I recently returned from a refreshing and productive leave at the University of Oregon in Eugene. I received my own Ph D in the field of quantum optics at Oregon, and my leave was a great opportunity to continue work with prior colleagues. However, I am excited to be back and interacting daily with Wooster students again!
Five Wooster alumni are currently enrolled in U of Oregon’s Physics Ph D program. This summer I managed to gather four of these physicists together in one place–one of my favorite old haunts from my graduate school days, McMenamins Cafe.
Pictured here from left to right are Deepika Sundaraman ’14, myself, Tzula Propp ’15, Nicu Istrate ’15, and Andrew Blaikie ’13. Not present–but with us in spirit–is Amanda Steinhebel, who had recently left Oregon to spend a year on site at the world’s largest particle accelerator (the Large Hadron Collider) at CERN in Switzerland. All attendees (plus Amanda) received this year’s Wooster physics club t-shirt!
Later in the summer, I attended a the fall conference of the Oregon Center for Optical, Molecular, and Quantum Science, where Andrew Blaikie ’13 presented his fascinating research on a nanoscale device employing graphene to make extremely sensitive measurements (see Andrew in action below).
As for the research I worked on in Oregon while on leave–that is a different blog post for a different day!