The American Physical Society (APS) has awarded the distinction of Fellow to four members of the University of Maryland physics faculty:

Paulo Bedaque, for pioneering contributions to several distinct areas of theoretical nuclear physics, including effective field theories in few-body physics, the phase structure of dense quark matter, and nuclear forces from lattice QCD.

Michael Fuhrer, for experimental studies of the electronic transport properties of carbon nanotubes and graphene.

Eun-Suk Seo, for leading the development and utilization of particle detectors for balloon and space-based experiments to understand cosmic ray origin, acceleration and propagation, especially as Principal Investigator of the Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass balloon-borne experiment over Antarctica.

Greg Sullivan, for contributions to the field of experimental elementary particle physics including contributions to the discovery of the top-quark at the Fermilab tevatron and new properties of neutrinos using Super Kamiokande-I, and for the development of experimental techniques in neutrino detection with the Super Kamiokande-I and IceCube detectors.

In addition, Ichiro Takeuchi, an engineering professor who is also an affiliate of the Center for Nanophysics & Advanced Materials, was elected for pioneering contributions to the creation of novel classes of materials using combinatorial synthesis and probing their properties using novel probes.

Founded in 1899, the APS is the world's second largest organization of physicists. Fellows are recognized by their peers for advances made in knowledge, through original research and publications.

Professor Jim Gates led an interdisciplinary team of mathematicians and physicists that discovered, hidden in supersymmetric equations, strings of bits and Adinkras -- their symbolic representations possesses symmetries reminiscent of the western muscial scale. Originial jazz was performed on November 19, at the Simmons Hall Mulitpurpose Room at MIT, where Professor Gates is currently on sabbatical.

Read More

Geneva, 4 November 2010. Proton running for 2010 in the LHC at CERN1 came to a successful conclusion today at 08:00 CET. Since the end of March, when the first collisions occurred at a total energy of 7 TeV, the machine and experiment teams have achieved all of their objectives for the first year of proton physics at this record energy and new ground has been explored. For the rest of the year the LHC is moving to a different phase of operation, in which lead ions will be accelerated and brought into collision in the machine for the first time.Full Story

Below is an excerpt from an article on iron-based superconductors, recently published in Science News:

Physicist Johnpierre Paglione works in a kitchen of sorts: He precisely blends ingredients, heats his mixtures to just the right temperature and cools them to get the perfect product. But rather than only edible ingredients, his recipes call for toxic chemicals, such as arsenic, and metals — especially iron. His ovens, which line the shelves of his lab at the University of Maryland in College Park, reach 1,700˚ Celsius before he carefully cools his concoctions over days or weeks.Full Story

At the ceremony to announce the launch of Change the Equation, President Obama gave a speech that recognized Professor Jim Gates in connection to his work as co-chair of the PCAST/STEM EdWorking Group. The day marked the public release of a year-long study, Prepare and Inspire: K-12 Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) for America's Future on science, technology, engineering & mathematics (STEM) education in the nation's K-12 schools.

To read the blog created by Jim Gates, and to view related video with others from PCAST), visit:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/16/who-inspired-you