PREVIOUS NEWS ITEMS
June 9, 2006
Jack W. Culvahouse
1929 - 2006
Services
for Professor Emeritus Jack W. Culvahouse, 76, will be at 2 p.m. Saturday
at the Dole Institute of Politics at Kansas University. Inurnment will
be at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 24, in Centerville Cemetery in Mountain
Park, Okla. Prof. Culvahouse died Wednesday, June 7, 2006, at Lawrence
Memorial Hospital. Jack was born Sept. 15, 1929, in Mountain Park, Okla.,
the son of Victor Hugo and Sybil Nichols Culvahouse. He received a Bachelor
of Science from the University of Oklahoma, and a Master of Arts in
1954 and a Ph.D. in 1958 from Harvard University. He was a physicist
for General Electric from 1951 to 1953; an assistant professor at the
University of Oklahoma and Kansas University; an associate professor
at Kansas University from 1962 to 1964; and a professor from 1964 until
he retired in 1994. He was a visiting professor at the University of
Wisconsin, Oxford University, Ames Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, and was
also associated with Western University. He was a Guggenheim Fellow
in 1968; NSF Fellow at Harvard University, a member of Tau Beta Pi,
Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi, and a member of the American Physical Society-Fellow.
Mr. Culvahouse authored 31 major publications on solid state and nuclear
physics. He worked with many Ph.D. dissertations and Master of Science
theses. He married Ruth Ann Roberts on June 8, 1952, in Eureka. She
survives, of the home. Other survivors include two sons, John T., Tonganoxie,
and Jeffrey S., Overland Park; a daughter, Alison Hodges, Manhattan;
a sister, Janel McPhail, Lubbock, Texas; and six grandchildren. A son,
Robert W. Culvahouse, died in 1955. The family suggests memorials to
the Consolidated 8 Community School Memorial Assn., or Lawrence Memorial
Hospital Endowment Assn., sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary in
Lawrence.
Physics Today Obituary
May 18, 2006
Graduating senior Shawn Henderson has been awarded an NSF Graduate Fellowship to study particle physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Shawn is one of four KU graduates to receive the NSF award worth $122,500 over three years. The full press release can be found at this site. Other departmental majors and alumni who competed and received honorable mention include Hannah Swift, Spring 2006 graduate headed for Berkeley, Miles Garrett, Spring 2006 graduate with a BA Physics and Philosophy, heading for the PhD program in Sociology at Cornell, Josh Meyers, a 2005 graduate completing his first year at Berkeley, and Stephen Floor, also a 2005 graduate completing his first year at the University of California, San Francisco. Rainer Schiel's Masters Thesis, titled The Electro-Photon Model for Cosmic Ray Shower Evolution, was awarded a Master's Project Award by the Graduate School
MAY 13, 2006
The
2005/06 Annual Department Banquet was held at the Circle S Ranch outside
Lawrence on May 13. The crowd ofover 70 faculty, students and staff
enjoyed a tasty Mexican dinner while listening to an extensive list
of accomplishments within the Department. Graduating this year at the
undergraduate level, along with their specific degree and where they
are going, if known, are:
Ken Johnston (BS Engineering Physics),
Chris Patrick (BS Engineering Physics),
Stuart Jack (BA Astronomy), Efe
Ekpere (BS Physics), Andrew Ra (BS
Physics), Benjamin Bammes (BS Physics,
EECS, Math - PhD program in Structural and Computational Biology at
Baylor Med School), Alan Dibos (BS Physics,
minor in Math and Chemistry - PhD program in Applied Physics - Harvard),
Larissa Ejzak (BA Physics and Theater and
Film - PhD program in Physics - University of Wisconsin, Madison), Miles
Garrett (BA Physics and Philosophy - PhD program in Sociology
- Cornell), Shawn Henderson (BS Physics
and Math - PhD program in Physics - MIT), David
Hover (BS Physics and Math - PhD program in Physics - University
of Wisconsin, Madison), John Lancaster
(BS - Physics and Math), Lindsay Mayer
(BS Astronomy and Physics - MS program in Geophysics - KU), and Hannah
Swift (BS, Astronomy, Math, and Physics - PhD program in Physics-
Berkeley). At the graduate level, graduating this year are: Lihui
Jin (PhD Physics), Brian Thomas
(Ph.D. Physics), John Gardner (Ph.D. Physics),
Shabnam Jabeen (PhD, Physics), Richard
Alexander (MS, Physics), Benjamin Anhalt
(MS, Physics), Leah Bowen (MS Physics)
, Peter Bryant (MS, Physics), Darius
Gallagher (MS, Physics), Xin Gao
(MS, Physics), Carissa Hill (MS, Physics),
Chaitanya Kalavagunta (MS, Physics), Jan
Kurzidim (MS, Physics), Shramana Mishra
(MS, Physics), Devdeep Sarkar (MS, Physics),
and Rainer Schiel (MS, Physics).
Also given out were awards for the Outstanding Senior in Engineering Physics to Ken Johnston, the Prosser Award for Undergraduate Majors to Michael Merz and Andrew Wooten, and the E.E. Slossen Award for Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistants to Dan Fisher, Rainer Schiel, and Mihailo Backovic. The Outstanding Service Award went to Sarah Reynolds. The Undergraduate Faculty Teaching Award went to Prof. Steve Sanders, while the SPS Staff Person of the Year was presented to Mr. Don Nieto.
