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OSU Physics Newsletter, Volume 1, Issue 1
Gift Supports First Endowed Chair for Ohio State Physics
The Ohio State University has announced the donation of a gift
of $1.5 million to the Department of Physics from Dr. Edward E.
and Sylvia Hagenlocker of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The gift will
be used to establish the Dr. Edward E. and Sylvia
Hagenlocker Chair in Physics to support a
distinguished senior faculty position in
atomic, molecular and optical physics. This
is the first privately funded
endowed chair in the
Department of Physics
during the current
$1 billion dollar "Affirm
Thy Friendship" campaign.
"I am confident that the
Hagenlocker Chair will considerably
enhance our ability to attract a renowned
scholar in this important area of physics,"
said Will Saam, chair of the Department of Physics. "It will benefit
our academic program, our research program, and the stature of
the entire university."
Ed retired as Vice Chairman of the Ford Motor Company in
January of 1999, and was awarded the first-ever Distinguished
Alumni Award from the Department of Physics in the spring of that
year. He received an honorary doctorate in science in 1997 from
Ohio State and gave the Summer 1997 commencement address.
New Physics Hires
The Department of Physics welcomes four new colleagues in 2000: Yong Baek Kim,
Tom Gramila, Arkady Tseytlin, and Samir Mathur. The four will join Ohio State's
thriving programs in condensed matter and high energy physics.
Kim, a condensed matter theorist, and Gramila, a condensed matter experimentalist,
both come to Ohio State from Penn State. Tseytlin, from Imperial College in
London, England, and Mathur, from MIT, specialize in string theory.
The department will announce other new hires later in the year.
Physics Professor Receives Guggenheim Fellowship
Tin-Lun (Jason) Ho, professor of physics at Ohio State, was named a
Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for
1999-2000.
Ho received his Guggenheim grant to work on "the new physics
of quantum gases of alkali atoms," focusing on features of Bose-Einstein
condensation of the atoms into a single quantum state.
He was the first to recognize the exciting new phenomena emerging
from the spin degrees of freedom in these gases.
An Ohio State faculty member since 1983, Ho is a member of
his department's condensed matter theory group, conducting
research in the areas of Bose-Einstein condensation of atomic
gases, the quantum Hall effect, superfluidity in helium three, and
quasicrystals. He is a pioneer in the use of topological concepts to
elucidate new phenomena.
His work on dilute quantum gases is supported by grants from
NASA and the National Science Foundation. He also is a principal
investigator of an NSF funded study of the low temperature properties
of the superfluid helium isotopes in novel porous media.
Ho received his bachelor's degree from Chinese University of
Hong Kong, conducted graduate studies at the University of Minnesota
and earned his Ph.D. in physics from Cornell. He is a member
of the Aspen Physics Center and a Fellow of the American Physical
Society, cited "for contributions to the understanding of super fluids."
Seven Ohio State Physics Faculty Earn Honors
The National Science Foundation, the American Physical Society, and the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers have recognized seven
members of Ohio State's Department of Physics for their contributions to
physics research. Maarten Rutgers and Yong Baek Kim, both assistant
professors of physics, have received National Science Foundation (NSF)
Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Awards. Four faculty -- Robert
Perry, Eric Herbst, Alan Van Heuvelen, and Gugenheim Fellow Jason Ho, all
professors of physics -- were named fellows in the American Physical Society
(APS). Len Brillson, professor of physics and electrical engineering and
scholar at Ohio State's Center for Materials Research, has been recognized
as a fellow in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
"These award winners demonstrate the depth of experience in our department,"
said Will Saam, chair of the Department of Physics. "The new fellows
of the APS and IEEE are being recognized for significant contributions to their
fields of research over the course of their careers. The NSF CAREER award
winners show exceptional promise, as judged by their peers."
Read the complete story
 DPF2000: Destination Ohio!
The Ohio State University will play host to
the American Physical Society's meeting
of the Division of Particles and Fields,
DPF2000, this summer. The meeting,
set for August 9-12, 2000, should draw
several hundred of the top physicists in
the country from the best universities
and laboratories to the campus to
discuss the latest research and theories
into the basic structure of matter.
Nineteen members of Ohio State's
physics faculty are active
in planning different
facets of the meeting.
For more information, see
the DPF2000 web site:
www.dpf2000.org
Epstein Wins First Technology Partnerships Alliance Award
Art Epstein, distinguished professor of physics and chemistry, recently
received a University Technology Partnerships Alliance award. The patent-holder
in more than 30 inventions and author of more than 500 publications,
Epstein's best-known invention is the world's first plastic magnet. His light-emitting
polymer portfolio has been licensed to a Fortune 500
company and is the basis of a new commercial initiative. He also
serves as director of the Ohio State Center for Materials Research.
To find out more about Dr. Epstein's research, visit: www.physics.ohio-state.edu
Polymer films like the tiny black rectangle shown on this substrate have been developed by
Ohio State Distinguished University Professor of Physics Arthur J. Epstein in connection with
his collaborator Professor Joel S. Miller at the University of Utah. This photo was featured on
the cover of the March 16, 2000 issue of Advanced Materials.
Physics Students Among National Honorees
The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently honored 11 Ohio
State University Students when it awarded its Graduate Research
Fellowships for the year 2000. Five undergraduate students and
two alumnae received full fellowships, and two students and two
alumni received honorable mentions.
The Department of Physics at Ohio State boasted two
winners: Ryan Barnett, who works with Professor Linn Van
Woerkom in Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics; and Matthew
Dorsten, who works with Professor Richard Furnstahl in the
Nuclear Theory Group.
For more information about physics graduate research, visit:
www.physics.ohio-state.edu
Two Undergraduate Students Earn Honors
Two more undergraduate physics students at Ohio State earned
prestigious awards in 2000.
Keith Edwards, a senior physics major, was awarded a
Nuclear Engineering/Health Physics Fellowship by the Department
of Energy. Edwards studied atomic, molecular, and optical
physics and microwaves with Professor Frank De Lucia, former
chair of the Department of Physics.
Matt Buoni, a junior physics and engineering major,
received a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. Buoni has been
working in plasma physics with Professor Vish Subramaniam in
mechanical engineering.
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