Events at Physics |
Events During the 2026 Fall Semester
August 2026
- Tuesday, August 4th
- Thesis Defense; 11:00 am - 1:00 pm; 5280 Chamberlin or
- Applications of Statistical Data Assimilation to Neutrino Flavor Oscillations in Solar and CCSN Environments, Caroline Laber-Smith, Physics PhD Graduate Student
- Wednesday, August 5th
- Social Gathering; 12:30 pm - 1:00 pm; Lawn in front of Birge Hall
- Summer Recess, Everyone is welcome
- Friday, August 7th
- Preliminary Exam; 10:30 am - 12:30 pm; 5310 Chamberlin
- Qubit control in Si/SiGe: Hopping based single qubit gates, Minyoung Kim, Physics PhD Graduate Student
- Sunday, August 9th
- Academic Calendar
- 8-week Summer Session Ends
- Wednesday, August 12th
- Social Gathering; 12:30 pm - 1:00 pm; Lawn in front of Birge Hall
- Summer Recess, Everyone is welcome
- Friday, August 14th
- Social Gathering; 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm; Picnic Point Fire Circle #2
- Dept of Physics Bonfire Social - RESCHEDULED
- Monday, August 17th
- Academic Calendar
- Faculty Contract Year Begins
- Wednesday, August 19th
- Graduate Program Event; 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm; Lawn in front of Birge Hall
- All Grad Lunch/recess, Everyone is welcome
- Thursday, August 20th
- Preliminary Exam; 10:00 am - 12:00 pm; 5280 Chamberlin
- Astrophysical Probes of Particle Dark Matter, Fabrizio Vassallo, Physics PhD Graduate Student
- Monday, August 24th
- UW Plasma & Fusion Hackathon; 8:30 am - 6:00 pm; Wendt Commons 305
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- Tuesday, August 25th
- UW Plasma & Fusion Hackathon; 8:30 am - 6:00 pm; Wendt Commons 305
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- Preliminary Exam; 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm; Chamberlin 5310 or
- Simulating Radio Strong Gravitational Lenses for the Dark Matter Substructure Inference Problem, Joyce Lin, Physics PhD Graduate Student
- Thursday, August 27th
- Graduate Program Event; 9:00 am - 10:30 am; 2241 Chamberlin
- Qualifying Exam - Classical Mechanics
- Preliminary Exam; 9:30 am - 11:30 am; B343 Sterling
- Physics and Machine Learning: How Each Can Benefit from the Other, Raheem Hashmani, Physics PhD Graduate Student
- Graduate Program Event; 11:30 am - 1:00 pm; 2241 Chamberlin
- Qualifying Exam - Statistical Mechanics
- Preliminary Exam; 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm; B343 Sterling
- Energy level measurement and analysis in Si/SiGe quantum dot devices, Alysa Huffman, Physics PhD Graduate Student
- Friday, August 28th
- Graduate Program Event; 9:00 am - 10:30 am; 2241 Chamberlin
- Qualifying Exam - Electricity and Magnetism
- Graduate Program Event; 11:30 am - 1:00 pm; 2241 Chamberlin
- Qualifying Exam - Quantum Mechanics
September 2026
- Tuesday, September 1st
- Graduate Program Event; 11:00 am - 12:00 pm; 3320 Chamberlin
- Notebook reclamation - Fall 2026 edition
- Department Coffee Hour; 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm; outside on the front steps (overlooking University Ave).
- Cookie Potluck!
