Events

Cain Rinkoski: "Examining Multi-Wavelength Variability and Magnetic Interactions in the Polar ST LMi"

Camellia Schwartzman: "Electropolymerization of Nile Blue and Toluidine Blue dyes for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Electrocatalysts"

Lila Schisgal: "Galactic Building Blocks: Disturbed HI and Hierarchical Assembly in DDO 68 and NGC 5238"

K.B. Murphy: "A Thermal Control System for the ATLAS HGTD Module Construction Process"

• Reed LeFevre: "Building and Breaking Chaos: Solving the Lorenz Equations on an Analogue Circuit, and the Impact of Noise"
  and
• Edward Wallace: Title TBD

Caedan Miller: Finding X-Ray Binaries in NGC 3109

and

Kalev T. Murray-Rouse: Modeling of the Overcontact Eclipsing Binary V826 Aur

Justin Potts: Machine Learning Aided Computational Study of Functional Groups for Water Purification and Li Recycle

and

Xiaocheng Lin: Validation and Calibration of Standard Atmospheric Models Based on Meteorological Balloon Data

Addison Dau: Degradation of Perovskite Films by UV Exposure

Rohan Lichtenberg: Electro-optic Detection of Plasma Generated THz Pulses

Isaac Kisker: THz Spectroscopy for Non-Destructive Perovskite Composition Analysis

Wrap up your term with a valuable conversation on life outside of Macalester. Liz Karlen, from STEM Career Advising, will present on topics including:

* Decoding a job description and how to leverage transferable skills in application processes

* Strategies for the job/internship search using Mac's Career Exploration resources

* Alumni outreach/follow-up

Join the Physics and Astronomy Department in welcoming Andreia Carrillo, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Carleton College. 

There are billions of galaxies in the Universe, and despite their ubiquity, we are still perplexed by their formation and evolution across cosmic time. To fully understand the processes involved in galaxy formation and assembly, we need to fully resolve them. No other galaxies in the Universe can be studied with as much intricate detail as the Milky Way. As a Galactic archaeologist, I unveil the assembly of our home Galaxy by decoding the history embedded in the spatial, kinematic, and chemical information of its stars. Having data for millions of individual stars makes the Milky Way a unique test bed for theories on galaxy formation, observations that have required us to further refine and revise our understanding on how galaxies interact and evolve. Using stars as a fossil record, We have been laying the foundations to understand (1) the complete picture of the assembly history of our Galaxy, (2) the distinct nature of stars in different parts of the Milky Way, and (3) the building blocks of a galaxy.

Dr. Shahib Iqbal, Assistant Professor of Physics, University of Wisconsin - La Crosse

Dr. Iqbal’s current research focuses on exploring the optical interaction between silver nanostructures and optical fluorophore such as acridine, thiazolino orange, rhodamine etc. He focuses on synthesis of metallic nanostructures, plasmonic, ion beam materials analysis, characterization of nanostructures, and the interaction between quantum emitters and nano-antennas for metal enhanced photoluminescence and optical biosensing applications.

Physics and Astronomy Department will host a meeting on summer 2025 research opportunities.  In this meeting you will learn about off-campus and on-campus options for (paid!) summer research in physics, astronomy, and engineering, and how to apply for these opportunities.  Physics and Astronomy faculty will also give short presentations on their own research programs.

Claire Zukowski, Assistant Professor, UMD Swenson College of Science and Engineering

Quantum gravity aims to combine the quantum physics relevant at scales below the size of an atom with Einstein’s theory of gravity, which applies at the largest scales. This is crucial for understanding regimes where a large amount of gravitating mass is compressed to a tiny distance scale, for instance near the singularity of a black hole or close to the Big Bang that populated our universe. Holography gives a realization of quantum gravity through explicit dualities between quantum physics and gravity. After giving an overview of this framework, I will show how several geometrical aspects of gravity are emergent from quantum physics. Importantly, my focus will be on a geometry called de Sitter spacetime, which closely resembles our actual universe.