May 04, 2006
Graduating
senior in Physics, Larissa Ejzak,
will be starring in a play she has written about survivors of a gamma-ray
burst. “Burst” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday,
May 10, in the Inge Theatre at Murphy Hall. After graduating with dual
degrees in Physics and Theatre this Spring, Larissa will head to the
University of Wisconsin-Madison to work toward a graduate degree in
Physics. The full story of her unusual talents can be found at this
site.
May 01, 2006
Dr.
Alice Bean's
NSF-funded Quarked! project to bring an understanding
of fundamental physics to kids using animated adventures in the subatomic
universe has been featured recently in two University outreach publications,
making the cover of the CLAS KU Collegian
for Spring 2006 and being written up in the Spring 2006 issue of KU
Spirit, put out by the KU Endowment Association. A pdf
version of the Collegian can be downloaded from http://www.clas.ku.edu/alumni/CollSpr06.pdf
April 18, 2006
Congratulations to Departmental majors, Luis Vargas (Astronomy, Math, and Physics) and Brian P. Moehring (Math and Physics) on their success in the annual Math Competition. Luis finished third among seniors, receiving a $150 prize, while Brian won the $300 junior-level competition for all KU undergraduates who are not seniors, for the second consecutive year.The full press release can be found at this site.
April 10, 2006
Recent results by Drs. Medvedev and Melott, analyzing the impact of the sun's motion above and below the disk of the Galaxy on the possibilities of the extinction of species on Earth was a featured story on the New Scientist web site for March 30, 2006. The full story can be found at this site.
April 04, 2006
The
KU Commission on the Status of Women and the Emily Taylor Women’s
Resource Center sponsor an annual awards ceremony to recognize the outstanding
contributions and achievements of KU student, staff, faculty women and
alumnae. Congratulations to graduating senior, Hannah
Swift, majoring in astronomy, math, and physics. Hannah,
daughter of Thomas and Virginia Swift, is an Olathe South High School
graduate. She received the Sally Mason Award for Outstanding Woman in
the Sciences. A full press release may be found at
this
site.
March
22, 2006 Three
undergraduate KU nominees in math, science, and engineering were awarded
Goldwater Scholarships for 2006, including two majors within the Department
of Physics & Astronomy. Congratulations to Daniel
Hogan, majoring in Physics and Math, and Luis
Vargas, majoring in Astronomy, Physics, and Math. A
fourth KU nominee, Laura Stiles,
majoring in Engineering Physics, received honorable mention. Since 1993,
16 students within the Department of Physics & Astronomy have been
awarded Goldwaters. Since 2001, KU has had 18 Goldwaters, 10 of which
have been within Physics & Astronomy. Both numbers are tops in the
Big 12. Within Physics & Astronomy, the nearest competitor with
4 Goldwaters is the University of Colorado. The full university press
release is available at this
site.
March 12, 2006
February 24, 2006
Members of PESO, the student organization for majors in Engineering Physics, took part in the annual Engineering Expo 2006, demonstrating the charge one can get out of doing physics for fun and profit. More images of the excitement can be found at this site.
February 15, 2006
Tom
Laming (BS, Physics 1981), current President
of TrendStar Advisors, called on his extensive background in Physics,
Aeronautics,
and Economics to promote the value of understanding
Math and Physics in achieving success in a wide variety of endeavors,
but particularly investing. Tom present a talk entitled The
Role of Science in the History and Future of Investing to
over 100 students and faculty in Alderson Auditorium.
February 04, 2006
The
Department of Physics & Astronomy and the Astronomy Associates of
Lawrence sponsored a public lecture by Dr.
Alan Stern, PI of the NASA New Horizons Mission to Pluto
and the outer solar system, in Alderson Auditorium in honor of the Centennial
Anniversary of the birth of KU Alum, Clyde
Tombaugh, 
discoverer
of the planet, Pluto, in Feb. 1930. The lecture drew an enthusiastic
crowd of over 150 and was followed by a Star Party with 5 telescopes
set up by the hill beyond the Spencer Museum. A Lawrence Journal-World
report can be found at this
site while a report in the Oread can be found at this
site.
January 20, 2006
Nobel Laureate in Physics, 2004, Prof. Frank Wilczek of MIT presented a talk entitled The Universe is a Strange Place to a standing-room only crowd at the auditorium of the Spencer Museum of Art. After the lecture, Dr. Wilczek autographed copies of his book, co-authored with his wife, Betsy Devine, Longing for the Harmonies, which links music and science through common themes. A press release detailing Dr. Wilczek's visit may be found at this link.
December 07, 2005
Congratulations
to undergraduates Daniel Hogan,
Laura Stiles, and Luis
Vargas on their selection as nominees from KU to compete
in the Goldwater Scholarship Program.
KU is allowed to select 4 students each year from Math, the Natural
Sciences, and Engineering. The students are working with Profs. Dave
Besson, Michael Murray, and Barbara Anthony-Twarog, respectively.
