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Honors Day ........................................................................................ 2 Alumnus Profile: Vicki Greene .......................................................... 5 Undergraduate News ........................................................................... 8 Research Highlight: Tom Ferrell’s Group ........................................... 10 Sections Cross The Newsletter of the University of Tennessee Department of Physics & Astronomy Volume 8, Number 1 Spring/Summer 2004 A Message from the Department Head by Professor Soren Sorensen Adjunct Professors: A Great Source of Renewal and Growth Continued on Page 4 Dr. Sorensen A physics department is a compli- cated and dynamic organization with many categories of people contributing to the teaching and re- search mission. Regular professors, stu- dents and staff historically have always been present. With the growth in the federal government’s research budget after World War II, research professors, funded by research grants, became in- creasingly common. Currently our de- partment has more than 30 research professors. Within the past 10-to-15 years a new category of people has become increas- ing important: adjunct professors. Originally they were hired primarily to teach classes, which might still be the most common use of adjuncts in other UT departments. However, in the phys- ics department we are now focusing much more on adjuncts as great col- laborators who help us increase our re- search activities and, in particular, the research opportunities for both our un- dergraduate and graduate students. Most of our adjuncts are employees of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, but re- cently we have also added adjuncts with other backgrounds, as will be discussed later. The typical adjunct professor in our department is a successful ORNL re- searcher who has chosen to work with and supervise one or several of our stu- dents. The student will also be super- vised by a regular UT tenure-line professor to ensure that he or she is making good progress and that the rela- tionship between the student and the adjunct advisor is positive and construc- tive. In order to provide research assis- tantships for the students, the adjunct professor has obtained external funding through our department. In many cases these exter- nal grants can also sup- port research associates and in some cases re- search professors. Often the funding comes from an agency like NSF or NIH, which normally will not be available to ORNL researchers. By collaborat- ing with adjunct profes- sors in fields other than our historically strong areas we have been able to sub- stantially increase the spectrum of re- search opportunities for our students without any additional costs to the Ten- nessee taxpayers. This collaboration be- tween UT and ORNL is not highlighted nearly as often as the agreements on distinguished scientists and joint faculty members, but nevertheless has also had a very positive impact on our depart- ment. The first major groups the depart- ment worked with as adjuncts were the micro sensor groups at ORNL. Some of the individual appointments go back several decades, but most have been made within the past 10 years. Now we have people like Tom Ferrell, Thomas Thundat, Panos Datskos, Lal Pinnaduwage and Ed Arakawa working with us and by now several of them have become research professors. Tom Ferrell has recently relocated his re- search group to UT. You can read more about him in the research highlight ar- ticle in the issue. Thundat was recognized in a Time Magazine article on January 12, 2004, as the inventor of the micro cantilever de- tector technology, and Thundat and Pinnaduwage were recently highlighted in the local newspaper for their outstanding contribu- tions to the micro cantilever detector technology, in par- ticular detectors capable of “sniffing” TNT and other bomb material. Datskos has been pushing the limits for detect- ing small amounts of material under ambient conditions and was recently featured in the weekly Physics News Update for having been able to detect amounts of mass as small as five femtograms. Many of our students are very inter- ested in getting optics experience, so to increase our capabilities in applied op- tics we have recently appointed three members from the ORNL Engineering Science and Technology Division: John Simpson, Don Hutchinson and Roger Richards. They have an impressive
Transcript
Page 1: Cross The Newsletter of the University of Tennessee Department … · 2004. 6. 10. · people in antiquity why they studied physics, the response would simply have been, “to be

Honors Day ........................................................................................ 2Alumnus Profile: Vicki Greene .......................................................... 5Undergraduate News ........................................................................... 8Research Highlight: Tom Ferrell’s Group ........................................... 10

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The Newsletter of the University of TennesseeDepartment of Physics & Astronomy

Volume 8, Number 1Spring/Summer 2004

A Message from the Department Headby Professor Soren Sorensen

Adjunct Professors: A Great Source of Renewal and Growth

Continued on Page 4

Dr. Sorensen

A physics department is a compli-cated and dynamic organizationwith many categories of people

contributing to the teaching and re-search mission. Regular professors, stu-dents and staff historically have alwaysbeen present. With the growth in thefederal government’s research budgetafter World War II, research professors,funded by research grants, became in-creasingly common. Currently our de-partment has more than 30 researchprofessors.

Within the past 10-to-15 years a newcategory of people has become increas-ing important: adjunct professors.Originally they were hired primarily toteach classes, which might still be themost common use of adjuncts in otherUT departments. However, in the phys-ics department we are now focusingmuch more on adjuncts as great col-laborators who help us increase our re-search activities and, in particular, theresearch opportunities for both our un-dergraduate and graduate students.Most of our adjuncts are employees ofOak Ridge National Laboratory, but re-cently we have also added adjuncts withother backgrounds, as will be discussedlater.

The typical adjunct professor in ourdepartment is a successful ORNL re-searcher who has chosen to work withand supervise one or several of our stu-dents. The student will also be super-vised by a regular UT tenure-lineprofessor to ensure that he or she is

making good progress and that the rela-tionship between the student and theadjunct advisor is positive and construc-tive. In order to provide research assis-tantships for the students, the adjunctprofessor has obtained external fundingthrough our department.In many cases these exter-nal grants can also sup-port research associatesand in some cases re-search professors. Oftenthe funding comes froman agency like NSF orNIH, which normally willnot be available to ORNLresearchers. By collaborat-ing with adjunct profes-sors in fields other than our historicallystrong areas we have been able to sub-stantially increase the spectrum of re-search opportunities for our studentswithout any additional costs to the Ten-nessee taxpayers. This collaboration be-tween UT and ORNL is not highlightednearly as often as the agreements ondistinguished scientists and joint facultymembers, but nevertheless has also hada very positive impact on our depart-ment.

The first major groups the depart-ment worked with as adjuncts were themicro sensor groups at ORNL. Someof the individual appointments go backseveral decades, but most have beenmade within the past 10 years. Now wehave people like Tom Ferrell, ThomasThundat, Panos Datskos, Lal

Pinnaduwage and Ed Arakawa workingwith us and by now several of themhave become research professors. TomFerrell has recently relocated his re-search group to UT. You can read moreabout him in the research highlight ar-

ticle in the issue. Thundatwas recognized in a TimeMagazine article on January12, 2004, as the inventorof the micro cantilever de-tector technology, andThundat and Pinnaduwagewere recently highlighted inthe local newspaper fortheir outstanding contribu-

tions to the micro cantileverdetector technology, in par-

ticular detectors capable of “sniffing”TNT and other bomb material. Datskoshas been pushing the limits for detect-ing small amounts of material underambient conditions and was recentlyfeatured in the weekly Physics NewsUpdate for having been able to detectamounts of mass as small as fivefemtograms.

