Ji Selected as 2016 Recipient of Herman Feshbach Prize in Theoretical Nuclear Physics

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Published: Thursday, October 22 2015 15:45

The American Physical Society has selected Xiangdong Ji as the 2016 recipient of the Herman Feshbach Prize in Theoretical Nuclear Physics for pioneering work in developing tools to characterize the structure of the nucleon within QCD and for showing how its properties can be probed through experiments; this work not only illuminates the nucleon theoretically but also acts as a driver of experimental programs worldwide.

Professor Ji, who also serves as Director of the Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, leads the PandaX experiment. He held post doctoral positions at CalTech and MIT and was on the MIT faculty before joining UMD in 1996. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society. Ji's previous awards include: 2014 Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Award; 2010 National 1000-Talent Expert, China; and, 2003 recipient of the Outstanding Overseas Young Chinese Scientist award from the National Science Foundation of China.

The prize will be presented at an upcoming 2016 APS meeting.

Gretchen Campbell Named 2015 APS Fellow

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Published: Monday, October 19 2015 10:25

Gretchen Campbell has been elected Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) for pioneering contributions to the study of superfluidity in atomic-gas Bose-Einstein condensates using ring-shaped condensates.

Founded in 1899, the APS is the world's second largest organization of physicists. Fellows are recognized by their peers for advances made in knowledge, through original research and publications. The total number of newly elected Fellows in any one year cannot exceed one per cent of Society memberships.

Campbell, an Adjunct Assistant Professor, is recognized for advancing the emerging field of physics known as atomtronics. She was an NRC Postdoctoral Fellow in Jun Ye's group at NIST, Boulder and joined the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) as a Fellow in 2009.

Wolfgang Losert is a Challenge Grant Recipient

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Published: Monday, October 19 2015 10:04

Wolfgang Losert was among this year's Challenge Grant recipents announced at the joint University of Maryland, Baltimore and the University of Maryland, College Park Research and Innovation Seed Grant Program on October 14.

The new Challenge Grant, created to expand and improve the seed grant initiative, offers two years of funding to senior investigators to help them gather initial data. Professor Losert was chosen for his work on Nanotopographic Diagnostic Panel for Breast Cancer Metastasis. This research brings together investigators with expertise in physics (Losert), chemistry (John Fourkas) and tumor cell biology (Stuart Martin) to examine the differences between how normal cells and tumor cells respond to surface texture. Leveraging unique capabilities to manufacture a range of different surface textures and advanced imaging and analysis of cell movement, the project will define cell behaviors that are associated with a higher probability of cancer metastasis. By testing these principles on tumor cells isolated from breast cancer patients, the project will also develop methods for rapidly testing the risk that patient tumor cells will metastasize, which is the principal cause of cancer patient death.

Korean-Americans Ready for Innovation Alliance

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Published: Monday, October 19 2015 08:52

Professor Eun-Suk Seo writes, in the Washington Times, that Korean-Americans are ready for innovation alliance.

2015 Nobel Prize in Physics Awarded for Work on Neutrinos' Metamorphosis

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Published: Friday, October 09 2015 11:08

University of Maryland physicists were part of the team of scientists that built and participated on the experiment Super-Kamiokande, for which Takaaki Kajita shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics. The team’s experimental data, described in a 1998 paper “Evidence for Oscillation of Atmospheric Neutrinos”, Y. Fukuda et al. (Super-Kamiokande Collaboration)Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 1562 (1998), demonstrated that neutrinos change identities. This metamorphosis requires that neutrinos have mass. The discovery has changed our understanding of the innermost workings of matter and can prove crucial to our view of the universe. The Maryland physicists who coauthored this research paper include Research Scientist Erik Blaufuss, Distinguished University Professor Jordan Goodman and Professor Greg Sullivan. They worked along with a team of Maryland post-docs, graduate and undergraduates who all contributed to this major experimental effort. We extend our congratulations to Professors Takaaki Kajita and Arthur McDonald for selection by the Nobel Committee.