Summer Colloquium Series 2020

Barnard College and Nevis Labs Online Summer Series

The Summer Colloquium Series consists of a series of lectures and seminars given by scientists on a diverse array of research topics. The goal of these lectures is to introduce the student to cutting edge research happening in the fields of Physics and Astronomy. This lecture series will be held via Zoom and will run from June 15 to 30 July at 1 PM EDT on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Lectures will be 40 min long to allow enough time for discussions.

Please fill in the following form if you would like to participate. This step is necessary in order for you to receive a Zoom link invitation. (Please note that you have to register just once for the entire series). 

Registration Form Link

June 16

Title: Introduction and "Exploring the Energetic Universe with Gamma-ray Observatories"
Speaker: Prof. Reshmi Mukherjee (Barnard College, Columbia University)
Readings:

  1. Incredible hulking facts about gamma rays

  2. Exploring the extreme universe with the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope

Presentation:

June 18

Title: "A Brief History of Chemistry in the Cosmos"
Speaker: Dr. Daniel Savin (Columbia University and Nevis Labs)
Readings:

  1. Before There Were Stars
     
  2. How to Survive Doomsday
     
  3. Cosmic Code Breakers

Also, see Dr. Savin's interview by the AAS

Presentation:

A Brief History of Chemistry in the Cosmos

June 23

June 25

June 30

Title: "Exploring the Universe with the Big Bang Machine"
Speaker: Prof. John Parsons (Nevis Labs, Columbia University)
Readings:

  1. LHC at 10: the physics legacy

  2. The day the world switched on to particle physics

Presentation:

July 2

Title: "What is a black hole?"
Speaker: Prof. Daniel Kabat (Lehman College, CUNY)
Readings:

  1. Black Holes (Symmetry Magazine)
     
  2. Are Black Holes Dark (Pioneer Works Broadcast, Prof. Janna Levin)
     
  3. Astronomers capture first image of a black hole
     
  4. Gravity’s waterfall

Presentation:

July 7

Title: "Record-breaking Gamma-Ray burst observations"
Speaker: Dr. Elisabetta Bissaldi (INFN & Politecnico di Bari, Italy)
Readings:

  1. Teraelectronvolt emission from the γ-ray burst GRB 190114C
     
  2. A close-up look at an unusually powerful gamma-ray burst

Presentation

July 9

Title: "Seeing the Universe in Neutrinos from the Earth's South Pole"
Speaker: Prof. Naoko Kurahashi Neilson (Drexel University)
Readings:

  1. IceCube

  2. Astrophysical high-energy neutrinos

  3. IceCube neutrino points to origin of cosmic rays

Presentation:

July 14

Title: "The pSCT: An innovative, next-generation ground-based gamma-ray observatory"
Speaker: Dr. Massimo Capasso (Barnard College)
Readings:

  1. Camera design of the pSCT
     
  2. Cherenkov Telescope Array is set to open new windows

Presentation:

July 16

Title: "Stof tot Nadenken" - "The Dusty Universe"
Speaker: Prof. Fritz Paerels (Columbia Astronomy)
Readings: 

  1. A New Cosmic Meter Stick

  2. X-Ray Dust Tomography: the New Frontier in Galactic Exploration 

Presentation:

July 21

Title: "Radio Galaxies and their Powerful Jets"
Speaker: Prof. Jodi Christiansen (Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo)
Readings: 

  1. Gamma plus radio equals new view of cosmic jets

  2. Extreme jets take new shape

Presentation:

July 23

Title: "Nature’s tiniest fundamental matter particles - Neutrinos!"
Speaker: Prof. Georgia Karagiorgi (Nevis Labs, Columbia University)
Readings:

  1. Long-distance neutrinos: an international approach for a new 1000 km experiment

  2. Neutrinos 101

Presentation:

July 28

Title: "The Beauty of the Hidden Universe: the eROSITA X-ray Sky Survey"
Speaker: Dr. Christoph Tenzer (University of Tübingen)
Readings:

  1. The Dawn of X-ray Astronomy: Nobel Lecture by Riccardo Giacconi
     
  2. X-ray Astronomy in 2019
     
  3. Space telescope to chart first map of the Universe in high-energy X-rays

Presentation:

July 30

Title: "Better together: the importance of binary stars in astronomy"
Speaker: Kaitlin Kratter* (University of Arizona and Steward Observatory) 

*(The speaker was an Astrophysics Major at Barnard College) 
Readings:

  1. Binary Earth-Size Planets Possible Around Distant Stars

  2. Constraints from Planets in Binaries

Columbia Affiliations
VERITAS research at Barnard College & Columbia University is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation