Director's Message

Dear Colleagues,

I am excited to see Drs Lara Gillan and James Stuart (QST) will be part of the line-up as Questacon’s annual “Future Science Talks – comedy edition” on Saturday. A few tickets are still available here. Let’s wish them all the best. Their efforts in outreach might prompt some thoughts about how we are going to celebrate 100 years of quantum science next year.  

Above, another great year for the CoS Future Research Talent (FRT) scholars from India and Indonesia, and also Jagadish Endowment (JE) scholars. As always, my great thanks to the many supervisors who provided such an excellent research program for the scholars. I’m also grateful to Jay Poria and his amazing team for their efforts in coordinating almost 100 students. The students always leave ANU buzzing with excitement and ideas. Above many of the this year’s scholars, below images from the evening including our Dean, Prof Kiaran Kirk and Jay seen with two physics scholars, Veda Chettuvakandiyil Denish and Sibira Sreejith Sreeja who departed a few weeks earlier.

We had the pleasure of hosting “Quantum meets Public Service” on Wednesday. My thanks to A/Prof Matt Sellars (QST), Prof John Close (QST) and H/Dr Marcus Doherty (QST/Quantum Brilliance) for their assistance with the program. Below, the champion for the “Quantum meets…” series Chief Scientist, Dr Cathy Foley making closing remarks, and John and Marcus leading panel discussions.

It was another great thrill to see D/Prof Chennupati Jagadish continue his honorific tour of the UK becoming Doctor of Science at Nottingham Trent University. Below, Jagadish with Prof Sharon Huttly, DVC of Nottingham Trent University, a group of old Physics friends gathering together for the event (Prof Hannah Joyce, Dr Aruni Foneska, Mrs Yana Rahmani and A/Prof Mohsen Rahmani, Photo credit: NTU).

I’m having a good week, hope you are too.
Tim

College of Science Brooke Bushfire Research Fund Support 2024 - Call For Applications

In memory of Peter Brabazon Brooke, who died in the 2003 Canberra bushfires, and all the victims of bushfires in Australia, the ANU College of Science Brooke Bushfire Research Fund is generously offering a number of research grants to support bushfire research.

The purpose of this fund is to provide a broad scope of support to grow and broaden the impact of bushfire research at the University. This includes but is not limited to any related activities which support or enable bushfire research.

Applications from all areas of the University are encouraged.

For further information, please refer to the Brooke Bushfire Research Fund found here.

Applications close:  Sunday, 11 August 2024

For any enquiries, please contact Kylie Barnes at eo.cos@anu.edu.au 

Advancing Learning and Teaching Course - CLT

Dates: 2 August – 6 September
Time: 9:00 am – 12:30pm, each Friday

Advancing Learning and Teaching (ALT) is for academics, course convenors and program leaders looking to holistically invigorate and improve the teaching and learning experience in their course(s) through course design and the use of diverse research-led approaches to enhance teaching, student engagement and assessment.

More information and registration details can be found here.

When: 6pm – 7:30pm, Saturday 10th August
Where: Japan Theatre, Questacon
What: 7 local scientists from Canberra have partnered with comedians to infuse humour and laughs into scientific talks.  

Laugh and learn at the same time with Canberra's best and brightest science professionals, who have trained and toured in the art of comedy around Australia. 

More info and tickets are available here.

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Would you like to learn about the invisible mystery of the dark matter? If your answer is “Yes!”, join us for the “Dark Matter in the Pub” event in the Badger & Co pub in Canberra on Friday 23rd August 2024. Please register using the QR code on the event poster and bring your friends and family. Places are limited.

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Not many people will read your PhD thesis, but if you completed your doctoral research at the Australian National University College of Science, then Tabitha Carvan has probably read one small part of it.

What she found is a kind of poetry in the science.

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HIAF Open Day - 10 August

As part of the National Science Week, Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF) will open its doors again this year on Saturday 10 August. Come along and bring your family and friends to taste a liquid nitrogen ice-cream, hear about a natural radioactivity and take part in other demonstrations, as well as get on a tour to hear about a unique facility which enables world-leading research for over 50 years!

Get a free ticket now to guarantee your place.

The ANU postdoc Zuzana Slavkovska (NPAA), who is working on the dark matter research, visited collaborators in Germany to perform first tests of ultra-low potassium concentration measurements. Potassium is a significant contaminant in the background of the SABRE (Sodium Iodide with Active Background REjection) dark matter experiment that is being built 350 km north-west from Melbourne deep underground in an active gold mine by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics. 

Together with the associate investigator Dominik Koll, Zuzana prepared first samples for SIMS (Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry) and performed the first test measurements. These measurements aim for lower requirements for potassium concentration measurements up to two orders of magnitude compared to previously reported ones. 

Photo: Zuzana Slavkovska (ANU) and Dominik Koll (HZDR, Germany) at the SIMS 

Australia’s Chief Scientist, Dr Cathy Foley, and the Government Scientists Group is hosting a FREE event! The GSG STEM Expo at the Great Hall of Australian Parliament House on Thursday 15 August from 10 am to 4 pm, as part of National Science Week.

This event is suitable for those pursuing tertiary qualifications in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) or those who are qualified STEM professionals.

The GSG STEM Expo will showcase STEM activities and career opportunities in government agencies which deliver significant STEM projects and have workforces of engineers, statisticians, marine biologists, geologists and sports scientists, just to name a few.

Registration is not required to attend the event, but if you would like to register your interest, additional information about the in person event and/or livestream can be sent to you. Please register through the website.

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College Hot Desking In Physics

Finance, HR & RM Teams
Thursday Mornings
^{Lv2 Tearoom, Bldg 160}

Windows 10 End of Life

Win10 will stop getting security updates in October 2025. It is important that we move all Physics computers to Win11 or remove them from the network by then.

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EVENTS

Departmental seminars

Mr Justin Wong - 7 August
Digitally Enhanced Dispersion Spectroscopy
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Mr Joshua White - 16 August
Inferring Mesozoic marine reptile diet using advanced imagery techniques
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