Many of our students are very inter-ested in getting optics experience, so toincrease our capabilities in applied op-tics we have recently appointed threemembers from the ORNL EngineeringScience and Technology Division: JohnSimpson, Don Hutchinson and RogerRichards. They have an impressive

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Physicists young and old assembledwith great anticipation to find outwho among them would be recog-

nized at the physics department’s annualhonors day celebration on April 28.

Professor and Head SorenSorensen kicked off the ceremony witha brief welcome before turning thingsover to UT Classics Professor ChrisCraig, who gave the honors day ad-dress. Illuminating the study of scienceand math within an ancient framework,he explained that had you asked learnedpeople in antiquity why they studiedphysics, the response would simply havebeen, “to be happy.”

The term physics actually traces itsorigin to the Greek word for nature and“for the Greeks,” Dr. Craig said, “orderis beautiful.” His own heroes from therealms of science and mathematics arePythagoras, Epicurus, and Socrates.Pythagoras revered numbers as holy.Epicurus believed that to be happy, onehad to live in accordance with nature.And Socrates?

Socrates was annoying and somewhatobnoxious, always asking questions.“And so,” Dr. Craig said, “he was la-beled a natural scientist,” even though inreality he was not.

While some of the ancients may haveviewed scientists in such a dim light,that certainly is not the case for Dr.Craig, who recognized many of thephysics students in the audience andpraised their broad-minded approach tostudying arts and sciences.

“The physics students I know arevery far from humanities-blind,” hesaid. “Enjoy the larger human contextof what you’re doing,” he challenged.“The details of what you do can be be-guiling.”

At the conclusion of Dr. Craig’s talk,Dr. Sorensen and Dr. James Parks goton with the with business of handingout awards. First up was the inductionof students into Sigma Pi Sigma, thephysics honor society. The departmentadded 16 new members to the UT chap-ter, including graduate students WatheqAl-Basheer, Jason Haraldsen,Qinghong Kou, ValentinaKuznetsova, Ching-Tsai Lee, RobertMoore, and Juan Urrego-Blanco. Un-dergraduates received into this presti-gious society were James Alsup, Jesse

Henderson, Robert Higginbotham,Eric Mueller, Anton Naoumov, OlgaOvchinnikov, William Overcast,Daniel Passmore and Gail Zasowski.

Next came the presentation of indi-vidual awards.

The Outstanding First Year StudentAward recognizes exceptional achieve-ment by a student in his or her first yearof physics study. Michael Ashworthtook home the honor, which includedcopies of the Feynman lectures.

Two new awards were introducedthis spring for undergraduate students.

The Robert Talley Award for Out-standing Undergraduate Research wentto Anton Naoumov and Scott Outten.Each received copies of the Feynmanlectures.

The Robert Talley Award for Out-standing Undergraduate Leadershipwent to Olga Ovchinnikov, who alsoreceived copies of the Feynman lec-tures.

The Douglas V. Roseberry Awardwas a $500 prize and went to JoeyNicely.

The Robert W. Lide Citations went toDragoslav Grbovic and BrandonWhite. Each received a plaque and$350.

The Outstanding Graduate TeachingAssistant Award recognizes the GTAwho has earned the best evaluationsfrom students enrolled in the under-graduate physics and astronomy labs.The $500 award went to Phil Evans.

The Paul H. Stelson Fellowship inPhysics (a $2,500 prize) went toValentina Kuznetsova.

The Fowler-Marion OutstandingGraduate Student Award (a $1,000prize) went to Anota Ijaduola.

The Colloquium Awards were intro-duced this year to recognize the stu-dents who present the most thoroughwrite-ups on the various colloquia top-ics presented throughout the year.Suzanne Parete-Koon and ValentinaKuznetsova each received copies of theFeynman lectures.

The Society of Physics StudentsTeacher of the Year Award offers stu-dents the opportunity to select the fac-ulty member they feel provides the best

Undergraduate Sigma Pi Sigma Inductees: From left, Dr. Sorensen, RobertHigginbotham, Dan Passmore, Anton Naoumov, Gail Zasowski, James Alsup,Olga Ovchinnikov, Jesse Henderson, Eric Mueller, Dr. Parks.

Honors Day Celebration 2004

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instruction. This year the undergradu-ates chose Dr. Marianne Breinig andDr. Jon Levin. Each received a plaqueand a stylish SPS T-shirt.

Special recognition also went toJohn Carruth, the 2003-2004 recipientof the Dorothy and Rufus RitchieScholarship. John has just finished hisfirst year in physics.

Dr. Kermit Duckett also presentedAstronomer Extraordinaire PaulLewis (better known as the director ofastronomy outreach) with a poster ofan X-15 aircraft autographed by ScottCrossfield, who flew the X-15 to be-come the first rocket pilot to fly threetimes the speed of sound: over 2,000miles per hour. “He may be the biggestproponent of aerospace education ofanyone I know,” Lewis said ofCrossfield.

Students, faculty and guests ad-journed to the hallway for a receptionfollowing the presentation. Esteemedguests from the College of Arts andSciences were Dr. Lynn Champion,Director of Academic Outreach; Dr.Don Cox, Associate Dean of Aca-demic Programs; and Dr. CarolynHodges, Interim Associate Dean ofAcademic Personnel. Also in atten-dance were emeritus physics professorsDr. Ed Deeds and Dr. David King.

About the About the About the About the About the AAAAAwwwwwararararardsdsdsdsds

A striking element about these honorsis how personal they are. Half arenamed for people who had or have aconnection with the department—indi-viduals who studied or taught in theUniversity of Tennessee Departmentof Physics and Astronomy.

Dr. Robert Talley learned the intri-cacies of the infrared under the tutelageof Dr. Alvin Nielsen, earning hismaster’s and doctoral degrees here. TheRobert Talley Awards were introducedthis year as a means of acknowledgingstudents for their research expertiseand leadership capabilities. Dr. Talleyhas established a fund at UT to supportundergraduate physics education.

In the fall of 1959 the Phi SigmaKappa fraternity established the Dou-glas V. Roseberry Award to honor theirfraternity brother and physics major

Doug Roseberry,whose life was cutshort by an aneurysmjust five months be-fore he was to gradu-ate. Doug took onresearch and teachingduties in addition tohis undergraduatecoursework, spendingtime at Oak Ridge Na-tional Laboratory andthe Redstone Arsenalin Huntsville, Ala-bama. The Roseberryaward has traditionallybeen reserved for anupper-division studentwho exemplifies simi-lar dedication and ex-cellence.

The Lide Citations were introducedin 1998 to honor Dr. Robert W. Lide,who joined the physics faculty in 1957.Over three decades in the departmenthe worked tirelessly organizing the un-dergraduate laboratories, a practice hecontinued even after his retirement in1991. The department chose to honorhis contributions with citations that rec-ognize students of like qualities.