- Council Meeting
- 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm; 2314 Chamberlin
- Wednesday, September 2nd
- Academic Calendar
- Fall Semester Instruction Begins
- Department Meeting
- 12:15 pm - 1:30 pm; B343 Sterling
- Thursday, September 3rd
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar; 10:00 am - 6:00 pm; 5310 Chamberlin Hall
- Strongly anharmonic flux-tunable transmon based on InAs-Al two-dimensional heterostructure , Arunav Bordoloi, NYU
- Astronomy Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; 4421 Sterling Hall
- Astronomy Colloquium: Show and Tell
- Friday, September 4th
- Physics Department Colloquium, Anderson, Lawler, Lin Colloquium;
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; Chamberlin 2241 - - Lessons from Physics, Academia and Washington - Can we save science?, Neal Lane, former NSF Director and Clinton Administration Science Advisor
- Monday, September 7th
- Academic Calendar
- Labor Day
- Wednesday, September 9th
- Preliminary Exam; 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm; Chamberlin 5310
- Investigation of superconducting systems — From microscopics and numerics to phenomenology, Gustav Romare
- Thursday, September 10th
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar; 10:00 am - 11:00 am; 5310 Chamberlin Hall
- Shaping Quantum Materials with Light, Daniel Kaplan, Rutgers
- Astronomy Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; 4421 Sterling Hall
- Astronomy Colloquium: Show and Tell
- Friday, September 11th
- Physics Department Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; Chamberlin 2241 -
- Standard Quantum Field Theory is incompatible with the Higgs boson, James Wells, University of Michigan
- Monday, September 14th
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar; 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm; 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- Painleve property: from dynamical accessibility of phase-space holes and gravity cusps in 1D Vlasov-Poisson dynamics to stellarator optimization for quasisymmetry, Wrick Sengupta, Princeton University
- Theory Seminar (High Energy/Cosmology); 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm; Chamberlin 5280
- De Sitter shockwave and static patch holography, Yiming Chen, Stanford University
- Wednesday, September 16th
- Black and Brown in Physics; 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm; Sterling B343
- First General Meeting of the Semester
- Thursday, September 17th
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar; 10:00 am - 11:00 am; 5310 Chamberlin Hall
- The Atomic Single Electron Transistor, Dahlia Klein, University of Chicago
- Preliminary Exam; 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm; B343 Sterling
- Magnetic Null Points Drifted by Magnetic Pressure and Tension Forces, Mary Yu, Physics PhD Graduate Student
- Astronomy Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; 4421 Sterling Hall
- Tracking the Grist and Flakes of Planetesimals with Dust Polarization , Daniel Lin, Jansky Postdoctoral Fellow, NRAO
- Friday, September 18th
- Preliminary Exam; 9:00 am - 11:00 am; 5280 Chamberlin
- Intersecting AI and high energy theoretical physics, Haotian Cao, Physics PhD Graduate Student
- Physics Department Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; Chamberlin 2241 -
- Exploring the Extreme Universe with Gamma-ray Observatories , Reshimi Mukherjee, Columbia/Barnard College
- Monday, September 21st
- Theory Seminar (High Energy/Cosmology); 11:30 am - 1:00 pm; Chamberlin 5280
- Beyond Δm²: Absolute Mass Sensitivity in Neutrino Oscillations, André de Gouvêa, Northwestern University
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar; 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm; 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- Waves in a Plasma Ocean: Wave-Particle Interactions Throughout the Solar System, Allison Jaynes, University of Iowa
- WiCOR/Astronomy Monday Science Seminar; 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm; WiCOR Space, 6515 Sterling Hall
- Coda of a Dying Sun, Konstantin Batygin, Professor, Division of Geological & Planetary Sciences, Caltech
- Tuesday, September 22nd
- Preliminary Exam; 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm; 5310 Chamberlin
- Random-Alloy Disorder Analysis in Si/SiGe Systems, Emma Brann, Physics PhD Graduate Student
- WiCOR Lecture - Fall 2026; 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm; Forum at the Discovery Building
- Planet 9 From Outer Space, Konstantin Batygin, Professor, Division of Geological & Planetary Sciences, Caltech
