Special Events

42nd Annual Physics Field Day

Presented by Creighton University’s Society of Physics Students
Saturday, March 28, 2015 Condensed Matter
Registration starts at 7:30, events start at 8:00 a.m.

You are invited to the Creighton University Physics Department’s Physics Field Day 2015! On Saturday, March 28, you and your team of high school physics students will duke it out with other local high schools for the title of “Field Day Champion.” This year’s theme is “Condensed Matter,” where we will explore physical principles that we encounter on a daily basis—though perhaps we do not think about them explicitly.

If you have any questions, please email SPS President, Katherine Bauer (KatherineBauer@creighton.edu) and she will get back to you as soon possible. Additional details and updates on Physics Field Day can always be found online at:
http://physicsweb.creighton.edu/content/field-day-hall-fame

More details on the events are also available in the 2015 Physics Field Day Rule Book

Our annual department retreat will be February 19-20th at the Carol Joy Holling Retreat Center.

Why Isn't God Ambidextrous?

Dr. Tim Gay, Department of Physics, University of Nebraska – Lincoln

Thursday, January 29nd, 2015: 4:00 p.m., Hixon-Lied Science Building, 244

Until 1957, scientists thought that the fundamental laws of Nature must be the same whether they were applied to our Universe or the Universe that is a mirror reflection of our own.  The implications of the discovery that this is not true - essentially that Nature is "handed" - will be discussed.  Some interesting applications of handedness, or "chirality"  in agriculture, biology, chemistry, and physics will be presented.  I will also talk about some new physics experiments on chirality that may shed light on how life began on this planet.

Dr. Gay’s group is interested in polarized electron physics. Their work involves studies of polarized electrons scattering from atomic and chiral molecular targets, the development of novel sources of polarized electrons and electron polarimeters, and investigations of the fundamental nature of the electron.

Evidence from multiple indirect measurements implies that 80% of the mass in the universe is dark, non-baryonic and hence is composed of a new type of undiscovered particles.  I will describe why Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are the most popular candidate for the dark matter and describe how WIMPs would interact in a detector.  I will then describe a leading experiment attempting to directly detect WIMP interactions, the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) and present results.

Dr. Sander is interested in finding evidence of new physics. Towards that end, he is a primary investigator on the SuperCDMS collaboration looking to directly detect dark matter. He is also working on developing new detection techniques for the next generation of rare event searches.

The PHYSNIC onSATURDAY SEPTEMBER 21st @ NOON! As the name suggests, this event is a physics picnic, where the entire physics department including faculty go to ELMWOOD PARK (66th and Elmwood Park RD.) eat food, socialize and play games!

If you need a ride to the physnic, or if you are willing to drive other students that do, there is a sign up sheet on the door of HLSB G55. 

Free and Open to the Public!  Come Visit Dr. Zepf's Haunted Physics Lab!

Visitors to the Haunted Physics Lab may enter the front entrance to the Hixson-Lied Science Building and follow the posted signs directing them to the Haunted Lab, which is located on the same floor as the entrance.  Parking is available in the large parking lot between Burt and Cuming Streets, with entrance at 25th and Cuming. Click Here for a campus map

This spring, the Creighton University Society of Physics Students (CUSPS) will again sponsor Physics Field Day, a day of activities and excitement for high school students. The theme of the 2012 Physics Field Day is "The Universe," in light of the 2011 Nobel-Prize winning discovery regarding the accelerating expansion of the universe.

The rulebook can be found here.

 Tom Greenslade, Ph.D., one of the foremost experts on antique physics apparatus will present "The Creighton Physics Antique Road Show," during Creighton University's Department of Physics colloquium. Some of Creighton's antique apparatus, which includes items from the 1898 Trans-Mississippi Exposition that was held in Omaha, will be on display in a nearby room.