Kiosk 2

Hello!

The Graduate Association of Students in Physics (GASP) and the JILA Association of Graduate Students (JAGS) are excited to announce the next session of the Graduate Student Seminar Series! Please join us on Thursday, March 13th, at 12:30 in the JILA Auditorium for lunch, with the talks beginning at 12:45.

The talks for this session are:

   Light-assisted Collisions in Optical Tweezers - Steven Pampel, Regal Group
   Observation of field-split crystal electric field levels in CsErSe$_2$ - Hope Whitelock, Lee Group

Please come enjoy the provided lunch while exploring the research happening around you!

This is part of a regularly occurring seminar of colloquium-style talks given by graduate students and post-docs for graduate students and post-docs. We feature talks of varying durations across various research fields in both experiment and theory. Talks are not limited by topic but we do ask that you give a technical talk about your work, ideally tailored to general graduate student knowledge.

The seminar series is a great way to hone your presentation skills, prepare for conference talks and other presentations, and learn about the fascinating research being conducted by your fellow students!

We are asking that PIs not attend these talks to encourage student attendance and participation. We welcome staff to attend and contribute to the discussion. Thank you for understanding.

If you are interested in giving a talk at a future iteration of this series, or you know someone who is, please take a moment to fill out this form:
https://forms.gle/mfRcio2xMSUdrfrc8

Speakers and attendees from all departments are encouraged to attend and submit a talk. With your help, we can increase the diversity of topics covered and build a stronger scientific community at CU and beyond.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to Keegan Finger (keegan.finger@colorado.edu).

We hope to see you there!
JILA Association of Graduate Students (JAGS)
Graduate Association of Students in Physics (GASP)

Abstract: “Working in policy” is a phrase we hear tossed around, but what does that really entail? What are the professional roles that exist in science policy?  What is it like working on climate policy in the current culture of division and polarization? What kinds of skills can we in the scientific community practice to become better advocates for ourselves and the scientific process? This interactive talk starts the conversation around these questions by relaying the perspectives of a wide variety of professionals gathered for the inaugural American Meteorological Society (AMS) Climate Policy colloquium. Specifically focused on the federal policy process, this annual weeklong immersive event took place in December 2024 and was an incredible primer on the world of policy. We will broadly cover the following topics: the reality of policy, the current political situation, scientific communication for policy, what is a career in policy, and finish with a budget experiment to pull it all together. Bring an open mind, your reading glasses, some scratch paper, and a pen/pencil and find out what it takes to make an impact in policy. 

Abstract:   In recent years, superconducting qubits have emerged as a leading platform for quantum simulation, particularly for studying quantum dynamics on Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) processors. I will discuss some of our work within this broad area of research. In a recent study [1], we directly image the dynamics of charges and strings in (2+1)-dimensional lattice gauge theories. We identify two distinct regimes within the confining phase: in the weak confinement regime, the string exhibits strong transverse fluctuations, while in the strong confinement regime, these fluctuations are significantly suppressed. In another study [2], we observe a novel form of localization in quantum many-body systems in one and two dimensions. Despite the absence of disorder, perturbations do not spread, even when both the evolution operator and initial states are fully translationally invariant. These results demonstrate that NISQ processors—in the absence of fully developed quantum computers—are invaluable tools for probing non-equilibrium physics, offering critical insights into complex quantum dynamics.

[1] Cochran et al., arxiv.org/abs/2409.17142

[2] Gyawali  et al., arxiv.org/abs/2410.06557

It might seem like our favorite athletes defy the laws of physics, but this
is not so - they work with physics, just as we all do.  Come and learn
about how motion, energy, and balance contribute to the things we all do in
sports.  We will have lots of audience participation, including an activity
for everyone who attends!

Abstract forthcoming.

Abstract: Fundamental research to understand how bacteria fight viral infections uncovered the function of CRISPR-Cas programmable proteins that detect and cut specific DNA or RNA sequences. CRISPR technology is now an indispensable tool in human, animal and agricultural research. Furthermore, the FDA’s approval of a CRISPR therapy for sickle cell disease marked the beginning of a new era in healthcare. I will discuss the scientific and societal advances that will expand both the applications and impact of genome editing across the globe.

Dr. Jennifer Doudna was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discovery and development of the CRISPR gene editing method. Previous to that she was a postdoc at CU with Tom Cech working on the origami-like folding of RNA. 

