Colloquia and Seminars 2014-15
Colloquia talks are held weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year (September through to April) in the Bob Wright lecture theatre A104 at 3:30 pm (unless otherwise stated). They are geared at a general audience—faculty, staff, students and interested members of the general public are welcome.
Seminar talks are more specialized and are geared for those in a particular field. Dates and times for these talks vary.
Colloquia and seminar listings from previous academic years are listed in our archive.
PAST COLLOQUIA
Wednesday, April 1
Dr. Locke Spencer, University of Lethbridge, Department of Physics and Astronomy
"The Far-Infrared Universe: From star formation to the cosmic microwave background"
Tuesday, March 31
3:00 p.m. / Elliott Building, Room 162
Dr. Ramin Abolfath, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University
"Towards First Principle Modeling of Biological Responses of Ionizing Radiation"
Friday, March 27
3:00 p.m. / Engineering Computer Science Building, Room 116
Dr. Isaac Li, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Physics
"Single-molecule biophysics in live cells: seeing molecular adhesion force"
Wednesday, March 25
Dr. Paul Schechter, MIT, Department of Physics
"A calibration of the stellar-mass fundamental plane at <z> = 0.5 using the micro-lensing induced flux ratio anomalies of macro-lensed quasars"
Tuesday, March 24
3:00 p.m. / Elliott Building, Room 162
Dr. Devika Chithrani, Ryerson University, Department of Physics
"Optimization of Bio-Nano Interface Using Gold Nanostructures as a Model Nanoparticle System"
Wednesday, March 18
Dr. Pascal Audet, University of Ottawa, Department of Earth Sciences
"Structural Controls on Subduction Zone Slow Earthquakes"
Wednesday, March 11
Dr. Hassan Jawahery, University of Maryland, Department of Physics
"A Window into New Physics via Heavy Quarks"
Wednesday, March 4
Dr. Scott Chapman, Dalhousie University, Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science
"Studying the Epoch of Inflation with the Cosmic Microwave Background: Lithographic Fabrication of Cold, Superconducting Electronics for Use in the Polarbear-2 and SPT-3G Experiments"
Wednesday, February 25
Dr. Douglas Arion, Carthage College, Department of Physics and Astronomy
What Your Mother … er … Advisor Never Told You: The Other Things We Need to Learn (and Teach)"
Wednesday, February 18
Dr. Luis Gregorio Dias Da Silva, University of São Paulo, Department of Physics and Mechanics of Materials
"More is Different: Many-Body Physics at the Nanoscale"
Wednesday, February 4
Dr. Clifford Will, University of Florida, Department of Physics
"Was Einstein Right? A Centennial Assessment"
Wednesday, January 28
Dr. Ian Putnam, University of Victoria, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
"Some of the Mathematics of Quasicrystals"
Wednesday, January 21
Dr. Rita Mann, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics
"The Potential to Form Planets in the Orion Nebula: The ALMA Perspective"
Wednesday, January 14
Dr. Misao Sasaki, Kyoto University, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics
"Reviving Open Inflation"
Wednesday, January 7
Dr. James Moum, Oregon State University, College of Earth Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences
"Modification of Sea Surface Temperature by Vertical Mixing in the Equatorial Cold Tongues"
Wednesday, December 3
Dr. Art Olin, TRIUMF / University of Victoria, Department of Physics & Astronomy
"ALPHA's Adventures With Antimatter"
Wednesday, November 26
Dr. Peter Palffy-Muhoray, Kent State University, Liquid Crystal Institute
"Vignettes From the World of Liquid Crystals"
Wednesday, November 19
Dr. Witold Nazarewicz, Michigan State University, Department of Physics & Astronomy and FRIB/NSCL / Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Physics Division
"Frontiers in Low-Energy Nuclear Physics"
Wednesday, November 5
Dr. Florian Beutler, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Physics Division
