Integrated Calendar

The spectrum of cosmic rays includes the most energetic particles ever observed. The mechanism of their acceleration and their sources are, however, still mostly unknown. Observing astrophysical neutrinos can help solve this problem. Because neutrinos are produced in hadronic interactions and are neither absorbed nor deflected, they will point directly back to their source. The IceCube Neutrino detector at the South Pole uses more than a billion tons of natural ice as a target for neutrino detection. I will discuss searches for high-energy neutrinos (energies > 1014 eV) with IceCube, which have recently produced the first evidence for a flux of neutrinos beyond expectations from neutrinos generated in the Earth's atmosphere. This includes the detection of events with energies above 1015 eV -- the highest energy neutrinos ever observed. I will discuss the recent findings obtained with IceCube as well as strategies underway that may help to shed more light on the origin of highest energy particles in the Universe.

The University of New Mexico is leading a consortium of universities (MIT, Ohio State, UC-Irvine, and Louisiana State) that is investigating electron beam-wave interactions in metamaterial and metamaterial-inspired slow wave structures. The purpose of these studies is to explore new beam-wave interactions that would not exist in slow wave structures made from traditional materials. By exploring new beam-wave interactions it might be possible to design new high power microwave (HPM) oscillators and amplifiers. This seminar will describe the various paths our research is taking, and will make connections to ideas that are familiar from the early days of plasma physics.

Insects are an inexhaustible source for scientists who desire to inspire ideas, processes, structures and functions from biology and implement them into engineering, specifically those interested in locomotion and in the improvement of robot mobility. Novel insights are offered based on a collaborative and combined approach that includes high-speed video monitoring of behavior, electrophysiological recordings of nerves and muscles activity, mathematical modeling and computer simulations. An overview will be presented of several different research projects focusing on cockroach running, caterpillar crawling (soft robotics), locust jumping, flight (remote control), and swarming.