THE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY — BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY — FALL 2013
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COVER IMAGE: In the BYU Department of Physics and Astronomy, you can find lasers throughout the underground lab. They are used to cool atoms to 0.001 K, generate quantum superposition states, probe quantum dots in semiconductor materials, study physics at extremely high field intensities, and measure and characterize nanomaterials. Find out more by clicking on the “Research” tab at our new department web page, www.physics.byu.edu PHOTO: cover, Josh Siebert
CONTENTS CHAIR’S MESSAGE
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FEATURE STORIES Learning: A Community Effort
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The Future of Supercomputers
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Physics Alumni Bring Science to Life through Innovative Teaching
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Physics Alumnus Juggles Atoms, Children, and National Awards
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NEW HIRES//RETIREES//SRC STUDENTS
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DEPARTMENT CALENDAR
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Aimee Hancock Scott Bergeson Trista Jarvis, Josh Siebert 2
Editor Faculty Advisor Layout & Design
FROM THE FORMER CHAIR
We hope you will visit us whenever you have the chance, especially during Homecoming in the fall and at graduation in April. We would love to see you again and to feed you in the Pendulum Court.
Ross Spencer
The Department of Physics and Astronomy continues to be the fun and exciting place you all remember it to be, and it’s still improving. Earlier this year we were invited by the American Physical Society to be highlighted at the March Meeting and on the APS website for our excellent work in educating physics students. We worked with a film production company hired by APS, and you can see the result by going to youtube.com and typing “aps tv byu physics” into the search window. At the March Meeting in Baltimore, Kay Stokes took the opportunity to watch all 20 of the short films about physics programs around the country. Her unbiased opinion is that ours was by far the best.
We also appreciate you and your support of the department. We are able to use funds from the Copley, Fletcher, Gardner, Gast, Hales, Mason, and Wood endowments, as well as the funds you give us, to give scholarships to our students as they get close to graduation and need some help. It makes a big difference to a young physicist to be able to focus on classes and research, and you help make this possible. If you are interested in helping the department out in this way, contact Brent Hall (801.422.4501 or brenth@byu.edu) in the college office, and he will help you with the details.
PHOTO: courtesy of BYU Photo
We graduated 46 undergraduate students in 2012, placing us among the top 10 producers of physics majors in the country, and we also graduated 12 MS students and 2 PhD students. The faculty won nearly $2 million in research grants and another $400,000 in beam and telescope time at national research facilities. The faculty published 71 research articles and our students made 170 presentations. We are especially known in national physics circles for our strong program in training physics teachers. Duane Merrell takes very good care of our physics teaching majors, and we are lucky to have him.
I have enjoyed serving as chair these past six years, and have had many wonderful experiences. Taking my place as the department chair is Richard Vanfleet with Grant Hart as the associate chair. We look forward to working with them in their new positions.
FROM THE NEW CHAIR Richard Vanfleet
We greatly appreciate the service and leadership that Ross Spencer and Harold Stokes have given during the past six years as they served as the department chair and associate chair. With great trepidation, I have accepted the appointment as department chair. I have asked Grant Hart to serve as the associate chair. We appreciate the opportunity to serve and recognize the great challenges that are before us. Fortunately, we are building on the legacy of great faculty, staff, and students of the past and present. We are optimistic for the future and invite you to join us as we continue to build the department.
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LEARNING:
A COMMUNITY EFFORT Article by Meg Monk
The Department of Physics and Astronomy is always abuzz with research and lectures but never gets too busy to reach out and interact with the community. The department offers many ways in which community members can get hands-on learning experience, such as Sounds to Astound, Astrofest, facility tours, and the Royden G. Derrick Planetarium. These exciting events and opportunities are interactive ways local students and families can learn about science and the unique research within the department.
TOURS
SOUNDS TO ASTOUND
Free tours are offered for any member of the community interested in learning about the department’s research or facilities. The department offers tours of the anechoic and reverberation facilities, the ESC lobby, the Royden G. Derrick Planetarium, electron microscopes, and other research rooms.
