engineering

Physicists win prestigious Sloan Fellowships

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 21:18:43 +0000

Physicists win prestigious Sloan Fellowships Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 02/22/2023 - 14:18

Orit Peleg and Shuo Sun are among 125 early-career scholars who represent ‘the most promising scientific researchers working today’

Two University of Colorado Boulder physicists have been named Sloan Research Fellows, the organization announced last week.

Orit Peleg, assistant professor of physics and computer science, and Shuo Sun, assistant professor of physics, are among 125 early-career scholars who represent “the most promising scientific researchers working today,” the Sloan Foundation said.

Winners receive $75,000, which may be spent over a two-year term on any expense supporting their research.

Sloan Research Fellows are shining examples of innovative and impactful research ... We are thrilled to support their groundbreaking work, and we look forward to following their continued success."

"Sloan Research Fellows are shining examples of innovative and impactful research,” said Adam F. Falk, president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “We are thrilled to support their groundbreaking work, and we look forward to following their continued success."

A Sloan Research Fellowship is a particularly notable recognition for young researchers, in part because so many past fellows have gone on to become “towering figures in science,” the foundation said.

Peleg’s research strives to understanding how biological communication signals are generated and interpreted, and it does so by merging tools from physics, biology, engineering and computer science. Her research has yielded insight into the behavior of bees and fireflies, which are seen at the top of the page.

Orit Peleg seeks to understand the behavior of disordered living systems by merging tools from physics, biology, engineering, and computer science.

Peleg said she was grateful that her research, which she is “deeply passionate about,” resonates with others in the field. “I owe a great debt of gratitude to my supportive colleagues, mentors, and mentees who have guided me throughout my journey,” she said.

“With the awarded funding, I aim to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamics of collective communication signals in nature across an increasing array of model species. This area is enormously rich, full of exciting and confounding questions, with a range as expansive as the diversity of life.”

Peleg joined the CU Boulder faculty in 2018. She earned a PhD in materials science in 2012 from ETH Zürich, Switzerland, and holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in physics and computer science from Bar–Ilan University, Israel.

Sun’s research explores light-matter interactions at the fundamental quantum limit, where single atoms can strongly interact with single photons. This is done by designing and fabricating nanophotonic structures that confine photons at an extremely small volume, which are then coupled to solid-state artificial atoms such as quantum dots and atomic defect centers.

Sun joined the CU Boulder faculty in 2019 as a visiting assistant professor of physics and has been an assistant professor of physics since 2020. He is also an associate fellow in JILA, a physical science research institute at CU Boulder. He holds a PhD and MS in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a BS in optics from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China.

This year’s fellows come from 54 institutions across the United States and Canada.

Shuo Sun is an assistant professor of Physics and an associate fellow of JILA.

Renowned physicists Richard Feynman and Murray Gell-Mann were Sloan Research Fellows, as was mathematician John Nash, one of the fathers of modern game theory. Some 56 fellows have received a Nobel Prize in their respective field, 17 have won the Fields Medal in mathematics, and 22 have won the John Bates Clark Medal in economics, including every winner since 2007.

Open to scholars in seven scientific and technical fields—chemistry, computer science, Earth system science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience and physics—Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded in close coordination with the scientific community. Candidates must be nominated by their fellow scientists. Winners are selected by independent panels of senior scholars on the basis of candidates’ research accomplishments, creativity and potential to become a leader in their field.

Peleg and Sun bring the total number of Sloan Fellows recognized at CU Boulder to 65 since 1961. They raise the number of CU Boulder Sloan Fellows in physics to 24.

More than 1,000 researchers are nominated each year for 125 fellowship slots. A full list of the 2023 Fellows cohort is available at https://sloan.org/fellowships/2023-Fellows.

Orit Peleg and Shuo Sun are among 125 early-career scholars who represent ‘the most promising scientific researchers working today.’

