Physics and Asronomy Colloquium Series
Listed below are the speakers that the Department of Physics and Astronomy have hosted recently as part of their Colloquium Series. The series was created to expose students and faculty to current areas of research outside of Sacramento State, as well as provide a means for our own students and faculty to share their research. Click on the titles to see the talks' abstracts (requires Acrobat Reader). Student talks are noted by a * and alumni talks are noted by a $.
Fall 2011 | Spring 2012
Fall 2010 | Spring 2011
Fall 2009 | Spring 2010
Fall 2008 | Spring 2009
Fall 2007 | Spring 2008
Fall 2006 | Spring 2007
Fall 2005 | Spring 2006
Fall 2004 | Spring 2005
Fall 2012
September 6, 2012
Summer Research Project Reports by Physics Majors
Sacramento State
Thor Barrera* and Robby Beard* - "Linear Reluctance Accelerator Progress and Future Goals"
Kevin Columna* - "Automation and Instrumentation in the Lab"
Joshua Frye* - "Simulation of Compton Suppression for Neutron Activation Analysis"
Evelyn Grevelink* - "Observing the Quantum Nature of Light in the Undergraduate Laboratory"
Andrew Lozano* - "Preliminary Designing for Experiments on Metamaterials"
September 13, 2012
Physics Faculty
Sacramento State
"Opportunities for Student Projects"
September 20, 2012
Prof. Gabriel Orebi Gann
UC Berkeley
"Here Be Dragons: the Solar Neutrino Problem & Other Mysteries"
September 27, 2012
Prof. Nicholas Curro
UC Davis
"Exploring Electron Correlations at the Nanoscale with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance"
October 4, 2012
Dr. Nima Mesgarani
UC San Francisco
"Mechanisms of Selective Hearing in the Human Auditory Cortex"
October 18, 2012
Prof. Hossein Partovi
California State University, Sacramento
"What is the Higgs Boson aka the "God Particle"?
October 25, 2012
Prof. Maxwell Chertok
UC Davis
"The Higgs Boson Discovery: Tiny and Enormous Science in Collision"
November 1, 2012
Dr. J. Ruben Martinez
California State University, Sacramento
"Luis Alvarez and the Culture of High Energy Physics"
November 29, 2012
Prof. Troy Carter
UCLA
"Taming Turbulence in Magnetic Plasmas"
Spring 2012
February 2, 2012
Prof. Joseph Barranco
San Francisco State University
Planet Embryos in Vortex Wombs
February 16, 2012
Prof. Jay Sharping
UC Merced
Fiber-Based Dual-Beam Optical Trapping System for Studying Lipid Vesicle Mechanics
March 1, 2012
Prof. Monika Kress
San Jose State University
Meteorites and the Origin of the Solar System
March 8, 2012
Ingrid Neumann
Sacramento State,
UC Davis PhD Candidate
Vortices in Superfluid Helium
March 15, 2012
Dr. Ivan Dozov
Université de Picardie Jules Verne, France
Giant Electric Field-induced Orientational Order in Isotropic Aqueous Colloidal Suspensions of Clay Particles
March 29, 2012
Prof. Eric Brown
UC Merced
Organized Flow Structures in Turbulence
April 12, 2012
Prof. Jason Nielsen
UC Santa Cruz
Searches for New Particles at the Large Hadron Collider
April 26, 2012
Benjamin Topham $
Princeton University, Sacramento State Alum
Molecular Potentials in Organic Thin Films
May 10, 2012
Randy Laforteza*
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
Stimulation by Simulations
Demetri Papamichalis*
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
Numerical Modeling of Flexo‐Electric Deformation in Nematic Liquid Crystals with Zero and Negative Anisotropy of Dielectric Permittivity in the Presence of the Transverse Electric Field
Fall 2011
September 8, 2011
Sage Bauers*
Sasha Moskaleva*
Angela Galvez*
Thor Barrera*
Robby Beard*
Sacramento State
Summer Research Activities
September 15, 2011
Sac State Physics and Astronomy Faculty
Sac State
Opportunities for Student Projects
September 22, 2011
Prof. Frederick Ringwald
Fresno State
Astrophysics Research at Fresno State's Station at Sierra Remote Observatories
September 29, 2011
Dr. James Landry
UC Davis
Optical Biosensing: Using Polarized Light to Map the Machinery of Life
October 6, 2011