One way the community can get excited about science is through the Acoustics Research Group’s Sounds to Astound shows. Here, students studying acoustics demonstrate the power of sound through exciting experiments that teach about waves, decibels, and resonance.
Acoustics tours can be scheduled by contacting Kent Gee (801.422.1544 or kentgee@byu.edu), who is a member of the acoustics group. Other tours can be arranged by contacting any other member of the department.
“The audience gets to see an enormous slinky, experience sound in outer space, [and see] dancing flames and exploding balloons,” said acoustics advisor Kent Gee. “It’s a great way to help kids get excited about science.” The shows, which are free of charge, are held several times a year and are sponsored by the BYU Student Chapter of the Acoustical Society of America, the BYU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, and the Department of Physics and Astronomy. www.physics.byu.edu/research/ acoustics/outreach.aspx
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PHOTOS: Josh Siebert
ASTROFEST
PLANETARIUM
Each year, the BYU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences holds Astrofest, a festivity focused on getting kids excited about astronomy. Parents are able to bring their kids to the Eyring Science Center and participate in many different activities, all of which are free of charge. Many student volunteers help make the day possible and successful.
On Friday nights, the planetarium hosts public shows, many that include exciting themes such as the murder mystery “Murder on the Solar System Express,” as well as shows specifically about planets or stars. Tickets for these shows are only $2, and the shows last an hour.
“It’s just really fun,” said Marissa, a volunteer at the rocket-building station. “You get to help kids get excited about science and astronomy. What little kid doesn’t want to go to space? Science can be fun!” Astrofest will be held May 17, 2014. Check our website for more info and possible date changes. www.physics.byu.edu/clubs/astrosoc/ astrofest/
Outreach shows are designed to teach children, school, and youth groups about astronomy and only cost $1 per person. Groups with at least 20 people can reserve a show, and smaller groups, such as homeschool groups, are welcome to enjoy the regularly scheduled shows. A calendar of upcoming events can be found on the planetarium’s home page: planetarium.byu.edu
THE ALUMNI HOMECOMING REUNION
AN ASTRONOMICALLY FUN EVENING
The annual Alumni Homecoming Reunion put on by the Department of Physics and Astronomy will be held Friday, October 11, 2013, in the Eyring Science Center (ESC). A buffet-style dinner will take place from 4:00 to 6:30 p.m. that evening. Half-hour planetarium shows will be held in the Royden G. Derrick Planetarium in the ESC at 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. A physics demonstration show will also be held at 4:30 p.m. All events in the ESC are free for alumni and their spouses. Additionally, physics and astronomy alumni can purchase discounted tickets for the Homecoming Spectacular, held October 10–11 at 7:30 p.m. in the Marriott Center. Tickets can be purchased beginning September 10. Contact physalum@byu.edu for more information or to RSVP to any of these events. 5
THE FUTURE OF SUPERCOMPUTERS Article by Caroline Smith
Imagine a supercomputer powered by advanced processors that can do computational physics research for molecular dynamics, weather, fluid dynamics, quantum physics, and astrophysics simulations ten times faster than a “normal” supercomputer. It almost sounds too good to be true, but that is exactly the type of next-generation processors that alumnus David Tanner is programming for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). After graduating from BYU as a bachelor of science in physics, Tanner attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he received his PhD in biophysics and computational biology. His focus there was writing parallel molecular dynamics algorithms for heterogeneous supercomputers. “Because of my success in writing computing algorithms for hybrid CPU/ GPU systems, AMD hired me to write
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software for their new type of processor: the Accelerated Processing Unit (APU),” Tanner said. Tanner writes the software for this new APU processor, which is essentially a central processing unit (CPU) with an integrated graphics-processing unit (GPU) normally used for rendering highquality video games. “Working on high-performance software for AMD’s APU is exciting, because I believe that APUs will become a popular processor for building supercomputers [in the near future],” Tanner explained. Many of the fastest supercomputers on the TOP500 list utilize discrete GPU to accelerate complex simulations. AMD’s APU processor improves on the benefits of the discrete GPU by combining the CPU and GPU onto the same chip, allowing them to work more intimately and quickly on shared data. Such heterogeneous processors may power
the next generations of heterogeneous supercomputers. While most people won’t ever be exposed to a supercomputer firsthand, they can experience the APU’s technology via gaming systems. “The new hardware we’re developing will also be used in the next generation’s video game consoles, such as Sony PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It’s interesting that much high performance computing uses technology made popular by video gaming,” he said. The same type of demanding computation required for coding high-resolution 3D graphics for the top video games can also be harnessed for computing complex physics phenomena.
