University of Utah Department of Physics & Astronomy
Spring 2022 | Volume 10, Issue 2
Extraordinary black hole found in neighboring galaxy Page 2
LGBT+ physicists Page 4
Celebrating department awards Page 7
In this issue Message from the Chair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Extraordinary black hole found in neighboring galaxy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 First study of LGBT+ physicists reveals red flags, opportunities to improve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Celebrating department awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Tabitha Buehler honored with U’s Distinguished Teaching Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Gail Zasowski receives Early Career Teaching Award. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Pearl Sandick receives Linda K. Amos Award for Distinguished Service to Women. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Oleg Starykh recognized as APS Outstanding Referee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Claudia De Grandi receives Distinguished Educator Award. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Miguel Rodriguez awarded Fulbright Scholarship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Vicki Nielsen honored with Staff Excellence Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Luis Rufino receives Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Astronomer Juna Kollmeier gave guest lecture at Frontiers of Science event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Overview of Physics & Astronomy awards and graduates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Message from the Chair During the spring semester, we continued progressing towards a regular campus life
with many activities we enjoyed as a department before the pandemic, despite the ongoing Omicron COVID-19 wave. We were pleased to host Juna Kollmeier, the Director of the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, as our guest lecturer at the College of Science’s Frontiers of Science event. Also, for the first time since 2019, we were thrilled to hold our Physics & Astronomy Awards Ceremony in person. It was wonderful to see students, their families, and guests at this ceremony, as well as at our convocation and hooding ceremonies in May. We are proud of our undergraduate and graduate students, and I speak on behalf of the department and our faculty in recognizing the achievements of our students in completing their degree requirements. Obtaining physics and astronomy degrees takes hard work and dedication. We have enjoyed teaching and working with our students, and we wish them the best as they move forward in their lives and careers. This spring, our talented faculty, postdocs, undergraduate students, and staff members received again many awards and much recognition. The quality and quantity of the awards are a testament to the department’s reputation in having first-class research opportunities and a faculty committed to strong educational programs. We will always remain focused on our commitment to excellence in research and teaching, in both our undergraduate and graduate programs. We are very proud of our student, staff, and faculty achievements. Please find more information about these awards on page 7. Astronomers in our department have participated in a collaboration which has led to the discovery of a black hole that is unlike almost any other. An intermediate-mass black hole is an object that has long been sought by astronomers. You can read more about it on page 2.
Christoph Boehme
Physics as a discipline has attempted to grapple with equity and inclusion issues for generations. In particular, LGBT+ physicists have historically faced harassment and discrimination; many have left the profession because of this. We are excited that the first scientific study of LGBT+ physicists’ experiences has been led by a researcher in our department, Assistant Professor Ramón Barthelemy. While research in the past has explored inclusion and equity challenges faced by physicists with regard to gender and race, this study sought to expand the understanding of the impact of these barriers through a survey of the experiences of 324 people in physics across the LGBT+ spectrum. The study identified the two most significant factors influencing a person’s decision to leave physics: the overall climate of the organization they belong to and the observation and experience of exclusionary behavior. As always, thank you for your ongoing support and generosity. We depend on your interest in our ability to achieve excellence in teaching, mentoring, and research in a diverse and inclusive environment. Sincerely,
Christoph Boehme Professor and Chair Department of Physics & Astronomy
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Extraordinary black hole found in neighboring galaxy By Lisa Potter, research/science communications specialist, University of Utah Communications
Astronomers at the University of Utah and other institutions have discovered a black hole unlike almost any other. At one hundred thousand solar masses, it is smaller than the black holes previously found at the centers of galaxies, but bigger than the black holes that are born when stars explode. This makes it one of the only confirmed intermediate-mass black holes, an object that has long been sought by astronomers. “We have very good detections of the biggest stellarmass black holes up to 100 times the size of our sun, and supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies that are millions of times the size of our sun, but there aren’t any measurements of black holes between these. That’s a large gap,” said senior author Anil Seth, Associate Professor of Astronomy at the University of Utah and co-author of the study. “This discovery fills the gap.” Seth is part of an international team of astronomers who have been studying this phenomenon. They published their findings earlier this year in The Astrophysical Journal (11 January 2022). The black hole was hidden within B023-G078, an enormous star cluster in Andromeda, Earth’s closest neighboring galaxy. Long thought to be a globular star cluster, the researchers argue that B023-G078 is instead a stripped nucleus. Stripped nuclei are remnants of small galaxies that fell into bigger ones and had their outer stars stripped away by gravitational forces. What’s left behind is a tiny, dense nucleus orbiting the bigger galaxy and, at the center of that nucleus, a black hole. “Previously, we’ve found big black holes within massive, stripped nuclei that are much bigger than B023-G078. We knew that there must be smaller
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black holes in lower mass stripped nuclei, but there’s never been direct evidence,” said lead author Renuka Pechetti of Liverpool John Moores University, who started the research while at the U. “I think this is a pretty clear case that we have finally found one of these objects.”
A decades-long hunch B023-G078 was known as a massive globular star cluster—a spherical collection of stars bound tightly by gravity. However, there had only been a single observation of the object that determined its overall mass, about 6.2 million solar masses. For years, Seth had a feeling it was something else. “I knew that the B023-G078 object was one of the most massive objects in Andromeda and thought it could be a candidate for a stripped nucleus. But we needed data to prove it. We’d been applying to various telescopes to get more observations for many, many years, and my proposals always failed,” said Seth. “When we discovered a supermassive black hole within a stripped nucleus in 2014, the Gemini Observatory gave us the chance to explore the idea.” With their new observational data from the Gemini Observatory and images from the Hubble Space Telescope, Pechetti, Seth, and their team calculated how mass was distributed within the object by modeling its light profile. A globular cluster has a signature light profile that has the same shape near the center as it does in the outer regions. B023-G078 is different. The light at the center is round and then gets flatter moving outwards. The chemical makeup of the stars changes too, with more heavy elements in the stars at the center than in the stars near the object’s edge.
