Vanderbilt University Logo
Skip to main content

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Colloquium Series

Colloquia are held on Thursday afternoons at 4:10pm in Stevenson Center 4327 (please see location/time exceptions below under “notes” for “Special Seminars” in February.)

Spring 2025

Fall 2024

Past Colloquium

Date Speaker Affiliation Colloquium Title Notes
Jan 9 Ryota Sakamoto Yale University Engineering Life from the Bottom-Up: Chemo-Mechanical Interplay in Cell Migration & Division MRB III 1220 at 4:00pm
Jan 16 Benjamin Donovan National Cancer Institute Real-Time Visualization of Spliceosome Assembly Reveals Basic Principles of Splice Site Selection MRB III 1220 at 4:00pm
Jan 23 Fabian Voight Harvard University Expanding the Bag of Optical Tricks for Neuroscience MRB III 1220 at 4:00pm
Jan 27 Jung-Shen Tai Yale University Special Colloquium Heterogeneity in bacterial biofilms: Pattern formation, adaptive fitness, and social evolution MRB III 1220 at 4:00pm
Jan 30 Eva Karasmanis University of California San Diego   MRB III 1220 at 4:00pm
Feb 6 Souvik Biswas Stanford University Programming Quantum Materials for Next-Gen Photonics Host: K Varga
Feb 10 Leah Weiss University of Chicago Special Colloquium
Engineering Interactions between Spins and Light with Molecular Qubits		 SC 4327 at 3:10pm
Feb 13 Haoning Tang Harvard University
Twisting Light with Nanomachines		 SC 4327 at 4:10pm
Feb 17 Mengke Liu Harvard University Special Colloquium
Quantum Materials with Reduced Dimensionality		 SC 4327 at 3:10pm
Feb 24 Matthew Day Columbia University Special Colloquium
Optical Control over Topology in Quantum Materials		 SC 4237 at 3:10pm
Feb 27 Maura McLaughlin West Virginia University Slack Lecture
Pulsar Timing Arrays: A New Window on the Gravitational Wave Universe		 SC 4237 at 4:10pm
Host: S Taylor
Mar 6 Priya Vashishta University of Southern California Deep Learning and Quantum Materials Dynamics Host: S Pantelides
Mar 20 Lyra Cao Vanderbilt University The Role of Magnetic Starspots in Modern Stellar Astrophysics
Mar 27 Rebecca Surman University of Notre Dame The Nuclear Physics of Multimessenger Astrophysics Host: J Velkovska
Apr 10 Wiliam Bialek   Princeton University  Physics (and a Little Chemistry) for Maggots Host: J Velkovska
Apr 17 Nadia Drake Freelance science journalist Forman Lecture
From Observations to Headlines: The Role of Science Journalism in Sharing Discoveries		 Host: S Taylor
Date Speaker Affiliation Colloquium Title Notes
Aug 29 Max Bi Northeastern University Decoding The Origins of Fluidity in Multicellular Systems Host: S Hutson
Sept 5 Nico Yunes University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Uncovering extreme matter when gravity waves Host: A Lupsasca
Sept 12 John Lajoie Oak Ridge National Laboratory The Electron Ion Collider: A Unique New Microscope for Matter Host: J Velkovska
Sept 19 Peter Galison Harvard University Visualizing Space/Time/Matter: Physics, Film, History Host: A Lupsasca
Sept 26 Smadar Naoz University of California, Los Angeles It's Raining Black Holes...Hallelujah! Host: S Taylor
Oct 3 Eliot Quataert Princeton University Inward Bound: Horizon-Scale Modeling of Black Holes Host: A Lupsasca
Oct 17 Berndt Mueller Duke University The search for the quark-gluon plasma - How successful was it? Host: J-F Paquet
Oct 24 Renata Wentzcovitch Columbia University Spin crossover in iron in mantle minerals Host: S Pantelides
Oct 31 Charles (Chuck) Black Brookhaven National Laboratory Me and My Research Host: S Hutson
Nov 7 Ilias Perakis University of Alabama at Birmingham Quantum Tomography of Light-Controlled Superconductivity Hosts: R Haglund, S Pantelides
Nov 14 Benjamin Nachman University of California, Berkeley Phystatistics: The Rise of the Data Physicist Host: R Kunnawalkam Elayavalli
Nov 21 Kyle Godbey Michigan State University/Facility for Rare Isotope Beams Holladay Lecture
A New Era of Discovery in Low-Energy Nuclear Science		 Host: S Umar
Date Speaker Affiliation Colloquium Title Notes
11-Jan Kelly Chipps Oakridge National Labratory Nuclear Astrophysics in the Next Decade: Understanding the R Process Host: J Velkovska
25-Jan Pavel Kovtun University of Victoria Extreme fluids: From field theory to hydrodynamics and back    Host: J-F Paquet
1-Feb Bharat Ratra Kansas State Spatial Curvature, Dark Energy Dynamics, Neither, or Both Host: R Scherrer
8-Feb Clifford M Will University of Florida Francis G. Slack Lecture In Physics
The Renaissance of General Relativity		 Host: R Scherrer
15-Feb Jess Mclver University of British Colombia New discoveries with gravitational-wave astrophysics Hosts: S Taylor / K Jani
