Dear Friends of the Department,

We are very excited about this new format of our newsletter and glad that you continue to be interested in the activities and developments of the Department of Physics at The University of Texas at Austin. With this electronic venue instead of U.S. mail, we hope to have regular communication with you. We will inform you of new programs, all our outreach efforts, exciting research and teaching developments, and additions to and retirements of our faculty. The field of physics is ever changing and we are an important part of that process.

Since this is the first of our new format communications, let’s elaborate a bit on our format and goals. We plan to send out about 9 electronic announcements, one per month in the long-term semesters. These will be brief and in the current form only text messages. We will transition to text and HTML after we know better your interests. In fact, if you are interested in having the announcements in HTML format please click the request in the announcement. All that the announcements will contain are a very brief discussion of the topic and a link to a more detailed description in our monthly newsletter, The Propagator, that resides on our newsletter web site.

It has been some time since our last communication and much has happened both to us and to the world of physics. The most recent additions to our faculty are described in this edition of The Propagator. These were part of our effort to diversify our faculty and to both maintain support for existing strong programs and add strength to new areas of physics research. Besides the most recent faculty additions described there, since the last Propagator, we have added strength to our condensed matter program with several new appointments in nanoscience and materials theory. We have built and now have operational the world’s highest energy intensity laser. Our areas currently targeted for growth are fundamental theory and biophysics. The University has also recently authorized the Texas Cosmology Center in which faculty from Physics and Astronomy will work together on problems related to our understanding of the universe. As physics continues to grow and develop, we will always be at the forefront, and we hope you will want to share in the adventure.

We are also very committed to effective teaching of physics to both our majors and graduate students but also to those we serve. Our interests go beyond the immediate campus needs as is evident from the program on elementary school science education described in this issue of The Propagator. We have just completed a year-long review of our undergraduate majors curriculum with the goal of slimming down the requirements but maintaining or increasing the relevant content. In particular, we were able to reduce the overall hours for a degree while increasing the quality of our quantum physics exposure. We have also started a program that introduces freshmen to research. This program will not only enable our students to experience the thrill of discovery early in their careers but there is strong evidence that this will increase our retention of these good students in the major.

I am pleased that you are interested in our efforts and hope you will continue to stay in contact. In the future, we are planning on expanding our contacts and hope you will be willing to participate. If you are in the Austin area, we have a special series of talks for the general public. The next talk is announced in this issue of The Propagator, namely, Professor James Cronin will speak on the history of cosmic ray physics on February 19.

As you know, there are some parts of our program that cannot be supported by state funds and tuition income, in particular scholarships, fellowships, and special awards. You can help us and our students by supporting these various purposes. You can give through our easily accessible and secure website or with a check through regular mail. Thanks for your interest. Please stay in touch.