“Globular star clusters basically form at the same time. In contrast, these stripped nuclei can have repeated formation episodes, where gas falls into the center of the galaxy and forms stars. And other star clusters can get dragged into the center by the gravitational forces of the galaxy,” said Seth. “It’s kind of the dumping ground for a bunch of different stuff. So, stars in stripped nuclei will be more complicated than stars in globular clusters. And that’s what we saw in B023-G078.”
Interpreting evidence The researchers used the object’s mass distribution to predict how fast the stars should be moving at any given location within the cluster and compared it to their data. The highest velocity stars were orbiting around the center. When they built a model without including a black hole, the stars at the center were too slow compared to their observations. When they added the black hole, they got speeds that matched the data. The black hole model adds to the evidence that this object is a stripped nucleus. “The stellar velocities we are getting give us direct evidence that there’s some kind of dark mass right at the center,” said Pechetti. “It’s very hard for globular
clusters to form big black holes. But if it’s in a stripped nucleus, then there must already be a black hole present, left as a remnant from the smaller galaxy that fell into the bigger one.” The researchers are hoping to observe more stripped nuclei that may hold more intermediate-mass black holes. These are an opportunity to learn more about the black hole population at the centers of low-mass galaxies, and to learn about how galaxies are built up from smaller building blocks. “We know big galaxies form generally from the merging of smaller galaxies, but these stripped nuclei allow us to decipher the details of those past interactions,” said Seth. Other authors of the study include Sebastian Kamann of the Liverpool John Moores University; Nelson Caldwell, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Jay Strader, Michigan State University; Mark den Brok, Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam; Nora Luetzgendorf, European Space Agency; Nadine Neumayer, Max Planck Institüt für Astronomie; and Karina Voggel, Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg.
PHOTO CREDIT: Iván Éder; HST ACS/HRC The left panel shows a wide-field image of M31, with the red box and inset showing the location and image of B023-G78 where the black hole was found. The study was published on Jan. 11, 2022, in The Astrophysical Journal.
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First study of LGBT+ physicists reveals red flags, opportunities to improve By Lisa Potter, research/science communications specialist, University of Utah Communications LGBT+ physicists often face harassment and other behaviors that make them leave the profession, according to a new study, which comes as physics as a discipline has attempted to grapple with equity and inclusion issues. The authors found that the two biggest factors that influence a person’s decision to leave physics are the overall climate of the organization they belong to and, more specifically, observing exclusionary behavior. “People felt shunned, excluded, and they were continually having to readjust and twist themselves to fit into the physics community,” said Ramón Barthelemy, Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of Utah and co-lead author of the study. “LGBT+ people are inherently a part of this field. If you want physics to be a place where anyone can participate, we have to talk about these issues.”
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Leaving the field “Nearly everybody I know who is LGBT+ in physics has left, to be honest,” said Tim Atherton, Associate Professor of Physics at Tufts University and co-lead author of the study. “We’re talking dozens and dozens of students and faculty. I can empathize with the experiences of the study’s participants from some of my own experiences.” According to the American Physical Society, 15% of early career scientists identify as LGBT+. While a number of previous studies have explored challenges faced by physicists with regard to gender and race, this new study sought to expand understanding of the impact of these barriers through a survey of the experiences of 324 people in physics across the LGBT+ spectrum. The study was published in the journal Physical Review of Physics Education Research (28 March 2022).
The coauthors themselves come from a wide range of institutions, backgrounds, identities, and career stages and sought to understand the lives of people in the larger LGBT+ physicist community from their own perspectives. LGBT+ survey participants reported observing and experiencing exclusionary behavior such as shunning, homophobia, and harassment at high rates. LGBT+ people who are also from marginalized gender, racial, and ethnic groups faced more challenges than their LGBT+ peers. In addition to the survey, the authors also conducted one-on-one follow-up interviews with five students who identified as being transgender, a Person of Color (POC), or both to give voice to perspectives that often get lost in datasets with large statistical numbers.
Detailed findings Gender had a big impact on a person’s perception of their environment. While about 15% of LGBT+ men reported an uncomfortable or very uncomfortable experience, 25% of women and 40% of gender nonconforming people reported similar experiences.
Ramón Barthelemy
This pattern is even stronger among those who observed or experienced exclusionary behavior. Across the entire group, 20% experienced exclusionary behavior and 40% observed it. Women and gender non-conforming people are three to four times more likely to experience this kind of behavior, and nearly two times more likely to observe it than their male peers. Almost half of all participants who identified as transgender experienced exclusionary behavior directly, compared with 19% of their cisgender peers. Transgender interviewees encountered institutional barriers, including discriminatory health insurance plans or policies that restricted their bathroom use. Many trans participants described face-to-face harassment. Continued on page 6
Frank Kameny, activist and former U.S. government scientist
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Continued from page 5 “We often talk about the gender issues in physics,” said Atherton. “When we started looking at the LGBT+ issues, it’s amazing how gender just naturally emerged. We almost can’t separate those issues. It’s striking.” A participant’s level of “outness,” which describes how openly someone discloses their identity as part of the LGBT+ community, also influenced their experience. Participants who were out to their coworkers were more likely to report being comfortable, while participants who were not open about their LGBT+ identity reported being very uncomfortable at higher rates than their out peers. LGBT+ respondents of color reported being out at lower rates than their white peers. In a follow up interview, one Black participant felt that her race impacted her education more than her sexuality. “I think I grappled more with the race element than I do with the sexuality, because the deal is, that’s what they see first,” she said. Observing exclusionary behavior was found to have a greater influence on someone leaving physics than directly experiencing exclusionary behavior.
