"Velocity Gradients as a New Way of Studying Galactic Magnetic Fields"
Alex Lazarian, UW-Madison
I shall introduce three new techniques of magnetic field tracing. The first two use Doppler-shifted emission lines and employs the gradients of velocity in order to trace magnetic fields in the diffuse interstellar media as well as to trace regions of star formation associated with the gravitational collapse. The differences between these techniques is that they use different observationally available measures, i.e. the first one uses the velocity centroids and the other uses velocity channel maps.

"Feedback in Dwarf Galaxies at z>2"
Ryan Trainor, Franklin & Marshall College
High-redshift dwarf galaxies (L << L*) are high-priority science targets for both JWST and current surveys: these galaxies appear extremely sensitive to stellar feedback, and they are likely to dominate the ionizing photon budget during the epoch of reionization (EoR). However, the physical properties of the stellar populations and interstellar media in these galaxies are difficult to constrain because of their extremely faint continuum and line emission.

"Rethinking the Fundamentals of Classical Nova Explosions"
Laura Chomiuk, Michigan State University
Over the past few years, a revolution has been taking place in our understanding of classical novae, largely driven by the discovery of GeV gamma-rays emanating from these garden-variety explosions. These gamma-rays hint that shocks are energetically important---perhaps even dominant---in novae.

The Shocking Ways Stars Die.
Dr. Tony Piro, The Carnegie Observatories
Supernovae are amazing cosmic explosions where for a few weeks to months a single star can become as bright as a billion stars combined. Even though supernovae are crucial to a wide range of areas in astrophysics, from producing the elements to galactic evolution to measuring the accelerating expansion of our Universe, the actual progenitors are frustratingly elusive in many cases.

Professor Ed Lattman, Principal Research Scientist at the Hauptman-Woodward Institute; Professor of Structural Biology & Materials Design and Innovation at the University of Buffalo (SUNY)

Of Course, an STC is Only a Means to An End, Which Is (Hopefully) Science

NSF Science and Technology Centers are large, prestigious awards intended to enable transformative research that cannot readily be carried out by individual investigators.

There is currently no Physics Colloquium scheduled for Friday, February 9th, 2018.

There is currently no Physics Colloquium scheduled for Friday, February 16th, 2018.

Professor Yuval Garini, Physics Dept. and Institute of Nanotechnology, Bar Ilan University, Israel

Studying Chromatin Dynamics by Advanced Live Cell Imaging Methods

The DNA in a human cell (which is ~3 meters long) is packed in a tiny nucleus of ~10 μm radius. Although it is dynamic, it is well organized. By using advanced microscopy methods for live cell imaging, we study the mechanisms that organizes the chromatin in the nucleus. We identified a dynamic structure that was not known before that we call the ‘DNA matrix’.

Accreting Neutron Stars and the Physics of Dense Matter

Neutron stars are composed of the densest observable matter in nature and occupy the intellectual frontier between astrophysics, nuclear physics, and, now, gravitational physics. Current and planned nuclear experiments on heavy nuclei and observations of neutron stars in both electromagnetic and gravitational waves will be exploring the nature of dense matter from complimentary approaches.

Professor Joachim Frank, Columbia University and 2017 Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry.
New Opportunities in Single-particle Cryo-EM: Mapping States in an Ensemble, Trapping Short-lived States
Single-particle cryo-EM provides experimental access to large ensembles of biological molecules, but current methods of analysis fall short of mining the rich information buried in the data sets.