News

Friday, Jan. 27 | 3 p.m. | Hagen 325

Thousands of planetary systems outside our own have been discovered. Most of these exoplanets discovered to date are much larger than the Earth, but the goal is to eventually identify Earth-like planets orbiting others stars. Dr. Heather Cegla will discuss some of the complications in trying to separate information about the star and planet in such a system. Dr. Cegla graduated from MSUM in 2010, obtained her Ph.D. from Queen’s University Belfast in 2013, and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Queen’s University Belfast at the University of Geneva.

Friday, Jan. 13 | 3 p.m. | HA 325  Read the rest of this entry →

Friday, Nov. 18 | 3 p.m. | HA 325

The MSUM Physics and Astronomy Seminar Series Presents: Senior Project Presentations on Friday, Nov. 18 at 3 p.m. in Hagen 325.  Read the rest of this entry →

Juan Cabanela, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, was interviewed by Ashley Bishop of KVLY News for their main story on a fireball that was spotted over Western Minnesota by hundreds of their viewers Sunday Night. He clarified that a fireball like this is just a larger than normal meteor striking the atmosphere.  Read the rest of this entry →

Friday, Nov. 4 | 3 p.m. | Hagen 325

The MSUM Physics & Astronomy Series Presents: Research Opportunities in Physics.

Faculty in the Department of Physics and Astronomy will discuss research opportunities in the department for the spring semester.

For the first time, MSUM students presented at the Great Lakes Planetarium Society held in Flint, Mich., last week. Dana Koczur and Anthony Woltman from the Department of Physics and Astronomy were the first students to attend the annual conference and present on the research they completed over the summer under a Strong Endowment grant.  Read the rest of this entry →

Friday, Oct. 21 | 3 p.m. | Hagen 325  Read the rest of this entry →

Friday, Oct. 14 | 3 p.m. | Hagen 104

Strong Summer Research Scholars will be recognized at a symposium on Friday, Oct. 14 at 3 p.m. in Hagen 104. Student Researchers and faculty mentors will be honored. Posters highlighting their summer research projects will be displayed.  Read the rest of this entry →

Physics and Astronomy professor Dr. Juan Cabanela was recently recognized by the American Astronomical Society (AAS). Dr. Cabanela received an award of thanks and recognition for the creation and sharing of the “Contacting the Congress” website for more than two decades.  Read the rest of this entry →

Friday, Sept. 30 | 3-3:50 p.m. | Hagen 325

Join us as Tyler Lane, class of 2014, summarizes his internships at NASA and explains the application process. He will focus on what he did, and what you can do, to prepare to be a strong candidate for those internships. Extra time will be set aside for questions and answers at the end.

Friday, Sept. 23 | 3-3:50 p.m. | Planetarium (BR 167) Read the rest of this entry →

Friday, Sept. 9 | 3-3:50 p.m. | Hagen 325  Read the rest of this entry →

Friday, Sept. 2 | 3-3:50 p.m. | Hagen 325 
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Saturday, Aug. 27 | 7:30 p.m. | Regional Science Center  Read the rest of this entry →

Tim Abate ’15 (physics), who is will be starting his Ph.D. at Stanford University this fall, won a prestigious competition this summer. He was at Los Alamos National Labs doing a summer internship in materials science. Abate won their poster competition in the category of materials science. There were a total of 500 entries across all categories of the competition.  Read the rest of this entry →

Steve Lindaas, Physics and Astronomy, attended the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) summer conference last week. He presented a workshop, “Demo Kit in a Box: Mechanics,” gave an invited talk, “Deepening Understanding by Implementing (Simple) Systems Modeling,” contributed a talk, “Adding Arduinos to a traditional Analog Electronics course,” to the “Ardiuno, Teensy, FPGA’s et al.” session and participated in the annual Demo Show. Read the rest of this entry →

On Monday morning, thanks to the efforts of the Department of Physics and Astronomy and several members of the FM Astronomy Club, members of the MSUM community moving to and fro between finals got to witness the rare sight of the planet Mercury passing between Earth and the Sun.  Read the rest of this entry →

On Monday between 6:12 a.m. and 1:42 p.m., Mercury will pass between us and the Sun for the first time in almost 10 years in what astronomers call a “transit of Mercury.” Assuming clear skies, the MSUM Department of Physics and Astronomy will have solar telescopes out in front of Hagen Hall from about 9 a.m. onward to allow you to safely view this rare celestial event. Come on by between your exams to view the transit. This is your last chance to view a transit until November 11, 2019 (and after that, no chance to view it from Minnesota until May 2049)!

MSUM Couple Continues Education at Stanford University

By Danielle Rebel

It took traveling nearly 7,700 miles from Ethiopia to Minnesota for Iwnetim (Tim) Abate, 2015 (Physics), and Loza Tadesse, 2016 (Chemistry), to meet. Read the rest of this entry →

A finalist for Interim Dean of the College of Science, Health, and the Environment will hold an open forum today.

Dr. Steve Lindaas is Professor of Physics and Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Minnesota State University Moorhead. He has been at MSUM since 2001. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from State University of New York at Stony Brook. Dr. Lindaas is Director of the Learning Assistant Program and was Director of the Sustainability program from 2012 to 2015. He has taught at the University of North Dakota and worked for the Dakota Science Center and Grand Forks Public School District. . His open forum is from 11:00 to 12:00 in CMU 203.