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NOV
20
Tuesday
NSLS-II Seminar
"Structure/Properties of Thin Film Composite Membranes for Water Purification"
Presented by Christopher M. Stafford, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD
11 am, NSLS-II Bldg. 744
Tuesday, November 20, 2018, 11:00 am
Hosted by: Ben Ocko
Access to sustainable sources of clean water is critical to manufacturing, agriculture, energy production, public health, and national security. One prominent technology for meeting this need is membrane-based separations of water and dissolved contaminants/solutes via nanofiltration and reverse osmosis. This field is dominated by polymer-based membranes and has relied on complex, empirically optimized chemistries and structures based on material selections made decades ago. The resulting processes are energy intensive and suffer from limited performance lifetimes. We are bringing our deep expertise in measurement science and polymer science to address this critical technology, specifically by establishing fundamental structure/property relationships that correlate membrane topology and dynamics to membrane performance. In this talk, I will describe our recent efforts in synthesizing model membrane materials based on molecular layer-by-layer deposition of aromatic polyamide networks, as well as our measurements of swelling, crosslink density and mechanics of both model and commercial membrane materials. This understanding will enable industry to develop and manufacture next generation, energy-efficient membrane materials.
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NOV
27
Tuesday
Physics Colloquium
"Studying Quantum Matter on Near-Term Quantum Computers"
Presented by Brian Swingle, University of Maryland and Institute of Advanced Study
3:30 pm, Large Seminar Room, Bldg. 510
Tuesday, November 27, 2018, 3:30 pm
Hosted by: Rob Pisarski
From the point of view of fundamental physics, one of the greatest promises of quantum information science is a new set of quantum computational tools for addressing previously intractable problems. However, at present we find ourselves in an age of embodied quantum information, where the substrate carrying the information cannot yet be abstracted away and effects of noise cannot be neglected. Nevertheless, I will argue that such noisy, intermediate size quantum devices may be useful for addressing open problems in quantum many-body physics, and potentially quantum field theory. Using two case studies, I will show how quantum information is informing our understanding of quantum matter and how near-term quantum computers might realistically help.
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NOV
29
Thursday
Environmental & Climate Sciences Department Seminar
"In-situ measurements of aerosol composition in Nepal: linking aerosol sources to ambient concentrations"
Presented by Pete DeCarlo, Drexel University
11 am, Conference Room Bldg 815E
Thursday, November 29, 2018, 11:00 am
Hosted by: Laura Fierce
The Kathmandu Valley in Nepal is home to over 4 Million people, and is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in South Asia. It is subject to extreme pollution events due to numerous unregulated localized pollution sources and regional transport from the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). Previous field work has studied gas species, wintertime VOCs and PM in the valley. The Nepal Ambient Measurement and Site Testing Experiment [NAMaSTE] is the first deployment of an Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS and mini-AMS) in Nepal and allows for a more comprehensive analysis of aerosol species and their source contributions. Source and ambient measurements were made in April 2015, but were interrupted by the Ghorka earthquake. Source measurements were nearly complete, but ambient measurements required additional data. We returned in December and January of 2017-2018 for a multi-site measurement campaign, and again in April 2018 to make additional real-time mobile measurements of aerosol composition throughout the Kathmandu Valley. Clear meteorological influences are observed with regular diurnal wind patterns in the valley. These patterns are key in establishing the influence of regional brick kiln operation with urban air pollution burden in Kathmandu. While organic species dominate the submicron aerosol composition measured throughout Nepal, the inorganic component of the aerosol (e.g. sulfate and chloride) are key species to identify brick kiln emissions and biomass/trash emissions.
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NOV
29
Thursday
Particle Physics Seminar
"The structure of the proton in the LHC precision era"
Presented by Juan Rojo, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Nikhef
3 pm, Small Seminar Room, Bldg. 510
Thursday, November 29, 2018, 3:00 pm
Hosted by: Alessandro Tricoli
The determination of the partonic structure of the proton is a central component of the precision phenomenology program at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This internal structure of nucleons is quantified in the collinear QCD factorization framework by the Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs), which encode the probability of finding quarks and gluons inside the proton carrying a given amount of its momentum. PDFs cannot currently be computed from first principles, and therefore they need to be determined from experimental data from a variety of hard-scattering cross-sections in lepton-proton and proton-proton collisions. This program, known as the global QCD analysis, involves combining the most PDF-sensitive data and the highest precision QCD and electroweak calculations available within a statistically robust fitting methodology. In this talk I review our current understanding of the quark and gluon structure of the proton, which emphasis for the implications for precision LHC phenomenology and searches for new physics, but also exploring other aspects of the nucleon structure such as their impact on high-energy neutrino telescopes, the connection with lattice QCD calculations, and the onset of novel small-x dynamics beyond the collinear framework. Finally, I highlight the prospects for improving our understanding of the quark/gluon structure of the nucleon at the high-luminosity LHC era.
