Dear Physics Communiy,
This is the last message of 2020. The first was March 13 and there have been 108 since then. Seems like forever. We have some time now without the frantic pace of the term.
Speaking of forever, Tavneet and I handed in our reports — Tavneet’s to the Chair of the Faculty and mine to the Provost. We started Oct. 15, 2019 and worked through the pandemic because we thought it was important. We still do and I believe the Administration will act on our recommendations in January.
I’ve been watching the COVID-19 measurements in the waste water at Deer Island — went up, was going down until Thanksgiving, then up, now going down again. Maybe it stick this time.
Many will celebrate the end of 2020 by burning their calendars or with dumpster fires of 2020 memorabilia. I saw a lot of good in 2020 — our students that worked as mentors and tutors, staff that, after taking care of their normal work plus the extra COVID-19 work, to the faculty that held courses, research groups, and advisees together. All of us had families and friends remotes from us that we had to find new ways to care for and love. And we all had to take care of ourselves. This is what I hope I remember.
Peter
Above the Fold
Announcements
- Announcement of DOE Diversity Program here
- Announcement of DOE Quantum Information Science funds here
- Jack Steinberger, physicist and alum, dies at 99. His daughter, Julia, is also a physics alum
- JWEL grants call for proposals here
Physics
- New quantum thermo-electric cooler from Liang
- LIDAR on a chip, started in Marin’s group
- New history of the Milky Way from Quanta
- AMO results: quantum magnetic behavior from Wolfgang and a new atomic clock from Vladan