- Wednesday, September 23rd
- Thesis Defense; 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm; Sterling B343
- Study of Argon Dissolved in Water via EXAFS Spectroscopy, Roberta Candela , Biophysics PhD Graduate Student
- Thursday, September 24th
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar; 10:00 am - 11:00 am; Chamberlin 5310
- Emergent Clock Order and Giant Magnetoelectricity in van der Waals Magnets, Frank Gao, UW-Madison Chemistry
- Astronomy Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; 4421 Sterling Hall
- Black Hole Images: What they've taught us so far and how we can improve them, Lia Medeiros, UW-Milwaukee
- Friday, September 25th
- Physics Department Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; Chamberlin 2241 -
- New Horizons in Black Hole Imaging, Charles Gammie, University of Illinois
- Saturday, September 26th
- UW Madison Physics Department Picnic; 11:30 am - 1:00 pm; Rennebohm Park, 115 N Eau Claire Ave, Madison, WI 53705
- Sunday, September 27th
- Graduate Program Event; 11:00 am - 1:00 pm; Aubergine on Williamson St
- GMaWiP Welcome Brunch
- Monday, September 28th
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar; 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm; 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- Canceled - no seminar, Ben Dudson, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- Theory Seminar (High Energy/Cosmology); 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm; Chamberlin 5280
- Generalized Symmetries and the Dynamics of Gauge Theories, Zipei Zhang, University of Wisconsin-Madison
October 2026
- Thursday, October 1st
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar; 10:00 am - 6:00 pm; 5310 Chamberlin Hall
- Interface Engineering Across Bulk and Mesoscale Quantum Matter, Aravind Devarakonda, Columbia University
- Astronomy Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; 4421 Sterling Hall
- Multiphase Supersonic Outflows in Active Galactic Nuclei, Daniel Proga, University of Nevada Las Vegas
- Friday, October 2nd
- RISE-AI Reasoning in Science; 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm; WARF Seminar Hub Room 7560, Morgridge Hall
- Reasoning in Science Lightning Talks and Group Kickoff
- Physics Department Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 6:00 pm; Chamberlin 2241 -
- Cosmology with galaxy imaging surveys: Results from the Dark Energy Survey Year 6 analysis of galaxy clustering and weak lensing, Jessie Muir, University of Cincinnati
- Monday, October 5th
- Theory Seminar (High Energy/Cosmology); 11:30 am - 1:00 pm; Chamberlin 5280
- Probing Cosmic Neutrinos & Free-Streaming Radiation with the Cosmic Microwave Background, Gab Montefalcone, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar; 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm; 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- STAR_Lite: Hampton University’s flexible, table-top quasi-axisymmetric stellarator for testing resilient divertors, Shibabrat Naik, Hampton University
- Tuesday, October 6th
- Graduate Program Event; 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm; Sterling B343
- GMaWiP General Member Meeting
- Council Meeting
- 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm; 2314 Chamberlin
- Wednesday, October 7th
- Department Meeting
- 12:15 pm - 1:30 pm; B343 Sterling
- Thursday, October 8th
- Astronomy Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; 4421 Sterling Hall
- Dissecting the Nearest Spiral Galaxies with the Hubble Space Telescope, Julianne Dalcanton, Center for Computational Astrophysics/Flatiron Institute
- Friday, October 9th
- Preliminary Exam; 9:30 am - 11:30 am; 5310 Chamberlin
- Hunting for Galactic PeVatrons with IceCube, Leo Seen, Physics PhD Graduate Student
- Physics Department Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; Chamberlin 2241 -
- Mapping the Evolution of Planet-Forming Disks: From Global Gas Reservoirs to Inner Chemistry, Ke (Coco) Zhang, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Monday, October 12th
- Theory Seminar (High Energy/Cosmology); 11:30 am - 1:00 pm; Chamberlin 5280
- Aspects of Cosmology of Dark Particles & Dark Sectors, Anshuman Maharana, Harish-Chandra Research Institute
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar; 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm; 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- Parity-Time Symmetry of Plasma Waves, Hong Qin, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum; 2:15 pm - 3:30 pm; 5280 Chamberlin Hall
