Chairman’s Report on the Status and Vision for the future of the Physics Department at

Wichita State University

Prof. Nickolas Solomey3 December 2007

Review Panel Members

• Experienced University Teachers• Knowledgeable employers of Physics majors• Talented researches who have insight into

Physics research directions needed for the future in both industry and government.

Bob Rosner Yasar Onel Peter Ratoff Scott Hinks

Outline• Current Status of the Physics Department

– Staff– Classes– Labs and the status of the equipment– Some of my concerns

• Vision for the Future of the Physics Department– New faculty– Future research directions– Physics programs BA, BS, MS and possible Ph.D.

• Costs, Effort and Administration• Conclusion

Physics Department Mission

• Teach Physics to any of the 15,000 students at Wichita State University that need it.

• Offer a Physics BA and BS degree program.• Scientific Research in Physics and Astronomy.• Physics Graduate program, currently in

suspension awaiting recommendation for its future.

Successes of the Past

• The most successful and important Physicists who got his start at Wichita State University is Warren Pickett:

• But, also many others who have gone on to Harvard, BoeingUniv. of Michigan, Ohio State,Northwestern University, MITand much more. Prof. Warren Pickett,

UC Davis

Current Physics Department Status

• Staff:– 6 faculty (one of which is on phased retirement)– 1 Lab Coordinator who is a lecturer in two classes– 1 Secretary who does some administrative duties– 4 Graduate Teaching Assistants (from Engineering)– Outside lecturers

• Students:– 22 undergraduate Physics majors

Current Physics Department Status

Like most Physics departments our department teaches mostly to the service of other programs, our student population is:

• Engineering (313, 314, 315 and 316), then• Health Professions (111/131, 213, 214)• Education (111/131, 502, 501S and 501K)• Other Science Departments in LAS (300s)• General Education (111/131 and 195)• Physics majors

Population Distribution of Students in Physics Classes

We are not a small department since we teach about 4500+ credit hours each year.

Current Physics Department Status• Phys 313 and 314 (4 credit hours each without lab) are

Calculus based introductory Physics. The Lab that goes with this is Phys 315 and 316 (1 credit hour each). We do not break down into recitation sections.Enrollment: 140 students/semester for 313 120 students/semester for 314 70 students/semester in 315 25 students/semester in 316

• Every semester we teach 2 sections of 313 and 314 each, 4 sections of 315 and 1 section of 316.

Current Physics Department Status

• 315 and 316 Laboratory equipment is in major need of updating:– Much of the lab equipment is outdated, or of many

different verity making it difficult for good instruction to students.

– Lab experiments do not let the students make contact to ideas in Physics. Example is in electricity and magnetism the Wheatstone bride is just an electric circuit experiment and replacing these with Faraday, Lenz or Ampere Law experiments would be better.

Current Physics Department Status

• Phys 213 and 214 (5 credit hours each with labs) are Algebra/Trig based introductory Physics. Here too we do not break down into recitation sections.Enrollment:Phys 213 has 75 students/semesterPhys 214 has 50 students/semesterLabs are mandatory

• Every semester we teach 2 sections of 213 and 214 each, 4 lab sections for 213L and 4 lab sections for 214L

Current Physics Department Status

• Each semester we teach Phys 195, introductory Astronomy with about 50 students.

• Every Spring semester we teach Phys 111/131, Concepts of Physics with about 30 students. Currently taught by a lecturer.

• Every semester we teach two Phys 502 sections, which is a class for Education majors, with 25 students each. Currently taught by a lecturer or GTA.

Current Physics Department Status

• Every semester we teach 3 upper level physics classes for Physics majors, and 2 advanced lab classes for Physics majors.

• Currently our Physics graduate program is suspended awaiting the recommendation of this committee.

Current Physics Department Status• Research:

– We have 5 faculty in active research• E. Behrman, Computational Condensed Matter Physics• J. Ferguson, Theoretical Astrophysics• J. Ho, Experimental Superconductivity• H. Hamdeh, Experimental Solid State Physics• N. Solomey, Experimental High-Energy, Nuclear and

Astro-particle Physics

Future of the Physics Department• The Dean has made the statement that the nominal

strength of the Physics Department is about 10 full-time faculty.

• The College of Engineering would like us to improve the quality of the introductory Physics classes.

• The VP for Research would like the Physics Research to improve.

• There is a request for us to create and teach a Physics of Sound class for Health and Fine Arts.

Future of the Physics Department

Fall Spring Summer

cr. Hrs sectionsenrollment

st. cr. Hrs. Lab. Sec. sections

enrollment st. cr. Hrs.

111/131/151 Intro. Physics GE 4 0 0 0 0 1 100 400 1

195/196 Astronomy 3 1 100 300 1 0 0 0 0

210 Physics of Sound 3 1 60 180 3 0 0 0 0

213 Intro. Physics 1 Non-Calc. 5 2 50 500 4 2 50 500 4 1 25 125

214 Intro. Physics 2 Non-Calc. 5 2 50 500 3 2 50 500 3

313 Intro. Physis 1 Calculs 5 2 50 500 4 2 50 500 4 1 40 200

314 Intro. Physics 2 Calculs 5 2 50 500 1 2 50 500 1

395/501S Astronomy 3 0 0 0 0 1 30 90 0

502 Education majors Phys. Inquiry 5 2 27 270 0 2 27 270 0 1 27 135

taught by faculty 9 8 2

total 12 2750 16 12 2760 13 3 460

Yearly st. cr. Hrs 5970

GTA for Lab. Sections 5 4

UTA for Phys. 502 12 hrs/week 12 hrs/week 6 hrs/week

This table show the future teaching loads for introductory Physics classes.