Prof. Gergely Zimanyi
UC Davis
The Physics of Sustainability: The Solar Challenge
October 13, 2011
Prof. Anne Kelley
UC Merced
Single Molecule Spectroscopy
October 20, 2011
Prof. Manuel Calderón de la Barca Sánchez
UC Davis
The Bottom Line on Heavy-ion Collisions
November 3, 2011
Prof. Joel Fajans
UC Berkeley
How to Create and Trap Antihydrogen
November 10, 2011
Dr. Robin Evans $
Sac State Alumnus
JUNO: It's a long road to Jupiter
November 17, 2011
Prof. Leonardo Senatore
Stanford University
Exploring the Beginnings of the Universe
Sage Bauers *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy and the Effects of Mixing Parameters on the Optical Qualities of Aerosols
Spring 2011
February 3, 2011
Prof. Marusa Bradac
UC Davis
"Physics of California"
February 10, 2011
Prof. Dong Yu
UC Davis
"Nanostructure Solar Cell"
March 10, 2011
Prof. Lloyd Knox
UC Davis
"Sound Waves at the Edge of the Observable Universe"
March 17, 2011
Prof. Chris Cappa
UC Davis
"Measuring Ship Emissions: Implications for Global Climate and Regional Air Quality"
April 7, 2011
Dr. Andrew Pohorille
NASA Ames Research Center
"Is Water Necessary for Life?"
April 14, 2011
Dr. Peter Graham
Stanford University
"Fundamental Physics with Atomic Interferometry"
April 21, 2011
Prof. Alexander (Sasha) Sher
UC Santa Cruz
"Exploring Neural Function, Structure, and Development"
April 28, 2010
Henry Garcia $
Pixar Animation Studios
Sacramento State Alumnus, Class of 2005
"From Physics to Pixar: How Physics Applies to a Career in Computer Animation"
May 12, 2011
Arthur "AJ" Sisneros *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"The Effect of Math Skills in the Physics 5A Course"
Charles Dresser *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"Neutron Activation Analysis: A Study of Radioactive Contaminants in Materials"
German Valencia *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"The Effects of Group Density on the Evolution of Galaxies"
Fall 2010
September 9, 2010
Ms Sasha Moskaleva *
Mr Charles Dresser *
Sacramento State
"Summer Research Experiences"
September 16, 2010
Prof. David Wittman
UC Davis
"Massive Sky Surveys in the Coming Decade"
September 23, 2010
Prof. William DeGraffenreid
Sacramento State
"The LASER at 50"
October 7, 2010
Dr. Lorin Benedict
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
"Predicting Properties of Matter at High Pressures and Temperatures"
October 21, 2010
Dr. Kirill Filimonov
UC Berkeley
"Searching for Cosmic Neutrinos with a Cubic Kilometer of Ice"
October 28, 2010
Prof. Christopher Taylor
Sacramento State
"Astrobiology: the Old and the New in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life"
November 4, 2010
Prof. William Phillips
Nobel Laureate
University of Maryland
and
National Institute of Standards and Technology
"Spinning atoms with light: a new twist on coherent deBroglie-wave optics"
November 18, 2010
Ms Eliza Morris $
"Motion in Cytoskeletal Networks"
Harvard University
December 9, 2010
Ms Sasha Moskaleva *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"Investigation of the Resistive MicroMegas Muon Detectors"
Spring 2010
February 11, 2010
Prof. Chris Fassnacht
UC Davis
"Measuring the Universe with Gravitational Lenses"
February 18, 2010
Prof. Joan Ogden
UC Davis
"Prospects for Hydrogen Energy"
February 25, 2010
Prof. Doug Osheroff
Nobel Laureate
Stanford University
"How Advances in Science Are Made"
March 18, 2010
Prof. Christopher DeVries
California State University, Stanislaus
"The Simple Model: Fitting analytic solutions of the equation transfer to observations reveals infall rates for star-forming molecular clouds"
April 8, 2010
Prof. Gibor Basri
UC Berkeley
"The Search for Earth-Sized Planets around Other Stars"
April 15, 2010
Dr. Anne Metevier
Sonoma State University
"Cultivating Scientist and Engineer Educators"
April 22, 2010
Mr. Joe DeWitt
Raytheon Vision Systems
Sacramento State Alumnus
"Physics in the Real World but first, what is REALITY?"