- Measuring the Z mass better than LEP, Michalis Bachtis, University of California - Los Angeles
- Tuesday, October 13th
- Nobel Prize; 3:00 pm; Chamberlin Lobby
- Celebration of Francis Halzen
- Wednesday, October 14th
- Graduate Program Event; 9:30 am - 10:30 am; Sign up for this session here:
- Prospective Grad Info Session (PhD + MS-Quantum), Sharon Kahn and Alice Kwok, Physics Graduate Coordinators
- Black and Brown in Physics; 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm; Sterling B343
- Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration
- GMaWiP; 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm; Sterling Hall 4421
- Graduate Student Panel
- Thursday, October 15th
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar; 10:00 am - 11:00 am; 5310 Chamberlin Hall
- An interdisciplinary journey from quantum materials to quantum sensors, Kin Chung Fong, Northeastern University
- Astronomy Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; 4421 Sterling Hall
- Modeling the Chemical and Dynamic Feedback Mechanisms of Planet Formation, Eric van Clepper, WiCOR
- Friday, October 16th
- Physics Department Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; Chamberlin 2241 -
- Neutron Stars Are Plastic, Matt Caplan, Illinois State University
- Monday, October 19th
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar; 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm; 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- DIII-D research towards ITER and future fusion power plants, Auna Moser, General Atomics
- Tuesday, October 20th
- Graduate Program Event; 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm; Chamberlin 5280 or
- Search for new physics in events with top quark pairs and missing transverse momentum with the CMS Experiment, Ameya Thete
- Wednesday, October 21st
- Preliminary Exam; 11:00 am - 1:00 pm; Chamberlin 5280
- Probing Element Specific Ultrafast Carrier and Spin Dynamics in Quantum and Magnetic Materials using X-FAST Instrument, Aakankshya Mishra
- Theory Seminar (High Energy/Cosmology); 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm; Chamberlin 5280
- Entanglement Limits on Coherent Enhancement, Zach Bogorad, Fermilab
- Thursday, October 22nd
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar; 10:00 am; 5310 Chamberlin Hall
- Update on UTe2, Daniel Shaffer , APS
- Astronomy Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; 4421 Sterling Hall
- Probing Cosmic Plasmas from Sub-AU to Gigaparsec Scales, Stella Ocker, Brinson Prize Postdoctoral Fellow, California Institute of Technology
- Friday, October 23rd
- Physics Department Colloquium; 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm; Memorial Union’s Great Hall
- Nobel Prize Recognition Lecture, Francis Halzen, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Monday, October 26th
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar; 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm; 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- Title to be announced, Edward Hinson, Zephyr Fusion
- Theory Seminar (High Energy/Cosmology); 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm; Chamberlin 5280
- Title to be announced, Garv Chauhan, Arizona State University
- Thursday, October 29th
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar; 10:00 am; 5310 Chamberlin Hall
- Quantum algorithms for differential equations, Xiangyu Li, PNNL
- Astronomy Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; 4421 Sterling Hall
- , Lewis McCallum, Harvard-CfA
- Friday, October 30th
- Physics Department Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; Chamberlin 2241 -
- Title to be announced, Philip Bucksbaum, Stanford University
November 2026
- Monday, November 2nd
- Theory Seminar (High Energy/Cosmology); 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm; Chamberlin 5280
- Title to be announced, Ethan Torres, CERN-TH
- Wednesday, November 4th
- Theory Seminar (High Energy/Cosmology); 11:00 am - 1:00 pm; Chamberlin 5280
- Title to be announced, Rafael Alvarez-Garcia, Northeastern University, Harvard University
- Department Meeting
- 12:15 pm - 1:30 pm; B343 Sterling
- Thursday, November 5th
- Graduate Program Event; 9:00 am - 10:00 am; Sign up for this session here:
- Prospective Grad Info Session (PhD), Sharon Kahn, Graduate Program Manager
- NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum; 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm; Chamberlin Hall, Room 5280
- High-energy radiation from AGN and their connection to particle acceleration, Federico Testagrossa, DESY Zeuthen