grids or irregular meshes; the required arithmetic-heavy numerical integration is well-suited for the power of GPUs which have hundreds of processor cores for fast parallel computation,” Tanner explained. This cutting-edge technology provides the means for Tanner to be creative and innovative everyday by adapting and optimizing classic algorithms to make the best use of current and future computer architecture. He looks forward to the day when the software and hardware he works on at AMD will have an impact on his roots in the field of physics.
“Most physical phenomena can be explored by numerical integration of relevant differential equations on regular
Image courtesy of David Tanner
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Physics Alumni Bring Science to Life
Through Innovative Teaching Article by Meg Monk
When high school students are asked what their favorite class is, it is rare to hear them respond with “physics.” Tom Erekson, science department head at Lone Peak High School—along with the other physics teachers Matthew Bell, Heather Ure Riet, and Erin Barrett Chorak, all BYU physics alumni—are working to change that. Together they have built one of the best high school physics departments in the state through one simple tactic— making science applicable and relevant to students’ lives. 8
Tom Erekson entered BYU as a freshman with the idea that he would be an electrical engineer. He enjoyed all his science courses but had an especially good experience in his physics classes. Erekson left on a mission, and while in the field, his life took an unexpected turn. “I was pondering what I wanted to do with my life. … At a general conference, President Monson came out and said teaching was the noblest profession. … I felt like that was an answer to me,” he said.
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Erekson graduated from BYU in 1995 with a degree in physics and later went on to earn a Master of Education degree in instructional technology from Utah State University. Erekson began as a teaching intern at Pleasant Grove High School in 1994 and continued teaching there for three years, moving a few miles north to Lone Peak High School when it opened in 1997. In his early years at Pleasant Grove, Erekson also taught BYU Independent Study courses in science. He has gone on to author four self-contained SpeedBack courses—online courses where the computers grade most of the assignments and tests. At Lone Peak High School, Erekson also advises the Physics Club. He helps students learn to love science by providing guidance and then letting the students run the club based on their interests. “One of the things I love about the Physics Club is that it allows us to do some of the really fun things in physics that there just isn’t time to do in the classroom,” he said. For example, a few years ago the club built a life-size trebuchet and used it to launch the football at the state play-off game. This year, the club president put together a tutoring program that allowed physics students to get homework help from more advanced students. When it comes to teaching, Erekson focuses on helping the students have good experiences in the classroom. Rather than having classes that begin with a lecture and reading assignments, each unit in his class begins with a team experiment. The students collect data from the lab and use the principles they learn to apply physics to different situations. “The kids learn as we do fun activities,” Erekson said.