Abstract forthcoming.

• Date: 03/20/2025
• Time: 4:00 PM (Coffee and cookies at 3:30 PM)
• Location: JILA X wing: X317/X325

• Time: 12:00 PM
• Location: JILA H-Bar
• Menu: Tasty empanadas!
• Capacity: 15 slots available

• Names will be randomly selected on the three days before the seminar from the spreadsheet.
• Selected participants will be notified via email.
• If you are selected and cannot attend, please inform Whitney at Whitney.vanderMarck-Gregg@colorado.edu

Abstract:

Our research group focuses on building tools that enable inverse materials design and give new insights into the fundamental chemical physics of liquids, interfaces, and chemical reactions. For this talk, we will discuss our progress in two of our primary research thrusts. 
 
The first part of the talk will focus on our work in developing methods that are used to accelerate the design of functional materials. We focus on two types of materials: electronic/redox-active polymers and intrinsically disordered polymers. Although radical-based polymers are promising energy storage materials, successful materials design requires careful molecular engineering of the polymer and electrolyte. To solve the molecular-scale part of the problem, we develop physically motivated machine learning models that predict molecular properties (e.g., hole reorganization energies) from low-cost representations, and pair these with multiscale simulations of the polymers. Next, we will discuss our efforts to use reinforcement learning methods to accelerate materials design. We are able to couple these methods directly with high-throughput computational simulation tools to accelerate the design process. Our initial demonstrations of this method are on optoelectronic organic materials design.
 
If time permits, we will discuss our work to understand the fundamental design principles for optimizing chemical reactions under external forces (mechanochemistry). Here, we use a combination of high-throughput screening, optimization methods, and graph-based neural network potentials to conduct a broad search for reactions that can be significantly accelerated by external forces that are achievable in modern mechanochemical reactors. Our methods use machine learning potentials in combination with reaction path searching protocols (e.g., nudged elastic band and the growing string methods) to find potential transition states. We then explore candidate “activatable” coordinates—specific deformation modes that lead to enhanced reaction rates—by analyzing a mix of localized and normal coordinates. The most promising reactions and degrees of motion are then verified by higher-level calculations.
 

Bio:

Daniel Tabor received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin in 2011. He then attended the University of Wisconsin—Madison for his Ph.D. (2016). From 2016-2019, he was a postdoc at Harvard University. Daniel began his independent career on the faculty at Texas A&M in the Fall of 2019, where he is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry, with a research group that primarily focuses on organic materials design, developing new computational spectroscopy methods, and scientific machine learning methods. He was named a Texas A&M Institute of Data Science Career Initiation Fellow in 2021, a Cottrell Scholar in 2023, was awarded the NSF CAREER award (2023) and the Montague Teacher-Scholar award by the Texas A&M Center for Teaching Excellence (2023). 

Abstract: Cosmology – the study of the Universe in which we live – inevitably goes back further than recorded human history.  Questions of the origin and nature of our world and Universe seem fundamentally intertwined with our inquisitive nature.  While some questions may forever remain unanswerable or philosophical in nature, science is continually advancing our understanding of the ‘how’, ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘when’ of our Universe.  Not only are we learning the content, history, and physics of our Universe but, ultimately, its fate.  We routinely use the Universe itself as the largest and most powerful conceivable laboratory with which to study fundamental physics at energies and scales unattainable by even the largest particle colliders humans could ever dream to build.

At the heart of many of the experiments that are making these discoveries are technologies developed and built right here in Boulder, Colorado. Superconducting technologies developed by researchers at NIST-Boulder and CU-Boulder are currently enabling the most sensitive measurements of the Universe during its infancy, many billions of years ago. This includes measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), ancient light from the early universe and a remnant of the Big Bang. In this talk, I’ll present a brief history of the study of Cosmology, describe the current state of the art of our understanding of our Universe, and review some of the Boulder-based superconducting technologies that are making it possible. Along the way, I’ll provide a glimpse into aspects of the life and career path for an experimental physicist and astronomer.  Finally, I’ll be happy to attempt to answer and discuss any questions and curiosities you may have.

The Department of Physics proudly presents the Saturday Physics Series, lectures geared toward high school students and adults to highlight the exciting research and practical potential of physics. 

All lectures are free and open to the public.

Abstract forthcoming.

Abstract forthcoming.

Abstract forthcoming.

Abstract forthcoming.

Abstract Forthcoming.