Sagdeev, Roald
Biography
Roald Sagdeev is a UMD Distinguished University Professor Emeritus. He earned his Ph.D. in 1966 from Moscow State University and served for 15 years as director of the Space Research Institute, the Moscow-based center of the Russian space exploration program, where he holds the title of director emeritus. Prior to his work with the Soviet space exploration program, he had a distinguished career in nuclear science with international recognition for his work on the behavior of hot plasma and controlled thermonuclear fusion. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy, the Max Planck Society and the International Academy of Aeronautics. Sagdeev has received the American Astronautical Society's Carl Sagan Memorial Award, and the American Physical Society's James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics.
Sau, Jay
Biography
Jay Sau received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 2008. He is a theoretical condensed matter physicist with a broad interest in many particle physics relevant to experiments. At present, he is predominantly interested in applying topological principles to create protected solid-state and cold-atomic systems for quantum information processing.
Research
Research Area:
Notable Publications:
- "Generic New Platform for Topological Quantum Computation Using
Semiconductor Heterostructures" Jay D. Sau, Roman M. Lutchyn, Sumanta Tewari, and S. Das Sarma. Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 040502 (2010). - "A number conserving theory for topologically protected degeneracy in one-dimensional fermions" Jay D. Sau, B. I. Halperin, K. Flensberg, S. Das Sarma. Phys. Rev. B 84, 144509 (2011).
- "A proposal to probe quantum non-locality of Majorana fermions in tunneling experiments" Jay D. Sau, Brian Swingle, Sumanta Tewari. arXiv:1210.5514 (2012).
Seo, Eun-Suk
Biography
Eun-Suk Seo earned her Ph.D. in 1991 from Louisiana State University. She joined UMD in 1991 and became a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2010. Her research focuses on cosmic ray origin, acceleration, and propagation including searches for exotic matter, such as antimatter and dark matter using direct measurements of galactic cosmic rays by flying instruments on balloons or spacecraft. Professor Seo has worked on numerous projects for the detection and characterization of cosmic rays, including four major international collaborations: ATIC (the Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter), AMS (the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, intended for deployment on the International Space Station), BESS (the Balloon-borne Experiment with a Superconducting magnet Spectrometer) and CREAM (the Cosmic Ray Energetics and Mass program). She is the Principal Investigator for CREAM and Co-Investigator for the others.
Research
Research Area:
Research Projects:
- Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter ( ATIC )
- Alpha Magnet Spectrometer ( AMS )
- Balloon -borne Experiment with a Superconducting magnet Spectrometer ( BESS )
- Cosmic Ray Energetics and Mass ( CREAM )
Centers & Institutes: Center for Experimental Fundamental Physics, Institute for Physical Science & Technology, Joint Space-Science Institute
Teaching
- Physics 107: Light, Perception, Photography & Visual Phenomena Laboratory
- Physics 121: Fundamentals of Physics I
- Physics 122: Fundamentals of Physics II
- Physics 141:Principles of Physics I
- Physics 260: Vibrations, Waves, Heat, Electricity & Magnetism
- Physics 270: Electrodynamics, Light, Relativity & Modern Physics
- Physics 272 & 272H: Introductory Physics: Fields
- Physics 276: Experimental Physics II
Shawhan, Peter
Biography
Peter Shawhan did graduate research in Physics at the University of Chicago, studying CP violation in neutral K meson decays, and earned his Ph.D. in 1999. He then spent seven years at Caltech as a Millikan Prize Fellow and Senior Scientist, helping to establish observing operations and data analysis for the LIGO gravitational wave detectors. As a University of Maryland Physics faculty member since 2006, Shawhan's primary research revolves around searching for gravitational wave signals from neutron stars, black holes, collapsing stars, and other extreme astrophysical sources. Detection of these elusive signals, beginning with the first spectacular event in September 2015 from a pair of merging black holes, has confirmed a prediction of Einstein's general theory of relativity and is revealing the properties of gravitational-wave sources and enabling tests of the theory of gravity. Other research interests include laboratory tests of gravity and high-energy astrophysics space missions.
Research
Research Area:
Research Interests:
- Gravitational waves
- Astrophysics
- Time-domain Astronomy
- Laboratory Gravity Experiments
Centers & Institutes: Joint Space-Science Institute
Teaching
- Physics 121: Fundamentals of Physics I
- Physics 171: Introductory Physics Mechanics and Relativity
- Physics 172: Succeeding in Physics: Applications, Resources and Concepts
- Physics 270: Electrodynamics, Light, Relativity & Modern Physics
- Physics 273: Introductory Physics: Waves
- Physics 375: Experimental Physics III: Electromagnetic Waves, Optics and Modern Physics
- Physics 405: Advanced Experiments
- Physics 410: Classical Mechanics
News
- Shawhan Named a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher
- Shawhan Elected APS Fellow
- Peter Shawhan Awarded 2018 Kirwan Faculty Research and Scholarship Prize
- Peter Shawhan Honored by USM Board of Regents
- The Chirps Heard Round the World
- Peter Shawhan Awarded the 2016 Richard A. Ferrell Distinguished Faculty Fellowship