As head of the science department and team leader for the physics Professional Learning Community (PLC) at Lone Peak High School, Erekson works with the other physics teachers to create a classroom environment that is both fun and relevant. “Lone Peak is somewhat unique in that we have 4 full-time physics teachers. … We have had the chance to collaborate and share ideas,” he explained. “We cut the fluff out and make physics fun and relevant and interesting. We have worked really well as a team.” Erekson’s teaching style is being noticed and admired by many people across the state. He has won several awards in the past decade, including being named Lone Peak High School Teacher of the Year twice, once in 2010 and again this past February. For Erekson, “the most important teaching approach is to get to know the students and how they learn and basically just to make it relevant for them. … If they don’t see it as relevant, it doesn’t really matter what their learning style is. If they do see it as relevant, it is a lot easier to be able to connect the physics with their life and help them to see how those relationships work,” he said. Helping students to make connections with physics in their lives makes Erekson feel as though he has lived up to the “noble profession” he entered. “I just love teaching. Physics is really fun because it is all around us; it’s everywhere,” he said. “...I think it is important for children to learn about science at an early age. It gives them a different way of thinking and looking at the world to figure out how it works.”
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Physics Alumnus Juggles Atoms, Children, and National Awards Article by Meg Monk
In addition to staying busy raising six children, BYU physics alumnus Dr. Matthew Squires is researching ways to improve GPS technologies using gyroscopes and accelerometers, and winning a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers for his research on atom chip technology. Dr. Matthew Squires can surely be counted as one of the lucky few who found his calling early in life. “Physics has resonated with me since my first physics class in high school,” he said. “I love learning the principles that describe how our world and universe operate.” Squires began his trek to success at BYU, earning a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1999 and a master’s degree in 2001. 10
“I absolutely loved my experience at BYU. ...the whole environment was conducive to learning. All of my professors were excellent in their teaching and truly cared about me personally,” he said. He noted especially the influence of Drs. David Allred and Steve Turley, who gave him exciting research opportunities and helped him develop vital research skills that helped immensely in graduate school and in his current research. Following his master’s program, Squires received his PhD in physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2008. His thesis was focused on the rapid production of Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) in compact systems. At Colorado, he also had the opportunity to work with an optics, science, and engineering program to study topics outside physics. Additionally,
PHOTO: courtesy of Matthew Squires
Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). This award is a prestigious honor awarded to scientists who have had their PhD for less than five years, have made a significant scientific contribution, have provided community service, and are working on government-funded research. Squires received the award for his work on cheaper, more efficient “atom chips.” Currently, Squires is researching gyroscopes and accelerometers, working to improve direction technology that will eliminate GPS error. “The success of GPS is amazing, but for various reasons GPS doesn’t always work. Some examples are driving in the city where buildings block the GPS signal or a solar flare disrupting satellite communication,” he explained. “One alternative to GPS is an old form of navigation called dead reckoning. If you know where you started you can then calculate your new position based on knowing your speed and heading. The better the measurements the better you can calculate your new position.
Squires spent a semester working with MicroElectricalMechanical systems (MEMS) in the mechanical engineering department. These experiences allowed Squires to expand his knowledge base and to learn about a wider range of postgraduate opportunities. Squires was fortunate to graduate at a time when the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) was hiring lab workers to study topics very similar to his dissertation. Having had networking opportunities with the AFRL at scientific review meetings, he was hired as a contractor for six months and then as a civil servant, in which capacity he has been working since. In July of 2012, President Barack Obama honored Squires with a Presidential Early
“Gyroscopes and accelerometers can be used to calculate your heading and speed,” he continued. “We are working on making better gyroscopes and accelerometers as a backup to GPS navigation. In addition to navigation, gyroscopes are used in many other applications from the Wii remote to the Hubble Space Telescope. Gyroscopes are used almost anytime you need to know which direction you are pointing.” Dr. Squires and his family have lived in many places during his schooling and career, including Maryland, Colorado, and Massachusetts, but they currently live in the East Mountains near Albuquerque, New Mexico. In addition to being an awardwinning scientist, he is also a full-time dad. Dr. Squires and his wife, Dionne, have six sons and one daughter. 11
NEW HIRES Mark Transtrum — Assistant Professor, Physics. Mark graduated magna cum laude from BYU with a double major in physics and math in 2006. His undergraduate thesis explored the consequences of quantized space-time in quantum mechanics. He received both his master’s degree in physics in 2010 and his PhD in physics in 2011 from Cornell University, where he studied the use of differential geometry to understand mathematical models and numerical algorithms for data fitting. Mark recently completed a two-year post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, where he built upon his dissertation work to explore complex biological models related to cancer. Most recently, he has been working to systematically reduce complex interactions into simpler forms.