- Astronomy Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; 4421 Sterling Hall
- Migration, Tides, and the Diversity of Extrasolar Worlds, Sarah Millholland, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Friday, November 6th
- Physics Department Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; Chamberlin 2241 -
- Title to be announced, Katelin Schutz, McGill University
- Monday, November 9th
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar; 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm; 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- Title to be announced, Pablo Bilbao, University of Oxford
- Thursday, November 12th
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar; 10:00 am; Chamberlin 5310
- Title to be announced, Chandan Setty , Iowa State University
- Astronomy Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; 4421 Sterling Hall
- Copernicus Revisited: is the Earth special?, Laura Kreidberg, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
- Friday, November 13th
- Physics Department Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; Chamberlin 2241 -
- Title to be announced
- Monday, November 16th
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar; 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm; 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- Title to be announced, Jason Tenbarge, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
- Tuesday, November 17th
- Graduate Program Event; 9:30 am - 10:30 am; Sign up for this session here:
- Prospective Grad Info Session (PhD), Sharon Kahn, Graduate Program Manager
- Wednesday, November 18th
- Graduate Program Event; 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm; Sterling B343 or
- Advances in Nonlinear X-Ray Spectroscopy and Instrumentation for Probing Ultrafast Processes, Zain Abhari, Physics PhD Graduate Student
- Thursday, November 19th
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar; 10:00 am - 6:00 pm; 5310 Chamberlin Hall
- Unconventional Superconductivity and Electron Crystals in Rhombohedral Graphene, Long Ju, MIT
- Astronomy Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; 4421 Sterling Hall
- Study of Exotic Stellar Populations in Open Clusters and Galactic Fields, Anju Panthi, Birla Institute of Astrophysics, India
- Friday, November 20th
- Physics Department Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; Chamberlin 2241 -
- Emergent Quantum Phenomena in Graphene, Long Ju, MIT
- Thursday, November 26th
- Academic Calendar
- Thanksgiving Recess
- Friday, November 27th
- Academic Calendar
- Thanksgiving Recess
- Saturday, November 28th
- Academic Calendar
- Thanksgiving Recess
- Sunday, November 29th
- Academic Calendar
- Thanksgiving Recess
- Monday, November 30th
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar; 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm; 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- Title to be announced, Sara Ferry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Preliminary Exam; 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm; Chamberlin 5280
- IceCube and Neutrino Astronomy, Chen Li
December 2026
- Tuesday, December 1st
- Council Meeting
- 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm; 2314 Chamberlin
- Wednesday, December 2nd
- Department Meeting
- 12:15 pm - 1:30 pm; B343 Sterling
- Thursday, December 3rd
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar; 10:00 am; 5310 Chamberlin Hall
- TBD, Victor Galitski, UMD
- Friday, December 4th
- Physics Department Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; Chamberlin 2241 -
- Title to be announced
- Monday, December 7th
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar; 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm; 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- Title to be announced, Ben Zhu, Columbia University
- Wednesday, December 9th
- Academic Calendar
- Last Class Day
- Thursday, December 10th
- Academic Calendar
- Study Day
- Astronomy Colloquium; 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm; 4421 Sterling Hall
- The Early Evolution of Exoplanetary Systems, Adina Feinstein, Michigan State University
- Friday, December 11th
- Academic Calendar
- Exams Begin
- Saturday, December 12th
- Academic Calendar
- Exams
- Sunday, December 13th
- Academic Calendar; 10:00 am - 12:30 pm
- Commencement
- Monday, December 14th
- Academic Calendar
- Exams
- Tuesday, December 15th
- Academic Calendar
- Exams
- Wednesday, December 16th
- Academic Calendar
- Exams
- Thursday, December 17th
- Academic Calendar
- Exams End