Dr. Paul Stelson was an adjunctprofessor of physics at UT from 1967until his death in 1992, mentoring manyyoung physicists along the way. He fin-ished his Ph.D at the Massachusetts In-stitute of Technology at the age of 23.In 1953 he joined Oak Ridge NationalLaboratory as a nuclear physicist, be-coming associate director of the physicsdivision in 1971 and director in 1973.During his tenure, the Holifield Heavy

Ion Research Facility was funded, built,and became operational. His family es-tablished the Paul H. Stelson Fellowshipin 1993 to support young scientists asthey complete their graduate education

and to carry on the strong relationshipin physics research between UT andORNL. The fellowship goes to a first orsecond year graduate student whoshows the greatest potential for successin graduate school and demonstratestremendous promise as a researcher.

The Fowler-Marion Award is namedfor Dr. Joseph Fowler and Dr. JerryMarion. Dr. Fowler earned his master’sdegree in physics at UT in 1938 beforegoing on to earn a doctoral degree atPrinceton. He later became head of theORNL Physics Division. In 1960 heteamed up with Dr. Marion of the Uni-versity of Maryland to edit a textbookcalled Fast Neutron Physics. They donatedthe royalties to the physics department.Funds from that gift have provided sup-port for the Fowler-Marion GraduateStudent Award, which acknowledges anadvanced graduate student who has ex-

celled in scholarship, re-search, service andleadership.

The physics depart-ment has not historicallyattracted the corporatesponsorship for awardsenjoyed by engineering orchemistry, both fieldswith more intimate ties

to industry. Yet the honors offered eachspring draw on the very personal andpassionate legacy of individuals wholearned here, taught here, and continueto make a difference.

Dr. Sorensen congratulates Fowler-Marion Awardrecipient Anota Ijaduola.

“Enjoy the larger human context ofwhat you’re doing . . . the details ofwhat you do can be beguiling.”

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array of lasers in their lab at ORNL.Over the past year Hutchinson has pro-vided important help in our senior levelteam research course for the construc-tion of a CO2 laser.

Currently some of the world’s bestaccelerator physicists are located in OakRidge and working on the SpallationNeutron Source. In collaboration withtheir dynamic leader, NorbertHoltkamp, we have started a program inaccelerator physics by appointing threeadjunct professors from the SNS: StuartHenderson, Jeff Holmes and MartiStockli. This fall Holmes will teach acourse in accelerator physics at thegraduate level, which we hope will at-tract students to this new program.

Medical physics is a rapidly growingarea with fantastic employment and sal-ary opportunities for physics graduates.One of the world’s leading medicalscanning companies, CTI, is locatedhere in Knoxville. Recently they hiredthree outstanding medical detectorphysicists jointly with the UT MedicalCenter: Jon Carney, David Townsendand Jeff Yap. Since for some time wehave been interested in responding tostudent requests for an expanded pro-gram in medical physics, we started acollaboration with these three physicistsby appointing them as adjunct profes-sors. Their technology-leading PETscanners and novel photon detectorswill provide great research opportunitiesfor students.

The above are examples of the 25adjunct professors currently workingwith us. A common theme is the moreapplied nature of the research beingdone by these groups. Applied researchtypically requires fairly large instrumen-tal investments and it is therefore a verycost effective way for us to start col-laborations. Reciprocally, the adjunctsget access to our great students to helpthem with their research. All in all, theadjunct faculty program is a model foracademic collaboration with mutualgains and one that we hope we will beable to expand in the future.

From the Head (from Page 1)

Dr. J.E. “Bill” Hancock graduated from UT with a bachelor’s degree in engineer-ing physics in June 1952. He worked as an engineer for a couple of years and thendecided to enroll in UT’s medical school at Memphis, graduating in 1961. He is of-ficially retired from the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, based in Baton Rouge,but still works there part-time. His avocation is sailing, and in 2002 he decided tosail from Louisiana to Knoxville to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his UTgraduation. The (excerpted) beginning of the story follows.

“As the end of year 2001 approached, I began to think seriously of visiting thecampus of UTK, my alma mater. As a member of the class of 1952, I was excitedabout returning for a visit after 50 years. Naturally homecoming weekend in the fallof 2002 seemed to be the ideal time to make the visit.

I live in the small town of Mandeville, Louisiana, which is on the north short ofLake Pontchartrain. Because of the great number of boating activities, I madeplans to move here after my retirement.

Well, I got the idea of going to my 50-year homecoming by boat. Rather thandrive, fly, or ride a bus or train, I would be different. I would, no doubt, have trav-eled the farthest by boat to a homecoming.”

The complete tale is available on the UT Physics Web Site at http://www.phys.utk.edu/alumni_stories.html. If you have a story relating to yourUT days that you would like to share, please send it to Catherine Longmire [email protected]. This is a new section on the Web site dedicated to our graduatesand we would love to compile the stories of our alumni.

FromMandeville toKnoxville—by Boat,No Less

Dr. Hancock’s boat, the “Eva Marie.”

Dr. Pengcheng Dai co-authors Nature paper

Dr. Pengcheng Dai is the third author on “The structure of the high-energyspin excitations in a high-transition-temperature superconductor,” which appearedin the June 3 issue of Nature.

Superconductors can carry electricity without any loss of energy. Usually super-conductivity occurs at very low temperatures; however, in 1986 scientists discov-ered a new type of superconductor that can now carry electricity at five times thetemperature of other superconductors. The authors of this Nature paper havefound a clue as to why so-called high-Tc superconductivity occurs. They have ob-served new excitations that could provide the glue for the high-Tc. Using thisknowledge, scientists hope to design new materials with even higher transition tem-peratures, making superconductors less expensive. (Thanks to Dr. Dai and Ron Walliof ORNL).

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alumnus profile

Dr. Vicki Greene

Vicki Greene came to the Univer-sity of Tennessee as a psychol-ogy major and ended up gradu-

ating with highest honors in physicsand math, thus defying the venerableLee Riedinger’s predictions (a point tobe illuminated later). During her earlypsych days at UT she learned all aboutresearch chronicling the adventures ofrats in mazes. Now an associate profes-sor of physics at Vanderbilt University,research to Dr. Greene means experi-mental nuclear physics, specifically thegoings-on with the PHENIX experi-ment at Brookhaven NationalLaboratory’s Relativistic Heavy IonCollider (RHIC, pronounced “Rick”).So much for the rats.

Dr. Greene is part of a large col-laboration working to pin down thequark gluon plasma, an elusive soupcomprising quarks (particles that resideinside protons and neutrons) and glu-ons (the hard-working particles thathold the quarks together). Physicistsbelieve that a messy amalgamation ofthe two existed right after the Big Bang,and perhaps still does in the cores ofneutron stars and in collisions betweengold nuclei at high-energy colliders.They may be close to creating theplasma at RHIC.

“It’s very interesting,” Dr. Greenesaid of the experiment’s status. “We’vegotten these hints that we may havecreated the new state of matter we arelooking for.”

She’s cautious, however, about de-claring the QGP corralled at last.

“We’re not ready to make claims,”she said. “You want to be very careful”when analyzing data and drawing con-clusions. “You can throw a whole gen-eration (of scientists) off track” iffuture physicists base their work onfaulty research that preceded it.

