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Physics Conference at City Tech Attracts Participants from 58 Universities, Research Labs and Businesses
From left, MIT Physics Professor Alan Guth and City Tech Physics Professor Roman Kezerashvili, who chaired the conference organizing committee.
Professor Alan Guth speaks on “Cosmic Inflation and Dark Energy” to a packed house at the conference’s public lecture.
Physics students examine the entries in the conference’s poster competition.
It was the largest gathering of scientific minds in New York City College of Technology’s 58-year history. On October 15 and 16, 2004, City Tech joined the ranks of other prestigious institutions such as Cornell, the State University of New York, Polytechnic University and the Rochester Institute of Technology to host the New York Section of the American Physical Society (APS) Conference, “Physics of the Microworld: From Quarks to Nanostructures,” which attracted some 200 participants from 58 universities, research labs and other public and private sector institutions.
The event featured speakers from Harvard, Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, Syracuse University, George Washington University, SUNY/Stony Brook, several campuses of The City Univeresity of New York, Argonne National Laboratory and several other institutions. Topics ranged from elementary particle physics to quantum dots and cosmology. All speakers were major experts in their respective fields. City Tech President Russell K. Hotzler and Provost Joann La Perla brought greetings on behalf of the College at the conference’s opening session.
A public lecture, “Cosmic Inflation and Dark Energy,” featured guest speaker and noted MIT Physics Professor Alan Guth. Professor Guth is the “father of inflation,” a revised model of the creation of the universe. In addition to numerous scientific papers, he is the author of several popular books on cosmology, including The Inflationary Universe: The Quest for a New Theory of Cosmic Origins and Alan Guth: A Golden Age of Cosmology, as well as recipient of the Peter Gruber Foundation’s 2004 Cosmology Prize.
The conference also featured exhibits by Pasco, the scientific apparatus company, publishers McGraw Hill and Prentice Hall, and the education company TeachSpin. The U.S. Army was also on hand to recruit nuclear physicists for a number of its medical-related research and other programs. The conference’s poster competition attracted 31 scientists and other entrants, the largest group ever to compete at an APS meeting. Undergraduate and graduate students who participated in the competition received special recognition and cash awards from APS.
The conference organizing committee was chaired by City Tech Physics Professor Roman Kezerashvili, who initiated or responded to more than 3,000 e-mails during the course of the lengthy planning process. The committee included physics faculty from several area universities as well as City Tech Professors Reginald Blake, Daria Bouadana, Vladimir Boyko, Lufeng Leng and Gregory Matloff. Students enrolled in CUNY-wide Physics I and II courses also aided conference planners by assisting with registration and conference promotion, and by setting up the poster session.
In addition to the American Physical Society, the Othmer Institute for Interdisciplinary Study at Polytechnic University, Yeshiva University and Prentice Hall provided funding and other material assistance for the conference. Pasco donated equipment to be used by City Tech’s special program for high school students.
For more information about conference proceedings and participants, visit 2004 APS Conference at City Tech. The site includes an extensive photo gallery reflecting every aspect of this important scientific gathering.
11/09/04