22-Feb Dale Kocevski Colby College Insights into Early SMBH Growth from JWST Hosts: S Taylor / K Jani
29-Feb Christine Aidala University of Michigan Spin-Momentum Correlations, Aharonov-Bohm, and Color Entanglement in Quantum Chromodynamics Host: R Kunnawalkam Elayavalli
7-Mar Paul Romatschke University of Colorado Boulder Life on an Endless Hill: Making Sense of Up-Side-Down Potentials in Quantum Mechanics and High Energy Physics Host: J-F Paquet
28-Mar Matt Strassler Harvard University Exploring The Foundations of our Quantum Cosmos Host: A Lupsasca
4-Apr Jesse Spencer-Smith Vanderbilt University Science and the Frontier of AI Host: S Taylor
11-Apr Jenny Greene Princeton University Stumbling over (red) accreting black holes with JWST Host: K Jani
18-Apr Julian Sonner University of Geneva The chaotic inner workings of quantum black holes Host: A Lupsasca
Date Speaker Affiliation Colloquium Title Notes
31-Aug John Jumper Google Deep Mind Technology Highly Accurate Protein Structure Prediction and Its Applications Host: S. Hutson
7-Sep Heinrich Paes TU-Dortmund The One - How an Ancient Idea Holds the Future of Physics Co-sponsored by VandyGRAF
Host: T. Kephart
14-Sep Stephen Taylor Vanderbilt University The Dawn of Galaxy-Scale Gravitational Wave Astronomy Host: A. Lupsasca
21-Sep Alex Maloney McGill University Quantum Information Theory, Black Holes, and Space-time Host: A. Lupsasca
28-Sep Roger Blandford Stanford University Jets, Disks and Winds from Spinning Black Holes: Nature or Nurture? Host: A. Lupsasca
5-Oct Szabolcs Marka Columbia University Why we do what we do, with passion? Synergies in Science from Cataclysmic Cosmic Explosions to a Better Earth Host: K. Jani
12-Oct David Kaiser MIT Secret Clocks: The U.S. Military, Einstein's Relativity, and the Global Positioning System Host: A. Lupsasca
26-Oct Vedika Khemani Stanford University Quantum Matter Out of Equilibrium Host: A. Lupsasca
2-Nov Karen Kasza Columbia University Stress management: cell packings and tissue flows in developing embryos Host: S. Hutson
14-Nov Carl Wieman Emeritus, Stanford University Foreman Lecture: Taking a scientific approach to science education Host: J. W16-ikswo
16-Nov Ken Regan   Fraught Issues in Detecting Chess Cheating Via a Statistical Model Host: R. Scherrer
30-Nov Sokrates Pantelides Vanderbilt University A journey on the nanoscale with a combination of theory and microscopy Host: S. Hutson
7-Dec Peter Steinberg Brookhaven National Laboratory Collisions with light at the LHC: photon-photon and photonuclear physics with ATLAS Host: J-F Paquet
Date Speaker Affiliation Colloquium title Notes
12-Jan Jorge Noronha U. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Relativistic Fluid Dynamics: From Particle Colliders to Neutron Star Mergers  Co-sponsored by VandyGRAF
Host: J.-F. Paquet
19-Jan Sam Gralla U. Arizona Alice's adventures with bombs, Bobs, and black holes Co-sponsored by VandyGRAF
Host: A. Lupsasca
26-Jan Kimberly Boddy U. Texas, Austin Opportunities for Dark Matter Searches in Cosmology Co-sponsored by VandyGRAF
Host: R. Scherrer
2-Feb Chris Monahan William & Mary Pictures of a proton: quarks, gluons and hadrons from first principles Co-sponsored by VandyGRAF
Host: R. Kunnawalkam Elayavalli
9-Feb Veronica Dexheimer Kent State University Exotic matter in neutron stars Co-sponsored by VandyGRAF
Host: J. Velkovska
23-Feb Duncan Lorimer West Virginia University Making Sense of the Census -- The Cosmological Population of Fast Radio Bursts Host: S. Hutson
2-Mar Bill Press U. Texas, Austin Science in the White House Co-sponsored by VandyGRAF
Host: R. Scherrer
9-Mar James Dent Sam Houston State University Gravitational Waves and Physics Beyond the Standard Model Co-sponsored by VandyGRAF
Host: T. Kephart
23-Mar Andrew Strominger Harvard University Black Holes: The Most Mysterious Objects in the Universe Co-sponsored by VandyGRAF
Host: A. Lupsasca
30-Mar Edgar Shaghoulian U. California, Santa Cruz Black holes, cosmology, and quantum entanglement Co-sponsored by VandyGRAF
Host: A. Lupsasca
6-Apr Travis Humble Oak Ridge National Lab Discovery and Innovation in Quantum Science and Technology Co-sponsored by Dept of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Host: S. Hutson
13-Apr Charles Gale McGill University Light from the little bang: Photons from strongly interacting matter under extreme conditions Co-sponsored by VandyGRAF
Host: J.-F. Paquet
20-Apr Mark Trodden U. Pennsylvania Gravity in the Age of Precision Cosmology  Co-sponsored by VandyGRAF
Host: R. Scherrer
27-Apr Frans Pretorius Princeton University Open Questions on the Dynamics of Black Holes Co-sponsored by VandyGRAF
Host: M. Disconzi

