Ithaca College
 
ITHACA PHYSICS faculty and staff

The Physics Department Colloquium is held in the Center for Natural Sciences 204 at noon on Tuesdays unless otherwise noted. Pizza and drinks are provided.

Spring 2004
FEB-03 Dr. Josh Grossman, Laser Cooling & Trapping Group, National Institute of Standards & Technology Ultracold atoms go for a quantum random walk  
MAR-23 Dr. Joshua Pearce, Pennsylvania State University Global Energy, Solar Photovoltaics and Recent Progress in a-Si:H Solar Cells  
MAR-30 Dr. Megan Pickett, Purdue University Calumet Rings to Bind Them: Gravitational Instabilities and the Formation of Gas Giant Planets.
APR-06 Dr. Harold Reitsema, Ball Aerospace Finding Habitable Earth-like Extrasolar Planets with the Keplar Space Mission. For
more info visit: http://www.kepler.arc.nasa.gov/
     
     
     
     
   
 




























September 17th, 2003

Dan Briotta, Beth Clark Joseph, Luke Keller, Michael Rogers, Bruce Thompson. IC Physics

Introduction to faculty research in the IC-Physics department

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October 14th, 2003

Marcus Collins, Department of Physics, Cornell University

Biological physics as illustrated by the protein "folding" problem

Biophysics means many things to many people. After an introduction to the field as a whole, I'll introduce a problem of particular interest to me, that of how proteins come to have the specific structures they do. Once thought to be thermodynamically impossible, spontaneous protein "folding" is now beginning to be understood. I'll introduce this problem intuitively, and then discuss some recent developments related to my own research. Current models for the biological function and stability of proteins rely on a simple model where high dielectric materials (primarily water and certain amino acids--the building blocks of proteins) separate from regions of low dielectric (oils, many amino acids). Structural studies of proteins using NMR and x-ray diffraction techniques generally bear out that proteins' cores are low dielectric, "hydrophobic" regions. However, recent experiments have measured unusually high values of the dielectric constant in the protein core of Staphylococcal nuclease. I'll finish the talk with a discussion of this result, and how my research aims to explore the issue further.

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November 4th, 2003

Joe Harrington, Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University

Measuring Extrasolar Planets With Transit Spectroscopy
Since 1995, the detection of over 100 extrasolar planets has captured the attention of both astronomers and the public. The surprise of extrasolar planetary science, and the challenge to theorists, is the large number of Jupiter-class objects orbiting within 0.1 AU of sun-like stars. Did they form in place or migrate? Why did this not happen in our solar system? What happens when you heat Jupiter to 1400 K? The proximity of the parent star requires large telescopes and novel techniques to measure planets directly. Techniques that apply to planets that pass in front of or behind their stars are particularly attractive, and have begun to yield results. The primary-transit detections sodium and hydrogen in the atmosphere of HD 209458b, our significant non-detection of methane thermal emission in this object's secondary eclipse, and the declining central flash in the 18-day occultation by a probable protoplanet orbiting KH 15D are but the first liftings of the stellar veil. The talk will review developments in the field, focusing in particular on these two systems and giving an update on our recent observations at Palomar, IRTF, VLT, and Keck.

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November ??th, 2003

Speaker from Corning Incorporated

Employment Opportunities for physicists in the optics industry

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Maintained by Michael Rogers
Last updated 01/13/2005