Clark Snelgrove — Demonstration Coordinator, Physics. Clark graduated from BYU in physics in 1985 and went on to teach physics, chemistry, mathematics and other subjects in the Jordan School District in Salt Lake County, Utah. While teaching he obtained his master’s degree in physics from the University of Utah in 2000. In 2002 he and his family relocated to Blacksburg, Virginia, where he worked at Virginia Tech and developed the educational infrastructure to support physics teaching in a new physics building, including writing the new curriculum. While at Virgina Tech, Clark earned a PhD in STEM education from the School of Education and had the opportunity to teach physics one year at a magnet school for Math and Science in southwestern Virginia. Most recently, Clark has worked as a test engineer for a small research and development company that is developing technologies to miniaturize microwave communications equipment. He is married to Laura Keely Snelgrove and they are the parents of six sons.
From Last Year We apologize for the error and include her bio here. Denise Stephens — Assistant Professor, Astronomy. Denise received her bachelor’s degree in physics from BYU in 1996 and both her master’s degree and her PHD in astronomy from New Mexico State University in 1999 and 2002, respectively. She then worked at the Space Telescope Institute for three years as a postdoc researching binary Kuiper Belt Objects using data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Her time at the Space Telescope Institute was followed by two years at Johns Hopkins University as a research scientist where she studied brown dwarf atmospheres in the infrared. In 2007, she came to BYU as an assistant professor. In her current research she analyzes data from the HST archives to identify and characterize brown dwarf and Trans-Neptunian object binary systems.
PARTICIPATING STUDENTS AND FACULTY ADVISORS IN THE 2013 STUDENT RESEARCH CONFERENCE Jason Anderson - David Allred
Nirdosh Chapagain - Lawrence Rees
John Gardiner - Jean-Francois Van Huele
Pegah Aslani - Scott Sommerfeldt
Benjamin Christensen - Kent Gee
Eric Gibbs - Branton Campbell
Rachael Bakaitis - Kent Gee
Caleb Coburn - Michael Ware
Matthew Groesbeck - Michael Ware
Ty Beus - Manuel Berrondo
Alexander Corey - Lawrence Rees
Nathan Gundlach - Justin Peatross
Joshua Bodon - Kent Gee
Daniel Craft - John Colton
David Hart - Kent Gee
Yanping Cai - Karine Chesnel
Nathan Eyring - Tim Leishman
Kelsey Hatch - Karine Chesnel
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PHOTOS: Top and bottom, Josh Siebert; middle, BYU Photo
In our last newsletter, we inadvertently left out Denise Stephens as a new hire.
RETIREES
PHOTOS: Josh Siebert
Wayne D. Peterson — Physics Classroom Demonstration Specialist, Physics Demonstration Area Supervisor. Wayne received his bachelor’s degree in physics from Weber State University in 1972. After graduation, he studied electrical engineering at Utah State University. After working in the electrical engineering industry for a few years, Wayne joined the physics faculty at BYU in 1975. As a physics demonstration specialist, he has enjoyed giving demonstration presentations to many groups over the years. Wayne has been actively involved in the American Association of Physics Teachers for many years, from which he has received several awards for developing new classroom physics demonstrations. After retirement, Wayne looks forward to having more free time and pursuing new hobbies.
Harold Stokes — Professor and Associate Chair, Physics. Harold received his bachelor’s degree in physics from BYU in 1971 and his PhD in physics from the University of Utah in 1977. At the University of Utah, he researched novel techniques in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) for studying atomic diffusion in solid materials. Following a fellowship at NMR and the University of Illinois, he joined the physics faculty here at BYU in 1981. Harold has taught a variety of courses during his 32 years at BYU, but the majority have been introductory physics courses. From 1983 to 2007, Harold and Professor Dorian M. Hatch published 48 papers in various academic journals. Harold’s research was primarily focused on computational applications of group theory to structural phase transitions in solid materials. After retirement, Harold plans to travel and serve a mission with his wife, exercise more, and spend time with his grandchildren.