Opportunities to improve “This study tells us support has to be available in the entire institution,” said Barthelemy. “LGBT+ individuals in all departments have to be continually coming out when we engage with the broader campus community and new people, since our LGBT identity is seldom assumed. By making our presence known, we can help encourage greater equity, diversity, and inclusion throughout the institution.” In future studies, the researchers will dig deeper into the climate model to understand how best to keep LGBT+ physicists in the field. They’ve also submitted a grant to extend the current study to a long-term project that follows LGBT+ physicists every five years.
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Some of these respondents went on to workplaces outside of physics with a better climate. “But I’m sad because physics has lost so much of this valuable talent,” said Atherton. Still, he is hopeful. “I see a promising vista if we can begin to address these issues.” This study is the latest in a long history of queer physicists fighting for space in their field, the authors note. In 1957, the astronomer Frank Kameny was fired from the U.S. Army Map Service for being gay. For the next half century, he fought for the rights of LGBT+ people, even bringing the first civil rights claim based on sexual orientation in a U.S. court. In 2009, Kameny stood by President Barack Obama as he signed the executive order that the federal government could no longer discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity. “I feel our work builds on the generations before us,” said Barthelemy. “People like Frank Kameny, Alan Turing, Sally Ride—all of these amazing queer physicists, these icons, who made changes and really laid the groundwork for us to even exist in our field of study.” Other authors of the study include Madison Swirtz of the University of Utah; Savannah Garmon of Osaka Prefecture University; Elizabeth Simmons of UC San Diego; Michael Falk of Johns Hopkins University; and Wouter Deconinck of the University of Manitoba.
Celebrating department awards At the end of each academic year, the University of Utah, the College of Science, the Department of Physics & Astronomy, and national and international organizations recognize excellence in faculty, postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students, and staff through the presentation of awards. In this section of the Spectrum, we highlight some of the members of our Physics & Astronomy academic community who received distinctions in the 2021-2022 academic year. For a complete list of recipients, please see the summary on pages 20 and 21.
FACULTY AWARD
Tabitha Buehler honored with U’s Distinguished Teaching Award Tabitha Buehler, Associate Lecture Professor of Physics & Astronomy, has been recognized for her significant contributions to teaching by receiving a Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of Utah. Only five faculty members in the university are honored each year with the award. Faculty who are selected must meet several criteria, including a consistent record of outstanding teaching performance; implementing innovative and effective teaching methods that demonstrate exceptional abilities to motivate student learning; a concern for students and their wider education and career preparation; and contributions to the educational process outside the classroom. “It’s such an honor to receive this award,” Buehler said. “It’s humbling since I personally know so many excellent and dedicated instructors at the university.” Buehler said she tries to promote the idea that intelligence and abilities are not fixed—they can be improved over time with work. For example, a
Tabitha Buehler
Continued on page 8
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Continued from page 7 student is not inherently “bad at math.” Instead, there are just some math concepts or skills that the student has not mastered yet. “Different students may learn in different ways, but I believe that everyone is capable of growth in all areas of study, even in areas in which they don’t feel naturally competent. I explicitly encourage this kind of thinking in my students,” she said. Buehler says she emphasizes active and collaborative learning. “One of my goals is for students from all backgrounds and perspectives to have their learning needs addressed, and I strive to make sure materials are presented in a respectful way,” she said. “I appreciate and carefully consider any input and suggestions for improvement from all students. My practice has evolved over time as I test different methods and retain the ones that I find most effective.” Most satisfying, Buehler says, is the chance to participate in another person’s learning experience. “It’s so fun for me to witness those moments when someone makes an exciting discovery, gains a deeper understanding, or ‘finally gets it.’ My goal is to facilitate learning in such a way so that every one of my students has the opportunity to experience at least one of these moments.” “I really enjoy getting to know my students,” Buehler said. “I primarily teach introductory science courses to non-science majors, and in these classes my students often don’t begin a semester believing that the course might apply to their chosen fields or their everyday lives. It’s fun to help them discover how physics is directly applicable in their lives and interests or how it can help them gain proficiencies and tools that are relevant in their fields. It’s my hope that my students carry with them the sense that I care about them and am committed to supporting them in their learning.”
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Buehler also engages in numerous public outreach activities. She supervises student Teaching Assistants (TAs) who work as science communicators in the South Physics Observatory public outreach group. The group, led by Paul Ricketts, holds free public Star Parties on Wednesday nights; gives presentations to groups who come to campus; and takes telescopes and presentations off campus to schools, workshops, scout groups, and other community groups. She also personally gives several outreach presentations on physics and astronomy topics at schools, workshops, and community gatherings each year. In addition, Buehler is a Faculty Associate with the Center for Science and Mathematics Education (CSME), and she served as a Faculty Fellow in the CSME’s UPSTEM (Utah Pathways to STEM) Initiative in 2018-2019. UPSTEM helps build inclusive curricula in the College of Science and improves degree pathways for transfer students to the University of Utah from Salt Lake Community College. She has also been deeply involved in the Learning Assistant (LA) program that the CSME has deployed in the College of Science. LAs are undergraduates who receive pedagogical training to support instructors in building collaborative classroom environments, with the goal of increasing effective learning. She serves as LA Coordinator for the Physics & Astronomy Department and teaches the pedagogy course (SCI 5050) for the CSME’s program that provides the training for the LAs. Buehler completed her Ph.D. in Physics & Astronomy at Brigham Young University in fall 2011, and she began as an Assistant Lecture Professor in the Physics & Astronomy Department at the University of Utah in spring 2012.