 

Date Speaker Affiliation Colloquium title Notes
01- Sept Ashok Goel Georgia Tech Using AI for Transforming Adult Learning and Online Education Guy and Rebecca Forman Lecture
Host: S. Hutson
15-Sept Josh Caldwell Vanderbilt University Strong Coupling and Extreme Anisotropy in Infrared Polaritonic Media Host:  N. Tolk
22-Sept Leo Stein University of Mississippi Gravitational waves from black hole mergers: The big picture and subtle details Host: A. Lupsasca
29-Sept Charles Gammie University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Portrait of a Black Hole Host: A. Lupsasca
Co-hosted by VandyGRAF
06-Oct Monica Pate New York University Celestial Holography Alice Clair Kimbler Hankla Lecture               
Hosts: S. Hutson and A. Lupsasca
20-Oct Shane Larson Northwestern University The Landscape of Multi-messenger Astronomy in the Lisa Era Host: S. Taylor
03-Nov Randy Knight California Polytechnic State University What do we know about the teaching and learning of physics? Host: S. Hutson
10-Nov Robert Pisarski Brookhaven National Laboratory Golden Ages in nuclear collisions: past, present, and future Co-hosted by VandyGRAF and the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
01-Dec Michael Johnson Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. For Astrophysics Black Hole Shadows and Photon Rings:  Experimental Relativity with Radio Interferometry Co-hosted by VandyGRAF and the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
08-Dec Ronald E. Mickens Clark Atlanta University 2022 Wendell G. Holladay Lecture in Physics:  Pitfalls, Perils, and Other Dangers for the Numerical Integration of Differential
Equations		 Host:  The Department of Physics and Astronomy
Date Speaker Affiliation Colloquium Title Notes
27-Jan Karan Jani Vanderbilt University Finding Black Holes That Should Not Exist: From Earth, Space and Moon Host: R. Scherrer
3-Feb Austin Baty Rice University Trillion Degree Matter: Probing the Emergence of the Quark-Gluon Plasma Host: J. Velkovska
10-Feb James Mulligan University of California, Berkelely The quark-gluon plasma: emergent behaviors of the strong nuclear force Host: J. Velkovska
17-Feb Jing Wang Massachusetts Institute of Technology Tasting the Hot Quark Soup with Heavy Quarks Host: J. Velkovska
21-Feb Raghav Kunnawalkam Elayavalli Yale University Unravelling the space-time evolution of quarks and gluons Host: J. Velkovska
24-Feb Yi Chen Massachusetts Institute of Technology Quarks, gluons, plasma, and exciting phenomena in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion colliders Host: J. Velkovska
3-Mar John W. Conklin University of Florida Gravity as an Observable: Tracking Climate Change and the Nature of our Universe Host: K. Holley-Bockelmann
24-Mar Joseph Hamilton Vanderbilt University 64 Years in Physics at Vanderbilt, The Road Less Traveled    Host: S. Hutson
31-Mar Mallory Molina Ford Postdoctoral Fellow at Montana State University The Origins and Growth of Black Holes    Hosts: J. Runnoe and S. Hutson
7-Apr Marina Kounkel Vanderbilt University Dynamical zoo of star formation    Host: S. Hutson
14-Apr Saul Teukolsky Cornell University Testing the No-Hair Theorem and the Area Theorem with LIGO    Host: R. Scherrer
21-Apr Leigh Orf Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Studies, University of Wisconsin Simulation and Visualization of the World's Most Powerful Thunderstorms Host: A. Dodson
28-Apr Josh Caldwell Vanderbilt University   Host: N. Tolk
Date Speaker Affiliation Colloquium Title Notes
9-Sep Karin Oberg Center for Astrophysics | Harvard-Smithsonian The Chemistry of Planet Formation Host: R. Sherrer
16-Sep Julia Kregenow Penn State University Guy and Rebecca Forman Lecture: Connecting with your Students: Meet them Where They Are Host: S.  Hutson
23-Sep William R. Holmes  Vanderbilt University Modeling intra-cellular insulin dynamics in pancreatic Beta cells Host: S. Hutson
30-Sep Katie Mack North Carolina State University Alice Clair Hankla Lecture: Dark Matter: A Cosmological Perspective Host: S. Hutson
7-Oct Alfredo Gurrola Vanderbilt University Unprecedented searches for new particles at the Large Hadron Collide Host: S. Hutson
14-Oct Zeljko Ivezic University of Washington The Greatest Movie of All Time Host: J. Runnoe
21-Oct Jorge Moreno Pomona College   Host: J. Runnoe
28-Oct Tanmay Vachaspati Arizona State University Is the Universe magnetized? Host: R. Sherrer
4-Nov Albert-Laszlo Barabási Northeastern University High Energy Physics and Cosmology Host: S. Hutson
11-Nov Lam Hui Columbia University High Energy Physics and Cosmology Host: R. Sherrer
18-Nov Ricardo Ruiz LBL   Host: R. Haglund
2-Dec Mike Brotherton University of Wyoming   Host: J. Runnoe
Date Speaker Affiliation Colloquium Title Notes
28-Jan Andreas Berlind Vanderbilt University Astrophysics and Data Science Host: S. Hutson
