
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.

News & Events / Department of Physics & Astronomy
/
University of Southern California