FACULTY AWARD
Gail Zasowski receives Early Career Teaching Award Gail Zasowski, Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, has been awarded an Early Career Teaching Award from the University of Utah. This is considered the highest teaching award for pre-tenured faculty and recognizes significant contributions to teaching at the university through new and innovative methods. The University Teaching Committee evaluates nominees based on a teaching portfolio, a curriculum vitae, letters of support, and student evaluations. This year the committee selected six early-career faculty from across campus for the award, including Zasowski. “I am honored and grateful to the U for this recognition,” said Zasowski. “The U’s educational mission is being fulfilled every day in so many enthusiastic, impactful, and creative ways, and it’s very exciting (and fun!) for me to be a part of that.” David Kieda, Dean of the Graduate School, Distinguished Professor of Physics & Astronomy, and Co-Director, Consortium for Dark Sky Studies, nominated Zasowski for the award. Anil Seth, Associate Professor of Physics & Astronomy, and Tobin Wainer, Research Assistant and Associate Instructor in the department, were among those who wrote letters of support. Seth described Zasowski’s excellence in teaching and mentoring students, particularly within her research group. “Gail’s approach to mentoring within her research group is very student-focused. She engages her students not just about the science they are doing but also by encouraging them to develop non-research professional skills from networking to writing. She regularly checks in with students about their career goals and is flexible in her assignment of student projects to accommodate their interests.”
Gail Zasowski
Wainer noted her approach to teaching STEM classes. “Through my work with Dr. Zasowski, I have come to learn that not only is she a brilliant scientist but she is also a model for how professors should approach teaching STEM classes. What sets Dr. Zasowski apart is her compassion for people in the department, her dedication to being the best professor she can be, and her willingness to expend exuberant effort to help others.” Zasowski, who joined the university in 2017, is an astronomer whose research focuses on understanding how galaxies produce and redistribute the heavy elements that shape the universe and enable life in it. She has taught classes ranging from introductory astronomy up through graduate-level courses on stars Continued on page 10
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Continued from page 9 and galaxies. She has also mentored a large number of undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers through a variety of research projects that explore these topics. In addition to her work at the U, she serves as the Scientific Spokesperson for the current generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, an international astronomical project to collect and analyze data from stars, galaxies, and black holes throughout the universe. As spokesperson, she works hard to ensure that the functioning of the collaboration is efficient, transparent, and equitable for its more than 800 astronomers and engineers spread across the globe.
Zasowski was named a Cottrell Scholar in 2021 by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, which honors early-career faculty members for the quality and innovation of not only their research programs but also their educational activities and their academic leadership. With the support of that award, she is currently developing a new peer-mentoring program within the Department of Physics & Astronomy, called the PANDA Network. She, other faculty and staff, and a number of undergraduate students have been running a pilot program, with the hope of launching the full program for new physics majors later this year.
FACULTY AWARD
Pearl Sandick receives Linda K. Amos Award for Distinguished Service to Women Pearl Sandick, Associate Professor of Physics & Astronomy and Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs for the College of Science, has received the Linda K. Amos Award for Distinguished Service to Women. The award recognizes Sandick’s contributions to improving the educational and working environment for women at the University of Utah. Linda Amos was the founding chair of the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, was a professor of nursing, and served for many years as Dean of the College of Nursing and as Associate Vice President for Health Sciences. Throughout her career, Amos was a champion for improving the status and experience of women on campus.
Pearl Sandick
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“This is a great honor,” Sandick said. “I’m privileged to work with amazing students and colleagues who understand the value of a supportive community. I am really proud of what we’ve accomplished so far, and I’m excited to start to see the impact of some of the more recent projects.”