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Hip-hop dance class lets engineering students turn tables

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 23:39:01 +0000

Hip-hop dance class lets engineering students turn tables Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/12/2019 - 16:39

Kenna Bruner

‘Learning hip-hop can give engineering students an opportunity to get out of the lab and use a different part of their brain,’ instructor says

�鶹��Ժ in the College of Engineering and Applied Science looking for a fun way to take a break from math and science have a new opportunity: Hip-hop.

Engineering students can now enroll in a new hop-hop class being offered by the CU Boulder Theatre and Dance department where they can learn hip-hop dance moves and get in shape while earning two hours of humanities & sciences credit.

Larry Southall, right, gives pointers to a hip-hop class. At the top of the page, some of his students puts his lessons literally into action. CU Boulder photos by Patrick Campbell.

Rhonda Hoenigman, senior instructor in computer science and an associate dean in engineering, and Larry Southall, instructor of dance, developed the hip-hop technique course, which is a special section of an existing course. Other sections will be taught next semester that aren’t restricted to engineering students.

The class starts in the spring 2020 semester. The instructors created the class exclusively for engineers to make hip-hop dancing a less intimidating experience. Engineering students won’t be dancing next to dance majors and will have the opportunity to interact with other engineering students in a different context.

“The idea for this class started because I took a hip-hop class as a faculty member,” Hoenigman said. “I have no dance experience, but I saw the class as great exercise and a way to try something that was completely unfamiliar to me. Learning hip-hop can give engineering students an opportunity to get out of the lab and use a different part of their brain.”

This is the second hip-hop class for Kevin Yang, a senior in computer science. Last semester he had some open slots in his schedule and looked around for a new class.

“This class is unique,” Yang said. “It’s a lot different from an engineering class. Collaboration with other students is strongly encouraged. It’s a fun way to meet people. I feel a sense of closeness to my classmates where I don’t necessarily feel that in a traditional class. Other people in class might be able to see the moves one or two times and get it. I go home and have to think about how (Southall) did that move. You have to put in the time, but I find it rewarding.”

Southall was born in the Bronx borough of New York. He has an MFA in dance from CU Boulder and is on the dance faculty. He teaches traditional hip-hop, different styles such as locking, popping, b-boying, b-girling, hip-hop party dance, and its history and multifaceted culture.

In addition to learning the dance, in his class students also learn about hip-hop’s origins, evolution, and the social, economic and political environment where it began.

“When we talk about hip-hop here, it’s different from what you see on TV,” Southall said, addressing students. “That’s rap culture. Rap is something you do. Hip-hop is something you live and breathe. I’m asking you to use the other part of your brain to stimulate and grow and make yourself stronger.”

Hip-hop emerged in the economically depressed South Bronx section of New York City in the late 1960s and early ’70s, as a response to dramatic socio-economic changes. When the white, middle-class population moved out of the area and into the suburbs in the 1950s and ’60s, the remaining population was primarily black and Hispanic.

Learning hip-hop can give engineering students an opportunity to get out of the lab and use a different part of their brain.”

The construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway that runs through minority neighborhoods devastated the inner-city areas in its path from 1948 to 1963. In the late ’60s and ’70s, an arson epidemic swept through the Bronx, leaving burned out buildings in its wake.

Urban decay, rising crime and poverty spurred young people in the South Bronx to look for creative ways to express themselves through art, music and dance as a way to find wellness for themselves.

“Hip-hop came out of the South Bronx with people trying to get out of gangs and avoid that violent lifestyle,” Southall said.

“There were no social services; Mother Teresa came to visit the children. So, people at that time wanted something to keep themselves from falling through the cracks. Hip-hop was it. I want students to understand the difference between what you see commercialized and commodified versus real hip-hop culture. Within that context, I teach the culture of the dance. I tell my students it’s OK to come in and struggle, because hip-hop is hard, but you will get there. �鶹��Ժ coming in think we’re just going to dance, but no, they’re going to learn where it started, who started it and why we do this.”

For more information, contact Rhonda.Hoenigman@colorado.edu or Erika.Randall@colorado.edu. To enroll, contact Stacy.Norwood@colorado.edu.

