We're currently investigating the feasibility of designing and building our own cosmic ray detector. So far, we've had two speakers talk to our club about different kinds of detectors and the importance of cosmic rays, Dr. Elston and Dr. Efremenko.
I would like to propose two projects that can be available to the interested undergrad students. Both are related to the neutrino oscillation search experiment KamLAND that UT group is collaborating on in Japan.
For students who will demonstrate productive work on initial stages of these project we can discuss financial support of their further participation in the KamLAND research.
To help you understand and appreciate the Physics Colloquia, I want to start a new "experiment". Your participation in this "experiment" is strictly voluntary but I strongly encourage you to participate.
As of coming monday (9/16), I will organize informal question and answer sessions between students and the speaker (faculty are NOT invited). These sessions will start at 2.30 pm in Physics room 201 and last until 3.00 or 3.15 pm. The colloquium will start at 3.30 pm. These sessions are meant to prepare you for the colloquium. I will ask the speaker to tell you in the broadest and simplest terms about what his research entails and why we should feel excited about this. Most importantly, I want YOU to ask the questions. For instance, coming monday, we will have Professor Uchinokura from Japan. You can read the abstract of his talk on the Departmental website. Personally, I feel that there is too much jargon in the abstract so ask him what a "spin-gap" system is. What is a "Haldane gap"? Why do his colleagues think that this is important? Why should we care? You should also feel free to ask other questions like: Why is it that most exotic ("weird") materials are discovered in Japan. How does their research and educational system differ from ours. Ask about his institute. Ask about job opportunities (for most people, this question would probably be more relevant for American speakers). These are just a few examples. You'll get the most out of this when you come prepared with your own questions.
This is meant to be very informal and educational so don't be shy. You run the show!! This experiment is also new to the speakers and some of them may not know what to expect from these sessions. You will also notice that some speakers are superb in communicating in layman terms whereas others are not. Some of them may have a language barrier.
So please mark your calendars for 2.30 pm every monday. If for some reason, the speaker cannot meet with you, I will let you know on time.