Sandick is a theoretical particle physicist, studying some of the largest and smallest things in the universe, including dark matter, the mysterious stuff that gravitationally binds galaxies and clusters of galaxies together. Upon her arrival as an Assistant Professor in 2011, Sandick founded the U’s first affinity group for women in physics and astronomy. For the last two decades, the national percentage of women physicists at the undergraduate level has hovered around 20%. Now, the percentage at more advanced career stages has slowly risen to that level, thanks in part to supportive programming designed to increase retention. The goal of the affinity group within the department is to foster a sense of community and provide opportunities for informal mentoring and the exchange of information, ideas, and resources. The group has also been active in outreach and recruiting. As of fall 2021, the group is now known as PASSAGE, a more inclusive group focused on gender equity in physics and astronomy. Within the department and in the College of Science, Sandick has improved a number of processes, including writing an effective practices document for faculty hires, based in large part on research related to equitable and inclusive recruitment practices and application review. As Associate Dean, she worked with the College of Science Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee (which she currently chairs) to create college-wide faculty hiring guidelines, which were adopted in 2020. She was also instrumental in several other structural and programmatic initiatives to create a supportive environment in the department, such as the development of a faculty mentoring program and the establishment of “ombuds liaisons” to connect department members with institutional resources. Through her national service related to diversity and inclusion, Sandick has gained a variety of expertise that she has brought back to the campus community. For example, she has given workshops in the department, the college, and across campus
on communication and negotiation, implicit bias, conflict management, and mentorship. Here are comments from women in the Department of Physics & Astronomy who have participated with Dr. Sandick in activities sponsored by PASSAGE: “Being part of PASSAGE has allowed us to connect with others who share similar experiences in the department,” said Tessa McNamee and Callie Clontz, undergraduate students. “It has also helped us connect with people, both within the university community and at other institutions, who have served as role models and mentors.” Dr. Ayşegül Tümer, Postdoctoral Research Associate in the department, said, “PASSAGE became a lifeline during the pandemic and continues to be so. It helps equip members with the tools that they need in various aspects of academia. Professor Sandick makes it her mission to guide us, especially in a time of crisis. I am personally thankful to her and to all of the group members.” In addition to her research, Sandick is passionate about teaching, mentoring, and making science accessible and exciting for everyone. She has been recognized for her teaching and mentoring work with a 2016 University of Utah Early Career Teaching Award and a 2020 University of Utah Distinguished Mentor Award. In 2020, she also was named a U Presidential Scholar. Sandick is actively involved in organizations that support recruitment, retention, and advancement of women physicists. She has served on the American Physical Society (APS) Committee on the Status of Women in Physics and as the chair of the National Organizing Committee for the APS Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics. She is currently chair of the APS Four Corners Section, which serves approximately 1,800 members from the region.
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FACULTY AWARD
Oleg Starykh recognized as APS Outstanding Referee Oleg Starykh, Professor of Physics & Astronomy,
has been recognized as an Outstanding Referee by the editors of the American Physical Society‘s (APS) Physical Review Journals. Journals. The Outstanding Referee program was instituted in 2008 to recognize scientists who have been exceptionally helpful in assessing manuscripts for publication in the APS journals. Referees help keep the standards of the journals at a high level and, in many cases, also help authors improve the quality and readability of their articles—even those that are not published by APS. The highly selective Outstanding Referee program annually recognizes about 150 of the roughly 82,000 currently active referees. Like Fellowship in the APS, this is a lifetime award. In 2022, 146 Outstanding Referees were selected. Physical Review editors select the honorees based on the quality, number, and timeliness of their reports, without regard for membership in the APS, country of origin, or field of research.
Oleg Starykh
research, important applications of physics, leadership in or service to physics, or significant contributions to physics education.
“I am very pleased, and, frankly, surprised, to receive this award,” said Starykh. “Refereeing often feels as a thankless activity in that it takes a lot of time and energy for free. It is, at the same time, a highly needed activity because physics is a collective enterprise in which we all need to work to uphold research standards so that the field remains meaningful, interesting, and productive. It is great to know that my modest efforts are useful and are appreciated by the community.”
His own research focuses on quantum magnetism and deals with magnetic properties of numerous materials and theoretical models inspired by them. The primary goal of his research is to understand the quantum dynamics of microscopic magnetic moments, known as spins, which are present in essentially every material around us. The practical side of this research, known as spintronics, seeks to create and control quantum motion of spins with the goal of replacing basic electron current-based devices with spintronics, in which spin currents will be used to transport quantum information encoded in quantum spin-based qubits.
In 2020, Starykh was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society for his exceptional contributions to the physics enterprise in physics
Starykh joined the University of Utah in 2004 as an Associate Professor and was promoted to Professor in 2012.
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Spinon Collisions Glimpsed in a Model Quantum System Researchers catch a first peek of a collision between two spinon quasiparticles in a quantum-spin chain
K.Y. Povarov and A. Zheludev/ETH Zurich
Starykh and his fellow researchers recently had an article published in Physical Review Letters 128, 187202 (2022). In the article, “Electron Spin Resonance of the Interacting Spinon Liquid,” researchers catch a first peek of a collision between two spinon quasiparticles in a quantum-spin chain. Here is a synopsis of their research from the article: At temperatures near absolute zero, some magnetic materials transition into an exotic phase of matter known as a quantum spin liquid, where the spin distribution lacks order. To understand the behavior of these materials, researchers study model systems called quantum-spin chains that share properties with quantum-spin liquids. Quantum-spin chains can sustain certain quasiparticles—whose interactions physicists want to understand better. Now, the authors of this study make the first observation of a predicted interaction between certain quasiparticles in the material.
A quantum-spin chain is a 1D array of localized spins that harbors unusual excitations, such as quasiparticles called spinons, which always occur in pairs. In previous theoretical work, researchers predicted that spinon interactions could influence a quantumspin chain’s energy spectrum in a magnetic field. Specifically, when two spinons collide, the collision is predicted to influence, under certain conditions, the precession of spins in the chain. The result is a shift in the material’s energy states. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy, researchers observed this predicted shift in the quantum-spin chain material K 2CuSO4Br2. In future work, the team plans to look for signatures of quasiparticle interactions in more complex materials that have higher-dimensional spin arrays. Adapted from an article by Sophia Chen, a science writer based in Columbus, Ohio.
