Events at Physics |
Events During the Week of September 23rd through September 30th, 2012
Monday, September 24th, 2012
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar
- Dynamos in spherical boundary-driven flows
- Time: 12:00 pm
- Place: 1310 Sterling Hall
- Speaker: Ivan Khalzov, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Condensed Matter Theory Group Seminar
- Pairing near quantum critical points
- Time: 4:30 pm
- Place: 5310 Chamberlin
- Speaker: Andrey Chubukov
Tuesday, September 25th, 2012
- Chaos & Complex Systems Seminar
- Games, learning & the future of education
- Time: 12:05 pm
- Place: 4274 Chamberlin (refreshments will be served)
- Speaker: Kurt Squire & Constance Steinkuehler, UW Department of Curriculum and Instruction
- Abstract: Games have emerged as an ascendant cultural form and metaphor for modern experience. As games (and associated ideas such as gamification) transform social institutions, they are poised to transform learning and education. In this presentation, we review research on games as designed experiences, game communities as learning communities, and the role of games in changing the face of institutions for learning. We begin with a general overview of key, driving ideas in the field of games and learning. We dive down into basic research on learning with games in formal and informal learning settings, exploring interest-driven models of learning in after school gaming clubs. We then turn toward design-based research efforts exploring the potential for designing games for learning, particularly in science. This model, aEurooedesigning games to broaden public participation in scienceaEuro illustrates an emerging pedagogical model in which games are used to create context, spark interest, develop skills and knowledge and then propel learners toward authentic participation in complex social practices.
- Host: Sprott
Wednesday, September 26th, 2012
- No events scheduled
Thursday, September 27th, 2012
- Astronomy Colloquium
- Early Star Forming Galaxies and the Reionization of the Universe
- Time: 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
- Place: 4421 Sterling Hall
- Speaker: Dan Stark, University of Arizona
- Abstract: The events of the first billion years of cosmic history are one of the final frontiers in the quest to trace the history of the Universe from its origins to the present day. Exploration of this uncharted era is driven by the desire to locate and understand the nature of the first stars and galaxies and to characterize their contribution to the reionization of hydrogen. With the installation of the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope, the cosmic frontier has been pushed back to just 500 Myr after the Big Bang, delivering the first census of star formation activity in the reionization era. Deep spectroscopy of these early systems is now providing insight into the properties of primitive galaxies while simultaneously constraining the progress of reionization. I will summarize the results from these studies, providing tentative evidence that reionization comes to an end between z~7 and z~6, while revealing some tension in the ability of star-forming galaxies to achieve reionization by z=6. Finally I will discuss how spectroscopic studies of low mass gravitationally- lensed galaxies at moderate and high redshift are improving our understanding of the formation of early galactic systems, hinting at an increased transmission of ionizing radiation into the intergalactic medium and a harder ionizing spectrum.
- Host: Prof Amy Barger
- Graduate Introductory Seminar
- Biophysics
- Time: 5:45 pm
- Place: 2223 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Coppersmith, Gilbert, UW Madison
Friday, September 28th, 2012
- Cosmology Journal Club
- An Informal discussion about a broad variety of arXiv papers related to Cosmology
- Time: 12:00 pm
- Place: 5242 Chamberlin Hall
- Abstract: Please visit the following link for more details:
http://cmb.physics.wisc.edu/journal/index.html
Please feel free to bring your lunch!
If you have questions or comments about this journal club, would like to propose a topic or volunteer to introduce a paper, please email Le Zhang (lzhang263@wisc.edu) - Host: Peter Timbie
- Physics Department Colloquium
- Higgs Boson and New Physics at the Large Hadron Collider
- Time: 3:30 pm
- Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall (coffee at 4:30 pm)
- Speaker: Liantao Wang, University of Chicago
- Abstract: The Large Hadron Collider is exploring physics at an unprecedented TeV energy frontier. The discovery of the Higgs boson is an important milestone. It provides one crucial piece of information about the weak interaction, which is the most intriguing among all known fundamental interactions in nature. It also marked the beginning of a new stage in the search for new physics beyond the Standard Model. I will survey our current knowledge about the Higgs boson, and describe its connection to the new physics models.
- Host: Everett