Joint Quantum Institute Holds Inaugural Symposium

In celebration of the establishment of the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), between UMD and NIST, an inaugural scientific symposium focused on coherent quantum phenomena was held from March 25-27th at the UMUC Inn & Conference Center. Speakers included Sankar Das Sarma, JQI/UMD, Eugene Demier, Harvard, Deborah Jin, JILA/NIST, Christopher Monroe, U Michigan, William Phillips, JQI/NIST, and Frederick Wellstood, JQI/UMD.

BaBar Observed New Form of Matter-Antimatter Transformation for First Time

Scientists of the BaBar experiment, at the Department of Energy's Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), have observed the transition of one type of particle, the neutral D-meson, into its antimatter twin for the first time.

For more information, visit: http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/scitech/release.cfm?ArticleID=1409

Molecular Motors Day at Maryland

On Monday March 19, 2007, Molecular Motors Day at Maryland was held.
Over 75 people attended the symposium which was organized by Michael E. Fisher under the auspices of the Biophysics Program and its Director, D. Thirumalai (IPST and Chemistry). The symposium was supported by IPST, and the Departments of Chemistry, Physics and Materials Science and Engineering.

The speakers and their titles were:

The Actomyosin Interaction during Fatigue of Skeletal Muscle
Dr. Roger Cooke, Dept. of Biochemistry and Biophysics,
University of California, San Francisco

Walking with Myosin V: Single molecule studies
Dr. James R. Sellers, Laboratory of Molecular Cardiology,
National Institutes of Health

Mechanisms of Myosin Motors: Its all in the timing
Prof. Enrique M. De La Cruz, Dept. of Molecular Biophysics and
Biochemistry, Yale University

Kinesin Motors: Directionality and force generation
Prof. Sharyn Endow, Duke University Medical Center Recent Progress on the Kinesin-1 Stepping Mechanism
Dr. Robert A. Cross, Marie Curie Research Institute
and University of Kent at Canterbury Myosin VI, Prof. H. Lee Sweeney, Dept. of Physiology,
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

O.W. Greenberg Gives Several Lectures in Europe

O.W. Greenberg, Professor gave several lectures last summer and fall while in Europe. Including the following:

The Discovery of Color in Particle Physics; a personal perspective August 15, 2006 - University of Helsinki
A Schematic Model of Generations of Quarks and Lepton October 09, 2006 - University of Bergen

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In Memoriam

Alumna Yng-Gwei Chen passed away on March 07, 2007 in an auto accident. She was a member of the Department of Physics and the Institute for Physical Science and Technology. She received her Ph.D. in 2003 and then served as a postdoc in the Laboratory of Chemical Physics, NIDDK, at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

A memorial service was held on March 18, 2007 at the West Chapel of the University of Maryland. Speakers at the service included scientists and friends.

To help Dr. Yng-Gwei Chen's family, the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences has graciously agreed to establish an emergency fund. If you are interested in donating, please make you check payable to FAES with "Dr. Chen Emergency Fund" on the memo line and send it to:

FAES- Building 60 Suite 230 - NIH
Bethesda, MD 20814-1460