Transcript Graduate Education in Department of Physics, University of Arkansas Permanent Faculty 19 Visiting Faculty, Post Doc ~15 Graduate Students ~ 40 Undergraduate Students ~ 100 Technical.

Graduate Education
in Department of Physics, University of Arkansas
Permanent Faculty 19
Visiting Faculty, Post Doc ~15
Graduate Students ~ 40
Undergraduate Students ~ 100
Technical & Secretarial Staff 6
http://www.uark.edu/depts/physics/
Degrees Awarded
MA, MS, MS (Appl. Phys.), mostly Ph.D
Research Areas
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Astronomy
Atomic and Molecular Physics
Biophysics
Condensed Matter (Experiment and Theory)
Nano-Science
Lasers, Optics and Quantum Optics
Physics Education
Introduction of the Department
 Multimillion External Funding from NSF, ONR, DOE, AFOSR, ARO
 $ 4.75M MRSEC:Center for Semiconductor Physics in Nanostructures
 >50 refereed publications/Yr: Nature, Science, Phys. Rev. Lett., Phys.
Rev., Opt. Lett., Appl. Phys. Lett.
 3 NSF - REU sites: Modern Optics, Micro-EP, SPAC
 5 APS Fellows; 2 OSA Fellows
 1 NSF Young Investigator, 4 NSF CAREER Awards (96, 98, 00, 07)
 3 Distinguished/Chaired Professors
Attractions for recruiting new students
 Annual Departmental Research Budget $3,500,000
 Ph.D. scholarships up to $34,000/year per student for DDF
$24,000/year per student for DAF
 Small classrooms, individual attention
 Low living cost, low crime rate
 Job market (Wal-Mart, Tyson, JB Hunt)
Research Area I:
Condensed Matter/Nanoscience
Molecular Beam Epitaxy
Scanning Tunneling Microscopy
Semiconductor Dots
Spintronics
Superconductivity
Ferroelectric nanostructures
II-VI and III-V Materials
Optical Properties
Faculty: Bellaiche, Chakhalian, Fu, Gea-Banacloche,
Gross, Li, Oliver, Salamo, Thibado, Vyas, Xiao
Research Area II:
Computational/Theoretical Physics
Density Functional Calculations
Piezo/Ferroelectric Physics
Semiconductor Nanostructures
Molecular Spectra
Many-Body Physics
Optical Properties
Phase Transitions
Faculty: Bellaiche, Fu, Gea-Banacloche, Harter, Lieber, Vyas
Research Area III:
Quantum Optics and Nonlinear Optics
Quantum Optics
Quantum Information
Quantum Computing
Photon Statistics
Non-Linear Optics
Optical Squeezing
Photothermal Spectra
Cavity QED
Faculty: Gea-Banacloche, Gupta, Salamo, Singh, Vyas, Xiao
Research Area IV:
Bio-Physics
DNA Sequencing
Single DNA Detection
Solid State Nanopore
Neural Computation
Biological Labeling
Nanofabrication
Optical Bio-Manipulation
Bio-Contamination Detection
Faculty: Gross, Li, Oliver, Salamo, Singh, Xiao
Research Area V:
Physics Education and Astronomy (MS only)
Precision modeling
of education process
Curriculum development
Binary Stars
Near-Earth Asteroids
Quasars at high redshift
Faculty: G. Stewart, J. Stewart, Kennefick, Lacy, Lieber
Our approaches to improve graduate educations
First year:
(A) We form a task force committee for recruiting new
graduate students;
(B) Besides normal courses, we open a cohort class
(where students learn communication, presentation,
journal club, and association)
(C) Opening a “Research seminar’’ class, in which each
professor introduces his/her research to new students.
(D) For core courses (quantum mechanics, mathematical
methods, electrodynamics), we add an additional
section (one hour per week) for problem solving.
Our approaches to improve graduate educations
Second year:
(A) Adopting a new model for candidacy exams (by
allowing students to pass individual subject);
(B) Offering a “laboratory rotation’’ class, in which
students choose to work in different labs of their
interest.
(C) Each student is required to have one-hour annual
evaluation (by presenting the course studies, research
progress, and future plan in front of the committee).
(D) After the second year, the research advisor takes over
the responsibility of supervising.
Our approaches to improve graduate educations
(A) Offering DDF and DAF to exceptional students;
(B) After the second year, we award the good students
(who perform well in courses and in research) with the
prestigious Ray Hughes Fellowships (established in
2007).
(C) Hiring faculties in new research areas (Biophysics,
experimental materials science, and quasar
astronomy).
Preliminary results
Since new approaches were used in Jan. 2007,
(1)More students passed candidacy exam;
(2) Students are better informed about the departmental
expectation, the difficulty of candidacy exams, and the
availability of research areas and subjects;
(3) Students are better prepared in course learning;
(4) Students are more involved in research (partly due to
annual evaluation);
(5) By hiring faculties in new areas (Biophysics, and
experimental materials science), students tend to go to
these new areas.