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FACULTY AWARD
Claudia De Grandi receives Distinguished Educator Award Claudia De Grandi, Assistant Professor
(Lecturer) of Educational Practice in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, has been recognized for her exceptional contributions to the educational mission of the College of Science by receiving the 2021-2022 College of Science Distinguished Educator Award. Nominations for the award include faculty who have gone above and beyond to foster community, provide engaged learning opportunities, or otherwise substantially enrich learning experiences within the College of Science community at the university. “I am excited and honored to receive this award! It’s a pleasure to work with faculty, students, and staff in the College in the pursuit of educational excellence.” In supporting De Grandi’s nomination, Christoph Boehme, Professor and Chair of the department, said, “The award recognizes the excellent work that Claudia has done over the past years, not just as an outstanding course instructor but also for course and curriculum development. We are so lucky to have her as a faculty member in the department.” Some of the projects she has been actively involved with in the department include designing and leading the teaching assistant orientation for incoming graduate students; reforming the undergraduate physics curriculum; and piloting a new peer-to-peer mentoring program (the PANDA Network led by Dr. Gail Zasowski). Since fall 2020, Dr. De Grandi has served as the chair of the Physics & Astronomy Teaching Excellence Committee, the goal of which is to support all faculty and instructors in the department
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Claudia De Grandi
to design effective learning environments and foster student success. The ongoing work of this committee includes creating a community in the department to discuss and share teaching practices and tools (especially during the beginning of Covid-19 and the adjustment to online teaching); providing instructors with the tools to seek feedback from students (e.g., via mid-semester anonymous surveys); and advising department leadership on the implementation of teaching innovation. Since her arrival at the U in 2018, De Grandi has been teaching several large-enrollment introductory physics courses and labs geared to all STEM majors. De Grandi designs her courses with the goals of fostering community and collaboration among students, creating a space for incremental learning, and providing resources and access. Informed by her previous teaching experience at Yale University, De Grandi brought to the U a new
course in the spring of 2020: the Being Human in STEM course (SCI 3900/HONOR 3990). The goal of this course is to create a space for dialogue between STEM students and STEM faculty to investigate together the theme of diversity and climate within STEM. As part of the course, students develop and implement their own projects with the goal of improving the experience of STEM students at the university. One student said of the course, “This class gave me the tools I needed to be more inclusive and bring more
humanity into STEM and the world. It has really just opened the door for me to realize I have so much more to learn and experience. This class has given me the tools to question and re-examine my perceptions.” The course satisfies the University General Education Diversity requirement and also counts as an Honors College elective. De Grandi has co-taught this course for the past three years in collaboration with other faculty in the College of Science, College of Engineering, and College of Mines and Earth Sciences.
POSTDOC AWARD
Miguel Rodriguez awarded Fulbright Scholarship Miguel Rodriguez, Postdoc Research Associate
in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, is ready to pack his bags for travel. Rodriguez has received a Fulbright Scholarship to do research for a year at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. “Being awarded a Fulbright means getting the opportunity to absorb another culture’s way of thinking, including how science is thought about and practiced,” said Rodriguez. “I will also get the chance to represent and share my Black Puerto Rican American culture with the people around me. I hope that my work abroad will lead to future postFulbright collaborations with the colleagues I’ll meet at the Weizmann.” The Fulbright Program is one of several U.S. cultural exchange programs between the United States and other countries. The program was founded by the late U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946 and is widely considered to be one of the most prestigious scholarships in the world. The Weizmann Institute is a public research university, established in 1934. It differs from other Israeli universities in that it offers only postgraduate degrees in the natural and exact sciences. Continued on page 16
Miguel Rodriguez
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Continued from page 15 At the Weizmann, Rodriguez will be analyzing a nationally used online tool for science teachers called Personalized Teaching and Learning (PeTeL). For the first part of his research, Rodriguez will do a social network analysis (SNA) on the interactions between teachers using PeTeL to find patterns and how teachers connect with each other. In the second part, he will choose several teachers to interview and then conduct a follow-up qualitative analysis. Doing this will strengthen interpretations of the SNA results and provide insight into those outcomes. Rodriguez became interested in Physics Education Research (PER) while working on his graduate studies in physics at the University of Oklahoma (OU). He found he had become more interested in teaching than in his solid-state physics research. His then advisor, Bruno Uchoa, told him about PER and encouraged him to apply to a PER doctoral program. After leaving OU with a master’s degree in physics, he was accepted at Florida International University (FIU), where he began studying PER under the guidance of Geoff Potvin, Associate Professor of Physics at FIU’s STEM Transformation Institute. Rodriguez received his Ph.D. from FIU in 2020. In graduate school, Rodriguez received encouragement and support from many academic advisors, especially Dr. Potvin. He has also been encouraged by his current postdoc advisor, Dr. Ramón Barthelemy, Assistant Professor in the U’s Department of Physics & Astronomy. His friends and family also have provided support. “The biggest obstacle I had to overcome in my academic career was finishing my dissertation during the first two months of the Covid pandemic,” he said. “The uncertainty and worry that came because of the pandemic was tough.”
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Rodriguez is the lead author, along with Ramón Barthelemy and Melinda McCormick, of a paper accepted by Physics Education Research. In the article, “Critical race and feminist standpoint theories in physics education research: A historical review and potential applications,” the authors reviewed two theoretical frameworks: critical race theory (CRT) and feminist standpoint theory (FST). The paper guides the reader through the historical context that developed each theory, presents major ideas of the theories, and reviews external critiques and where they stand today. The goal of the paper is to help readers further understand CRT and FST, what their role is in education, and how they may be used in physics education research. Simultaneously, the article serves to broaden perspectives of fundamental societal problems, such as racism and sexism. Rodriguez would like to continue his research in three different areas. First is to continue to study how students learn science so that students can more effectively transfer science to everyday life. “I think it’s important that we determine, as science educators, how to better instruct our larger society,” he said. His second avenue of research involves critically assessing the experiences of underrepresented groups. “Even though much progress in civil rights has been made, there are still many gaps. I want to help make physics education more equitable,” he said. Lastly, he wants to contribute to building the artificial intelligence systems that will enhance education, designing modules for students to express their representations of physics and, eventually, assess students’ assignments using machine-learning algorithms.
