Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Series
Spring 2011

Date

Talk

Thursday
31 March

available

Thursday
7 April

My International Study Abroad in Chile and Studies of the Giant Branch in Milky Way Globular Clusters

Ana Mikler
Class of 2012

Thursday
14 April

available

Thursday
21 April

Department Pot Luck

available

Thursday
28 April

Polymer Nanocomposites: Emerging Materials with a Long History

Meisha L. Shofner
Georgia Institute of Technology

In the past 20 years, an enormous level of research from academic, government, and industrial organizations has been directed at understanding and developing polymer nanocomposites. Some of this research has shown dramatic property changes at low nanoparticle loadings, leading to a wide variety of proposed applications and a projected global market value of $9 billion for polymer nanocomposites in 2025. Even though these materials are considered to be emerging materials, the research area in itself is not new. Filled elastomers, which are also strictly polymer nanocomposites, have been studied for approximately 100 years and are used everyday, frequently as vehicle tires. In this presentation, I will discuss the motivation for renewed interest in these materials as well as our specific research in this area which is aimed at understanding component interactions and polymer matrix modification.

Thursday
5 May

The Life Cycle of Star Clusters

Rupali Chandar
University of Toledo

Textbooks traditionally tell us that there are two different 'types' of star clusters -- low-mass, young open clusters and massive, ancient globular clusters. This picture is based on our own Milky Way galaxy, where our view of the disk is quite limited. Recent observations of nearby galaxies taken with the Hubble Space Telescope have dramatically changed this picture: we find star clusters with continuous ranges of ages and masses in many nearby star-forming galaxies, including in spirals, dwarf starbursts, and interacting galaxies. I will present the mass and age distributions of star clusters in several nearby galaxies of different types and environments. Underlying the apparent diversity and complexity of these cluster systems, there are some intriguing regularities. I will discuss what the mass and age distributions tell us about the formation and disruption, i.e. the life cycle, of the clusters.

Thursday
12 May

available

Thursday
19 May

Making Memories: IBM's Golden Age from 1965-1990

IN OLIN 115 (NOTE DIFFERENT ROOM)

Paul Castrucci
Class of '56

Thursday
26 May

available

Thursday
2 June

available