4-Feb Chung-Pei Ma University of California, Berkeley Supermassive Black Holes in Nearby Galaxies Host: S. Taylor
11-Feb Laurie E. McNeil University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill No less than success: Pedagogy and curriculum in thriving physics departments, Guy and Rebecca Forman Lecture Host: S. Hutson
18-Feb Neil Abernethy University of Washington Epidemic models of COVID-19: Uses and abuses during the pandemic Host: S. Hutson
25-Feb Kerri Phillips and Sylvie DeLaHunt Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory Breaking Down Barriers to Diversity and Inclusion in STEM Host: S. Starko
4-Mar Alpha A. Lee University of Cambridge, U.K. From soft matter to hypothesis testing: Using machine learning to discover hidden structures in molecules and materials Host:S. Hutson
11-Mar Yusuke Toyama Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore Mechanical wave propagation in a tissue upon cell death Host:S. Hutson
18-Mar Simon Elliot Wall Aarhus University, Denmark Lighting up Quantum Materials Host: R. Haglund
25-Mar Martin Rees Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University, U.K. Real and Counterfactual Universes, Francis G. Slack Lecture Host:S. Hutson
8-Apr TN Governor Phil Bredesen   Physics in the world of business and politics Host:S. Hutson
15-Apr Paul Lasky Monash University, Australia, and OzGrav Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery The future of gravitational-wave astronomy Host: S. Taylor
22-Apr Ole Molvig Vanderbilt University AI Einstein: experiments at the intersection of the humanities, science, and emergent technology Host: N. Tolk
29-Apr Reka Albert Pennsylvannia State University Network-based dynamic modeling of biological systems: toward understanding and control Hosts: K. Varga and S. Hutson
Date Speaker Affiliation Colloquium Title Notes
3-Sep M. Shane Hutson Vanderbilt, Professor and Chair, Department of Physics and Astronomy State of the Physics and Astronomy Department  
10-Sep Richard Haight IBM TJ Watson Research Center An Overview of Quantum Computing at IBM: IBM-Q from Fundamentals to Practice Host: L. Feldman
17-Sep Frank von Hippel Princeton University.  Co-Directory of Program on Science and Global Security Nuclear Threat Reduction Host: S. Hutson
24-Sep Jason Dexter JILA, University of Colorado, Boulder.   Imaging Black Holes: Beyond the shadow Host: J. Runnoe
8-Oct David Smith Vanderbilt University, Department of Radiology Alternative Pathways in Physics: My Journey from Astrophysics to Astrobiology to Medical Imaging and AI Host: J. Gore
15-Oct Joseph Simon University of Colorado, Boulder.  Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences Merging Galaxies and Supermassive Black Hole Binaries: Multi-Messenger Astrophysics with Pulsar Timing Arrays Host: S.T. Taylor
22-Oct Julie Hogan Bethel University CMS Prticle Flow: the LEGO tutorial and searches for new massive quark Hosts: S. Starko and R. Scherrer
29-Oct Aviva Rothman Department of History, Case Western University Johannes Kepler on Perspective and Harmony Host: R Haglund
5-Nov Dr. Jacklyn M. Gates Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Modern Day Alchemy: Making and Investigating the Heaviest Elements on Earth.  Alice Clair Hankla Lecture Host: J. Hamilton
3-Dec Alberto Sesana Dipartimento di Fisica G.Occhialini,Università di Milano, Bicocca, Italy Massive Black Hole Binaries in the era of Multimessenger Astronomy Host: S.T. Taylor
Date Speaker Affiliation Colloquium Title Notes
16-Jan Jessica Watkins Vanderbilt University, Dept. of Teaching and Learning, Peabody College Problematizing as a Scientific Endeavor: The Importance of Students Identifying, Articulating, and Motivating Problems Host: S. Hutson
23-Jan Juan Carlos Idrobo Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences Honey, I Shrunk the Synchrotron, and the Result is an Electron Microscope: Sensing Magnetic Ordering, Electric Fields and Isotopes at the Atomic and Nanometer Level Host: S. Pantelides
30-Jan Barry Barish Caltech Probing the Universe with Gravitational Waves, Francis G. Slack Lecture Host: S. Hutson
06-Feb Zina Cinker National Graphene Association From Hard Science to Next-Generation Tech: "The Graphene Story" Host: N. Tolk
10-Feb Michael Murrell Yale University Broken Time Reversal Symmetry and the Efficiency of Biological Machines Host: S. Hutson
13-Feb Tamara Bogdanovic Georgia Tech Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in the era of Multi-messenger Astrophysics Host: J. Runnoe
20-Feb Thomas Ullrich Brookhaven National Laboratory The Glue that Binds us - Probing Gluonic Matter with the World's First Electron-ion Collider Host: V. Greene
27-Feb Nina Balke Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences A Nanoscale View on Electromechanical Phenomena Host: S. Pantelides

