News and Events
Upcoming and Recent Events
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Psychology, Geography, Physics Departments Commencement 2022 Reception
Psychology, Geography, and Physics Departments joint reception for graduating seniors and their guests. Refreshments will be served in the McCardell Bicentennial Hall Great Hall.
McCardell Bicentennial Hall Tormondsen Great Hall
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Dr. Jon Habif Guest Lecture: Quantum limits to sensing our world: Hearing Mother Nature's quietest whispers
Measurement of the faintest signals has become a vital part of disciplines as diverse as medicine, astronomy, interplanetary communications and intelligence gathering. While our curiosity has driven us to probe ever-weaker signals in Nature, the framework and philosophy for our measurement tools has remained largely unchanged for centuries, entrenched in a classical interpretation of our world – which we know to be incomplete. In this talk I will present a holistic approach to sensing which combines quantum mechanics, information theory and measurement.
McCardell Bicentennial Hall 216
Closed to the Public
Recent and Past News
Summer 2022
Spring 2021
Mar. 15 2021 - Physics students Asher Lantz and Gebre Dagnew present at the APS March Meeting
Fall 2020
Spring 2020
Fall 2019
Physics Majors Present Research at Astronomy Conference
Summer 2019
Eilat Glikman Receives NASA-Funded Research Grant
Spring 2019
Anne Goodsell receives the 2019 Marjorie Lamberti Faculty Appreciation Award
Goodsell Lab featured in Middlebury Campus: “A peek into the ‘coolest atoms in Vermont.’”
Rich Wolfson receives grant from Sloan Foundation
Middlebury Increases its Academic Computing Power
Sadie Coffin ‘19 and Diego Garcia ‘20 Present Findings at National Astronomy Conference
Fall 2018
Noah Graham Receives NSF Grant
Physics Major Roo Weed ‘18.5 Brings Ancient Coins to Light at College Museum
Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering to Hold Annual Meeting at Middlebury
Spring 2018
Physics student Leo McElroy ‘18 has been named a Thomas J. Watson fellow.
Winter 2018
Prof. Eilat Glikman is featured in the new PBS NOVA program “Black Hole Apocalypse.” “Take a mind-blowing voyage to the most powerful and mysterious objects in the universe. More information can be found here.
Fall 2017
Prof. Emeritus Frank Winkler awarded new NSF grant.
Summer 2017
Welcome to our new colleague: Dr. Chris Herdman will be joining the physics department faculty during the summer of 2017.
Research Interests: My primary research interests lie at the intersection of condensed matter physics and quantum information science: I study quantum phases of matter (e.g. superfluids, superconductors, and Bose-Einstein condensates) from a quantum information perspective—for example, to understand how quantum matter might be used as the basis of a quantum computer. To these ends, I develop and use computational algorithms as theoretical tools to study quantum information properties (e.g. quantum entanglement) of strongly interacting quantum many-body systems.
Welcome to our new colleague: Dr. Paul Hess will be joining the physics department faculty during the summer of 2017.
Research Interests: My research focuses on studying the quantum mechanical properties of tiny crystals made of a few atomic or molecular ions, which are assembled, trapped and levitated in a vacuum chamber using electric forces. By imaging and manipulating these trapped ions with laser light, we can study their usefulness as the building blocks of a future quantum computer.
Spring 2017
Students Collaborate with Prof. Goodsell on Research Published in Physics Journal
Prof. Emeritus Frank Winkler receives NASA funding.
Prof. Eilat Glikman has been named a Cottrell Scholar by the Research Corporation.
Ancient Astronomy course highlighted in J-term Scenes: Measuring the Earth as the Ancients Did.
Prof. Noah Graham has been named a Cottrell Scholar by the Research Corporation.
Fall 2016
Summer 2016
Frank Winkler receives NASA grant for collaborative research.
Spring 2016
Jing He ‘17 was named a Goldwater Scholar.
Prof. Frank Winkler receives two NASA grants.
Fall 2015
Prof. Rich Wolfson explains the Paris Climate Agreement.
Summer 2015
Evan Williams (‘08) applies his skills as a physics major to brewing at the Flying Lion.
Physics students present their research at the 2015 Summer Research Symposium.
Spring 2015
Prof. Anne Goodsell has been awarded the 2015 Gladstone Award Honoring Excellence in Teaching.
Prof. Noah Graham has been awarded the 2015 Perkins Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Fall 2014
Welcome to our new colleague: Dr. Michael Durst will be joining the physics department faculty during the summer of 2014.
Research: My biomedical optics research involves looking deep within the body without making an incision. This is similar to ultrasound imaging, except I am interested in using light instead of sound. Light provides superior resolution, allowing you to see details on the cellular level. How can you see through the body? If you have ever looked at a flashlight pressed under your hand, you have witnessed light traveling through thick tissue. Biomedical imaging entails using lasers, nonlinear optics, and other clever tools to extract images from beneath the surface of biological tissue. With applications in cancer research, nanoparticle characterization, fiber optic endoscopes, and in vivo imaging, these efforts together will provide access to a wide array of unlabeled biological structures. By combining concepts in condensed matter physics, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, optics, and biology, this area of research is ideal for undergraduate learning and an enrichment of their understanding of physics.
Background: I currently serve as a visiting assistant professor of physics at Bates College. Previously, I was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University. I did my graduate research in nonlinear biomedical optics at the School of Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell University (Ph.D. in applied physics, 2009). My passion for optics began as an undergraduate at Georgetown University (B.S. in physics, 2003), and I look forward to sharing my enthusiasm with the students at Middlebury College.
Spring 2013
Welcome to our new colleague: Dr. Eilat Glikman will be joining the physics department faculty during the summer of 2013.
Research and Background: I study quasars and their role in the formation and evolution of galaxies. To do this I explore Active Galactic Nuclei demographics by data-mining large multi-wavelength sky surveys and conducting follow up observations. My focus is on dust-reddened quasars, an elusive population that represents a transitional phase in the evolution of active galaxies. I also study quasars at high redshifts to understand black hole growth in the early Universe.
I conducted my thesis work at Columbia University followed by postdoctoral work at the California Institute of Technology. After that, I was an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow at the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics.