Lars Bildsten
Photo credit: Mia Nie
The banner image is from our October 5, 2023 pre-picnic soccer match between the two programs that were in residence that day. The two tough 20-minute periods yielded a 6-3 victory for the “Quantum Materials With and Without Quasiparticles” program, which fielded a deep bench of players who were well coached by program coordinator Andrey Chubukov. A wonderful time for all, and, most importantly, no one was hurt!
All of our activities will continue apace, as we have received excellent news from the National Science Foundation that the grant which supports the programs, conferences and many of our staff at the KITP has been renewed! The five-year grant totaling $18.3 million represents an increase from our prior support. This is a testimony to the efforts of all here at the KITP to make this place so wonderfully unique. The anonymous peer reviews were a joy to read, and are evidence of the very strong support we have from the international physics community.
Fall represents the time of transitions for KITP's postdoctoral scholars. Here are the exciting destinations of the eight who have departed. Grant Remmen is now the James Arthur Postdoctoral Fellow in Cosmology & Particle Physics at New York University. Jennifer Barnes is a Senior Algorithm Engineer with 3M in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Chad Bustard is seeking an industry position in climate technology and data science. Many KITP postdocs have also accepted junior faculty positions across the country. Jong Yeon Lee will join the faculty at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Noah Mitchell is taking up a faculty position at University of Chicago in the spring of 2024, Ryan Thorngren is joining the faculty at UCLA, Meng-Xing Ye has joined the faculty at University of Utah, and Hang Yu just started his faculty position at Montana State University. We wish them all the best of luck!
Six new postdocs arrived this fall. Evan Anders is coming from Northwestern University and pursues astrophysics. In high energy physics, Misha Utasyuk comes from UC Berkeley and Brian Henning comes from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. In condensed matter physics, we have Yumi Bao and Tessa Cookmeyer from UC Berkeley. In gravitational physics, we have Tousif Islam from University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. All are actively engaged in KITP programs and our “Locals" gatherings, where we all learn from each other through talks and conversations.
The article on "Disorder lends robustness to the embryonic development of a tiny shrimp" highlights collaborative work underway between KITP and the faculty and graduate students of UCSB’s physics department. This is an important element of KITP’s success, as the physics department here is one of the most excellent in the world. In this case, KITP’s Deputy Director Mark Bowick played an important role in this exciting research on the physics of embryo development. State of the art microscopy imaging, sophisticated computational modeling and ideas from condensed matter physics were all essential ingredients in making this collaborative endeavor successful.
KITP is known for drawing scholars from many different fields. Recently, KITP's reputation for engaging lectures inspired new humanities research. In "Performing Science: Conducting Theater Research at KITP", UCSB Ph.D. graduate and theater studies scholar Cole Remmen shares his research of uncovering performance strategies within practices of science communication, informed by lectures he observed at KITP. He provides historical connections between science outreach and theater, as well as analyzes the function of performance within thought experiments.
We constantly work to bring art into our wonderful architectural spaces of Kohn Hall and the Munger Residence. In "Artist Profile: Joel Sansone", we tell the story of Joel Sansone, a local artist who generously provided a very large enamel piece for the Munger Residence. The story of how it was made is quite intriguing, as are the insights Joel provides about how he approaches his work.
We close in "Questions of the Universe - Support for KITP’s early-career scientists" with an article highlighting the impact of private philanthropy on the careers of early-career scientists during their time with us. As I noted at the beginning of this note, postdoctoral scholars are one group which thrives during their time with us. We also host visiting graduate students from around the world for an intense, collaborative, 6-month stay. KITP Graduate Fellows have gone on to excellent careers in academia and industry, and we thank all of our supporters who make these productive stays possible.
Please enjoy this Fall’s Newsletter and I look forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming events.
~ Lars Bildsten, KITP Director