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NOV
29
Thursday
BWIS Talk: The Science of Success: Accelerating Women in STEM Leadership for Better Results
DDI Consultants
4 pm, Large Seminar Room, Bldg. 510
Thursday, November 29, 2018, 4:00 pm
Less than 30 percent of the world's researchers are women, an imbalance which is gradually growing smaller as more women are pursuing degrees in science. But while more women are entering the field, men still hold the vast majority of leadership roles, a gender gap that gets wider at each progressive level of leadership and has shown little change over the years. This disparity is not just an issue for aspirational women in science, but threatens the success of projects and research advancements. In this session, leadership experts Jazmine Boatman and Nick Razzette will discuss the business benefits of gender diversity in leadership and address how bias creates wasted potential, keeping women on the sidelines when their talents, knowledge, and perspectives could be triggering breakthrough success. In addition, they will present actionable steps to help women amplify their impact as leaders, and offer specific steps men can take to support gender equity in the workplace. Coffee and refreshments at 3:45 p.m. This event is open to the public.
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DEC
4
Tuesday
Weight Watchers
"Weight Watchers Wellness Workshop"
12 pm, Large Conference Room, Bldg. 490
Tuesday, December 4, 2018, 12:00 pm
Listen to an announcement webinar with CEO, Mindy Grossman and Chief Science Officer, Gary Foster. https://tinyurl.com/yd47y99g. Wellness Wins™ - This link takes employees to the section of their web site that has a visual summary of their new member rewards program – https://www.weightwatchers.com/us/wins
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DEC
6
Thursday
Environmental & Climate Sciences Department Seminar
"The relationship of atmospheric ice content and vertical velocities"
Presented by Sylvia Sullivan, Columbia University
11 am, Conference Room Bldg 815E
Thursday, December 6, 2018, 11:00 am
Hosted by: Laura Fierce
The links of atmospheric vertical motions and the ice content within clouds are numerous. Vertical motions generate the supersaturation that allows ice nucleation; they determine whether mass transfer will occur from droplets to crystals by the Bergeron process; and they control the sedimentation rate from the cloudy layer to lower altitudes. I will present the ways in which we have tried to better understand this dynamic-microphysical relationship over the past few years. First, with an automatic differentiation-based attribution analysis, we see the importance of accurately representing updrafts for the number concentration of nucleated ice crystals on a global scale. Then we zoom in, using a parcel model to identify joint temperature-updraft regimes in which secondary ice production processes like rime splintering or frozen droplet shattering can significantly enhance ice content. Along with these direct connections via hydrometeor formation, the relationship of vertical velocity and cloud ice content affects surface precipitation. We illustrate this indirect hydrological impact with mesoscale simulation of a mid-latitude cold frontal rain band and satellite data analyses of cloud top phase and precipitation from mesoscale convective systems throughout the tropics.
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DEC
6
Thursday
CFN Colloquium
"Metamaterial, Metasurface and Plasmonic Optics"
Presented by David Smith, Duke University
2 pm, Bldg 735, CFN Seminar Room, 2nd Floor
Thursday, December 6, 2018, 2:00 pm
Hosted by: Don Dimarzo / Mircea Cotlet
In 2000, the demonstration of an artificially structured metamaterial with simultaneously negative permittivity and permeability—or a negative index metamaterial—stimulated widespread interest both in the fundamental properties of metamaterials as well as those of plasmonic materials. This interest has had an impact on virtually every aspect of optics and photonics research and technology. Nanostructured materials have the potential for unique and unprecedent photonic devices relevant to applications such as sensing, imaging, information storage and retrieval, processing, and many more. Our group has focused on several metasurface platforms as a means of investigating and demonstrating key concepts. While structuring of a surface or volume provides an important means of controlling the propagation of light with tremendous precision, the use of plasmonic nanostructures provides the means of actually interacting with the radiative dynamics of emitters and other sources, modifying density of states; enhancing or suppressing stimulated and spontaneous emission; modifying nonlinear scattering and harmonic generation; and so forth. The combination of tools available with metamaterials, metasurfaces and plasmonic materials—while still not yet fully exploited—lead to the opportunity for new inventive photonic devices with improved and flexible performance metrics. In this talk, I will describe our group's efforts in the areas of holographic metamaterials, and the need to go beyond holography for multifunctional optical devices. I will also describe the film-coupled nanoparticle platform we have developed over the years and discuss the capability of field enhancement in nanogaps to impact diverse applications such as lasing; ultrafast and ultrabright light sources; light absorbing surfaces; and controlled emission surfaces.
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DEC
6
Thursday
Particle Physics Seminar
"The Global Electroweak Fit in the light of the new results from the LHC"
Presented by Matthias Schott, University of Mainz
3 pm, Small Seminar Room, Bldg. 510
Thursday, December 6, 2018, 3:00 pm
Hosted by: Alessandro Tricoli
With the high integrated luminosities recorded at the LHC and the very good understanding of the LHC detectors, it is possible to measure electroweak observables to the highest precision. In this talk, I review the measurement of the W boson mass as well as the measurement of the electroweak mixing angle with the ATLAS detector, both achieving highest precision after several years of intense effort. Special focus is drawn on a discussion of the modeling uncertainties as well as the physics potential of the latest low-mu runs, recorded at in 2017 and 2018. The results will be interpreted in terms of the overall consistency of the Standard Modell by the global electroweak fit, performed by the Gfitter Collaboration.
