcation in Paced Cardiac Tissue, Dr. Carolyn Martsberger, Postdoctoral Associate, Duke University Medical Center
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Fall Semester Seminars 2010/11
09/15: Favorite Demos (That’s demonstrations, not demolitions–we hope!), St. Olaf Physics Faculty
10/13: Introduction to Atomic Spectroscopy, David Nitz, St. Olaf Physics Professor
10/27: Off Campus Summer Research Experiences, St. Olaf Senior Physics Majors
11/3: What Happens to River Water When it Enters the Ocean?, Rob Hetland ’92, Associate Professor, Dept. of Oceanography,
Texas A&M University
11/17: (3:30 pm) Collaborative investigation of the frictional properties of molecularly-thin organic coatings for improvement of microscale devices, Erin Flater, Assistant Professor of Physics, Luther College
12/8: How can we produce more electricity renewably while substantially reducing anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions? One approach: combining geothermal energy with geologic CO2 sequestration, Jimmy Randolph ’06, PhD Graduate Student, Geology & Geophysics, U of MN
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Spring Semester Seminars 2010
02/17: Warped Space-time, Exploding Stars and the Beginning of Time: An Introduction to Gravitational-wave Physics, Eric Thrane, Post-doc on LIGO, University of Minnesota.
02/24: Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Applications, Dr. Armando Manduca, Professor of Biomedical Engineering Co-Director, Biomathematics Resource, Mayo Clinic
03/03: I am a Physicist in Biomedical Industry. Why Do They Call Me an Engineer?, Dr. Mohac Tekmen, Senior R&D Engineer at Medtronic
03/24: Neutrino Oscillations and the MINOS Experiment, Matthew Strait, Physics & Astronomy, University of Minnesota
04/14: Water on the Moon–The NASA LCROSS Mission, Charles (Chick) Woodward, Astronomy Professor, University of Minnesota
04/28: Rivers as Complex Systems, Nikki Strong, Visiting Assistant Professor, Dept. of Environmental Studies, St. Olaf College
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Fall Semester Seminars 2009/10
9/16: Favorite Demos, St. Olaf Physics Department Faculty.
9/21: Amniotes Wave and Amphibians Look: Retinal Activity and the Wiring of Visual Circuits, Joint Biology, Physics and Neuroscience Seminar, Jay Demas, PhD, Physics Department, St. Olaf College (Monday, 4:00 pm in RNS 310)
9/30: A St. Olaf Physics Major Can Lead You Anywhere: Journeys to Africa, Agricultural Engineering and Water Management,Jane Rossing Frankenberger, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University.
10/7: Van Vleck and Slater: Two Americans on the Road to Matrix Mechanics, Michel Janssen, Program in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, U of MN
10/14: Designing Solutions for Better Health, Kristen Mock Nelson ’92, GE Health Care
10/21: The Electrical Charge and Motion of Objects Inserted into a Plasma, John Goree, U of Iowa
11/4: Europium-rich EuO as a Laboratory for Exploring Colossal Magnetoresistance, Melissa Eblen-Zayas, Carleton College.
11/11: High Spatial Resolution Chemical Imaging. Applications in Biology, Geology and Art, Carol Hirschmugl, Dept. of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
11/18: Climate Change in the Polar Regions, Bob Jacobel, St. Olaf Physics and Environmental Studies Department.
12/9: Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Applications, Armando Manduca, Professor Biomedical Engineering, Mayo Clinic
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Spring Semester Seminars 2009
No Seminars in February, 2009
No Seminars in March, 2009
4/8: Magnetic Fusion Energy Research: From PEGASUS to ITER, Michael Bongard ’04, UW-Madision, Research Assistant, Engineering Physics
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Fall Semester Seminars 2008/09
9/17: Search for Dark Matter, Angie Reisetter, Physics Department, St. Olaf College
9/26: From Atoms to Crystals: Making Solids that Nature Doesn’t Make, James N. Eckstein, Physics Professor, University of Illinois (Friday, 1:00 pm in RNS 310)
10/22: Aerogeophysical Mapping of Ice Geology in Antarctica: From Tectonics to Climate Change, Dr. Carol Finn, US Geological Survey. Seminar sponsored by the Grace A. Whittier Endowment.