April 29, 2010
Prof. John Conway
UC Davis
"The Hunt for the Higgs Boson"
May 6, 2010
Brandon Ausmus *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"Monte-Carlo Simulation of Atomic Motion and Simulated Annealing of Metal Nanowires"
Matt Pedri *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"LabVIEW Based Load Sensing and Balancing System for a Wind Turbine"
May 13, 2010
Paulo Lopes *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"Brown Dwarfs in the Deep Lens Survey"
Darren Steele *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"Synthesis of Samarium Cobalt Nanoblades"
Fall 2009
September 17, 2009
Mr. Bret Polopolus *
Mr. James Macdougall *
Sacramento State
Summer Research Experiences
October 8
Prof. Eric Ayers
Chico State
"Using the Arduino Microcontroller
in Undergraduate Labs"
October 15
Prof. Michael Riordan
UC Santa Cruz
"From Bell Labs to Silicon Valley:
A Saga of Technology Transfer 1954-61"
October 22
Dr. Ryan Baumbach
UC San Diego
"Search for New Physics in New Materials"
November 5
Ms. Theresa Mulder $
UC Davis
"Predicting Amplitude and Phase Noise of Modelocked Lasers from the Pump Noise Power Spectrum"
November 19
Prof. Linda Hirst
UC Merced
"Self-Assembly of Soft Systems: Research at UC Merced"
December 10, 2009
Mr. Joseph Apicella *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"Calculation of the Inclincation Angle for the Liquid Crystal Molecules in Liquid Crystal Cells with Planar Boundary Conditions"
Mr. Bret Polopolus *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"Comparison of Deflection of Protons in the Ideal and the Fringe-field Capacitor"
Spring 2009
February 26, 2009
Prof. William DeGraffenreid
Sacramento State
"Scientific Professionalism: A Discussion"
March 19, 2009
Prof. Erik Helgren
California State University, East Bay
"Magnetism and Optical Properties of Doped Semiconductors"
March 26, 2009
Prof. Natalie Batalha
San Jose State University
"Kepler's Hunt for Habitable Planets"
April 9, 2009
Prof. Ivan I. Smalyukh
University of Colorado
"Contact-free Optical Manipulation of Micro- and Nano-sized Objects Using Holographic Laser Tweezers"
April 16, 2009
Dr. Stefano Marchesini
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
"Imaging with X-ray Lasers"
April 23, 2009
Dr. Don Correll
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
"The Education-Research Continuum -
Forty Years as a Physicist"
April 30, 2009
Mr. Stephen Conley $
UC Davis
"Do I Believe in CLAW?"
May 7, 2009
Mr. Robert Barchfeld *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"Photometric Redshifts with Artificial Neural Networks"
May 12, 2009
Ms. Jennifer Skelly *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"Observation of a Flexoelectric Deformation in Liquid Crystalline Fluids with Zero Anisotropy of Dielectric Permittivity"
Ms. Lisa Heldreth *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"Observation of Light Interference and Fresnel Diffraction and Measurement of Light Intensity in Diffraction and Interference Patterns"
May 14, 2009
Mr. Sean O'Brien *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"A Study of Infrared Properties of Dwarf Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster"
Mr. James Macdougall *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"A Visible Light Testbed for the Advancement of EUV Lithographic Mask Inspection"
Fall 2008
Oct. 9, 2008
Dr. Steven Dazeley
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
"Neutrino Physics: Becoming More Real?"
