1999 News & Events Archive

January 12-15, 2000 - String Theory at the Millennium

A conference organized and sponsored by the Caltech / USC Center for Theoretical Physics.

Professor Ed Rhodes Wins Teaching Award

December 1999: Professor Ed Rhodes was honored at the 1999 General Education Teaching Awards reception for excellence in teaching. Professor Rhodes received the award after receiving exceptionally high reviews in each of his courses taught in the 1998-1999 academic year.

String Theory makes headlines

November 1999: Two front page LA Times articles appeared in November highlighting String Theory research. The first (Tuesday 11/16/99) is on space-time and string theory (on which our own Elementary Particle Physics group works) and briefly refers to the "Two Times Physics" work of Prof. Itzhak Bars. The second article (Wednesday 11/17/99) interviews John Schwarz from Caltech, who is the deputy acting director of the new Caltech / USC Center for Theoretical Physics.

Physics Professional Master's program in the news (again...)

October 1999: Continuing to maintain high visibility, the Physics for Business Applications master's degree program was highlighted in the October 24 edition of the LA Times. In a special pullout section on education, the LA Times reviewed several professional master's programs around the country, mentioning both the USC Physics Department program as well as the three other professional master's programs being developed at USC with a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Graduate students awarded for teaching excellence

September 1999: Graduate students George Tikhonov and Jeff Nuttall were honored for their teaching excellence. George received the department honor for "Most Outstanding TA" for the 1998-99 academic year, while Jeff was honored as the "Most Improved TA". Congratulations to these outstanding teachers.

Chiara Nappi welcomed as Visiting Professor

September 1999: Chiara R. Nappi arrived on campus recently to assume her role as a visiting professor. While at USC, she will spend be collaborating with the Elementary Particle Physics group, participate in the development of the new Center for Theoretical Physics and teach an undergraduate physics course.

Department Welcomes New Faculty

August 1999: After a year long search, Maxim Olshanii has joined the USC Physics and Astronomy faculty as an assistant professor. Having a formal training in Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (AMO), Professor Olshanii is working on the interface between AMO and Condensed Matter Physics. His current topic of research is the implementation of the Multiple Scattering Theory ideas in the many-body theory of dilute trapped Bose and Fermi gases. The themes Maxim Olshanii addressed recently include Berry's phase in atom-light interactions and dark-states-based laser cooling of atoms.

Professor Nick Warner graces cover of Der Spiegel

July 1999: The cover of German publication Der Spiegel pictured a group of physicists at a conference in Potsdam, Germany. Professor Nick Warner participated in the conference in which physicists gathered to discuss superstring theories. More...

Physics for Business in the News

June 1999: The new Professional Master's Degree Program, Physics for Business Applications, was recently written up in Physics Today.

Free Summer Lab Program for High School Students

Summer 1999: This summer, Professor Bergmann will launch a new, FREE, summer program where High School students from the L.A. basin can experience hands-on Physics laboratory experience in a research setting. For information, please see PhLaSH.

Undergraduate, Doug Garrett, Recognized for Research

April 1999: Congratulations to undergraduate, Doug Garrett, for securing Second Prize for his poster at the Provost's Symposium for Undergraduate Research.

Professor Bickers Awarded for Excellence in Teaching

March 1999: Professor Bickers was honored for his "creative classroom presentations, exemplary guidance of graduate students, and activism on department committees." For more, see The USC Chronicle. Congratulations!

Grad Student Anton Skorucak's PhysLINK.com

February 1999: Visit the "ultimate physics resource on the Web" which was written up by Science Magazine and contains information on everything from Physics Facts to Physics Jobs.