I write this last news item with a heavy heart: after July 31, 2022, I will no longer be on the faculty at SMU. My spouse and colleague, Professor Jodi Cooley, has been selected as the next Executive Director of SNOLAB in Canada. We are both departing SMU to ensure that she can fulfill the […]
I am thrilled to congratulate the seven Biophysical Science and Physics degree recipients, who graduated in May 2022! This year our department saw the second class in the new Biophysical Science program graduate, with two students completing this challenging program. In addition, five Physics majors (including multiple students earning degrees in more than one program) […]
April was a wonderful month for celebrating outstanding students. First, there was the Hyer Society dinner. Since last year’s event was virtual only, inductees from 2021 and 2022 were invited to participate in this in-person event. I was pleased to be able to dine with excellent former students and/or teaching assistants of mine: Ryan Guess, […]
Planetarian, the journal of the International Planetarium Society (IPS), published this month a new review of “Reality in the Shadows (or) What the Heck’s the Higgs?” The journal is available to members of the society, and it looks like past issues may become available in their archives after the current quarter passes. The review was […]
How much does a physicist make? What made the early universe clumpy? Are you an atheist? I was delighted by these, and many other, questions asked by students over three periods during and after my presentation, “Big Cosmos, Little Universes,” at the Highland Park High School Science and Technology Festival (SciFest). My presentation connected the […]
I am extremely grateful to the Yale Club of Dallas for hosting me for a lecture at St. Mark’s School. The event attracted about 30-40 participants and offered a chance to tour the cosmos from its grandest scales to its smallest. I was very pleased to be able to share the work we do at […]
I am honored to have been nominated a fifth time for the Honoring Our Professors’ Excellence (HOPE) award. This award is managed through SMU’s Residence Life & Student Housing (RLSH), motivated by the belief that it is important to highlight those professors who have gone above and beyond their traditional roles. Awards are generated by […]
I was very excited to be invited to speak at a joint meeting of the Astrophysics and Astronomy clubs of Highland Park High School. The students were extremely welcoming and filled with outstanding questions about how to see the universe without using light. I look forward to more interactions with members of the HPHS clubs! […]
I am very pleased to be once again teaching PHYS 1303, “Introductory Mechanics,” during the Spring 2022 term. Here is a teaser of the theme for the course!
An entirely new course, available to all students at SMU who’ve taken calculus and any of the introductory course sequences in Chemistry, Earth Science, or Physics, will launch in Spring 2022. “Astro-eXtraordinary: The Universe Beyond Earth” is modeled on programs offered by leading institutes and schools, such as the Aspen Center for Physics or the […]