Oct. 30
Dr. Stefan Finsterle
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
"Nuclear Waste Disposal at Yucca Mountain"
Nov. 6
Prof. Yongsheng Gao
Fresno State University
"Road to Discovery of ATLAS/LHC"
Nov. 13
Dr. Wim Leemans
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
"High Energy Particle Accelerators That Can Fit On a (Large) Tabletop By Using Lasers"
Nov. 20
Prof. Helen Quinn
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
"The Mystery of the Missing Antimatter"
Dec. 4
Mr. James Macdougall and Sac State Physics Faculty
Sacramento State
"Summer Research Opportunities"
Spring 2008
Feb 28, 2008
Dr. Uwe Bergmann
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
"Secrets in the Ancient Goatskin: X-rays Reveal Oldest Writings of Archimedes"
March 6, 2008
Prof. Douglas Singleton
Fresno State
" Hawking/Unruh Radiation Made 'Easy' "
March 27, 2008
Mr. Michael Fulton
Ion Beam Optics, Inc.
"From Deep Space to Earth: Photovoltaic Concentrators Impact the Future of Terrestrial Solar Energy Production"
April 10, 2008
Dr. Vera Margoniner
Sacramento State
"Online Resources for Learning and Teaching Physics"
April 17, 2008
Dr. Vera Margoniner
Sacramento State
"Sky Surveys of the Next Decade"
April 24 , 2008
Prof. Tom Cahill
UC Davis
"Asian Aerosol Impacts on the Global Climate"
May 1, 2008
Prof. Ken Wharton
San Jose State University
"Time Symmetry vs. Quantum Mechanics"
May 8, 2008
Mr. Philip R. Jackson *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"Preparing LabView for a Journey with Audio Cables"
Mr. Mark Henshaw *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"Addressing the 9-Body Problem: A Computer Simulation"
May 15, 2008
Mr. Alexander I. Clontz *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"Fiber Optics in Modern Technology"
Mr. Mark Kerfoot *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"Three-Prism Laser Guiding Optimization"
Fall 2007
Sept. 27, 2007
Prof. Anne Myers Kelley
UC Merced
" Resonance Raman and related spectroscopies in chemical physics and analytical chemistry "
Oct. 18
Prof. Lori Lubin
UC Davis
" Understanding Cluster Formation and Galaxy Evolution...ORELSE "
Nov. 8
Prof. Ali Shakouri
UC Santa Cruz
"Nanoscale Devices for Thermo-electric Energy Conversion"
Nov. 15
Dr. Donald S. Bethune
IBM Almaden Research Center
" Carbon and Metals: A Path to the Discovery of Single-wall Carbon Nanotubes "
Nov. 20
Ms. Heidi Poppelreiter $
NASA Johnson Space Center
" 'Houston, We Have a Problem...': An Inside Look at NASA Flight Control "
Nov. 27
Mr. Joshua French *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
"Did You Hear That?: Adventures in Hypersonic Sound"
Dec. 4
Dr. Matthew Mewes
Marquette University
"Testing the Limits of Relativity"
Dec. 6
Dr. Jérôme Bürki
University of Arizona
"How Come Metal Nanowires are Stable at all?"
