Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics

A team of researchers and undergraduate students at Nuclear Science Laboratory, Department of Physics at Notre Dame, published an article in the Applied Surface Science journal on the characterization of a set of Roman denarii, ranging from 136 BCE to 240 CE. The work presents results of macro, micro, and nanoscale surface characterization of coins using several different X-ray based spectroscopic and electron microscopy methods. This enabled the surface, the subsurface, and volume composition of these coins to be probed to better understand their production techniques, surface treatment methods, and corrosion patterns. The results also provide evidence that a particular surface treatment method, amalgam silvering, had been used to make authentic Roman coins as early as the third century CE.…

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Professor. Umesh Garg has been appointed as a Guest Professor at Xi’an Jiaotong University in China. The certificate of appointment was presented to Prof. Garg at a special ceremony at XJTU…

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Physics professors Dan Bardayan and Manoel Couder were lecturers at the 2019 Exotic Beam Summer School, which took place on the campus of Oak Ridge National Laboratory from June 24-29, 2019. The aim of this annual school is to introduce students and young researchers to the various facets of the science of exotic nuclei including nuclear structure, nuclear astrophysics, fundamental interactions, and the application of nuclear science and technology. Bardayan lectured on “Nuclear Astrophysics Experiments”, and Couder lectured on “Beam Optics”. Both are researchers in the nuclear science laboratory in the Department of Physics.…

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The University of Notre Dame Freimann Professor of Physics Ani Aprahamian was the  keynote speaker for the graduate commencement ceremony at the American University of Armenia (AUA…

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Professor Umesh Garg has been selected as the recipient of the BITS Pilani Distinguished Alumnus Award – 2019. The award will be conferred at a special convocation to be held on July 21.

Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani (BITS…

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Freimann Professor Ani Aprahamian served as a juror at a regular regional stage of the international youth conference “Falling Walls Lab” that was held in the JINR Visit Centre, Dubna, Russia. The project was launched in Germany and was called in memory of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Its aim is to provide international communication, an opportunity for the youth to present their ideas, scientific concepts, or to propose brand-new ways of solving problems in all spheres of human activities. A presentation should not exceed the time limit of three minutes and should consist of three slides. Winners of regional stages are given a chance to present their projects to the international jury in Berlin.…

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Freimann Professor Ani Aprahamian was invited to talk at the International Symposium “The present and the future of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements” in Dubna, Russia. The symposium was organized by Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR…

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Each year the Department of Physics recognizes the outstanding research and dissertation of a PhD graduate. This year the recipient is Matthew Hall. His thesis title was “Identifying Long-Sought ¹⁸F(p,α)¹⁵O Resonances Affecting ɣ–Ray Emission from ¹⁸…

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On the invitation of the Bergischer Geschichtsverein, one of the oldest Historian Associations in Germany, Michael Wiescher, Freimann Professor of Physics, gave a talk on his recent book Bauern, Weber, Arbeiter. His book and talk are concerned with the socio-economic changes in the city of Barmen during the 18^th…

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Freimann Professor of Physics Ani Aprahamian was the opening speaker of the workshop on “r-process Sources in the Universe” at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ held March 27-30, 2019. Professor Aprahamian talked on “Nuclear Physics Experiments and the Neutron Star Merger”. The workshop was organized by Frank Timmes of ASU  and Mohammad Safarzadeh of Harvard University and was supported by JINA…

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Freimann Professors of Physics Ani Aprahamian and Michael Wiescher were lecturers at the 16th Russbach School on Nuclear Astrophysics.This school belongs to the European Network of Nuclear Astrophysics Schools (ENNAS…

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Prof. Dan Bardayan, Department of Physics, has been re-elected to the User Organization Executive Committee for the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University. The goals of the Users’ Organization are to work towards the realization and timely construction of FRIB…

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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and their Policy and Global Affairs group, has invited Freimann Professor Ani Aprahamian to serve as a member of the U.S. Liaison Committee for the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP).

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Freimann Professor Ani Aprahamian has been asked to join the Discovery Science Technical Review Committee of the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. 