STAFF AWARD
Vicki Nielsen honored with Staff Excellence Award Vicki Nielsen, Accountant in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, has received a Staff Excellence Award from the College of Science.
“It’s an honor and very exciting to be selected by the College for this special recognition,” said Nielsen. “I’m humbled by the nomination. I’ve received kudos at other jobs but nothing compared to this extraordinary award. Excellence is a word I take seriously, and this is a goal to which I will continue to aspire for the Physics Department and the College of Science!” Nielsen came to accounting through a circuitous route—originally she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre from the U in 1994. She was lucky enough to work and gain practical experience in Pioneer Theatre Company‘s costume shop for several years as a student and after graduation. She had always wanted to experience living outside Utah, so she left to backpack across Europe. Eventually she returned to the States, moved to Oregon, and worked different jobs. When she returned to Utah, two genealogy companies she had worked for previously hired her to perform searches at the Family History Library for customers and professional genealogists. In 2006, a close friend who worked in the accounting area in the Department of Physics & Astronomy told Nielsen about an administrative assistant job opening. Once she was hired and began working, she was offered part-time work in accounting and, eventually, full-time with payroll duties. “My supervisor at the time said she trusted me with those duties, and that gave me confidence. All my work experience has helped me in becoming effective at meeting deadlines, getting tasks accomplished quickly and correctly, and finding fulfillment in helping people.”
Vicki Nielsen
In her current role, Nielsen communicates with supervisors and new employees throughout the hiring process. She initiates student job changes through HR every semester and department job changes for the new fiscal year. She also works with HR in offboarding employees to help with a smooth transition as they leave the U. She has frequent interaction with the U’s office of International Student & Scholar Services regarding work authorization for department employees. In addition, she is involved with the department’s graduate program and has a general knowledge of all the business services provided in the Accounting Department. Nielsen enjoys working in the department and values the inclusion and support she finds. She also respects the emphasis on and support for education. “I really love working with all the impressive people in the department who have such insight and drive,” she said. “In turn, I hope this is reflected in how I help people.”
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STUDENT AWARD
Luis Rufino receives Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award Luis Rufino, a senior who graduated in May with a degree in physics, has overcome many academic challenges at the U. His efforts were recognized when he received the College of Science Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award. “When I first heard the news, I was surprised because I didn’t feel I deserved it, even though I’ve worked hard,” he said. “Maybe I’m suffering from imposter syndrome and still questioning my abilities, but winning the award gave me assurance that I’ve been successful in achieving my goal of improving as a student.” As a freshman at Salt Lake Community College, Rufino had struggled with some classes. When he transferred to the U, he worried he wouldn’t be able to keep up with upper-division physics classes. “I knew I wanted to attend graduate school, which meant I had to improve in my physics classes and also get some research experience,” he said. “Throughout my academic career at the U, I’ve tried to do my best and still find time for research. A physics degree is already quite challenging, and wanting to do research on top of that added another layer of stress and difficulty.” Rufino thinks one of the most important skills he learned at the U was how to manage school, research, and everything else that life throws at an undergraduate. He’s also learned how to bounce back from setbacks, especially in research. His research is focused on exploring new physics to describe dark matter—the particles that gravitationally bind galaxies and clusters of galaxies together. The Standard Model of particle physics is the theory that explains how the most elementary particles interact with each other and combine to
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Luis Rufino
form composite objects, like protons and neutrons. Developed over the course of many decades, what we know today as the Standard Model was formulated nearly half a century ago and remains a focus of study for particle physicists. By itself, the Standard Model fails to provide an explanation for many important phenomena, such as the existence of dark matter in the universe. Theoretical physicists have begun to think of a new group of particles that can potentially describe dark matter. These theoretical particles are called the Supersymmetric Standard Model, which suggests that a “cousin” or partner particle may exist for every fundamental particle in the Standard Model. One of these partner particles has the potential of being the mysterious dark matter particle. But how do we find these partner particles? Whenever two particles interact with each other, they emit light and other particles. The same thing
happens when two dark matter particles find each other. The light observed from these dark matter interactions can tell us about the dark matter characteristics. Rufino works on investigating the light originating from possible dark matter interactions from dwarf galaxies. He enjoys the research because it allows him to explore new ideas that have the potential to change much of what we know about physics. He became interested in physics as a kid by watching pop-science movies, science cartoons, and superhero movies “I’d watch Jimmy Neutron, Neutron, Dexter’s Laboratory,, Spiderman Laboratory Spiderman,, and Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey,, with Neil deGrasse Tyson,” Rufino said. Odyssey “I have to give Neil deGrasse Tyson all the credit for my passion for physics. After the first or second episode, I was convinced physics was what I wanted to study, especially astronomy. Of course, now I’m more passionate about discovering new physics.” His favorite professors in the department have been Dr. Tugdual LeBohec, Dr. Charlie Jui, and Dr. Pearl Sandick. He enjoys the way Dr. LeBohec incorporates history into a lecture before getting into
physics. Dr. Jui empathizes with students in their struggles to master complex concepts. He remembers the late nights, the constant stress, and, sometimes, the nightmares that physics students experience. Dr. Jui’s ability to connect with students made Rufino feel at ease in taking his class. Dr. Sandick has been the most influential person in Rufino’s life and academic career. “She is a person I strive to become, and I’m very grateful to have her as my research advisor,” he said. “The number of research opportunities that are available in the department is amazing and critical to development as a student or researcher. Even if you decide not to pursue graduate school, you will be a stronger candidate in the job market after completing a physics degree at the U.” After five years of intense focus, Rufino plans to take a gap year between graduation and graduate school. He wants to spend more time with the people he cares about and explore hobbies, such as working with leather goods, building mechanical keyboards, and running marathons. After his gap year, he will begin graduate studies at Syracuse University.