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DEC
10
Monday
Mindfulness Meditation ~ QOL/BERA/Recreation
12 pm, Berkner Hall, Room B
Monday, December 10, 2018, 12:00 pm
Hosted by: QOL/BERA/Recreation
Mindfulness & Meditation. Reduce stress and increase focus, learn techniques to control your thoughts and actions with a meditation guided by Steve Interrante. Berkner Room B on 12/10. Free, open, welcome to come & go as needed.
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DEC
13
Thursday
NSLS-II Colloquium Series
"Superconductivity: Where we are and where we are going"
Presented by Prof. Robert Cava, Princeton University, NJ
4 pm, Hamilton Seminar Room, Bldg. 555
Thursday, December 13, 2018, 4:00 pm
Hosted by: John Hill
The discovery of superconductivity, the transmission of electrical current with zero energy loss, recently passed its 100th anniversary. This truly remarkable property of matter, found at cryogenic temperatures, has made its way into a variety of important uses in modern society, but nature has not yet given us the ultimate practical material that will change the world through its lossless transmission of electrical energy over long distances. Research on this complex problem in materials science persists in the world at many levels, and progress is continuously made on both scientific and practical fronts, in spite of the impatience that is often displayed by both the scientific and lay public. In this talk I will briefly describe where we are in this field, and how we got here, and describe the vision that some have had for where we should be going. Because my personal research is in the discovery of new superconducting materials, only one facet among the larger set of fundamental and practical issues currently under study, the talk will be given from that perspective.
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DEC
13
Thursday
Santa Holiday Party with Special Guests
5 pm, Recreation Hall, Bldg. 317
Thursday, December 13, 2018, 5:00 pm
Hosted by: QOL/BERA/Recreation
Come to the Rec Hall, Bldg. 317 in the apartment area, for a photo with Santa and his special guests! Snacks, drinks, music, crafts and family fun!
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DEC
14
Friday
BERA Holiday Party
6:30 pm, Bellport Country Club
Friday, December 14, 2018, 6:30 pm
Gather your colleagues, friends & family members for the BERA Holiday Party! We will be at the Bellport Country Club's 'Open' Holiday Party on Friday Dec. 12 @ 6:30-11pm White Glove Horsdoeuvres, 4 Course Elaborate Dinner, Pastries, Top Shelf Open Bar, DJ by Absolute Entertainment $77 pp ~ BBC Weight Room Paid Members Get $10 off 21 & Over Only 631-286-4227 40 South Country Road, Bellport 11713
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DEC
20
Thursday
Particle Physics Seminar (Leona Woods Distinguished Postdoctoral Lectureship Award)
"Measurement of top quark pair production in association with a Higgs or gauge boson at the LHC with the ATLAS detector"
Presented by María Moreno Llácer, CERN
3 pm, Small Seminar Room, Bldg. 510
Thursday, December 20, 2018, 3:00 pm
Hosted by: Alessandro Tricoli
The top quark is unique among the known quarks since it decays before it has an opportunity to form hadronic bound states. This makes measurements of its properties particularly interesting as one can access directly the properties of a bare quark. Given its large mass (the heaviest fundamental particle), the top quark may play a special role in the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism and therefore, new physics related to this might be found first in top quark precision measurements. Possible new physics signals would cause deviations of the top quark couplings from the Standard Model (SM) prediction. It couples to the SM fields through its gauge and Yukawa interactions. The high statistics top quark sample at the LHC has allowed to access the associated production of a top quark pair with a boson: tt+photon, tt+W, tt+Z and tt+H. The latest measurements carried out by the ATLAS detector for these physics processes will be presented, highlighting the main challenges.
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JAN
10
Thursday
Particle Physics Seminar
"Cross section measurements and new physics searches with WZ vector boson scattering events at CMS"
Presented by Kenneth Long, University of Wisconsin - Madison
3 pm, Small Seminar Room, Bldg. 510
Thursday, January 10, 2019, 3:00 pm
Hosted by: Alessandro Tricolli
As the standard model (SM) Higgs boson looks increasingly like its SM expectation, expanded tests of the electroweak (EW) sector of the SM are a focal point of the long-term LHC program. Production of massive vector bosons via vector boson scattering provides a direct probe of the self-interactions of the massive vector bosons, which are intimately connected to the Higgs-Englert-Brout mechanism of EW symmetry breaking. A search for vector boson scattering of W and Z bosons has recently been performed by the CMS experiment using data collected in 2016. I will present this search as well as WZ cross section measurements, which are less dependent on theoretical inputs. This process is also sensitive to New Physics in the EW sector. I will present interpretations of these results in terms of explicit models predicting additional charged Higgs bosons and in the generalized framework of dimension-8 effective field theory.