Speaker: Michael Coughlin, Assistant Professor, School of Physics and Astronomy, UMN

With the detection of compact binary coalescences and their

electromagnetic counterparts by gravitational-wave detectors, a new
era of multi-messenger astronomy has begun. In this talk, I will
describe how the gravitational-wave community is using these mergers
to constrain the unknown equation of state of cold supranuclear
matter, and to measure the Hubble constant. I will then discuss how
current ground based optical surveys and dedicated follow-up systems
are being used to identify more of these, and how we are developing
models to test what we find. We will close with near-term prospects
for the field.

Physics & Astronomy alums will share an overview of their academic and career paths post Mac, and answer your questions about their choices:

• Peter West, ‘93 - Polar Semiconductor
• Korey Haynes, ‘09 - Astronomy Magazine
• Jason Beal, ‘22 - Ramboll
• Ross Ferguson, ‘23 - UMN Physics PhD Program
  
  
  

Eric Hazlett, Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics at St Olaf is presenting:

When people think about physics their thoughts go to complicated mathematics and or experiments. Often, they view themselves as unable to do this. This barrier is propagated by the media and pop culture and can create inequalities and obstacles to inclusion and belonging. By engaging with the community, we can combat these stereotypes and enable more people to enjoy physics and science. I will discuss my path to this current state of our community engagement efforts at St. Olaf and discuss the future plans for expansion in the budding field of Informal Physics Education.

Be inspired as current physics and astronomy students reflect on conducting research this past summer and their unique projects. Learn about the different types of projects available for Mac students, both on campus and farther afield. Find out how these opportunities came about, and what the overall experience was like for the students participating. This seminar will be particularly helpful for first- and second-year students curious about research, and those looking to better understand what to expect and how to get involved.

Joint Chemistry and Physics Special Lecture:

Zach Fried (Mac '21)

Zach is an astrochemist who seeks to understand the physical and chemical processes that occur in space. Until recently, in order to model interstellar abundances and predict new molecules for detection, observations have relied on complex chemical models based on a vast network of interconnected reactions. Zach's research group has developed a method involving machine learning that requires no prior knowledge of the interstellar conditions or reaction pathways. He is working to expand these machine learning techniques by including isotopically substituted molecules that provide important insight into molecular formation and astrophysical history. He hopes to apply machine learning methods to increase the efficiency and automation of rotational spectroscopy.

Join us for this week's Physic Seminar Special Lecture by:
Macalester Professor John Cannon

Macalester is entering the second full observing season as a founding member of the MACRO Consortium, which operates the Robert L. Mutel Telescope (RLMT) located in Arizona.  This robotic telescope is transforming the way we teach astronomy here at Macalester and offering our students an even broader range of research opportunities, from telescope operating software creation to student-driven research topics.  Prof. Canon will introduce the RLMT, and share the exciting ways that students from across the Consortium are benefiting from access to this remote observatory.

Professor Renee Sher, Wesleyan University is presenting.

Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells have set efficiency records at least once a year in the past decade. This material offers numerous possibilities and  presents several mysteries. Among them, the optical properties are widely tunable by mixing halide compositions, but at the same time halide segregation under illumination reversibly changes the material. In my group, we use terahertz  spectroscopy as a non-contact conductivity probe with excellent time resolution  as a tool for studying advanced solar cell materials. This talk will focus on how we  use election’s local motion to understand why the inclusion of inorganic cations helps achieve high efficiencies in solar cells and to probe the local environment in  wide-bandgap mixed-halide perovskites.

Refreshments at 3 PM.

The Physics & Astronomy Department invites you to attend the last senior honors thesis presentation of the semester:

Sylvia Greene: "Simulation of Polymerization on Surfaces: Implications for Abiogenesis."

All are welcome! 

Refreshments at 3 p.m.