11/05: Application of a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics to High-Performance Computer Design, Greg Edlund, Senior Engineer, IBM, Rochester, MN
11/19: The LHC:Exploring Fundamental Matter (or a Creator of Black Holes?), Evan Frodermann ’02, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota
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Spring Semester Seminars 2008
2/20: Plasma Physics and Fusion Research on the Madison Symmetric Torus, Doug Stone ’05, Research Assistant, University of Wisconsin-Madison
2/27: What Determines Sea Level and Why is it Rising? Bob Jacobel, Physics Department, St. Olaf College
3/05: John Scott Russell, Fermi Pasta Ulam, and the Straits of Gilbraltar: A History of Solitions, Amy Kolan, Physics department, St. Olaf College
3/12: A Dynamical System Approach to the Cocktail Party Problem: Using Optics Instead of your Brain to Separate Signals, Marty Baylor, Physics Department, Carleton College
4/9: The Intersection of Physics, Biology, and Engineering: The Life of an Interdisciplinary Industrial Scientist, Eric Schilling ’99, Sr. Biomedical Systems Engineer, Medtronic Inc. Minneapolis, MN (abstract TBA)
4/16: The Early Solar System: Surprises from NASA’s Stardust Mission, Dr. Russell Palma, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Minnesota State University-Mankato
4/30: My Undergraduate Research Experience: Fusion Energy (direct drive), Plasma Physics, and a Rockin’ Good Time, Brett Anderson ’08, St. Olaf Physics Major
4/30 – 5/2: St. Olaf College Science Symposium
5/7: Nanoscale Friction Reserach: Micromachines and Beyond, Cullen O’Neill ’09, St. Olaf Physics Major
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Spring Semester Seminars 2008
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Fall Semester Seminars 2007
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Fall Semester Seminars 2006/2007
9/13: Tracks Across the Sky: Computational Astronomy 101, David Nitz, Professor of Physics at St. Olaf College
9/20: A Uniformitarian View of Catastrophic Events in West Antarctica, Christina Hulbe, Associate Professor of Geology at Portland State University
9/27: What’s So Strange About Quantum Mechanics?, William Case, Professor of Physics at Grinnell College
10/4: CMR Materials: Nanoscale Inhomogeneity and Colossal Responses, Melissa Eblen-Zayas, Assistant Professor of Physics at Carleton College
10/11: Maintaining Diversity in an Artificially Propagated Population, Steve McKelvey, Associate Professor of Mathematics at St. Olaf College
10/25: Molecular Free Volume, Bret Mayo, Research Specialist at North Dakota State University
11/8: Thad G. Walker, Professor of Physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Spring Semester Seminars 2005/2006
2/8: Progress in the St. Olaf Positron Research Group or Ole the Positron, Jason Engbrecht, St. Olaf College
Two Seminars sponsored by The Pew Midstates Science & Mathematics Consortium:
2/16: Seeing the Light: Demonstrations for Optics and Light, Doug Arion, Carthage College
2/17: Life begins at 22: Preparing students for successful careers after college, Doug Arion, Carthage College (Hedberg Distinguished Prof. of Intrepreneurial Studies)
Joint Seminar with Biology, Chemistry and Physics:
2/22: Development and Application of a 3-D Perfusion Bioreactor Cell Culture System for Bone Tissue Engineering, Blaise Porter, Tissue Growth Technologies, Minnesota
3/1: A Gentle Introduction to Markov Chains, Random Walks, and Ising Model, Robert Dobrow, Carleton College
3/15: Geoarchaeology–An Interdisciplinary Approach to Solving Archaeological Problems, Robert Shuster, U of Nebraska-Omaha
4/5: Baseball Physics, Eli Rosenberg, Iowa State University
4/12: Glacier Sliding and Bed Erosion: Experiments beneath the Svartisen Ice Cap, Norway, Neal Iverson, Iowa State University
4/19: Celebrating Accomplishments of the Molecular Beam Spectroscopy Group at St. Olaf College; A Retrospective on Jim Cederberg’s Career, Contributors include Dr. David Nitz and Brian Borovsky
4/26: The Acoustics of the French Horn, John Nichol ’06, St. Olaf College
5/3: March of the Pixels: A Satellite Tour of Antarctica, Ted Scambos, U of Colorado
5/10: Imaging Dark Matter with Gravitational Lensing, Liliya Williams, U of Minnesota
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Fall Semester Seminars 2005/2006
9/14: When anti-matter attacks. . ., Joan Marler, Lawrence University
9/22 (Thursday): Climate and Water at the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research Site, Antarctica, Andrew Fountain, Portland State University
10/5: Fire & Ice–When volcanoes and ice mix, Brian Welch, Physics Department, St. Olaf College
10/12: Neutrinos: From Cosmic Rays and Accelerators to Old Iron Mines and the Fate of the Universe, Alec Habrig, U of MN-Duluth, Physics Department
10/26: Studying Friction at the Atomic Scale, Brian Borovsky, Physics Department, St. Olaf College
11/2: Novel Semiconductor Materials–Challenges for Characterization and Modeling, P. Paul Ruden, University of Minesota
11/10 Astrophysics in the Laboratory, Michael Brown, Physics Department, Swarthmore College
11/30: Chaos, decoherence, and the difference between the quantum and the classical world, Arjendu Pattanayak, Physics Department, Carleton College
12/7: From St. Olaf Physics to Transportation Engineering, Paul Morris, Civil Engineering Grad School, University of Minnesota