 

Date Speaker Affiliation Colloquium Title Notes
29-Aug Carlos Silva Georgia Institute of Technology Exciton Polarons in Two-dimensional Organic-inorganic Hybrid Perovskites    Host: R. Haglund
12-Sep Scott Gaudi Ohio State University The Demographics of Exoplanets with WFIRST Host: R. Scherrer
19-Sep Gerald Gabrielse Trustees Professor and Director of the Center for Fundamental Physics at Northwestern University Tabletop Searches for New Physics: A Tale of Two Electron Dipole Moments, the Francis G. Slack Lecture Host: N. Tolk
23-Sep David Brin Astrophysicist and Novelist Our Place in the Cosmos and Is Anyone Out There Host: R. Scherrer
26-Sep Les Johnson NASA Perspectives at 50: Space Science and Exploration Past, Present, and Future Host: N. Tolk
17-Oct Calen Henderson IPAC-Caltech Exoplanet Demographics from Kepler to WFIRST, the Wendell Holladay Lecture Host: S. Jacklin
31-Oct Shriram Ramanathan Purdue University Quantum Materials for Brain and Biological Sciences Host: R. Haglund
7-Nov Prem Kumar Northwestern University Quantum Engineering: A Transdisciplinary Vision Host: S. Weiss
14-Nov Deborah Berebichez Independent data scientist, TV host, educator and entrepreneur Outrageous Acts of Thinking Host: S. Hutson
18-Nov Michael Tremmel Yale University Dynamic duos: Supermassive Black Hole Pairs in Galaxy Mergers Host: K. Holley-Bockelmann
21-Nov Andrew Mugler Purdue University Physics of Collective Cell Sensing Host: W. Holmes
5-Dec Thomas Weiler Vanderbilt University   Host: S. Hutson