Colloquia are held on Fridays from 4:10 - 5 PM in EPS 103. A Reception for the Speaker with refreshments served begins at 3:45pm in the EPS second floor attrium. All Departments and off-campus guests are welcome to attend. Come and join us for coffee or tea and cookies and interesting speakers!

For further information contact the MSU Physics Department at 994-3614

Fall Semester 2015
Date Speaker Title and Link to Abstract pdf Host
August 28 Professor Bern Kohler, MSU Department of Chemistry, Photophysics and Photochemistry by Ultrafast Spectroscopy DNA’s Day in the Sun: How the Double Helix Avoids Photodamage Rufus Cone
September 4 Dr. Larry Johnson, President of Montana Photonics Industry Alliance and Founder, former President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of ILX Lightwave Corporation

 

 How to Be a Part of Montana’s Growing Photonics Industry Rufus Cone
September 11 Dr. Mike Simmonds, Quantum Design, Inc

 

 Physics and the Art of Instrument Design: An Inquiry into Creativity (with apologies to Robert Pirsig) John Neumeier and Rufus Cone
September 18 Professor Robert C. Maher, P.E.,Department Head, MSU Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering andAffiliate Professor of Music Technology, MSU School of Music

 

 Found Sound: Recording Studio, National Park, Courtroom Rufus Cone
September 25 Professor Prasanta Bandyopadhyay, MSU Department of History & Philosophy; Publications Who is Afraid of Simpson’s Paradox? Shannon Willoughby
October 2 Professor Mats Selen, Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

 

 The Evolution of Intro Physics at the University of Illinois Anton Vorontsov
October 9 Professor Stephen W. Sofie, MSU Mechanical & Industrial Engineering and Deputy Director of the Materials Science Ph.D. Program Nanomaterials at High Temperatures: Overcoming Thermal Induced Coarsening of Metal Electro-catalysts Rufus Cone
October 16 Dr. Kris Merkel, President and CEO, S2 Corporation Wideband RF Spectrum Sensing & Big Data Search at S2 Corporation and MSU Spectrum Lab Rufus Cone
October 23 Dr. Chris Mundy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Material Synthesis and Simulation Across Scales (MS3) Initiative

 

 The role of an accurate description of local structure to inform our understanding of nucleation and assembly in the condensed phase Hugo Schmidt, Department of Physics; Patrik Callis, Department of Chemistry, and Rob Walker, and Erik Grumstrup, Department of Chemistry and Materials Science Ph.D. Program
October 30 Professor Aleksander Rebane, MSU Department of Physics and Rebane Research Laboratory Femtosecond 2-photon spectroscopy: are two better than one? Rufus Cone
November 6 Professor David Macaluso, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Montana and the Montana University System Materials Science Doctoral Program

 

 Elvis, John Wayne, and Quantum Plasmon Resonances – Where Dead Stars and Engineered Nanomaterials Collide Rufus Cone
November 13 NO COLLOQUIUM THIS DATE NO COLLOQUIUM THIS DATE NO COLLOQUIUM THIS DATE
November 20 Regents Professor Gordon Brittan, MSU Department of History & Philosophy Wittgenstein, Mach, and I Rufus Cone
November 27 THANKSGIVING    
December 4 NO COLLOQUIUM THIS DATE    
December 11 FINALS WEEK    

 

Spring Semester 2016
Date Speaker Title and Link to Abstract pdf Host
January 15 Henry Fu, University of Nevada Reno Viscous constraints on microscale propulsion and approach Anton Vorontsov, MSU Physics, and Jim Wilking MSU Chemical & Biological Engineering and Center for Biofilm Engineering
January 22 Dr. Marina Battaglia, Studying Solar Flares, at FHNW - Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, Institute of 4D Technologies Windisch, Switzerland An X-Ray View of Solar Flares Dana Longcope and David McKenzie
January 29 Professor Erik Grumstrup, MSU Department of Chemistry, Grumstrup Research Group,and Materials Science Ph.D. Program Optoelectronics at the Nanoscale:  Ultrafast Electron Dynamics of Complex Materials Rufus Cone 
February 5      
February 12

Christopher Pankow, Postdoctoral Associate, Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) and the Department of Physics & Astronomy, Northwestern University

Rapid Multi-messenger Astronomy with Gravitational-Wave Interferometers

 Katerina Chatziioannou
February 19 Professor James Skinner, Joseph O. Hirschfelder Professor of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Member of the National Academy of Sciences

The mystery of water and its condensed phases

Letters and Science Distinguished Speakers Series

 Rob Walker and Erik Grumstrup, MSU Department of Chemistry, and Rufus Cone, MSU Department of Physics
February 26

Professor Stephen Hill, Department of Physics, Florida State University and Fellow of the American Physical Society

Director of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory Electron Magnetic Resonance Program

  

High-Field Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Studies of Molecular Nanomagnets

Hugo Schmidt, Yves Idzerda, and Rufus Cone

 
March 4 Dr. Yi-Kuo Yu, National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Institutes of Health

Quantum magnetism in low dimensions:  an intriguing phenomenon connecting biology with physics

 John Neumeier
March 11      
March 18 SPRING BREAK STUDENT HOLIDAY STUDENT HOLIDAY
March 24 Dr. Elizabeth Goldschmidt, Quantum Information Science, U.S. Army Research Lab Single Photons for Quantum Information Rose Ahlefeldt, Rufus Cone, and Charles Thiel
March 25 UNIVERSITY DAY STUDENT HOLIDAY STUDENT HOLIDAY
April 1 Professor David Dickensheets, MSU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering with a focus on optical instrument and microdevice development and Director of Montana Microfabrication Facility From Microfluidics and MEMS to Nanostructured and Bio-derived Materials:  What’s New in Nanotechnology at Montana State University Rufus Cone
April 8 Canceled due to conflict for speaker Canceled Canceled
April 15 George Seielstad, author of Dawn of the Anthropocene - Humanity's Defining Moment  Free download to Kindle From Mathematical to Physical Universe Angela Des Jardins
April 22 Katherine de Kleer, Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley

The Volcanism, Atmosphere, and Tidal Heating of Io

 

Angela Des Jardins

 

 

Academic year 2014-2015 schedule can be found here...

Academic year 2013-2014 schedule can be found here...

Academic year 2012-2013 schedule can be found here...