The Department of Physics is adding a new degree program focused on the growing field of quantum computing. The M.S. in Physics-Quantum Computing is a new Master’s program that will admit its first class in the Fall 2019 semester. The program will provide students with a thorough grounding in the new discipline of quantum information and quantum computing.
Swing by and check out the latest version of the UW student group’s design for the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition! You can open it. The black box in the center is a pressurized container for batteries (unhappy in vacuum) and a bunch of custom control electronics. The motor is in the front, brake actuation in the rear.
The David A. Shirley Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement at the Advanced Light Source has been awarded to Professor Pupa Gilbert for her development of Polarization-dependent Imaging Contrast (PIC)-mapping to image the orientation of carbonate nanocrystals in marine biominerals
Interested in being a Physics Major? Come to an informational meeting!
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $218 million in funding for 85 research awards nationwide in the important emerging field of Quantum Information Science (QIS). The awards were made in conjunction with the White House Summit on Advancing American Leadership in QIS, highlighting the high priority that the Administration places on advancing this multidisciplinary area of research, which is expected to lay the foundation for the next generation of computing and information processing as well as an array of other innovative technologies.
University of Wisconsin, Madison Physics Department, in collaboration with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was awarded one of these awards. This will be a collaboration between subatomic physicists (Balantekin, Palladino), and quantum information physicists (Coppersmith, Saffman) in the Physics Department. The project will explore the ways in which quantum computing and information processing provide insights into dark matter, particularly dark matter detection and neutrino physics. The P.I. of the award, Prof. Baha Balantekin said “This is a transformative project for the UW Physics Department, combining several subdisciplines of physics which represent core competencies of the Physics Department. We expect the effort to substantially grow beyond the initial funding period to strengthen the UW leadership in this frontier area.”
A new book by Professor Emeritus Lee Pondrom. The book describes the lives of the people who gave Stalin his weapon — scientists, engineers, managers, and prisoners during the early post war years from 1945–1953. Many anecdotes and vicissitudes of life at that time in the Soviet Union accompany considerable technical information regarding the solutions to formidable problems of nuclear weapons development.
Physics major, Alex Mahnke, presented his idea for a wearable with light sensors that create safer options for students, construction workers, and others traveling or working in low-light situations.
There’s significant value in a student receiving help from a peer, says Amihan, who has a Ph.D. in physics.
“This is someone they can relate to, someone who just recently had the same experience as they did in that same classroom,” she says. “I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve learned from one of our peer tutors how to better explain a complicated concept to a student.”
ALL kicks off the school year with LAB³, a September exhibition featuring artworks inspired by scientific research done at the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center (WIPAC) and the Department of Physics at UW-Madison. The LAB³ project paired UW-Madison physicists and Madison-based artists and writers with 24 high school students from Madison, Middleton, Waunakee, Janesville, Wauwatosa, and Lake Mills. Over the summer, six teams (each composed of a scientist, visual/performing artist, writer, and 3-4 high schoolers) explored current scientific research ranging from neutrinos to dark matter to cosmic rays. In response to these scientific topics, the teams have produced original visual, literary, and performance-based art (including two-dimensional art, installation, video art, sculpture, and poetry) which will be on display at ALL from September 8 through September 29, 2018. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, September 8 from 6-9pm. The exhibition and reception are FREE and open to the public.