FHS Lunch and Learn
Next Lunch and Learn: Prof. Nathan Howard (4/29)
Designs submitted by FHS Physics student Joey Gamblin
Highlights from previous lunch and learns:
Dr. Panneer Selvam (Wed October 8)
Dr._Micah_Hale (Tues October 14)
Dr._Reeta_Vyas (Wed October 29)
Dr. Julio Gea-Banacloche (Wed November 12)
Dr. Simon Ang (Tue December 2)
Dr. Claud Lacy (Wed January 14)
Dr. Chaim Goodman-Strauss (Wed March 10)
Dr.
Panneer Selvam (Wednesday 10/8)
Computer modeling of tornado forces on buildings
R. Panneer Selvam
Professor & Director of
Computational Mechanics Laboratory
Department of Civil Engineering
BELL 4190 University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR 72701
Email: rps@engr.uark.edu,
ph: 479-575-5356
Oct. 8, 2003- UATV
Computer modeling has been
applied to various science and engineering problems for the last 18 years from
Department of Civil Engineering. Some of the problems discussed are: tornado
forces on buildings, bridge flutter, cooling of electronic structures using
micro jet array MEMS device, thermal stresses in electronic packaging, control
of HTS tunable filter (MEMS device) etc. All these engineering problems are
illustrated using power point presentation and animation movies created from computer
modeling. Current challenges in computer modeling will also be discussed.
Forces on building due to
tornado are difficult to measure in the field. Using computer model one can
determine using fluid dynamics principles. Similarly to compute the critical
flutter velocity for bridges in a wind tunnel takes about 3 months and costs
about $100,000. Using computer model one can do it in two weeks using $600
personnel computer.
Pictures from Dr. Selvam's presentation
Dr. Micah Hale (Tuesday 10/14) Westpoint Bridge Competition
Dr. Reeta Vyas (Wednesday 10/29)
Dr. Vyas was my professor in college, and will probably teach some of my current students in the very near future. She taught Electricity and Magnetism as well as Laser Physics to me. During my senior year as a physics major I composed a paper for her class on naturally occurring lasers and masers. I'll try to dig up the paper and post it online, although I'm not sure that I still have it. This is why I have you (students) save everything--you'll want it later, and might not be able to find it!
She has an exciting presentation planned, including interesting atmospheric phenomena like rainbows, sun dogs, and solar halos. Here is some more information about her work:
Biography: Dr. Reeta Vyas received her BSc (Honors) and MSc (Physics) degrees from Banaras Hindu University, India. In 1984 she completed her PhD in Physics from the State University of New York at Buffalo with thesis entitled `` Two-body effects in photodisintegration of the Deuteron and Triton" under the direction of Professor M. L. Rustgi. At SUNY Buffalo she was University Graduate Fellow for two years. During the period of 1984-89 she worked as visiting assistant professor at the University of Arkansas. She was assistant chairperson from 1988-89. In 1989 she was appointed an assistant professor in the physics department. She became an associate professor in 1994 and a professor of physics in 2002 at the University of Arkansas. She has held visiting appointments at several universities in Brazil. She has published 64 articles in areas of nuclear Physics, quantum optics, nonlinear optics, photothermal spectroscopy, and laser physics, and presented 64 invited and contributed talks in national and international workshops and conferences. Her current research interests are in the areas of quantum optics, nonlinear optics, and laser physics.
Colors in the sky
I will discuss the physics of various natural optical phenomena such as rainbows, haloes, mirages, sundogs, sun pillars etc. using simple principles of geometrical and physical optics.
Dr. Julio Gea-Banacloche (Wednesday, 11/12)
Dr. Gea-Banacloche was my professor of University Physics III, my first physics class in college. We called him Dr. Gea. I remember being fascinated for the first time by Einstein's theories of relativity in that class. I am still fascinated every time I get a chance to study it.
Dr. Gea is simply fascinating with his brilliance. He is the type of person whom you are always wondering what he is thinking. He can be seen frequently walking through the campus of the U of A with Dr. Leiber and Dr. Singh, presumably on their way to quench some hunger.
Here is what he will bring to Lunch and Learn:
"Making atoms real"
The little blurb: Today we are all taught that things are made out of atoms,
but this was far from obvious to many physicists at the turn of the 20th
century. And what could atoms be like, anyway? I would like to present a
(short) review of the evolution of the "atomic hypothesis," which, on
the theoretical side, caused a major scientific revolution--the discovery of
quantum mechanics--whereas, on the experimental side, it has led to the
development of incredibly precise tools that allow us now to view and
manipulate individual atoms, and produce all sorts of new materials "one
atom at a time."
Pictures from Dr. Gea's presentation.
Dr. Simon Ang (Tuesday, 12/2)
It is a special privilege to have Dr. Ang speak to us at FHS. He is the father of Stephanie Ang, who took Physics A from me last year and is now an AP Physics C student. Dr. Ang will be the first "relative" of the FHS Physics Department to speak at lunch and learn.
Here is what he has to share:
A Microfluidic Bio-Sensor
Pictures from Dr. Ang's presentation.
Dr. Claud Lacy (Wed January 14)
Binary Stars and Planets, by Claud H.
Sandberg Lacy, University of Arkansas: I will discuss the astronomical research
I am doing in collaboration with students and researchers in Arkansas and around
the world. This work includes the URSA web telescope on campus in Fayetteville
and the NFO WebScope being constructed in New Mexico. Some of our results on
binary stars and extrasolar planet will be highlighted in the talk.
Ken Vickers (Wed February 11)
