On the flanks of the Sierra Negra volcano in Central Mexico, nearly 14,000 feet above sea level, there is a giant field of water tanks. Three hundred water tanks, to be exact, occupying a space that's roughly the size of three football fields. 

UMD alumnus Daniel D'Ippolito, who received his PhD in plasma physics in 1975, died on April 3, 2016, in Erie, Colorado. His AIP obituary can be seen here.

JQI Fellow Gretchen Campbell has been named the new NIST Co-Director of the Joint Quantum Institute, effective April 1, 2016. Campbell joined the JQI in 2009 and is also a UMD Adjunct Associate Professor and APS Fellow. In recent years she has received various accolades for her atomtronics research, including the APS Maria Goeppert-Mayer award. Campbell succeeds JQI Fellow Charles Clark, who has held the position since 2011. JQI Fellow Steven Rolston will continue as the UMD Co-Director. Rolston, on behalf of JQI, would like to thank Clark for his service. "I would particularly like to highlight Charles’ leadership and active engagement with the public in the promotion of quantum physics. The JQI will continue to benefit from his dedication." Rolston continues, "Gretchen is an outstanding research colleague and I look forward to working with her in her new role as Co-Director."

Professor Sylvester James Gates participate in a debate on whether the Universe is a simulation.

Recent alumnus Geoffrey Ji was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowhip, which recognizes outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering and matematics fields.