Astronomer Juna Kollmeier gave guest lecture at Frontiers of Science event On March 22, Juna Kollmeier, the Director at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA), was on campus and a guest of the Department of Physics & Astronomy. As part of the College of Science’s Frontiers of Science lecture series, Dr. Kollmeier presented on “Mapping the Cosmos,” concerning the current efforts of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) in mapping over six million objects, from stars, to black holes, to galaxies. In addition to her appointment at CITA, Professor Kollmeier served as the Founding Director of Continued on page 21
Juna Kollmeier
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Summary of Physics & Astronomy Awards and Graduates Students receiving a Ph.D. or master’s in spring or summer 2022: Aishwarya Ashok Tushar Bhowmick Antoine Dumont Dipak Khanal Shuwan Liu Jason May Xin Pan Vijith Jacob Poovelil Mathew Potts Randal Rojas Steven Rossland Taniya-Hansika Tennahewa Brianna Thorpe (Master of Science Candidate) Ren-Bo Wang Yue Yao
Faculty, Postdoc, and Staff Distinctions ACM SIGMOD Award Joel Brownstein U Distinguished Teaching Award Tabitha Buehler College of Science Distinguished Educator Award Claudia De Grandi Staff Excellence Award Vicki Nielsen
College of Science Awards American Indian Housing Scholarship Mason Burden Theodore V. Hanks Scholarship Jonathan Sing College of Science Dean’s Scholarship Maya Wagner Joseph T. Crockett, M.D., Memorial Scholarship Jude Horsley Crocker Science House Scholars Keegan Benfield Nash Ward Freshman Scholarship in Science & Mathematics Lukas Mesicek Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award Luis Rufino
Undergraduate Awards Departmental tuition waivers Preston Harris Joshua Marchant Lukas Mesicek Jonathan Sing
Fulbright Scholarship Miguel Rodriguez
Thomas J. Parmley Scholarship for Outstanding Undergraduate Maya Wagner
Linda K. Amos Award Pearl Sandick
Walter W. Wada Endowed Scholarship Jude Horsley
Outstanding Referee by editors of the APS Physical Review Journals Oleg Starykh
Preston J. & Phyllis R. Taylor Scholarship for overcoming obstacles on the way to strong academic achievements Tanner Hoole
U Early Career Teaching Award Gail Zasowski Moore Foundation Physics Innovation Award Yue Zhao
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David & Karen Imig Scholarship for Women in Physics & Astronomy Curly Ellsworth
Outstanding Undergraduate in Condensed Matter, Biophysics, or PER Conrad Morris Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Assistant for exceptional fulfillment of teaching duties Kalista Castro Outstanding Continuing Undergraduate Maya Bryant Ben Searle Outstanding Senior Undergraduate Ben Preece Futures Award Carolyn Larsen Cody Leishman
Graduate Awards Outstanding Teaching Assistant for exceptional fulfillment of teaching duties Kameron Goold Outstanding Graduate Student for demonstrated success in coursework and research Fengwei Yang Distinguished graduate student researcher in condensed matter physics Dipak Khanal
Post-baccalaureate Awards Outstanding efforts in support of teaching Ben Powell Tobin Wainer
Astronomer Juna Kollmeier gave guest lecture at Frontiers of Science event Continued from page 19 the Carnegie Theoretical Astrophysics Center at The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Pasadena, California. An observationally oriented theorist in astrophysics, Director of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys (SDSS-V), and a scientist committed to public outreach, Kollmeier studies how structures grow and evolve in the universe, focusing on supermassive black holes, the Milky Way, and the intergalactic medium. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics with honors from the California Institute of Technology, as well as a Master of Science and Ph.D. in astronomy, both from Ohio State University, where, in addition to her thesis work, she designed, built, and deployed instrumentation parts for two telescopes as part of the Ohio State Astronomy Instrumentation Lab team. She was named a Fulbright Scholar, was an Institute for Advanced Study Visiting Professor in 201516, and received Hubble and Carnegie-Princeton Fellowships. She is a CIFAR Fellow and, most recently, has been selected the 2022 International Solvay Chair in Physics.
Distinguished postdoctoral researcher in condensed matter physics Uyen Huynh Outstanding Postdoc Research Miguel Rodriguez Barmak Shams Ayşegül Tümer
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DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY 115 South 1400 East, JFB 201 Salt Lake City, UT 84112 Social @uofu.Physics.Astronomy @uofuPhysAstro Online physics.utah.edu Phone 801-581-6901
Crimson Laureate Society Join the Crimson Laureate Society at the College of Science! Society members advocate for science, gain exclusive benefits, and drive the future of research and education at the University of Utah. Your annual membership will start today with any gift of $100 or more to any department or program in the College. For more information, contact the College of Science at 801-581-6958, or visit www.science.utah.edu/giving.
