PHYSICS GRADS IN HIGH DEMAND
Nuclear physicists at Florida State
University are making stars - human stars, that is.
Down in the Gamma Cave of the Nuclear Research Building, where
a superpowerful heavy-ion beam routinely blasts atomic particles,
FSU's physicists oversee graduate students conducting experiments
that may someday solve the mysteries of matter.
When the students emerge from the cave with their doctoral
degrees, they have earned credentials that make them prime candidates
for coveted jobs. Some of the jobs are so important and critical
to world stability, in fact, that the newly employed physicists
must keep top secret the details of what they do.
"Our graduate students always have multiple job offers,"
said Mark Riley, one of the FSU nuclear physicists who oversees
doctoral students.
The explanation for this star-making capability at FSU is,
first of all, the coupling of internationally distinguished faculty
with outstanding talent.
The second critical factor is the rare opportunity Florida State
students have for one-on-one training and hands-on experimentation
with advanced research equipment.
"FSU is one of the few groups that do nuclear physics
with an on-site accelerator laboratory," said Riley, a native
of Manchester, England. "It's what attracted me."
Unlike students on other campuses, Florida State's nuclear physics
students are allowed to use modern computer systems and gamma
ray spectrometers that are revolutionizing the study of atomic
nuclei. FSU students run their own experiments and make their
own mistakes.
"It's an absolutely wonderful place to learn," said
FSU alumnus Dan Archer, a nuclear physicist at the Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif.
Archer said that he had considered studying high-energy physics
in Illinois. If he had followed that path, he said, he would
not have had the chance to run his own experiments. Instead he
would have been forced, as most other students are, to rely on
scientists at the nearby Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
to take his data, run his experiments, and return the results
to him for analysis.
He noted that his exceptional training made him a prime candidate
upon graduation for working at Livermore.
The laboratory needs job applicants who have experience performing
experiments, Archer said.
Archer is limited in what he may say about his work at Livermore, but, he said he works on the detection of radioactive materials that could be smuggled from Russia to unstable nations; he also is part of a team designing and constructing storage facilities for plutonium collected during the dismantling of Russia's nuclear weaponry.
"You don't get asked to do science like that unless you
have star quality," Riley said about his former pupil.
While the opportunity for hands-on experience at FSU attracts
many students, they are also drawn by the chance to work in a
laboratory that houses equipment beyond the reach of most physics
students in the United States.
Archer said that Florida State is one of a handful of universities in the nation with an accelerator.
At FSU, it's the Superconducting Linear Accelerator, a 100-yard-long accelerator that shoots beams of heavy-ions (atoms stripped of many or all of their electrons) so rapidly and powerfully it can fuse the nucleus of an atom with other nuclei. The result is a creation of new and exotic nuclei that allows physicists to study the basic structure of nuclear matter, a still-unsolved mystery of the universe.
Another graduate of FSU's galaxy of stars is Rob Laird, a nuclear physicist who earned his doctorate in faster than average time: 4.5 years. Laird is now Post Doctoral Fellow/Research Associate at the Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison. He was drawn to FSU, he said, by another exceptional approach to education: direct communication with faculty.
Paul Cottle, professor of physics, "did a great job of selling the program and the university. He gave me a tour and spent a lot of time with me, talked to me," Laird said in an article in a 1999 issue of The Spectrum.
"From a student's point of view, that interaction with
a professor on equal footing is important," he said.
As much as equal footing with faculty is important, at FSU, it
is also impressive.
Physicists at FSU have a long history of significant accomplishments that have brought national and international acclaim, including the Nobel Prize.
It is notable that the awards are being bestowed on physicists
in their early 40s, a tender age for outstanding achievement.
Just recently, Riley was among three young physicists at FSU
to be named a fellow of the American Physical Society Fellowship,
an astounding accomplishment for FSU in that less than one-half
of one percent of the society may become fellows.
The society. in naming him a fellow, cited his pioneering contributions to the exploration of atomic nuclei - research that he conducted while also directing much of his energy to promoting the accomplishments of others at Florida State's nuclear physics department.
"Being named a fellow is a great honor," Riley said. But, characteristic of a proud FSU physicist, he added, "these fellowships help to show that we in the FSU physics department have a good track record of doing high profile work." - Dana Peck
APRIL/MAY 2001
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