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Date: Wednesday Mar. 14th, 2012
Posted: Thursday Feb. 23rd, 2012

Science and Technology of Modern Permanent Magnet Materials
George C. Hadjipanayis, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Sharp Lab, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716

Permanent magnets (PMs) are indispensable for the electric, electronic and automobile industries, information technologies, automatic control engineering and many other commercial and military applications. In most of these applications, an increase in the magnetic energy density of the PM, usually presented via the maximum energy product (BH)max, immediately increases the efficiency of the whole device and makes it smaller and lighter. Worldwide demand for high performance PMs has increased substantially in the past few years driven by hybrid and electric cars, wind turbines and other power generation systems.

A dramatic improvement in the performance of PMs was made during the 20th century, with (BH)max increased by more than 100 times, as a result of major advances in solid state physics, materials science and metallurgy. However, new energy challenges in the world require devices with higher energy efficiency and minimum environmental impact. The potential of 3d-4f compounds that revolutionized PM science and technology is nearly fully utilized, and the supply of 4f rare earth elements is no longer assured.

This lecture will cover the major principles guiding the development of PMs, including the important role of microstructure on coercivity, and overview state-of-the-art theoretical and experimental research. Recent progress in the development of nanocomposite PMs, consisting of a fine (at the scale of magnetic exchange length) mixture of phases with high magnetization and large magnetic hardness will be discussed. Fabrication of such PMs is currently the most promising way to boost the (BH)max, while simultaneously decreasing, at least partially, the reliance on the rare earth elements. Current efforts in the development of high performance non-rare earth magnets and their future prospects will also be discussed.

Biography – George Hadjipanayis received the B.Sc. degree in Physics from the University of Athens (1969), and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from the University of Manitoba (Canada), in 1974 and 1979, respectively. Prof. Hadjipanayis was an assistant professor (1982-1985) and associate professor (1986-1988) in the Department of Physics at Kansas State University. In 1989 he joined the faculty of the University of Delaware as a full professor. In 1998, Prof. Hadjipanayis was a Humboldt Senior Fellow at the Max Planck institute (Stuttgart, Germany). In 1999, he assumed the position of Richard B. Murray Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy and since 2003 has been the Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Delaware. He has been recognized for seminal advances in scholarship with the Francis Alison Award (2005) and by elevation to Fellow of the American Physical Society (2001). Prof. Hadjipanayis’ areas of interest span hard magnetic materials with a focus on high performance permanent magnets and magnetic nanoparticles for storage media and biomedical applications. He has published more than 500 technical articles in peer-reviewed science and engineering journals, including book chapters, review articles, and invited technical feature articles on the topical areas of rare earth magnetism, nanotechnology, and permanent magnet materials, among others.

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Date: Monday Nov. 14th, 2011

Speaker: Liam McAllister (String Theorist, Cornell University)
Place:  Health & Public Affairs 125
Date:   Thursday, November 17, 2011
Time:   6.00pm
Level:  Only high school math is required
Website: goldmanlectures.com

What powered the Big Bang?  How did galaxies come to be, and what explains the intricate patterns they form on the sky?  In the past decade, we have learned the answers to these questions: observations with microwave telescopes have shown us that the universe began with a period of extremely rapid expansion called inflation.  Amazingly, the patterns on the sky are a consequence of quantum mechanical effects during inflation. Quantum mechanics describes the physics of the very small, but, because of inflation, it is also responsible for the shapes of objects that are millions of light-years across.  I will explain what we know about how the universe began and give an accessible account of cosmic history.  No prior knowledge of these topics will be required to understand the talk.

The post The Sound of the Beginning: Echoes of the Big Bang in the Night Sky appeared first on Physics.

Research from UCF scientists was highlighted in the IOP Science Nanotechnology journal in the electronics and photonic category. You can view it by clicking here.

Nanotechnology encompasses the understanding of the fundamental physics, chemistry, biology and technology of nanometre-scale objects.

The article, “High Yield Fabrication of Chemically Reduced Graphene Oxide Field Effect Transistors by Dielectrophoresis,” was written by Daeha Joung, A. Chunder, Lei Zhai, and Saiful I. Khondaker, an Associate Professor for the Nanoscience Technology Center in the Department of Physics & School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Central Florida.

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This year’s faculty and staff contributions in the College of Sciences not only reached the expected goal, but exceeded it dramatically. Last year, COS raised just over $28,000 and this year COS came in at over $42,000!

The college’s participation stayed fairly consistent down 1% from last year and COS hopes to boost that next year. In only a few years of doing this campaign, UCF had a goal of $415,000 but raised $540,000 with participation from almost every entity on campus.

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Several students from the College of Sciences were recently awarded for their hard work at the 2011 UCF Graduate Research Forum. Their official award was for outstanding presentations.

Joanna Fletcher,  an Anthropology student, won for her research titled “Monitoring the Applicability of Ground-Penetrating Radar on Detecting Shallow Graves Using Proxy Cadavers.”