However, if the PHENIX collabora-tion has in fact discovered the quark

gluon plasma, Dr. Greene said, itdoesn’t look the way scientists thoughtit would.

“It’s a lot more strongly interacting,”she said—somewhat “stickier” than pre-dicted. So the current questions atPHENIX are “Is it what we’re lookingfor, and if not, what is it?”

Currently the PHENIX collaborationis investigating J/Psi particle suppres-sion as a possible signature for theQGP.

“If you form a plasma, you’ll actuallysee fewer J/Psis produced,” she ex-plained.

The collaboration is undertaking along run of gold-on-gold collisions tomake those measurements. They arebuilding on similar data taken previouslyat CERN. Evidently the work has ap-peal beyond the walls at Brookhaven:Dr. Greene’s research group atVanderbilt (Experimental RelativisticHeavy Ion Physics) recently won a largegrant renewal from the Department ofEnergy to continue their studies for thenext three years.

“It was a real vote of confidence,”she said.

Beyond research, Dr. Greene is alsofinishing a term as chair of the RHIC/AGS (Alternating Gradient Synchro-tron) Executive Committee. The com-mittee represents the roughly 1,000users at RHIC and tackles items rangingfrom the quality of life (e.g., dorms) tomonitoring funding trends. Working outvisa issues for international scientistshas also become a more pronouncedtopic of late, but well worth the time itrequires. As Dr. Greene said, ‘Part ofour edge in science has been that every-body in the world comes here to work.”

She spends a minimum of three tofour days per month at Brookhaven,depending on where she’s needed.Building systems means a longer stretch,for example when she supervised thebuilding and installation of the PADchamber—three layers of detectors onthe PHENIX spectrometer’s two centralarms. Currently she’s working on a de-

tector upgrade to study particles per-pendicular to the beam. Down the roadshe may work at the ALICE experiment(another QGP search) at CERN.

“Right now,” however, “I’m very fo-cused on the present,” she said. “Forabout 15 years I’ve been working to-ward this goal and we’re almost there.”

TTTTTeaceaceaceaceaching and “Thing and “Thing and “Thing and “Thing and “ThehehehehePhPhPhPhPhysics ofysics ofysics ofysics ofysics of Str Str Str Str StrangangangangangeeeeeAnimals”Animals”Animals”Animals”Animals”

Like most academic professionals,Dr. Greene balances her research inter-ests with teaching responsibilities. Yetshe doesn’t restrict her approach to tra-ditional paths of imparting knowledge.In particular, she said, she enjoys “find-ing interesting sources and examples toliven up lectures.” Currently, she’s usingwhat she calls the “physics of strangeanimals” to explain the phenomena ofthe natural world to students in herprinciples of physics class.

“An electric eel, for example, mightact like a battery,” she explained. Thereare fish that behave like electric dipolesto track and hunt their prey.

“It’s just more fun that working dryproblems,” she said of her methodol-ogy.

Continued on Page 6

The Tale of a Would-Be Psych Major

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But Dr. Greene doesn’t bring the ani-mal kingdom into her classroom for thesheer fun of it. She is committed towhat she calls “layering” her teachingtools—incorporating equations, words,and pictures into her curriculum—sothat students can take hold of the in-formation in whatever manner makesthe most sense to them.

“I like to make sure people don’t getlost because they aren’t being presentedthe material in a way that’s natural forthem,” she said.

FFFFFrrrrrom Psyom Psyom Psyom Psyom Psycccccholoholoholoholohologggggy toy toy toy toy toPhysicsPhysicsPhysicsPhysicsPhysics

Dr. Greene, a Knoxville native, en-rolled as a freshman at UT with a planin mind.

“I wanted to be a psychology major,”she said.

But she didn’t enjoy the large classesor what she called “the illogical natureof interpreting the data.” Fate steppedin, however, and when she enrolled inLee Riedinger’s introductory astronomyclass, everything changed.

“I had never taken physics before,”Dr. Greene said, referring to her highschool days as a time when boys tookphysics and girls took biology. But shehad no trouble adapting to the worldDr. Riedinger was introducing.

“This class was wonderful,” shesaid. “The conclusions that he woulddraw were perfectly logical.” She saidshe knew physics was in her futurewhen the lecture turned to spectral lines

Alumnus Profile (from Page 5) and she saw, instinctively, where the dis-cussion was headed.

“I immediately realized you could usethis to find out what was inside ofstars,” she said.

Intrigued by the subject matter, shetook two astronomy courses and askedDr. Riedinger about taking more. Hetold her a senior level astrophysicscourse was the next option, but the ca-veat was that she would have to switchmajors from psychology to physics ifshe wanted to sign up. He did, however,give her some ribbing about the prob-ability of her success in making thatleap.

“Later on he told someone else, ‘I’llgive her a five percent chance,’” Dr.Greene said.

Undaunted, she plunged into theworld of physics and never looked back.

“I took calculus for the first time andI loved it,” she said. “It was a miracle.”

Paul Huray taught her introductoryphysics class.

“He was a wonderful teacher,” shesaid. “He never made me feel like I wasmismatched for the course.”

In 1984 she graduated with abachelor’s degree in physics and math,earning highest honors. From there itwas on to graduate school at Yale, aschool that captured her imaginationwith a somewhat sloppy letter.

“They sent a letter asking me to ap-ply,” Dr. Greene recalled. “And the let-ter had Wite-Out on it.”

She figured that if the letter werepersonal enough have Wite-Out, theymust really want her to come to NewHaven.

“I went to visit and fell in love withit,” she said. She finished her master’sdegree in 1987 and her Ph.D. in 1992.

“I was extremely happy there.”After Yale, Dr. Greene went to the

University of Colorado at Boulder for apost-doctoral position. She earned a fel-lowship to work on the Superconduct-ing Super Collider, but before she evengave her obligatory fellow’s paper, theSSC project was killed. She left Boulderin 1994 to join the physics faculty atVanderbilt. In the beginning, she saidher focus was on building detector sys-tems and she spent most of her time inthe lab. Now, she said, supervising andadministration take up more of herschedule.

“Somehow I’m on about five millioncommittees. I think this happens to ev-eryone, naturally.”

Balancing work with her family is an-other challenge, but one she enjoys.Dr. Greene is married to Dr. JonathanGilligan of Vanderbilt’s Earth and Envi-ronmental Sciences Department. Herson is a film production major atVanderbilt and her daughter is in kin-dergarten.

“It’s a full plate,” she said, “but I likewhat’s on it.”

When advising young scientists abouta career in physics, she said it’s impor-tant to provide insight on the day-to-daylife of a physicist and dispel mythsabout the profession.

“It can be a very interactive, very col-laborative, very social experience,” said.

And if they have questions about ca-reers in physics?

Dr. Greene laughed.“I’d give them Lee’s phone number.”