"Cosmology with the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS)"
Wednesday, October 29
Dr. Sabrina Leslie, McGill University, Department of Physics
"How to Get into That "Room at the Bottom" of DNA Analysis"
Wednesday, October 22
Dr. Luke Dones, Southwest Research Institute
"Cometary Impact Rates at Jupiter and Beyond"
Wednesday, October 15
Dr. Edward F. Redish, University of Maryland, Department of Physics
"Reinventing Introductory Physics for Life Scientists (IPLS)"
Wednesday, October 8
Dr. Leonardo Golubovic, West Virginia University, Department of Physics & Astronomy
"Bio-Macromolecules and Their Complexes – An Inspiration For Statistical Physics"
Wednesday, October 1
Dr. Sean Hartnoll, Stanford University, Department of Physics
"From Black Holes to Badly Behaved Metals"
Wednesday, September 24
Dr. Eric Ford, Pennsylvania State University, Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics / Center for Exoplanets & Habitable World
"Characterizing the Distribution of Planetary Architectures with Kepler"
Wednesday, September 17
Dr. Karin Dahmen, University of Illinois
"Unifying Theory for Tuned-Critical Quake Statistics: From Nanopillars to Earthquakes"
Wednesday, September 10
Dr. Cornelia Hoehr, TRIUMF / University of Victoria
"How Nuclear Physics Can Diagnose and Treat Cancer"
PAST SEMINARS
Wednesday, June 24
1:30 p.m. / Engineering/Computer Science Building, Room 108
Dr. Manuela Venturi, University of Victoria (based at CERN, Geneva)
"Measurement of the Higgs-boson properties with the ATLAS detector at the LHC"
Wednesday, May 20
2:00 p.m. / Elliott Building, Room 162
Dr. Vardha Bennert, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Department of Physics
"Towards an Understanding of the Black Hole Mass Scaling Relations"
Wednesday, April 8
1:30 p.m. / Elliott Building, Room 160
Heather Russell, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Washington, Department of Physics
"Searches for Long-Lived Neutral Particles with the ATLAS Detector at the LHC"
Wednesday, April 1
11:00 a.m. / Elliott Building, Room 160
Dr. Lynne Hillenbrand, California Institute of Technology, Department of Astronomy
"The Young and the Restless Stars"
Friday, March 27
10:00 a.m. / Elliott Building, Room 161
Dr. Marten van Kerkwijk, University of Toronto, Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics
"Thermonuclear supernovae and the quest to understand why white dwarfs explode"
Friday, March 13
4:00 p.m. / Elliott Building, Room 160
Dr. Brian Shuve, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
"Probing Baryogenesis with the LHC"
Friday, March 6
1:30 p.m. / Clearihue Building, Room A311
Laurie Rousseau-Nepton, Université Laval, Département de physique
"Spiral Galaxy Evolution as Seen with SpIOMM"
Friday, February 6
1:30 p.m. / Elliott Building, Room 062
Dr. Bill Harris, McMaster University, Department of Physics & Astronomy
"Galaxy Halos and Globular Cluster System Formation"
Monday, January 19
2:30 p.m. / Elliott Building, Room 060
Dr. Paul D. Jackson, University of Adelaide, Department of Physics
"Third Generation SUSY at the LHC and Kinematic Variables for New Physics Searches"
Tuesday, January 13
2:30 p.m. / Elliott Building, Room 161
Dr. Romeel Davé, South African National Research Chair in Cosmology with Multi-wavelength Data / University of the Western Cape, Astrophysics Department / South African Astronomical Observatories / African Institute for Mathematical Studies
"The Co-growth of Galaxy Disks and Black Holes Across Cosmic Time"
Wednesday, December 17
3:00 p.m. / Elliott Building, Room 162
Dr. Vanessa Moss, University of Sydney, School of Physics
"The Galactic Ecosystem: Infall and Outflow in the Halo of the Milky Way"
Monday, December 8
11:00 a.m. / Elliott Building, Room 162
Dr. Iris Dillmann, TRIUMF
"Beta-Delayed Neutron Emission and its Role in the R-Process"
Monday, December 8
1:30 p.m. / Elliott Building, Room 162
Dr. Chris Ruiz, TRIUMF
"Radiative Capture for Astrophysics using Radioactive Ion Beams"
Friday, December 5
2:00 p.m. / Elliott Building, Room 161
