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Fall 2008 Seminars

Physics for Future Presidents

Prasenjit Guptasarma, Associate Professor

Every country deserves a well-educated president. A good "presidential" education in modern times must include strongly-grounded concepts of the fundamental sciences, particularly physics. Most of Science and Technology, an important area where any president needs to make well-informed decisions, is driven by physics discoveries and innovations. This Freshman Seminar will help future presidents (vice presidents, Chancellors, Deans, CEOs, and other good citizens) understand quantitative and qualitative aspects of physics which would be useful to anyone planning to take on a role where decisions could directly affect lives of a large number of people. By the end of the seminar, the future president will look at the world with very different eyes.

"Physics for Future Presidents" is far removed from a traditional 'introductory' physics course. Topics covered include several aspects of elementary and advanced upper level physics. The course is mostly learner-driven. At the end of the course, the future president will know enough to qualitatively understand several advanced concepts, do simple numerical estimates, and reach conclusions. He or she is not yet able to perform complex calculations (one can always hire a physicist to do this) but recognizes the importance of some of them. The presidential candidate starting out in this course will need to have a strong interest in Science and Math.

Professor Prasenjit Guptasarma (often referred to as PG) loves to teach undergraduate Physics and involve undergraduates in his work. He typically has 2-4 undergraduate students doing research in his laboratory. PG is currently preparing advanced undergrad Physics teaching labs to inculcate applied physics skills for Physicists in the industry. He has also been involved in undergrad career workshops and has taught at the UWM High School Scholars program. PG works in the field of Experimental Condensed Matter Physics and High Correlated Electron Systems. Most of this field involves studying and understanding microscopic mechanisms behind solid materials, which exhibit unusual or useful electronic and magnetic properties and phenomena. Before joining the UWM Physics faculty, Guptasarma worked at the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, Illinois and at the Istituto di Spettroscopia Molecolare in Bologna, Italy as a visiting professor. He performed his Ph.D work on 'Finite Size Effects in High Temperature Superconductors' as a Research Scholar at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay. Guptasarma's research emphasis continues to be in the area of superconductivity and magnetism and his group currently consists of students working towards B.S., M.S. and Ph.D degrees. Guptasarma has authored over 70 research publications in the areas of Condensed Matter Physics and Materials science, including research articles in peer-reviewed journals, review papers and refereed articles in books. His research papers have been cited over 600 times in recent years. He has traveled widely and has presented invited talks at conferences and in laboratories in different parts of the US and abroad. Guptasarma is fluent in several different languages from the Indo-European language group and loves to sing, compose and create music in these languages.

Number: PHYSICS 194, SEM 001
Credits: 3 NS
Time: MW 2:00pm-3:15pm
Place: PHY 126
Class Number: 53306

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