Category: Academics

German radio journalist Kristian Thees and German actress and entertainer Anke Engelke, talk about the NASA sounding rocket experiment INCAA and the image of tracer releases in Alaska submitted by listener Prof. Gerald Lehmacher, who was co-investigator for the experiment. Prof. Steve Kaeppler and Prof. Miguel Larsen were principal investigator and co-investigator, respectively. The photo taken by Danute Paukstys from Wasilla, Alaska is featured in the podcast’s blog and discussed (in German) in the episode of May 26, 2022 (starting at about 8:50 min). Two sounding rockets were successfully launched on April 7, 2022 from Poker Flat, Alaska to study ion-neutral coupling under active aurora. The payloads carried experiments from the University of California Berkeley, the University of Calgary and Clemson University.

Bishwambhar Sengupta, a PhD student with Prof. Takacs, has just accepted an offer for a post-doctoral position at the University of Washington in Seattle. He will join the group of Eric Floyd in the department of Radiation Oncology. Let’s congratulate Bishwambhar on this next excellent next step in his career.

The annual meeting of the Physics Teacher Education Coalition or PhysTEC was held March 2-3, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts and Clemson University had a seat at the table for the first time. Attending the PhysTEC 2019 meeting were Profs. Sean Brittain and Chad Sosolik, who gave a presentation on their 3-year project with the Laurens County school districts entitled “STEM Training for K­-12 Teachers: A Pilot Program in Upstate South Carolina”.

The Dept. of Physics and Astronomy became  a PhysTEC member institution this past Fall as part of its ongoing effort to recognize and enhance the teaching and outreach components of its mission. PhysTEC, which was founded in 2001, is a network of institutions committed to developing and promoting excellence in physics and physical science teacher preparation. The organization operates as a partnership between the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT).

At PhysTEC 2019, attendees learned about ongoing efforts to improve physics teacher education at the undergraduate level, many of which may find their way onto the Clemson University campus. These include the UTeach Model and the Get the Facts Out initiative, which is focused on addressing the misperceptions and lack of knowledge that many students and professional physicists have about the teaching profession.

The Department of Physics & Astronomy honored this year’s departmental award recipients in its annual ceremony on April 1 and also acknowledged college-level and national scholarship awardees. Department awardees names are forwarded to the college for consideration in the CoES awards.

• Outstanding Graduate Researcher: Girish Sharma
• Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant: Amber Porter
• L.D. Huff Junior Award: Gary Vestal
• L.D. Huff Sophomore Award: Joshua Hanson
• Erin Samantha Cawthorne Award: Jaclyn Schmitt
• SPS Senior Award: Emily Thompson

• Outstanding Graduate Researcher: Girish Sharma (Condensed Matter, advisor: Professor Sumanta Tewari)
• Outstanding Teaching Assistant: Dhruva Kulkarni (Condensed Matter, advisor: Professor Chad Sosolik)
• Outstanding Senior in the Sciences: Emily Thompson
• Outstanding Junior in the Sciences: Gary Vestal

After twenty-one years in the College of Engineering and Science, Clemson Physics and Astronomy will move to the College of Science in 2016. We will join the departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Genetics and Biochemistry, and Mathematical Sciences in the new college. This structure becomes official on July 1, 2016 for business, fiscal, and personnel matters, and after the August graduation for academic matters. The two Life Sciences departments are moving out of the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences. The present college structure emphasizes applications over curiosity-driven science, but Clemson University is making a renewed commitment to fundamental scientific research.

The apparent convergence of math and physical science principles and techniques with forefront problems in the science of living systems presents a significant opportunity for the new college. These five units share not only core research values, but similar educational cultures as well. Mathematics and science general education courses, taken by every Clemson undergraduate, will be housed in the new college, as will the many service courses taken by all STEM majors. Seemingly inevitable enrollment increases have very similar impacts on all the departments in the College of Science. Graduate teaching assistants in these units are essential instructors in hundreds of laboratories, recitations, and lectures every semester.

The current Chair of Physics & Astronomy, Dr. Mark Leising, has moved to Interim Dean of the College of Science as of December 1, 2015. He will oversee the development of budgets, tenure and promotion practices, bylaws, business and research services, and student advising over the next seven months. Leising joined Clemson in 1991 as an assistant professor. He held a Humboldt Fellowship from 1997 to 1998 in Garching, Germany. In 2011, he became Interim Chair of the university’s Physics and Astronomy Department and was named Chair in 2013. He has directed Clemson’s astronomy labs and the Clemson Planetarium since 1994. Moreover, Leising was inducted into the Thomas Green Clemson Academy of Scientists and Engineers in 2014.

Terry Tritt, professor of Physics and Astronomy, has taken over as Interim Chair. While Physics and Astronomy has fared well in the College of Engineering and Science, with many productive collaborations with researchers, the faculty regards this change as a significant opportunity for new directions and improved support for the department.

Introductory Physics and Astronomy courses are available online this summer. See what is offered and how to take them.