Dr. Jonathan Kozaczuk, TRIUMF
"Cosmological Phase Transitions and Their Properties in the NMSSM"
Friday, November 28
2:00 p.m. / Human & Social Development Building, Room A270
Bridget Bertoni, University of Washington, Department of Physics
"Dark Matter - Neutrino Interactions: Solving the Small Scale Structure Problem and its Implications"
Tuesday, November 18
2:00 p.m. / Elliott Building, Room 161
Dr. Blaise Goutéraux, Stanford University, Stanford Institute of Theoretical Physics
"Momentum Dissipation and Effective Theories of Coherent and Incoherent Transport"
Friday, November 7
2:30 p.m. / Elliott Building, Room 160
Dr. Matthias Kaminski, University of Victoria, Department of Physics & Astronomy
"Anomalous Hydrodynamics Kicks Neutron Stars"
Friday, October 31
2:30 p.m. / Elliott Building, Room 160
Dr. Christoph Uhlemann, University of Washington, Department of Physics
"Holographic Entanglement Entropy, Probe Branes and Non-Fermi Liquids"
Monday, September 22
11:00 a.m. / Elliott Building, Room 161
Dr. Rob Hoffman, Computational Nuclear Physics Group, LLNL
"Type Ia Supernovae, the Best Big Bang Since the Big One"
Thursday, September 11
11:30 a.m. / Elliott Building, Room 161
Chris Usher, Swinburne University
"The Stellar Populations of Extragalatic Globular Clusters"
Tuesday, September 02
3:00 p.m. / Elliott Building, Room 161
Dr. Bryan Miller, Gemini Observatory, La Serena, Chile
"Globular Clusters and Nuclei in Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies"
PAST SPECIAL TALKS
Public Talk
Monday, April 27
7:30 p.m. / Bob Wright Centre, Room B150
Dr. Rolf Heuer, CERN
"Breaking the wall of the hidden universe: what the discovery of the Higgs boson tells us about Physics, Mankind, and the Universe"
Café Scientifique
Tuesday, April 14
6:30 p.m. / Hermann's Jazz Club @ 753 View Street
Dr. Terry Pearson, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology
"Your World in a Drop of Blood: Technology for Personal Monitoring of Wellness and Disease"
CAP Lecture
Wednesday, April 1
3:30 p.m. / Bob Wright Centre, Room A104
Dr. Locke Spencer, University of Lethbridge, Department of Physics and Astronomy
"The Far-Infrared Universe: From star formation to the cosmic microwave background"
Café Scientifique
Tuesday, March 17
6:30 p.m. / Hermann's Jazz Club @ 753 View Street
Dr. Ned Djilai and Dr. Andrew Rowe, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Victoria
"Hydrogen Fuel Cells - Without the Hot Air"
Lansdowne Lecture
Monday, March 2
6:00 p.m. / Bob Wright Centre, Room B150
Dr. Raymond Laflamme, Canada Research Chair in Quantum Information, Executive Director, Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo
"Quantum Information Science"
Café Scientifique
Tuesday, February 10
6:30 p.m. / Hermann's Jazz Club @ 753 View Street
Dr. Kerry Delaney, Department of Biology, University of Victoriabr /> "How Brains Work"
Café Scientifique
Tuesday, January 13
6:30 p.m. / Hermann's Jazz Club @ 753 View Street
Dr. Reinhard Illner, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Victoria
"The Digits of Pi"
Café Scientifique
Tuesday, December 9
6:30 p.m. / Hermann's Jazz Club @ 753 View Street
Dr. Jeremy Wulff and Dr. Peter Constabel, Departments of Chemistry and Biology, University of Victoria
"The Chemistry and Biology of Beer"
Café Scientifique
Tuesday, November 11
6:30 p.m. / Hermann's Jazz Club @ 753 View Street
Dr. Kate Moran, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria / Ocean Networks Canada and SEOS
"The Big Heat: A Thermal Maximum 55 Million Years Ago and What it Tells Us About Global Warming"
Café Scientifique
Tuesday, October 14
6:30 p.m. / Hermann's Jazz Club @ 753 View Street
Dr. Falk Herwig, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria
"Carbon, Iron, Gold - Where and How Are the Elements Made?"
Café Scientifique
Tuesday, September 9
6:30 p.m. / Hermann's Jazz Club @ 753 View Street
Dr. Luc Simard, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria / NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics
"The Thirty Metre Telescope"