Dec. 11
Dr. Scott Yost
Princeton University
"Precision Physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) "
Dec. 13
Dr. Cynthia Trevisan
UC Davis
"A Brief Introduction to Electron-Driven Chemistry and the Exploration of the Dynamics of Biological Molecules"
Dec. 18
Dr. Vivek Aji
UC Riverside
"Condensed Matter Theory: A High Tc Perspective"
Dec. 20
Dr. Julian Velev
University of Nebraska
"Giant Magnetoresistance and Related Phenomena"
Spring 2007
Feb. 8, 2007
Prof. William DeGraffenreid
Sacramento State
"Structure of lithium: what we looked for, what we found, what we discovered en route, and what we discovered looking back"
Feb. 15
Dr. Piero Nicolini
University of Trieste, Italy
"Breaking News About Radiating Black Holes"
Feb. 20
Dr. Kevin Whittlesey
OSA Congressional Fellow
Office of Rep. Dorris Matsui
"From the Laboratory to Capitol Hill: Opportunities and Challenges at the Interface of Science and Public Policy"
Feb. 22
Prof. Jay Sharping
UC Merced
"Pushing the Limits of Glass…Fiber-based Sources and Devices"
March 1
Prof. Lee Sawyer
Louisiana Tech
"Detectors for Current and Future Colliders"
March 8
Dr. Chris McCarthy
San Francisco State University
"Extrasolar Planets and Brown Dwarfs"
April 5
Dr. Chris McKay
NASA Ames Laboratory
"Latest Results from Titan: Still Trying to Unravel the Puzzles from the Huygens Probe"
April 19
Prof. Niels Gronbech-Jensen
UC Davis
"Phase-locking and Transients - Macroscopic Quantum Behavior in Josephson Systems"
April 26
Dr. Robin Evans $
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
"Things That Go Bump in the Night"
May 3
Prof. Gary Shoemaker
Sacramento State
"Exploring the "Poor-man's" Superlens"
May 17
Ms. Vickie Brandt *
Sacramento State
Senior Project Talk
Fall 2006
Sept. 7, 2006
Mr. Kris Karas and Mr. Rob Custodio *
Sacramento State
"Summer Research Talks"
Sept. 14
Mr. Joshua Kline and Mr. Zhuo Huang *
Sacramento State
"Summer Research Talks"
Sept. 21
Dr. Claia Bryja
City College of San Francisco
"Observations of the 'Black Drop Effect' During the 2004 Transit of Venus: A Travel Adventure in Astronomy"
Oct. 5
Dr. Jeff Neaton
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
"Theory and Simulation of Electrical Transport at the Nanoscale"
Oct. 19
Ms. Stella Offner
UC Berkeley, Department of Physics
"Numerical Studies of Star Formation"
Nov. 2
Prof. Thomas Rossing
Stanford
"Physics of Percussion Instruments, Old and New"
Nov. 9
Sac State Faculty
Sacramento State
"Student Research Opportunities at Sac State"
Nov. 30
Mr. Jason Ybarra $
Sacramento State and San Francisco State
"Pushing the Envelope - with Precessing Jets"
Dec. 14
Mr. Chris Parmelee, Mr. Jonathan Foster,
& Ms. Brigitte Ciobanu *
Sacramento State
Physics Seminar Talks
Spring 2006
Feb. 9, 2006
Prof. Alex Cronin
University of Arizona
"van der Waals Forces on Atom Waves"
Mar. 2,
Prof. Rena Zieve
UC Davis
"Energy Loss and Vortex Reconnection in Superfluid Helium"
Mar. 23
Dr. Michael Wickett $
Lawrence Livermore National Lab
"Global Climate Modeling of the Effects of Human Activities on the Environment"
Apr. 6
Prof. Brian Kolner
UC Davis
"Femtosecond Lasers for Precision Time/Frequency Metrology and the Influence of Pump Noise"
Apr. 13
Prof. Chris Taylor
Sacramento State
"Galaxy Formation in a Cosmic Blender: Tidal Dwarf Galaxies and Molecular Gas in Stephan's Quintet"
Apr. 20
Dr. Peter Frinchaboy $
University of Virginia
"Tracing Local Dark Matter: New Findings from the Galactic Halo"
May 9
Mr. Ben Topham and Mr. Jon Villalva *
Sacramento State
Physics Seminar Talks
May 11
Mr. Jason Forrest and Mr. Kris Karas *
