The Physics Department is frequently in the news, and often hosts conferences, workshops and other big events.

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News & Events

UW-Madison CMS Tier-2 Support through 2017
January 5th 2012
The UW-Madison CMS Tier-2 Computing Team has won support for their operations during 2012-2017, as part of the US CMS operations program of the National Science Foundation, funded through a Princeton University Cooperative Agreement. UW-Madison portion of the award is expected to be $2.89 M over those 5 years. The principal investigator is Prof. Sridhara Dasu.
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=1120138

Big aluminum sphere will heat gases to 500,000 degrees
January 4th 2012
Researchers will be able to simulate the superheated gases that form the sun's magnetic field with a one-of-a-kind sphere that moved Wednesday into a new physics lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For full article, visit the following link:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/uw-superheating-project-aims-to-explore-magnetic-fields-ft3m7te-136712028.html

Discovery of Higgs is Getting Closer
December 13, 2011
ATLAS and CMS experiments present Higgs search status 13 December 2011. In a seminar held at CERN today, the ATLAS and CMS experiments presented the status of their searches for the Standard Model Higgs boson. Physics Faculty involved: Wu (ATLAS), Smith (CMS), Pan (ATLAS), Mellado (ATLAS), Herndon (CMS), Dasu (CMS) & Carlsmith (CMS)
Learn more... http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2011/PR25.11E.html

Wisconsin Science Festival
September 22, 2011
UW-Madison hosts the inaugural Wisconsin Science Festival September 22-25. Physics related presentations include "The Physics of Color" and "The Physics of Football". Please visit the links below for more information:
Wisconsin Science Fest
WSJ article

Nanoelectronics for 2020 and Beyond Grant Awarded to UW-Madison Researchers
Sep 19, 2011
The National Science Foundation has partnered with the Semiconductor Research Corporation to award a $1.7M grant to researchers at the University of Wisconsin, Northwestern University, and the University of Pittsburgh for research supporting the Nanoelectronics for 2020 and Beyond Initiative. Prof. Mark Rzchowski (UW-Physics), Prof. Chang-Beom Eom (UW-Materials Science and Engineering), and Prof. Jack Ma (UW-Electrical and Computer Engineering) join with Prof. Chad Mirkin (Northwestern University), Prof. Chandralekha Singh (Univ. Pittsburgh) and Prof Jeremy Levy (Univ. Pittsburgh, project leader) to investigate the fundamental physical properties of nanoscale oxide interfaces, and their applications to nanoelectronics. With present electronic devices only hundreds of atoms across, traditional semiconductor technology is butting heads with basic physics and materials science. Enabled by the atomic level control with which Prof. Eom designs and creates three-dimensional oxide heterostructures, the team will investigate the fundamental characteristics of oxide electronic interfaces, their nanoscale modification by scanning probe, and their dense, large-scale integration. This project is enabled by team members' previous advances in oxide nanostructures, reported in Science, Nature Nanotechnolgy, and Nature Communications.

UW CMS Computing Team Wins NSF Grant for New Computing Model
Sepetember 13, 2011
Prof. Sridhara Dasu and his CMS computing team at Wisconsin won an NSF grant to develop a new computing model for the CMS experiment at the LHC. This project will enable dynamic access to existing world-wide LHC data caches and provide the capabilities for applications on any laptop, server, or cluster, to access data seamlessly from wherever it is stored. Data access will no longer require the operation of large scale storage infrastructures local to the participating processors. "Any data, Any Where, Any Time", is there goal. This is a collaborative grant with similar levels of funding and scope at the Universities of Nebraska in Lincoln and California at San Diego. For further information see:
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=1104447

10th Annual String Phenomenology Conference (String Pheno 2011)
August 22, 2011
The 10th Annual String Phenomenology Conference (String Pheno 2011) is being held at the UW-Madison on August 22-26, 2011. The goal of the conference is to bring together researchers of diverse subfields in physics and mathematics to present and discuss recent developments in connecting observable particle physics and cosmology with the domain of fundamental theory. The meeting is co-chaired by Professors Gary Shiu and Lisa Everett. Further information can be found at the conference website: http://conferencing.uwex.edu/conferences/stringpheno2011/index.cfm

The Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment Begins Taking Data
August 15, 2011
The Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment has begun its quest to answer some of the most puzzling questions about the elusive elementary particles known as neutrinos. The experiment’s first completed set of twin detectors is now recording interactions of antineutrinos (antipartners of neutrinos) as they travel away from the powerful reactors of the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group in southern China. For more information click here and click here.

Physics Department is a partner of the Center for Theoretical Underground Physics and related areas (CETUP*)
March 7, 2011
UW Physics Department joins physics departments of the universities at South Dakota in establishing a new initiative - a Center for Theoretical Underground Physics and Related Areas (CETUP*). The main goal of CETUP* will be to bring together people with different talents and skills to address the most exciting questions in physics, astrophysics, geosciences, and geomicrobiology. CETUP* envisions a group of theorists in year-round internet-based conversations about underground science. To complement the virtual communication, we are proposing summer programs in the Black Hills of South Dakota, near the Sanford Lab. We are currently planning the first CETUP* program during the summer of 2011. The tentative dates are June 20 through July 8. For more information click here.

The Year of the Higgs? A Live Webcast From NSF
February 11, 2011
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland will start up again around February 21, 2011. The National Science Foundation will have a webcast with Gustaaf Brooijmans of Columbia University and the US ATLAS experiment, and Aaron Dominguez of the University of Nebraska and US CMS experiment, to discuss the experiments and their roles in the search for the Higgs boson and what to expect in 2011. For more information click here.

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