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is asking associates of the University—alumni, friends, members of advi-sory and governing boards, faculty, and staff—to recommend students for admission. UT would like your help innominating high school juniors or seniors or students who are considering transferring to UT from another collegeor university. The University has put a form online for the “Friends of the University Recruitment Project” athttp://www.phys.utk.edu/alumni_friends_of_ut.pdf. If you know of a student we should be talking to, pleaselet us know!

Help UT Recruit Tomorrow’s Alumni

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Dr. Thomas Papenbrock is sign-ing on to the physics facultythis summer, the latest addition

to the joint faculty program that allowsthe department to hire talented scien-tists in conjunction with Oak Ridge Na-tional Laboratory. And although he isnew to the UT roster, Dr. Papenbrock isno stranger to the physics environmentin East Tennessee.

“In 2000, I came here as a WignerFellow,” he explained.

The Wigner Fellowship program atORNL was established in 1975 tohonor Eugene P. Wigner, the NobelPrize winner and ORNL’s first directorof research. (Dr. Robert Grzywacz, whojoined the physics faculty last Decem-ber, also came to the area as a WignerFellow.)

Among Dr. Papenbrock’s researchinterests are nuclear structure theory,many-body theory, ultracold Bose andFermi gases, spin chains, and quantumchaos. His UT-ORNL colleagues in-clude Dr. Ted Barnes, Dr. David Dean,and Dr. Witek Nazarewicz.

“I knew them from conferences andseminars but I had not worked withthem before,” he said. “The researchgroup is very nice. UT and the (na-

tional) lab together offer many opportu-nities.”

In fact, the nuclear structure grouprecently submitted a proposal to theDepartment of Energy for a topicalcenter on radioactive ion beam physics.They should know later this year if itwill be funded.

As part of his 50-50 split appoint-ment between UT and ORNL, Dr.Papenbrock will teach a physics courseon campus every year. He said he pre-fers to teach “serial courses for physicsmajors,” in areas like theoretical quan-tum mechanics, electrodynamics, ornuclear physics.

“I am looking forward to teaching,”he said, adding that his own days as astudent aren’t really that far behind him.

Dr. Papenbrock completed his un-dergraduate work in physics at the Uni-versity of Osnabrück before going onto earn his Ph.D. at the University ofHeidelberg in 1996. He spent threeyears as a post-doc at the University ofWashington’s Institute for NuclearTheory before coming to Tennessee.

Dr. Thomas Papenbrock Joins the Team

new faculty

Outside of physics, his family com-mands much of his attention. He andhis wife, Dervy, have a three-year-olddaughter named Isabel.

“She’s getting much of my sparetime,” he said.

Dr. Papenbrock seems as pleased tojoin the university as we are to havehim.

“This is a very good place to be,” hesaid.

Dr. Thomas Papenbrock

ORNL has received the first year of funding for the Fundamental Neutron Physics Beamline at the Spallation NeutronSource. UT Physics Professor Geoff Greene is the Instrument Scientist for the beamline, whose construction costs will to-tal $9.2 million. The funding comes from the Department of Energy Nuclear Physics program. Known as BL 13, thisbeamline will use the unique properties of a pulsed spallation source to shed light on elementary particle interactions.

“When it’s completed it will be a national facility for fundamental neutron physics,” Dr. Greene said. “At the moment thereare five different groups who have expressed an interest in pursuing experiments here.” UT is involved with all five. Thebeamline will take about six years to complete, but the first phase will be ready “to do science” in 2008, he said.

In true UT-ORNL collaborative fashion, a full-scale mock-up of the beamline is under construction in the old infrared labin the Nielsen Physics Building. Students are teaming up with the department’s machine shop to build the mock-up. UT hasreceived approximately half a million dollars to support science done at the beamline. More information on BL 13, and theentire SNS project, is available at http://www.sns.gov.

Neutron Physics BeamlineComing Along at the SNS

ut-ornl connection

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Undergraduate News

The physics department had a strongturnout at this year’s Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative

Achievement, providing seven of 38 entrieslisted in the Natural Sciences category.

Olga Ovchinnikov won one of fourawards in this category for her work with Dr.Robert Compton, entitled, Negative Ions ofBuckey-Dumbbells. The awards were an-nounced April 3. The physics department’s Dr.Pengcheng Dai also contributed his time as acompetition judge.

Physics students participating in the event were:

James Alsup “Monte-Carlo Event Genera-tor for the Neutron Dissappearance inKamLAND” (Adviser: Yuri Kamyshkov)

Anton Naoumov “Methods of Seperationof Chiral Carbon Nanotubes” (Adviser: RobertCompton)

Joseph Nicely and Jesse Henderson “Quasinormal Modes of Black Holesin Antide Sitter Space” (Adviser: George Siopsis)

Scott Outten “Modeling Neutron Detection with SCINFUL” (Adviser: YuriKamyshkov)

Olga Ovchinnikov “Negative Ions of Bucky-Dumbbells” (Adviser: RobertCompton)

Daniel Passmore “Tennessee Cosmic ray Project” (Adviser: Soren Sorensen)

Gail Zasowski “In the Dark: Single Photo-electron Response of 17” PMT”(Adviser: Yuri Kamyshkov)

The University Honors Program coordi-nates the Exhibition of Undergraduate Re-search and Creative Achievement each yearto celebrate the original and creative worksof the university’s undergraduate students.

University Exhibit Showcases Research Success

Daniel Passmore and Jesse Henderson were among the many students whopresented their research at the spring exhibition.

Undergraduates participating in this year’s research exhibit were (left toright): James Alsup, Scott Outten, Gail Zasowski, Daniel Passmore, JesseHenderson, Olga Ovchinnikov and Anton Naoumov.

Olga Ovchinnikov accepts one of fournatural science awards for her presenta-tion on “Negative Ions of Bucky-Dumbbells.”

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UT’s Society of Physics Students ChapterCatches National Attention

Undergraduates Gail Zasowski and Olga Ovchinnikov headed to Miami in January to present an update on TECOPat the American Association of Physics Teachers meeting. The TEnnessee Cosmic ray Observation Project is theUT Society of Physics Students’ major research initiative and incorporates area high school students, physics students

and faculty, and support from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Gail presented a poster on Cosmic Ray Detection in East Ten-nessee and Olga gave a talk on the same subject. The TECOP project, which began in 2003 with a $2,000 grant from the na-tional SPS, is one of the many elements that helped garner the UT SPS chapter a nod from the national organization. In earlyDecember the national SPS office named them an Outstanding Chapter for the 2002-2003 academic year. Fewer than 10 per-cent of the SPS chapters nationwide are so honored: about one per state. The selection is based on the depth and breadth ofchapter activities in areas including physics research, public science outreach, tutoring programs, and social interaction. UT’schapter has 67 members.

Students in Dr. Jon Levin’s Honors Fundamentals ofPhysics class design, build and present to the class demon-strations illustrating some aspect of course material. Stu-dents in this spring 2004 class decided to offer a fierydemo of a standing sound wave in a pipe charged withnatural gas.

