• NO Physics Table this week

    The weather definitely isn’t cooperating!  It’s only supposed to be 39 degrees by noon on Tuesday, so we’ll try again another week.

  • St. Olaf offerings

    Tuesday, April 19

    Physics Seminar: Physics WAPhLS (Women in Astronomy and Physics Lecture Series): Research Talk: Using ultracold atoms as optical clocks — and how understanding this can be used to answer cutting-edge questions on many-body phenomena and build the next generation of quantum technologies.
    Dr. Ana Maria Rey, JILA, NIST and the University of Colorado Boulder
    4:30 PM, Zoom Link

    Wednesday, April 20

    Physics Colloquium: Parametric Design and Computational Modeling for Complex Engineering Applications
    Emily Johnson ’16, University of Notre Dame
    3 PM, RNS 210 OR Zoom

  • Tea with Trenne: office hours for students

    Trenne will hold office hours on Wednesdays between 1 and 2 pm in Olin 217 (unless we need to move to a bigger space; we’ll see!).  Stop by for a cup of tea or hot chocolate.  You can ask questions, talk department things with a non-faculty department member, or just have a few minutes to breathe and relax.

  • PHYS 123 speaker: Marty Schwarz ’14

    The Physics Behind Clean Electricity Targets 

    100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035”, “net zero carbon by 2070”, “500 gigawatts of new renewable energy by 2030”. Phrases like these have become ubiquitous in political speeches, environmental protests, and international treaties alike. Aggressive clean electricity targets are of utmost importance, and well established renewable energy generation technologies like wind and solar photovoltaics are already cheaper than traditional fossil fuel plants on a levelized cost of energy basis. However, the targets represent paradigm-shifting infrastructure changes that must be carefully engineered to avoid destabilizing the electrical grid. At the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, I help pave the way for this by modeling future electrical grids with high levels of renewable energy generation. The study of renewables “grid integration” depends on two classes of optimization models: capacity expansion and production cost modeling. The former determines the cheapest build-out of the future electric system, and the latter finds the cheapest operation of said system. In this talk I will focus on the math and physics behind production cost modeling, and how it is fundamental to both power systems research and grid operation today. Come put your linear algebra skills to the test!

  • Texas Instruments is hiring!

    Full-Time Job Opportunities

    • During the next 5-10 years, TI expects to fill 600+ full-time U.S. roles annually just in our Technology & Manufacturing Group (TMG), primarily to support growth in our new 300mm wafer fabs
    • Salaried/exempt opportunities include new or recent college graduate positions and roles for individuals with relevant industry experience in technical or managerial tracks
    • Technician opportunities include new or recent college graduate positions and roles for individuals with semiconductor industry experience or relevant experience in adjacent industries
    • Find and apply for jobs

  • Phun Physics Phacts

    This Week in Physics Magazine, April 18, 2022 Observing the Cosmic Dawn with Hydrogen Deuteride Researchers have developed a new approach that could make it easier to watch the birth…

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