PHOTOS: Top and bottom, Josh Siebert; middle, BYU Photo
Marcus Holden - J. Ward Moody
Matthew McArthur - Lawrence Rees
James Schwab - David Allred
Chuck Honick - Victor Migenes
Thayne McCombs - J. Ward Moody
Prashanna Simkhada - Jean-Francois
Jarom Jackson - Dallin Durfee
Kyle Miller - John Colton
Van Huele
Brian James - Lawrence Rees
Jeshua Mortensen - Tim Leishman
Adrienne Smith - Justin Peatross
Zachary Jensen - Scott Sommerfeldt
Michael Muhlestein - Kent Gee
Michelle Spencer - Mike Joner
Trevor Jex - Lawrence Rees
Tyler Park - John Colton
Holly Stewart - Steve Turley
Jorge Jimenez - Bret Hess
Cody Petrie - Steve Turley
Susan Stoffer - Karine Chesnel
Adam Johanson - Victor Migenes
Yung Ping Chang - D.J. Lee
Trevor Stout - Kent Gee
Carla June Carroll - Mike Joner
Nicole Quist - John Ellsworth
Greg Sutherland - Richard Vanfleet
Soyoung Jung - Manuel Berrondo
Drake Ranquist - Victor Migenes
Alan Wall - Kent Gee
Enoch Lambert - Dallin Durfee
Emily Ranquist - Denise Stephens
Jane Tanner - John Colton
David Ludlow - Keith Leatham
Brent Reichman - Scott Sommerfeldt
Grayson Tarbox - Justin Peatross
Jennifer Lund - Tim Leishman
Nick Ritter - Scott Ritter
Daniel Thrasher - Scott Bergeson
Mary Lyon - Scott Bergeson
Joseph Rowley - Robert Davis
Matea Trevino - Karine Chesnel
Blaine M. Harker - Kent Gee
Stephen Rupper - Scott Bergeson
Seth Van Orden - Harold Stokes
Daniel Marquez - Scott Sommerfeldt
Alex Safsten - Karine Chesnel
Philip White - John Colton
Joshua Marx - Steve Turley
Jonathan Schuler - David Allred
Matthew Zachreson - Ross Spencer
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2013/2014 CALENDAR September 19 October 12
Summerhays Lecture Department Homecoming
October 18-19
Four Corners
January 4-7 March 15 March 3-7 April 24 May 17
2014 AAPT* Winter Meeting Student Research Conference APS** March Meeting National Physics Day Astrofest
July 26-30
2014 AAPT* Summer Meeting
* American Association of Physics Teachers 14
HBLL Auditorium - 7 p.m. Homecoming Reception (ESC Foyer) - 4 p.m. Planetarium Show Physics Demo Show Homecoming Spectacular - 7:30 p.m. University of Denver in Denver, CO For more info: www.aps4cs2013.info/ APS_2012_Regional_Meeting/Home.html Orlando, Florida JKB Denver, Colorado ESC - for times: physics.byu.edu/clubs/ astrosoc/astrofest/ Minneapolis, Minnesota
** American Physical Society
CALENDAR IMAGE: The polarization of light can be manipulated using waveplates and polarizers. In this photo, a high power cw Nd:YAG laser beam is divided into two beams and used to pump two different ti:sapphire injection-locked amplifiers. It is part of an experiment probing ultracold and strongly coupled neutral plasmas, funded by the National Science Foundation and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. PHOTO: Josh Siebert
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DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY N281 EYRING SCIENCE CENTER BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID PROVO, UTAH PERMIT NO. 49 PROVO, UT 84604
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