1997-1998: 42 Students1998-1999: 45 Students1999-2000: 37 Students2000-2001: 36 Students2001-2002: 42 Students2002-2003: 67 Students2003-2004: 67 Students

Undergraduate PhysicsEnrollment at UT

Gail Zasowski stands by to answer questions about the UT SPSTECOP project during the AAPT meeting in Miami.

More Good New for UT’s SPS . . .

In early June the UT Chapter of the Society of Phys-ics Students won two awards from the national orga-nization. They were among the four chaptershonored with the Blake Lilly Award, specifically fortheir work on “Detection of Cosmic Rays in EastTennessee.” The award “recognizes SPS chapters andindividuals who make a genuine effort to positivelyinfluence the attitudes of school children and thegeneral public about physics.” Other chapter winnerswere The University of Louisvillle, Marquette Univer-sity and St. Mary’s University. Olga Ovchinnikovwas one of two recipients of the 2004 SPS Out-standing Student Award for Undergraduate Re-search. She was recognized for her project on“Negative Ions of Bucky-Dumbbells,” work she hasdone under Dr. Robert Compton. Bradley M.Deutsch of Rollins College was the other winner.Olga received a $500 honorarium and a $500 awardfor the UT SPS Chapter.

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research highlight

Getting Under the SkinDr. Tom Ferrell’s Group Takes Sensitivity to the Nanoscale

Among Tom Ferrell’s newestphysics laboratories is one sominiscule that it will fit snugly

underneath the skin of rats.Long fascinated by novel sensors, Dr.

Ferrell, a staff member at ORNL and aresearch associate professor in the phys-ics department, is taking detection tothe nanoscale andturning his physicstraining into new ideasfor spectrometry, biol-ogy, medicine and op-tics.

“We’re in the LifeSciences Division atOak Ridge NationalLab,” he explained.“First we do basic re-search in physics touncover concepts thatcan be useful in instru-mentation for the lifesciences.”

And in the begin-ning, there was the mi-croscope.

“We built the firstscanning tunneling mi-croscope among all thenational labs and in theSoutheast in 1986,” he said. “We builtone by hand just before the Nobel Prize(was awarded).* Then we invented a mi-croscope called the photon scanningtunneling microscope.”

At the same time he hired ThomasThundat to investigate the research pos-sibilities of the atomic force micro-scope.

Dr. Thundat, a distinguished staffscientist at ORNL and a physics re-search professor at UT, took notice ofthe ATM’s sensitivity in scanning sur-faces and concluded that it might justmake a good sensor. Sensory work,therefore, grew out of what Dr. Ferrellcalls “microscopy roots.”

“Historically we’ve worked with sur-face plasmons,” he continued. “We al-ready had some experience with sensors,

so when microcantilevers came alongwe had some background ready to go.”

Microcantilevers are sensors roughlythe size of an ant’s eye that can measuredown to sub parts per trillion.

“The biggest problem with thesesensors is that they’re too sensitive, sowe have to pull a lot of tricks out of the

hat to make them work,” Dr. Ferrellsaid.

These tiny wonders are a key compo-nent of a new $2.2 million grant fromthe National Institute on Alcohol Abuseand Alcoholism. Dr. Sean O’Connor ofthe Indiana University School of Medi-cine plans to measure the effects ofethanol in the body. Dr. Ferrell’s groupwill provide the tools.

“We’re using the same type of sen-sors for ethanol in acid acetaldehyde,which will go into rats,” Dr.Ferrell explained. “The ratshave this interstitial fluid, orwater layer, right under theirskin. We do too, but theirs isbigger.”

His group is developing capsules tobe implanted in that layer to monitor

how much acid acetaldehyde the animalsproduce when given a certain amountof ethanol.

“There’s a little fluid chamber in thatcapsule with the microcantilevers in-side,” Dr. Ferrell said, along with a tinydevice that sends signals to a PDA fortaking data. The work could provide im-

portant new clues aboutthe effects of alcohol onphysiological systems.

“There’s never beenany real detailed dataavailable on what’s goingon inside the body,” Dr.Ferrell said.

The group hopes tohave the capsules deliv-ered to Indiana by De-cember so that Dr.O’Connor’s team canstart taking data as earlyas next spring.

In addition to the Indi-ana project, the Ferrellgroup has several otherresearch initiatives oncampus.

Post-doc ChristineCheney is working onelectron beam lithogra-

phy of metal oxide metal tunnel junc-tions.

“They’re extremely difficult to make,”Dr. Ferrell said. “She’s working on thenanometer scale.

“Those junctions have a number ofapplications,” he continued. “Onewould be flat-screen displays becausethey give off light in proportion to thevoltage.

“If you have a grid of these and youput something at a particular point, it

will change the coloremitted at thatpoint,” he contin-ued, indicating thatthe junctions could

have sensory value as well.Nanowires and fabricated pads will

connect the junctions to the real world.

Research Assistant Aude Lereu in Dr. Ferrell’s campus lab.

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Post-doc Rubye Farahi is work-ing on thermo-imaging the veinsin the arm to make inserting acatheter a much easier task.

“You use several different in-frared sources that shine infraredlight into the skin,” Dr. Ferrell ex-plained. “Infrared penetrates a lotfurther than visible light.Everybody’s the same color in theinfrared, so it doesn’t matter whatyour skin color is.”

As light makes its way back out ofthe skin, some is absorbed by the bloodvessels, while some scatters in all direc-tions.

“The scattering is the overwhelmingmajority of what’s coming out,” Dr.Ferrell said, and that obscures absorp-tion by the blood vessels.

“Our task is to throw away the scat-tering and look only at the absorption.That’s a fairly complicated task. It has tobe done in real time for each of the dif-ferent light sources. It takes extensiveimage processing.”

Currently the group is assembling thenecessary components, including a high-end PDA to do the image processing.

“We have to have a processor withmemory that allows that to be done inreal-time,” Dr. Ferrell explained.

This project is in conjunction withthe University of Burgundy in France.Two of their students will join the UTgroup in the fall.

Another infrared project involves re-search assistant Aude Lereu and Dr. AliPassian.

“Aude and Ali have a very interestingproject that has good visual effects,”Dr. Ferrell explained. It’s a simple sys-tem using thin gold or silver film evapo-rated on a prism. Graduate student PhilEvans is also working with the group.

“We’re able to take a pulse train inthe infrared and transfer it to visiblelight in any color. In essence it’s an opti-cal amplifier for energy,” Dr. Ferrellsaid.

They have been able to transforminfrared into a visible spot on the wall

“The biggest problem withthese sensors is that they’retoo sensitive, so we have topull a lot of tricks out of thehat to make them work.”

that will “pulse” up to 10 kilohertzmaximum.

“That is a new discovery inphysics, really,” Dr. Ferrell said. “Inaddition to that, they’ve found thatwhen they have an electrical cur-rent in the foil, the infrared pulsetrain will actually also pulse thecurrent—so they can control elec-trical current with infrared.

“We don’t know what to dowith this—it’s solution looking for

a problem,” he continued. “What wehope is that somebody out there willfind a use for it.”