Sacramento State
Physics Seminar Talks
Fall 2005
Sep. 29, 2005
Prof. Shirley Chiang
UC Davis
"High Resolution Surface Microscopy of Chemical Reactions and Phase Transitions"
Oct. 6
Dr. Hashem Akbari
Lawrence Berkeley Lab
"Cooling the Cities to Reduce Energy Use and Improve Urban Air Quality"
Oct. 20
Dr. Kurt Woschnagg
UC Berkeley
"Extreme Neutrinos: Using a Cube of 50,000-year-old South Pole Ice to Peer into Space"
Nov. 3
Dr. Tatiana Sergan
Sacramento State
"High-performance Active Liquid Crystalline Shutters For Stereo Computer Graphics and Other True 3D Technologies"
Nov. 10
Prof. Daniel Palanker
Stanford
"Artificial Sight: An Optoelectronic Retinal Prosthesis"
Nov. 17
Prof. Hossein Partovi
Sacramento State
"Albert Einstein: The Physicist and the Man"
Dec. 1
Prof. Raymond Chiao
UC Berkeley and UC Merced
"The Interface of Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity"
Dec. 10
Mr. Curtis Castrapel, Mr. David Stafford,
& Mr. Zhuo Huang *
Sacramento State
Physics Seminar Talks
Spring 2005
Jan. 28, 2005
Dr. Liang-Chy Chien
Kent State
"Liquid Crystal Controlled Ordered Polymer Morphologies and the Electro-Optical Applications"
Feb. 17
Dr. Eugene Barasch
"Digital Radiography with Tissue Sensitivity with an Overview of the History of Energy-Sensitive Gas Detectors and their use in Physics"
Mar. 3
Jeong Young Park
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
"Atomic Scale Tribological Properties of Quasicrystals"
Mar. 17
Dr. Jaime Ramirez-Serrano
Sandia National Labs
"Compact Source Of Cold Atoms For Matter-wave Interference Experiments"
Mar. 29
Dr. Tom Ramos
Lawrence Livermore National Lab
"Physics and National Defense: Do They Mix Well?"
Apr. 7
Chris Roat
UC Davis
"The Strength of Weak Gravitational Lensing"
April 21
Roger Blandford
Stanford
"Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays"#mce_temp_url#
April 28
Prof. Randy Phelps
Sacramento State
"New Ideas About the Galaxy's Old Star Clusters"
May 10, 2005
Mr. Henry Garcia, Mr. Aaron Pypers,
& Mr. Chris Ray *
Sacramento State
Physics Seminar Talks
May 12
Ms. Tasneem Maistry & Mr. Attili Kabai *
Sacramento State
Physics Seminar Talks
Fall 2004
Sep. 9, 2004
Prof. Pedro Galera-Gomez
Universidad de Complutense de Madrid
"Are Micelles Rigid or Flexible Structures? A Study by Light Scatterings, SANS, and Viscometric Technique"
Sep. 23
Ms. Eliza Morris, Mr. Henry Garcia,
& Mr. Steve Nixon *
Sacramento State
"Summer Research Experiences"
Sep. 28
Prof. Nirmal Singh
Panjab University
Chandigarh, India
"Recent investigation in radiation scattering in X-Ray energy region"
Oct. 7
Prof. Nathan Phillips $
Boston University
"What Determines the Maximum Size of Trees? Investigations of Physical and Biological Limits to Tree Growth and Size"
Oct. 14
Dr. Jeffrey Morse
Lawrence Livermore National Lab
"Reformed Methanol Micro Fuel Cell Systems for Portable Power Applications"
Oct. 28,
Prof. Margaret Murnane
University of Colorado & NIST
"Can we make atoms sing and molecules dance? Using fast light pulses to observe and control nature"
Nov. 4
Dr. Carl Haber
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
"Imaging the Voices of the Past: Using Physics to Restore Early Sound Recordings"
Nov. 16
Dr. Chad Trujillo
California Institute of Technology
"Discovery and Characterization of Sedna and 2004 DW"
Dec. 2
Ms. Eliza Morris *
Sacramento State
"Electromagnetics of a magnet moving through a metallic pipe"
Dec. 9
Dr. Michael Thoennessen
Michigan State
"The Rare Isotope Accelerator: The Future of Nuclear Physics"
Last Updated: February 28, 2012
