Event will highlight careers of black physicists


LAWRENCE – An event hosted by the University of Kansas will explore the careers of black physicists.

The public is invited to attend “An Evening with Black Physicists,” sponsored by the departments of Physics & Astronomy and African & African-American Studies. The event will take place Feb. 29 at The Commons. A reception featuring coffee and desserts will start at 7 p.m.; the presentations will begin at 7:30 p.m.

The evening offers an opportunity to hear the stories of several black physicists and engineers and to learn about their passion for their careers. Vera Loggins, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois, is the keynote speaker. Loggins is studying the hottest matter ever created, i.e., a soup of quarks and gluons produced by colliding very high-energy lead nuclei together at the Large Hadron Collider. She is also working on building detectors for a new accelerator that will use electrons to look deep inside protons.

Other speakers include Christopher Bruner, a teaching postdoctoral fellow in KU’s Department of Physics & Astronomy; Kevin Reynolds, a mechanical engineer working  with NASA; Theresa Amante, a KU graduate student in environmental engineering; and David Menager, a KU graduate student in computing engineering.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to meet with the speakers and discuss their different paths to physics and engineering.

Additional support for the event is provided by KU’s Office of Multicultural Affairs and the National Society of Black Engineers.

For additional information, contact Michael Murray, professor in physics, at mjmurray@ku.edu or 785-864-3949.

The co-sponsors of the event are both part of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, KU’s broadest and most diverse academic unit.

Wed, 02/17/2016

author

Michael Murray

Media Contacts

Kristi Henderson

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

785-864-3663