Another graduate student, PhilipBoudreaux, is working in the Ferrellgroup building a microspectrometer us-ing surface plasmons in a thin gold filminstead of a prism or grating.

“Hopefully we would turn that intosome sort of integrated optics,” Dr.Ferrell said.

Much of the group’s work is in thebeginning stages, but Dr. Ferrell hopesto move to campus full-time by June 30.

*Heinrich Rohrer and Gerd Binnig wonthe 1986 Nobel Prize for their STM design.

Taking It on the RoadOutreach Puts Physics in the Classroom

The physics department may have made its reputation on top-notchresearch, but not to the detriment of teaching or outreach. On May6, Dr. Jim Parks spent his morning at Big Ridge Elementary School

in Union County. Dr. Parks, associate department head and director of theundergraduate physics laboratories, demonstrated the power of magnetismto second and third-graders, concluding the show with crowd-pleasing ex-periments in liquid nitrogen. Departmental astro-guru Paul Lewis spentthe afternoon at BRES explaining the wonders of the universe to a gymfull of kids.

Physics faculty members often volunteer their time to serve as mentorsor give special presentations to area schools. “Captain Comet” (Lewis)teaches astronomy classes for Kids U every summer and speaks to count-less school children each year. The department is committed to doing itsshare to balance the university’s three-fold goal of research, teaching andpublic service.

(Right) Dr. Jim Parks with students fromBig Ridge Elementary School.

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faculty

students

alumni

Barry M. Bishop (B.S., 1964) is retiredand living in Tullahoma, Tennessee.

William Kelly Dagenhart (M.S., 1964;Ph.D., 1977) is retired from ORNL andlives in Oak Ridge.

Madani A. Dakhil (Ph.D., 1983) is aprofessor of physics at Al-Fateh Uni-versity in Tripoli, Libya.

David BogemaB.S. in Engineering Physics

Jimmy BullardB.S. in Electrical EngineeringMinor in Physics

Trey ForgetyB.S. in Applied Physics

Jason GoonPh.D. in Physics

Robert HigginbothamB.S. in Engineering Physics

Brent MundieB.S. in Engineering Physics. Brent wasalso commissioned as a Second Lieu-tenant in the United States Air Force.His first job is at Kirtland Air ForceBase in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Hewill be working for the Air Force Op-erations Testing and Evaluation Center.Brent explained that the “AFOTECtests all of the AF’s new gadgets” be-fore they’re put into use. He will beworking with classified items.

Joey NicelyB.A. in College Scholars (emphasis inMathematical Physics) and a B.S. inPhysics (Academic Concentration).

Brandon WhiteB.S. in General Physics

Congratulations to ourSpring 2004 Graduates!

Professor and UT-ORNL Joint Fac-ulty Member Ted Barnes was quotedin USA Today concerning the successof recent Japanese experiments de-

signed to detect pentaquarks. The articleappeared May 3. Dr. Barnes was alsoasked to be conference summaryspeaker for theory at QNP-2004, theInternational Conference on QuarkNuclear Physics, at Indiana University inlate May. This is a major biannual con-ference on aspects of quark degrees offreedom in nuclear and hadron physics.

Professor Witek Nazarewicz wasquoted in the February 1 issue of TheNew York Times reporting the discoveryof two new superheavy elements: 113and 115 (Uut and Uup). He providedinsight on the “magic numbers” ofatomic nuclei and the implication of thediscovery for nuclear physics.

Professors Soren Sorensen and LeeRiedinger were quoted in a May 9 ar-ticle in The Knoxville News Sentinel con-cerning security regulations and theireffect on the scientific community atUT and ORNL.

Research Professor ThomasThundat was featured in a special sec-tion on “Innovators” in the January 12issue of Time. Dr. Thundat has devel-oped microcantilevers for detecting anumber of interesting items, includingcancer-related proteins and plastic ex-plosives. His research could make iden-tifying such markers more accurate andcost-effective.

Ted S. Lundy (B.S, 1954) is retiredfrom ORNL (1988) and TennesseeTech (2000) and living in Knoxville.

Richard M. Martin (B.S., 1964) is pro-fessor of physics at the University ofIllinois and a member of the physicsdepartment board of visitors.

Bronson Messer (B.S., 1991; Ph.D.,2000) is a research associate at theASCI/Alliances Flash Center, part ofthe University of Chicago Departmentof Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Khaled S. Mriziq (Ph.D., 2003) is a re-search scientist with Lynntech, Inc., inCollege Station, Texas.

Korey D. Sorge (Ph.D., 2002) is apostdoctoral research associate at theUniversity of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Richard Styles (B.S., 1991) is an assis-tant professor in the geological sciencesand marine science program at the Uni-versity of South Carolina in Columbia.

Macy W. Summers (B.S., 1981) is vicepresident of technology with PegasusCommunications Corp. in Bala Cynwyd,Penn. He is also a member of the phys-ics department board of visitors.

Izabela Szlufarska (Ph.D., 2002) is apostdoctoral researcher at the Universityof Southern California.

Gerald Woods (Ph.D., 2001) is a re-search assistant professor in the Univer-sity of South Florida Department ofPhysics.

Lilia Woods (Ph.D., 1999) is an assis-tant professor in the University ofSouth Florida Department of Physics.

Ali R. Yazdi (M.S., 1974; Ph.D., 1978)is associate dean of the northeast cam-pus, Jefferson State Community College,Birmingham, Alabama.

Physics Family News

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Physics PicnicApril 24, 2004

The department took over Clark Center Park in Oak Ridgefor a few rounds of soccer, hot dogs, and the legendary

students versus faculty softball game.

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Alumnus Robert Talley visited thephysics department in early Mayand imparted a valuable lesson:

sometimes knowing what you don’twant is just as important as knowingwhat you do.

As a young man coming of age inthe 1940s, Dr. Talley was enrolled in theReserve Officer Training Corps andwas about to enter Milligan College, lo-cated in northeast Tennessee. But thatwasn’t the school theErwin native par-ticularly wanted toattend. As he stoodin line with the othercadets, he listenedcarefully as theyoung man in frontof him answeredsome questions.When it came to“What’s your ma-jor?” he answered,“Engineering.” Itturned out Milliganhad no engineeringprogram, so the ca-det had to chooseanother school. Byhis own admissionthe young Mr. Talley had not givenmuch thought to an academic major.But he saw an opportunity and ran withit. When asked for his chosen field heconfidently proclaimed engineering,thus ending up at the University of Vir-ginia before transferring to the Univer-sity of South Carolina.

As graduation neared some otherdecisions had to be made. Dr. Talleyexplained that after adding up his vari-ous hours he wasn’t sure what sort ofdegree the good people of USC mightconfer on him.

They said, “We have this new majorcalled naval science and engineering,and you have enough credits for it.”

So he paid $6.00 for the sheepskinand became a USC graduate. Aftersweeping mines for the U.S. Navy in

Dr. Robert TalleyAlumnus and Benefactor

Japanese waters for more than a year heapplied to the graduate program inphysics at the University of Tennessee.

