Mercer Physics Seminar Archive (Fall 1998 - Spring 2007)

Spring 2007

• March 14. Rick J. Noel, Ball Aerospace & Technology Corporation, Robins Air Force Base: "Deep Impact Mission."

Fall 2006

• October 11. Michael Jay Schillaci, Department of Psychology,  University of South Carolina: "From Brains to Branes: Probing the Possible Philosophical, Practical, and Programmatic Partnerships between Physics and Psychology".

• October 4. Sameer Dileep Hemmady, Department of Physics,  University of Maryland at College Park: "Universal Fluctuations in Quantum-Chaotic Systems."

Fall 2005 & Spring 2006

• May 23. Sheng-Chiang "John" Lee, Department of Physics, University of Florida: "Seeing through a different light - Study of molecular magnetism and superconductivity with microwaves."

• May 3. Slaven Peles, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Santa Barbara: "Reducing Symmetry to Produce Stable Synchronization."

• March 27. Virginia McSwain, Department of Astronomy, Yale University: "The Evolution of Massive Binary Stars."

• March 20. Brett Bolen, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Western Kentucky University: "The Gulf Between Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity."

• March 13. Matthew Fleenor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: "The Landscape of Cosmological Structures: from Prism Light to Galaxy Superclusters."

Summer 2005

Spring 2005

• March 30. Michael Torbett, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Division of Natural Science and Mathematics, Macon State College: "Journey to the surface of Saturn's moon Titan."

• March 2. Leland Timothy Long, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology: "Earthquakes and Seismometers in Georgia."

Fall 2004

• October 27. Michael Torbett, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Division of Natural Science and Mathematics, Macon State College:  "Mars, Rovers and Water."

• October 21.  Marsha I. Lester, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor in the Natural Sciences, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania:  "Infrared Spectroscopy and Dynamics of Reaction Intermediates in Atmospheric Chemistry"

• October 6.  Thomas Erber, Distinguished Professor of Applied Mathematics and Physics, Illinois Institute of Technology:  "New Developments in Metal Fatigue."

• James H. Shirley, Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.  September 16:  "Is There Life Outside the Earth? Exploring the Surface of Jupiter's Moon Europa;" and September 15:  "A Fourth Inertial Force."

Spring 2004

Fall 2003

• November 5.  Suman Chakrabarti, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville:  "Developing Antimatter Containment Technology: Modeling Charged Particle Oscillations in a Penning-Malmberg Trap" 

Spring 2003

• Joint Engineering and Physics Seminar:  April 28.  Jeff Allen, National Center for Microgravity Research, NASA Glenn Research Center, and Loren Sumner, School of Engineering, Mercer University:  "Water Management in PEM Fuel Cells Potential-Scholarship Discussion."

• Joint Mathematics and Physics Colloquium:  March 19. Trustees Dining Room in Connell Student Center.  James V. Herod, Professor Emeritus, School of Mathematics, Georgia Institute of Technology:  "Examples from Mathematical Biology."

Fall 2002

• November 6.  Huabei Jiang, Biomedical Optics Laboratory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University:  "Biomedical Optical Imaging."

• October 9.  Peter W. Milonni, Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory:  "Fast Light and Slow Light."

Spring 2002

• April 17.  Denis Donnelly, Head of the Physics Department, Siena College: "Using MathCAD in Undergraduate Physics."

• February 20.  JB Sharma, Physics Department, Gainesville College: "Integrating Technology in the Physics Classroom."

Fall 2001

• October 31.  Jonathan Lukin, Carnegie Mellon University's Mellon Institute of Science and Department of Biological Sciences: "NMR Studies of Biomolecules: a New Spin on Biology."

Spring 2001

• April 5.  Mara Prentiss, Physics Department, Harvard University: "The Nano-Universe: Challenges and Opportunities of Really Small Things"

• March 28.  John Cochran, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Auburn University: "Tethered Satellite Dynamics."

• February 28.  Ed Sickafus from Ntelleck, LLC: "Unified-Structured Inventive Thinking - Solving Corporate Technical Problems with Speed, Efficiency, and Profit."

• February 7.  Robert Dean, Center for Advanced Vehicle Electronics (CAVE). Auburn University. 

Fall 2000

Spring 2000

• March 28.  Julie Talbot (physics faculty candidate), Clemson University: "An Alternative to Renormalization"

Fall 1999

• October 15.  Louis Bloomfield, Physics Department, University of Virginia:
  "How Things Work: Using Everyday Objects to Teach Physics to Non-Scientists."  How Things Work is a course for non-science students that introduces them to physics in the context of everyday objects. It reverses the traditional format of physics courses by starting with whole objects and looking inside them to see what makes them work. Because it concentrates on concepts rather than math, and on familiar objects rather than abstract constructs, How Things Work serves both to reduce students' fears of science and to convey to them a substantial understanding of our modern technological world. In this talk, I will describe the course briefly and then show how I do it. We'll examine the physics and science behind several common objects,  including a roller coaster, a bicycle, and a microwave oven.

Spring 1999

• April 28.  Ran Sivron (physics faculty candidate), Grand Valley State University: "What Makes a Quasar Tick"
• April 16.  Christopher Sirola (physics faculty candidate), Tri-County Technical College: "A Brief Introduction to Broad Absorption Line QSOs (Quasi-Stellar Objects"
• Charles Townes: "Logic and Uncertainty in Science and Religion," March 1999
• Bob Adair: "The Physics of Baseball," January 1999

Fall 1998

• Ray Turner: "FUNdamental Physics with Toys," December 1998