‘Learning hip-hop can give engineering students an opportunity to get out of the lab and use a different part of their brain,’ instructor says.

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Applied math students are winning big

Anonymous — Tue, 07 May 2019 17:32:51 +0000

Applied math students are winning big Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/07/2019 - 11:32

James McCurdy

With math-contest results, graduate fellowship awards and a boost in rankings, the department celebrates a 'culture of excellence'

�鶹��Ժ of applied mathematics at the University of Colorado Boulder have been raking in honors and awards lately, and the department itself is celebrating .

Most recently, three CU Boulder teams of undergraduate students won the highest honors in an international mathematical modeling contest. Also this year, five graduate students won prestigious fellowships, and the department’s U.S. News and World Report ranking rose to 14th among its peers nationally.

One faculty member says the good news reflects “the culture of excellence across the entire unit, from the students to the faculty and staff.”

Math Modeling Contest

One of the winning mathematical-modeling teams: From left to right: Andrew Jeseritz, Vladimir Zhdanov, Scott Marin. Photos by Lynda Hoag.

Each year, the department sponsors undergraduate teams in the international Mathematical Contest in Modeling. This contest involves 99 hours of intensive mathematical modeling, which is the process of using visual mathematical aids like graphs, scatterplots, diagrams, equations, to represent real-world situations. Contestants then create a complete report of the assignment.

This year, the department organized and coached 12 teams comprising 35 students from applied math and engineering. Of those teams, three earned the distinction of “outstanding” of the 36 teams that won, and the 25,370 that competed.

The “outstanding” teams all built a mathematical model using data from the National Forensic Data Laboratory Information System that tackled the problem of the opioid epidemic, including future severity and to determine where the epidemic may have originated. Teams were then asked to combine insights and results of their data analysis to suggest effective strategies for combatting this epidemic while using their models to test these strategies.

In total, CU Boulder has won more outstanding designations in this competition than any other university in the world, said Anne Dougherty, senior instructor and CU teaching professor.

Another winning mathematical-modeling team: From left to right: Brendan Palmer, David Stearns, Aparajithan Venkateswaran. Courtesy photo.

This is a testament to our excellent students and exceptionally strong undergraduate programs,” she added.

Graduate Fellowships

Recently, five graduate students in applied mathematics won the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship. This program supports outstanding graduate students who show promise in their field of study. The criteria for selection are based on intellectual merit—the potential of the student to advance knowledge—and broader impacts—the potential of the student’s work to benefit society and create a broad, positive outcome.

Graduate students in the applied mathematics department were awarded five of the 34 awarded fellowships across all subfields in applied mathematics, garnering 15 percent of all fellowships for the university. The department significantly outperformed prestigious peer institutions such as MIT, NYU, Brown and Cal Tech who all received two fellowships.

The third "outstanding" mathematical-modeling team: From left to right: Ellen Considine, Suyog Soti, Emily Webb. Photos by Lynda Hoag.

“This fits in with a culture of excellence that we are continuing to develop and have a track record in,” said Mark Hoefer, the applied mathematics graduate program chair. “But this was a big spike, and I'm just so proud of the students and the program for all of this happening now.”

Additionally, an international applied mathematics grad student, though ineligible for the NSF fellowship, was awarded an American Association of University Women doctoral fellowship, bringing the total to six fellowship awards for applied mathematics graduate students.

Top Rankings

And the department has recently celebrated its recent U.S. News and World Report ranking as 14th in the nation for applied math graduate programs—the only CU Boulder program to move up in ranking into the top 15 this year.

Hoefer attributed these departmental kudos to the drive of the students and to the support of the faculty.

“We're on the move up, and all of this is something that we aim to continue to build upon. I would say it’s a reflection of the culture of excellence across the entire unit, from the students to the faculty and staff.”

�鶹��Ժ of applied mathematics at the University of Colorado Boulder have been raking in honors and awards lately, and the department itself is celebrating .

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