“They asked if I had a degree,” hesaid. He did, of course, but cautionedthe department, then under the leader-ship of Dr. Ken Hertel, that he hadtaken only one year of physics. It wasenough to get in but he had to take theother three years during the first year ingraduate school. Robert Talley earned

his master’s degreein physics in 1948and his Ph.D. in1950 under the di-rection of Dr. AlvinNielsen. His spe-cialty was all thingsinfrared, and hemade a career of it.

He went on tobecome chief of theNaval WeaponsCenter Solid StateDivision in WhiteOak, Maryland. In1958 he moved toSanta Barbara, Cali-fornia. He went towork for the SantaBarbara Research

Center, a Hughes Aircraft Company,building infrared detectors and sensorsfor the Department of Defense and thenational space program. One of thesensors was for the Pioneer satellite andit took pictures of Venus, Jupiter andother planets before being the firstman-made object to leave the solar sys-tem with the sensor still working 30years later. He retired in 1989 as presi-dent and CEO.

Dr. Talley is married to Sue Talley,who graduated from UT in 1946 with adegree in home economics. They aredeeply committed to education andcommunity involvement. He describeda recent project in Santa Barbara to helpelementary school students whose fami-lies didn’t own and couldn’t afford acomputer. Businesses and individuals

worked together to place donated ma-chines in those homes and teach parentshow to use them. In turn, the parentscould help their children use educationalsoftware and complete school assign-ments, adding an entire new dimensionto their learning environment.

Dr. Talley has been a member of theUniversity of California-Santa BarbaraFoundation Board of Trustees andserved as chair of the UCSB College ofEngineering Dean’s Advisory Commit-tee. He was an early member of theSanta Barbara Science and EngineeringCouncil and the Santa Barbara Indus-trial Association. He is an active emeri-tus of the Santa Barbara Partners inEducation program.

“These days my status on mostthings is emeritus,” he said.

The Talleys’ generosity is not limitedto their Santa Barbara home. They haveestablished the Robert Talley PhysicsScholarship Endowment at UT to en-courage undergraduate physics educa-tion, bolstering the fund with a$100,000 gift this past winter.

Department Head Soren Sorensensaid the gift “will give the departmentan unprecedented opportunity to pro-vide substantial scholarships to attractacademically outstanding, but financiallydisadvantaged, students in physics. Weare extremely grateful for this endow-ment.”

Robert Talley may not have knownexactly where he was headed when heleft Erwin all those years ago. But thepath he chose will make the trail a biteasier for a number of students follow-ing in his wake.

Dr. Robert Talley

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Thanks to our Donors!

Undergraduate ScholarshipsThe William Bugg General

Scholarship FundThe Dorothy and Rufus Ritchie

Scholarship FundThe G. Samuel and Betty P. Hurst

Scholarship Fund

Undergraduate Student AwardsThe Douglas V. Roseberry

Memorial Fund

Giving OpportunitiesGraduate AwardsPaul Stelson Fellowship FundFowler-Marion Physics Fund

Other Departmental FundsPhysics General Scholarship FundPhysics Equipment FundRobert W. Lide Citations

Giving to the Department:If you would like more information onhow to make a donation or a pledge toour scholarship funds, please contact:

Office of DevelopmentCollege of Arts and Sciences4 Alumni Memorial BuildingThe University of TennesseeKnoxville, TN 37996-1320Phone: 865-974-2365

The University of Tennessee Department of Physics and Astronomy would like to thank the generous alumni and friendswho have offered financial support to our programs.

(The following gifts were forwarded from the University Development office from November 31, 2003 through June 4, 2004)

Chang-Hyuk AnKim AnNorma Jean BeaverNeva Claiborne BurkeTaylor George BurkeBarbara B. CateJohn P. CateMargaret M. ComptonRobert N. ComptonThomas M. Cunningham, Jr.Jing DingCaius V. DoddLinda K. DoddJohn T. EllisLiz EllisDennis J. EricksonMary S. FerryRobert A. FerryJ.D. FoxJo Ann GuidryMichael W. GuidryJ.E. “Bill” HancockSara W. HarrisLeigh H. HarwoodJackie T. HillSandra J. HinsdaleR. Craig Hunter

Larry D. JohnsonAlbert C. Kahler IIISarah H. KahlerAndrew G. KulcharMargaret R. KulcharMary V. LasleyScott E. LasleyBarbara T. LideMark E. LittmannPeggy A. LittmannGerald P. LubertJane Houston LubertJanet C. LundyTed S. LundyEllen A. MacekJoseph H. MacekBeverly C. MartinRichard M. MartinNancy P. McCorkleWilliam C. McCorkleWheeler K. McGregor, Jr.Elizabeth Reid MurrayRaymond L. MurrayWitek NazarewiczBarbara C. ParksJames E. ParksKenneth F. Read, Jr.

Valerie D. ReadNoah S. ReonJane C. RobertJames B. RobertoAlice M. RohrRobert C. RohrAnne M. SayerRoyce O. SayerFrankie SimonsGeorge SiopsisGordon K. SoperShiela R. SoperDianna L. SorensenSoren P. SorensenKorey D. SorgeAudrey T. S. StelsonRobert M. TalleySue TalleyDawn ThompsonJames R. Thompson, Jr.Michael V. TorbettCharles C. WatsonNancy WatsonAli R. YazdiRoya YazdiGlenn R. Young

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Non-Profit Org.U.S. PostagePAIDPermit No. 481The Univ. of Tenn.Knoxville, TN

DeparDeparDeparDeparDepartment of Physicstment of Physicstment of Physicstment of Physicstment of Physicsand Astronomyand Astronomyand Astronomyand Astronomyand Astronomy

401 Nielsen Physics BuildingThe University of TennesseeKnoxville, Tennessee 37996-1200

The University of Tennessee does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, color, religion,national origin, age, disability, or veteran status in provision of education programs and servicesor employment opportunities and benefits. This policy extends to both employment by andadmission to the University.

The University does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, or disability in the educationprograms and activities pursuant to the requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990.

Inquiries and charges of violation concerning Title VI, Title IX, Section 504, ADA, the AgeDiscrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), or any of the other above referenced policiesshould be directed to the Office of Equity and Diversity; 2110 Terrace Avenue; Knoxville, TN37996-3560; telephone (865) 974-2498 (TTY available). Requests for accommodation of a dis-ability should be directed to the ADA Coordinator at the Office of Human Resources Manage-ment; 600 Henley Street; Knoxville, TN 37996-4125.

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Newsletter:Catherine LongmireCommunications [email protected]

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The artwork above is a drawing of the “Untitled”sculpture over the entrance of the Nielsen PhysicsBuilding. The sculpture was designed by ProfessorPhilip Nichols of the Department of Art and isintended to convey the feeling of large and smallmasses, atoms, molecules, motions of chargedparticles in magnetic fields, and radiation emanat-ing from nuclear disintegrations.


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