Dear Physics Community,
I hope everyone had a good three-day weekend. Patriots Day always signals the start of the end of the term to me. This year, I ran the BAA 5K road race for the first time in 1,099 days, which I found disconcerting. Thousands of people, no real sign of COVID protocols, except while riding the T. We still have to think about new COVID variants – the Deer Island data shows a steady increase in wastewater rates. I doubt this will result in anything more that having to wear masks and perhaps change large gatherings, but we will live with this kind of contingency in our lives for a time.
The Physics Values Committee, PVC, has worked hard this year and produced a report for the Department about what good graduate advising looks like, with several recommendations for the Department, faculty, and students. This week, the PVC will finalize the report and it will circulate in the Department. I believe we can act on their recommendations for the Fall.
I reported in an earlier columns that the Department had requested funds in our FY2022 budget for programs to expand services. We solicated input from the Physics Community and the PVC priorized the list. We have received our budget letter that covers faculty and staff salaries and existing operations and been told more funds were coming. Rather than wait, we have started work on the Basic Service for departmental research computing and begun the hiring process for a new staff member tasked with supporting the Physics Community, with a focus on staff and DEI support. I’ve asked the PVC to make a prioritized list of the main responsibilities for a new staff member, with particular attention to supporting our staff.
Things seem to go well, but we remain very busy. Despite this, I want to continue the advising work, bolster the Basic Service plan, and get the job description for our new staff hire underway.
Welcome to Spring (the season, no the term),
Peter
Above the Fold
Physics
- Congratulations to Long Ju for winning the Outstanding Young Researcher Award (Macronix Prize)
- New W mass measurement from Christoph Paus’ CDF group here
- MIT welcomes two from the Heising-Simons Foundation 51 Pegasi b Fellowship for 2022, Drs. Eva Scheller and Malena Rice, here
Announcements
- Event: “Can We Talk? Difficult Conversations with Underrepresented People of Color: Sense of Belonging and Obstacles to STEM Fields.”, film and discussion, details here
- NSF graduate fellowships announcement here
- Professional and team development resources from HR – timely update here
- Commonwealth School seeking a physics teacher here
- NSF Early Career Award announcement
MIT’s New Paul and Daisy Soros Winners – Wenjie Gong