The National Ignition Facility (NIF…

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The first conference on Nuclear Physics for the Next Generation (NPNG 2018) was held at the Notre Dame International Gateway in London, U.K. from September 25-27. Thirty-nine early-career nuclear physicists participated in this invitation-only meeting to envision the future of nuclear physics, form new collaborations, and support each other at the early-career stage. The meeting also facilitated closer connection between the North American and European nuclear physics communities, and the London International Gateway was an ideal location for the meeting.…

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Freimann Professor Ani Apahamian has been named as the chair of the Science Advisory Committee (SAC) to the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University. This committee provides external advice to the laboratory’s director on scientific choices, scientific vision, and matters related to optimizing the scientific discovery potential of FRIB…

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The Association for Women in Science Notre Dame Chapter hosted the 2018 Women in Science Conference on campus October 5-7. Kaitlin Rasmussen, a fourth year graduate student working in Professor Timothy Beers’ research group, and Rebeka Kelmar, a second year graduate student working in Professor Anna Simon…

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Freimann Professor of Physics Ani Aprahamian organized and chaired a day of talks on Low Energy Nuclear Science & Applications with the use of cyclotrons in Armenia. This was a part of a week-long international conference on “Correlations in Partonic and Hadronic Interactions” held September 24-28 in Yerevan, Armenia.

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The director of the Nuclear Science Laboratory and Freimann Professor of Physics Michael Wiescher was honored at the September 15 Notre Dame football game as a member of the 2018 All-Faculty Team.

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Craig Reingold, fourth-year graduate student in the Nuclear Science Laboratory working with the group of Prof. Anna Simon, spent ten weeks in summer 2018 at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He joined the Academic Cooperation Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory which hosts up to 800 undergraduate and graduate students each year. The program is designed to encourage external collaborations with LLNL…

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Orlando Gomez, a third-year graduate student working in the Nuclear Science Laboratory with Prof. Anna Simon, received the Glenn T. Seaborg Institute at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory “Nuclear Forensics Summer Internship”. The internship provides a stipend and travel cost reimbursement for a graduate student who is then paired with an LLNL…

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Professor Ani Aprahamian, the Frank M. Freimann Professor of Physics, was invited to TRIUMF Science Week in Vancouver, Canada in July 2018. TRIUMF, the national laboratory of Canada for particle and nuclear physics and accelerator-based science, is celebrating its 50^th…

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Professor Umesh Garg has been reappointed as an Honorary Guest Professor in the Physics Department at Peking University through January 2020. 

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Each year, the department recognizes a PhD student with the Research & Dissertation Award. In 2018, there are two recipients.

Edward Lamere is being recognized for his thesis “Proton induced reactions on molybdenum: Implications for medical 99mTc production”, under the direction of Prof. Manoel Couder…

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The Notre Dame Faculty Award for 2018 has been bestowed upon Umesh Garg, professor of physics.

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Ani Aprahamian, the Frank M. Freimann Professor of Physics, has been elected as Secretary to the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) Commission on Nuclear Physics. She will serve from January 2018 through December 2020. IUPAP…

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Notre Dame Physics was well-represented at the DNP 2017, which is the fall meeting of the Division of Nuclear Physics of the American Physical Society. Many physics majors, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty members attended, as did multiple 2017 ND-REU participants from other universities. Prof. Anna Simon and Dr. Patrick O’Malley, postdoctoral research associate, acted as session chairs. Just a few of the attendees are pictured here.…

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Nuclear graduate students Samuel Henderson and Craig Reingold are the receipents of the 2017 Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award. This award was created in 1999 to recognize graduate student instructors and TAs who demonstrate commitment to exceptional teaching in lectures, seminars, labs, and across the academic profession.

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Physics graduate student Kevin Howard has been awarded a fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). This summer Mr. Howard will be working with Prof. Shinsuke Ota at the Center for Nuclear Study at the University of Tokyo, and Dr. Tomohiro Uesaka, a Chief Scientist at the Spin Isospin Laboratory at the RIKEN…

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John Mihelich, Professor Emeritus of Physics, has passed away in Fort Collins, Colorado, on March 10. John was a long-time member of our faculty and our nuclear physics group, joining Notre Dame in 1954 from Brookhaven. While here, he gained a national reputation in gamma-ray spectroscopy, training in his lab many of the later leaders in the field. He and his wife, Jan, raised three children in South Bend, spending their free time in travel, camping, and classical music. John retired in 1989, and he and Jan eventually moved to Fort Collins. …

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