Statistical Physics Berkeley Phy [REPACK]
Held annually during the second full weekend of January, this conference brings together researchers from diverse areas of chemistry, physics, biology, and beyond, with statistical mechanics as a common theme. Lecture and poster sessions are spirited and interactive, drawing over 100 participants every year.
Statistical Physics Berkeley Phy
The Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) program supports university-based centers and institutes where the collective efforts of a larger group of individuals can enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas. The program is designed to foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics by providing needed resources such as combinations of talents, skills, disciplines, and/or specialized infrastructure, not usually available to individual investigators or small groups, in an environment in which the collective efforts of the larger group can be shown to be seminal to promoting significant progress in the science and the education of students. PFCs also include creative, substantive activities aimed at enhancing education, broadening participation of traditionally underrepresented groups, and outreach to the scientific community and general public.
This University of Rochester based center brings together a diverse team, spanning disciplines from plasma physics, condensed matter, and atomic physics, to astrophysics and planetary science to study matter under extreme conditions and address critical gaps in our understanding of most of the atomic and chemical constituents of the Universe. CMAP's research, education and outreach programs aim to bring a new understanding of the universe to the public and inspire and engage a new generation of scientists of all ages and backgrounds.
CPBF, a joint effort between The Graduate Center at CUNY and Princeton University, works at the interface of physics and biology with the goal of developing a physics of biological function that connects the myriad details of life, across all scales, to fundamental and universal physical principles. CPBF focuses on new scientific opportunities and educational programs, integrating theory and experiment, research and education.
Center for Theoretical Biological Physics (CTBP) Rice UniversityCTBP will craft a theoretical physics framework for cells and groups of cells. To do this, the Center will combine statistical physics with biological information such as how living systems organize themselves. It will interact with local medical institutions, the University of Houston and surrounding communities, where it will serve as a focal point for theoretical biological physics. By hosting a visiting scholars program, running workshops, and coordinating student networks, CTBP will share its expertise with the biological physics community and help encourage greater participation in this research area.
Center for Ultracold Atoms (CUA) Massachusetts Institute of Technology CUA studies strongly interacting systems to better understand and ultimately control the quantum world. At the intersection of atomic, molecular, and optical physics and nanoscience, the PFC's research focuses on investigating many-body systems and strongly correlated states as well as exploring quantum coherent control of few-body systems. CUA offers a wide range of education and outreach activities for all levels, including a program focused on future high school teachers and an intensive summer course in atomic physics open to students and researchers worldwide.
Institute for Quantum Information and Matter (IQIM) California Institute of Technology The central goal of IQIM is to explore phenomena that can arise in highly entangled quantum systems using a multidisciplinary approach featuring quantum physics, condensed matter physics, atomic, molecular, and optical physics, and computer science. IQIM accomplishes this through both table-top experiments and theoretical investigations of quantum matter and interacting arrays of atoms, photons, and phonons. Along with numerous programs for youth, women, and underrepresented groups, this PFC's extensive outreach efforts include a collaboration with Jorge Cham's PhD Comics and IQIM's blog, Quantum Frontiers, which chronicles the lives and diverse scientific interests of IQIM's members..
JILA Physics Frontiers Center University of Colorado, NISTThe JILA PFC is focused on the challenge of controlling and understanding multi-particle quantum systems using the tools of atomic, molecular, and optical physics. Research investigations include how complex behaviors can emerge from simple constituents, how interactions of light with matter can be used to create new complex systems, and how cutting edge technologies can help understand molecule formation and chemical reactions. Along with topical workshops and education programs for the scientific community, JILA PFC also connects with underrepresented groups in the K-12 population through its Partnerships in Informal Science in the Community program.
Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics - Center for the Evolution of the Elements (JINA-CEE) Michigan State UniversityThe four core institutions of JINA-CEE, along with their eighteen associated domestic institutions and partnerships with other international centers, bring together nuclear physics and astrophysics for theoretical, computational, and laboratory investigations. JINA-CEE will explore two closely connected topics: the origin of the elements beyond those created in the Big Bang and the properties of the dense matter in neutron stars. This PFC will use interdisciplinary visitor, school, and workshop programs to engage K-12, undergraduate and graduate students, teachers, and the public.
The Network in Neutrinos, Nuclear Astrophysics and Symmetries (N3AS) University of California Berkeley This PFC, based at UC Berkeley, is a collaboration of theorists who utilize astrophysical observations to answer some of the most important open questions in physics and multi-messenger astrophysics. The Center has the potential to influence the future directions of nuclear, particle, and astrophysics. The new generation of postdoctoral researchers that N3AS-PFC is training and the diverse group of students it recruits and engages through a new program for transfer students from local community colleges will be crucial to both current research and the development of the STEM workforce.
Physics Frontier Center at the Joint Quantum Institute (PFC@JQI) University of Maryland College Park Advances in atomic, molecular, optical, and condensed matter physics are allowing scientists to go beyond observation and measurement of quantum systems to now explore engineering of these systems. PFC@JQI will investigate the control of quantum systems by building materials with specific quantum properties and exploiting these systems to explore new areas of the quantum realm. The Center will also hold programs engaging the general public and all levels of education, including an intensive hands-on summer physics program for high school students.
The division also includes multiple institutes and centers, all of which are designed to spur collaboration in burgeoning fields of study, from earthquake science to theoretical particle physics to nanoscience.
David Chandler, pillar of the physical chemistry scientific community and Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley, died April 18, 2017 at the age of 72 at his home in Berkeley, CA after a valiant twenty-year battle with prostate cancer. Spanning a career that changed the course of the field of physical chemistry, not just once but several times, he is credited with crafting the modern language and concepts for describing structure and dynamics of condensed matter, especially complex systems with disorder and heterogeneity, such as liquids, glasses and biological assemblies. He also developed the methods by which rare but important events can be simulated with computers, techniques that culminated in David's development of a statistical physics of trajectory space. This work enabled his studies of systems far from equilibrium, including processes of self-assembly and the glass transition. Importantly, he founded and/or took active roles several regular scientific symposia that gave space to creative thinking in these fields and spawned a new generation of scientific discovery.
My research group and I focus on statistical mechanics and thermodynamics at the molecular level, with a particular emphasis on far-from-equilibrium phenomena. We have worked on topics that include the application of statistical mechanics to problems of biophysical interest; the analysis of artificial molecular machines; the development of efficient numerical schemes for estimating thermodynamic properties of complex systems; the relationship between thermodynamics and information processing. We also have interests in dynamical systems, quantum thermodynamics, and quantum and classical shortcuts to adiabaticity.
In the Jarzynski group, we develop theoretical tools for understanding nonequilibrium behavior and computational methods for estimating thermodynamic properties, and we construct simple models that provide insight into complex phenomena. We also tackle problems in biophysics, dynamical systems, and quantum dynamics and thermodynamics. The following descriptions provide a flavor of the research that goes on in the group.
Chem 220A is a graduate level thermodynamics and statistical mechanics course designed to introduce first year graduate students in physical or theoretical chemistry to statistical mechanics as applied in modern physical chemistry. The course assumes some very basic quantum mechanics, and a little thermodynamics, as background. Material is presented in the course predominantly through lecture (3 hours a week) and an optional weekly discussion section. Your final grade is largely based off of exams (80%), with a contribution from weekly problem sets (20%). 350c69d7ab