PRISMS Speaker Series

John Wilkin, Rutgers Professor of Marine and Costal Sciences, School of Environmental & Biological Sciences speaking visit with us on May 16, 2023 was a big hit! His presentation and the Q&A was engaging, informative, thought-provoking and enjoyable for all of us.

Professor Wilkin boosted our curiosity about the oceans, emphasized how important creative and analytical thinking, and critical element of empathy and respect is for the sustainability our planet. Professor Wilkin shared the messages of the importance of solid math and science skills, integration of technologies, disciplined focus and persistence, the excitement of discovery and effective communication in the work and teaching that he does. But as he told us, if you become really good at something meaningful and you love doing, you don't call it work, it's fun!

Professor Wilkin highlighted his major research interests: High-resolution regional modeling of the coastal ocean for applications related to coupled physical/ecosystem/bio-optical processes, including analysis and evaluation using satellite and in situ observations Real-time ocean forecast system development Applications of satellite radar altimetry in coastal regions Variational methods for assimilating coastal observing system data in models, and observing system design High resolution nested modeling of interactions between estuary, shelf sea and deep ocean circulation Estuary and coastal ocean carbon and nitrogen cycling Coastal ocean air-sea interaction, waves, and sediment transport

PRISMS students gathered in the Main Hall and Ballroom of Albemarle to meet Dr. Steven Goldfarb and take a virtual tour of the ATLAS particle detector at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. With the collider running experiments, students visited the control room and learned about CERN's central role in high-energy particle physics and breakthrough discoveries that have changed our understanding of the universe. Students asked questions about data processing, how experiments are proposed and developed, and how they might someday do research at CERN. A central theme of Dr. Goldfarb's remarks was collaboration and communication. Physicists, politicians, and research organizations all over the world must work together and share knowledge effectively to keep CERN up and running. He also made a strong case for wondering at the world by highlighting just how much we still don't know about how the universe works. Finally, as the on-site coordinator of the Summer Research program for undergraduates at CERN, Dr. Goldfarb invited PRISMS students to think about how they might someday join a team that is unlocking the mysteries of the universe 100 meters below the French-Swiss border.

Dr. Goldfarb is a physicist from the University of Melbourne, working on the ATLAS Experiment at CERN. He is webmaster for the ATLAS public web pages, chair of the International Particle Physics Outreach Group, and an advisory board member for Quarknet. In his spare time, Steve fronts the Canettes Blues Band, the group behind the ATLAS Boogie.

Senator Andrew Zwicker talked to the PRISMS community on March 2. He shared with the students,faculty and staff his experience as a scientist, researcher, and answered a lot of questions they had about physics, life, and current events.

Senator Zwicker is a scientist and teacher, a husband and father, whose career is devoted to finding solutions to difficult problems through consensus and common-sense. He was elected to the New Jersey Assembly in 2015, the first Democrat ever to win in the 16th District. He was elected to the New Jersey Senate in 2021.

A lifelong New Jersey resident, Senator Zwicker is head of Communications and Public Outreach at Princeton University's Plasma Physics Laboratory, a world leader in developing an advanced form of energy. At the Lab, he has worked with hundreds of teachers and students, helping to inspire a new generation of scientists and researchers with the promise of technology that serves society's needs. Senator Zwicker has been a faculty advisor for Princeton University freshmen and sophomores and an academic-athletic fellow for the women's soccer team. He taught classes in bioethics and writing, and led plasma physics workshops for college faculty, undergraduate students and advanced high school students. The American Association of Physics Teachers named him as one of the 75 leading contributors to physics education in the US.

Senator Zwicker was raised in Englewood, NJ where he graduated from Dwight Morrow High School. His love of learning and passion for science came from his mother, a public school English teacher, and father, a chemical engineer. Senator Zwicker earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Bard College and a master's and Ph.D. in physics from Johns Hopkins University. Senator Zwicker and his wife Barbara, an elementary school educator in Hillsborough, live in Kingston, where they raised three children.

Mr. Russell Feder shared with the PRISMS community his experience as a mechanical engineer and project manager, the importance of risk taking and the benefits of having a growth mindset.

Mr. Feder is the Chief Mechanical Engineer for the sPHENIX detector project at Brookhaven National Lab and a staff supervisor within the Physics Department sPHENIX division. Before joining BNL in April 2019 Mr. Feder worked at Princeton Plasma Physics Lab for 19 years as a project manager, engineering manager, and mechanical design engineer. While at PPPL he worked on the TFTR decommissioning project, diagnostic systems, and project management for NSTX-U and led the US ITER diagnostics engineering team.

Dr. Goldfarb from CERN, the European Council for Nuclear Research, spoke with PRISMS students and faculty and took us on a virtual tour of ATLAS, one of two general-purpose detectors at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest and most powerful accelerator. It investigates a wide range of physics, from the search for the Higgs boson to extra dimensions and particles that could make up dark matter. At 46 m long, 25 m high and 25 m wide, the 7,000-tonne ATLAS detector is the largest volume particle detector ever constructed. It sits in a cavern 100 m below ground near the main CERN site, close to the village of Meyrin in Switzerland. (from link)

Dr. Goldfarb is a physicist from the University of Melbourne, working on the ATLAS Experiment at CERN. He is webmaster for the ATLAS public web pages, chair of the International Particle Physics Outreach Group, on-site coordinator of the REU Summer Student and Research Semester Abroad programs for American undergraduates at CERN, and advisory board member for Quarknet. In his spare time, Steve fronts the Canettes Blues Band, the group behind the ATLAS Boogie.