About the Department
Welcome to the Physics Department, one of the strongest on the UWM campus. Feel free to browse this site to learn about the exciting work being done here. We welcome undergraduates to register as physics majors. Please contact one of our Undergraduate Advisors listed under Contact Info if you are interested to do so. Due to a relatively high faculty-to-student ratio, students receive all the benefits of close contact, both social and professional, with faculty. We also welcome students to apply for graduate studies leading to MS and PhD degrees. Details on application procedures may be found in these web pages. This web site describes the department's world-class research programs in areas such as gravitational physics, surface physics, condensed matter physics, laser optics, and biophysics. Members of the department receive major federal research funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S.Department of Energy (DOE), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), amongst other sources. During 2006-2007, the Department brought in over $5 million in extramural research funding (approximately 16% of the University's total). Consequently, almost all our graduate students receive stipends as either teaching or research assistants or in the form of fellowships that allow them to be entirely self-supporting. More information about the department	Events This week's events Next week's events
This week
Department Colloquium Friday, 9 May 2008 Cosmic Superstrings Jose' Juan Blanco-Pillado Tufts University Location: Physics 135 Time: 3:00 PM (Tea and Cookies at 2:45 PM)   In this talk, I will give a general introduction to the subject of cosmic strings mainly focusing on their formation, dynamics and the potential observational signatures. I will then discuss recent models of cosmology within string theory that suggest the possibility that different types of string-like objects (Cosmic Superstrings) may be formed in the early universe. Finally, I will describe the observational signatures that would help us to identify Cosmic Superstrings in the sky, which represents, up to date, one of the most promising avenues for experimentally test String Theory.
Medical Imaging Seminar Wednesday, 7 May, 2008 Iterative Reconstruction: The New Frontier to Improving CT Image Quality J. B. Thibault, PhD GE Healthcare, Applied Science Lab Location: Physics 127 Time: 4:30 PM   With the advent of helical scanning, multi-slice geometry, fast acquisitions, and new tube/detector configurations, Computed Tomography (CT) has enabled a host of new non-invasive clinical diagnostic applications. While driven by new hardware technology, these improvements have given rise to many reconstruction algorithms adapted to the change in geometry and sampling characteristics. Analytical reconstruction algorithms have been the focus of much attention in recent years due to the development of so-called "exact" inversion formulae. Iterative reconstruction algorithms fall into a different category: they are primarily designed to conform to the statistics of the data. Combined with appropriate physics modeling of the data acquisition process, they promise unparalleled noise, resolution, and low-contrast performance compared to Fourier-based approaches. This talk will focus on modeling and optimization challenges for iterative reconstruction in general and CT in particular. To conclude, practical benefits will be illustrated on low-dose clinical patient cases.
Next week
Department Colloquium Friday, 16 May 2008 TBD Sebastian Wachsmann-Hogiu NSF Center of Biophotonics, Univ. of CA - Davis Location: Physics 135 Time: 3:00 PM (Tea and Cookies at 2:45 PM)   TBD