William Hawkins, an Anthropology student, won for his research titled “Monitoring the Long-Term Applicability of Ground-Penetrating Radar Using Proxy Cadavers.”

Silki Arora, a Physics student, won for research on “Volume and Structural Changes in Single Red Blood Cell Investigated by Direct Optical Imaging and Spatially Resolved Absorption Spectroscopy.”

Kristina Kraakmo, from the Mathematics department, won for her research titled “Numerical Simulations for Cratering Effects of Rocket Exhaust on Soil.”

Astha Malhotra, from the Chemistry department, won for research on ”Buffer-Stable Fluorescent Chitosan-PGA Hybrid Nanoparticles.”

For a full list of winners please click here.

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From Mike Thomas of the Orlando Sentinel.

By the time Challenger exploded in 1986, it was painfully obvious the shuttle could not provide the routine access to space that we were promised. But because of the huge investment and lack of alternatives, we were locked into a lemon. The space station was designed in the same flawed manner, a monolith in search of a mission.

There is a better way.

To explain, let me introduce Joshua Colwell, a professor of physics at University of Central Florida. Colwell is trying to figure out how dust managed to stick together in the early solar system and form planets. In other words, how did our Earth go from being a dust bunny to our home?

Colwell’s research involves creating very low-speed collisions with dust. This requires zero gravity. The experiments last less than a minute, so he doesn’t need to take a $1.5 billion shuttle flight to the $100 billion space station to do them.

Instead, Colwell will be flying his experiments on the New Shepard, a spaceship being built by Blue Origin. Established by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin is one of many fledgling commercial space carriers looking to break the government monopoly on space.

New Shepard will take Colwell’s experiment on a suborbital flight. This will provide a few minutes of zero gravity, more than enough for dust collisions.

Read the entire article here.

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The University of Central Florida is developing a national model for blended learning, a practice that combines web-based learning with traditional classroom instruction.

The Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) awarded UCF a $250,000 grant, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others. NGLC is coordinated by EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit group that promotes the use of information technology to advance higher education.

For the grant, UCF will develop a “Blended Learning Toolkit” that will include: strategies for blended course design and delivery; models for blended Composition and Algebra courses; assessment and data collection protocols; and “train-the-trainer” materials.

The toolkit and course models will be provided to the American Association of State Colleges (AASCU), the partner in the grant. The association will then engage 20 member institutions, which will use the kit’s course templates and models, or build their own courses using the strategies and resources provided.

“This project will bring national and international recognition to our leadership in the field of blended learning, and will bring exposure to our faculty and the groundbreaking work they are doing reinventing instructional approaches for math and composition curricula,” said Tom Cavanagh, assistant vice president for UCF’s Center for Distributed Learning.

The benefits of blended learning are many. For universities, blended courses encourage collaboration and compensate for limited classroom space. For faculty, they can be a method to infuse new opportunities for engagement into established courses. For students, the courses offer convenience combined with instructional interaction.

UCF’s blended courses consistently rank higher than other modes in student course evaluations and have the highest levels of student success and the lowest withdrawals of any modality — including purely face-to-face.

“This project will allow other institutions to benefit from UCF’s highly successful online learning and assessment models,” said Joel Hartman, vice provost for Information Technologies and Resources. “There is great potential for future adoption beyond the project itself, and what we create and learn will ultimately benefit UCF and our students.”

In the long-term, the program could be distributed to the more than 420 AASCU member colleges and universities.

In addition to developing a blended learning infrastructure at AASCU institutions, the project aims to increase access to education and improve student success and retention. The NGLC program specifically targets improving college readiness and completion among low-income students.

At UCF, blended learning is managed by the Center for Distributed Learning, which provides leadership in distance learning policies, strategies and practices. The department collaborates with colleges to develop UCF’s online programs and works with faculty and students to ensure successful course experiences.

In the fall 2010 semester, 26,000 UCF students enrolled in at least one online, blended or video course. UCF currently offers more than 2,500 online, video and blended classes.

To learn more about Next Generation Learning Challenges, visit http://nextgenlearning.org/.

For more information on UCF’s Center for Distributed Learning, go to http://online.ucf.edu/.

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Physicist Garrett Lisi will be presenting “A Geometric Theory of Everything” at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14, in Engineering 2, Room 102.

In this talk, rich in graphics, Lisi will describe the fundamental geometry of our universe and some new ideas about unification.

Everything in our universe is composed of elementary particle fields interacting, according to the laws of quantum physics. These balanced physical interactions correspond to the geometry of elegant mathematical structures twisting over spacetime. By examining the pattern of particle interactions we see that these structures describing our universe appear to be parts of a larger structure, long revered by mathematicians for its complex beauty.

After Lisi received his Ph.D. from UC San Diego he moved to the island of Maui to find an optimum balance between surfing and pursuing his own theoretical research. Driven to solve a mystery in the foundation of Quantum Field Theory, Lisi soon found himself looking at the most beautiful unified model of particle physics anyone had ever seen.

His story and work have been featured on TED and in Outside magazine, The New Yorker and recently inScientific American.

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