Please note that we are not a small department in credit hour income to the University.

Secondly, you should notice that this minimum schedule has only 9 classes a semester taught by Physics faculty.

Future of the Physics Department• Getting new Physics faculty will help get

– Good teachers that can connect with the students– Expand our research activities in Physics

• I propose that we institute a minimal graduate Ph.D. program in Physics.– It would be a low cost program.– It will permit us to attract higher quality Physics faculty for

instruction, and higher quality Physics faculty will bring better funded research activities. It is unreasonable to think that Wichita State Univ. can expand its Engineering and other Science without a good Physics program.

Future of the Physics DepartmentFall 08 Spring 09 Fall 09 Spring 10 Fall 10 Spring 11 Fall 11 Spring 12 Fall 12 Spring 13 Fall 13 Spring 14

Undergraduate B.Sc.

555 551 661 551 714 551 661 551 714 551 661 551

651 652 621 631 651 652 621 631 651 652 621 631

631 681 595 675 641 681 595 675 641 681 595 675

Advanced Labs:

516 517 516 517 516 517 516 517 516 517 516 517

616 616 555 616 616 555 616 616

Graduate MS & Ph.D.

811 812 821 831 811 812 821 831 811 812

861 714 861 714 861

895 875 881 895 875 881 895 875

Grad. Lab & Colloquium

816 Q exam 816 Q exam 816 Q exam 816 Q exam

807 807 807 807 807 807 807 807 807 807

Undergraduate examples Graduate examples:

Basic Advanced example 1 example 2

1st Cal-1/195 Cal-2/313 1st 821/714 811/861

Cal-2/313 Cal-3/314 831/881 812/875

2nd Cal-3/314 DifEq/616 2nd 811/861 821/714

DifEq/551/516 551/516/(714 or 395) 812/875 831/881

3rd 621 or 651 621 or 651 3rd 816/research 885/816

631 or 652 631 or 652 813/research 813/research

4th 651 or 621 651 or 621 4, 5 and 6th Research

652 or 631 652 or 631 Ph.D. Qualifying exam to be given every May. Covers 821, 831 , 811 and two specialties

This schedule has all undergraduates taking 551 after 314, but that then every other year they either start into Classical Mechanics or into Quantum Mechanics.

Undergraduate Program (B.Sc. And B.A.)

551 Modern Physics

555 Modern Optics

714 Mathematical Physics

595 Astro Physics

621 Mechanics

631 Electricity/Magnetism

641 Thermo Physics

651 Quantum I

652 Quantum II

661 Atomic Physics

681 Solid State Physics

675 Nuclear and Particle Physics

Lab classes:

516 Advanced Physics Lab

517 Electronics Lab

616 Methods of Computational Physics

Graduate Program (MS and Ph.D.)

core mandatory classes:

821 Graduate Mechanics

831 Graduate Electricity and Magnetism

811 Graduate Quantum I

812 Graduate Quantum II (could be taught by WSU faculty or tele-course with sister physics dept.)

813 Graduate Quantum Field Theory (tele-course with sister physics dept.)

specialty classes: other special classes upon request or through our sister physics dept. as a tele-course

875 Graduate Nuclear/Particle (experimental) (Taught with 675)

861 Graduate Atomic Physics (Taught with 661)

876 Graduate Particle Theory (tele-course with sister physics dept.)

881 Graduate Solid State (Taught with 681)

895 Graduate Astrophysics (Taught with 595)

714 Methods Mathematical & Comp. Phys

816 Graduate Advanced Labs (Taught with 516)

807 Colloquium

This table show the planned undergraduate Physics major classes over the next 5 years in gray at the top.

A graduate program only needs one extra class every semester and classes in conjunction with undergraduate classes.

Very advanced graduate classes could be arranged by video with other schools. I propose that Sister Physics Dept. relationships with three schools would be enough. I am talking with Univ. of Hawaii, Univ. of Chicago and Lancaster Univ. as possible schools.

Examples of this are how my IIT graduate student went to Univ. of Chicago and took the class on quantum field theory and particle physics theory there while signed up for these classes with me at IIT.

Future of the Physics DepartmentPhysics has 4 to 5 GTA each semester for Physics 200 and 300 labs

Physics Ph.D. candidates past their Q-exam can be either supported off of a research grant or teaching 502, 111, 501K or being Lab Coordinator.

minimum Grad Stu Degrees Issued200 & 300 GTA after Q-exam with After Q-exam University

admitted total MS Ph.D. Labs GTA 502/111/LC supported Research supportedSupported

F09 3 3 0 0 5 0 0 3F10 2 5 0 0 5 0 0 5F11 3 8 3 0 5 3 0 8F12 2 10 2 0 5 3 2 8F13 3 11 3 2 5 3 3 8F14 2 11 2 3 5 3 3 8F15 2 11 3 3 5 3 3 8

Depending upon the quality of the students we might want to admit more in the event we have high losses.This will give us the best chances to meet our degree numbers

Could have more with well funded research grants, such as HEP, Astrophysics, RIA, Nuclear and others

Projected graduate program enrollment with M.S. and Ph.D. issued.

Future of the Physics Departmentfall 2007 spring 2008 fall 2008 spring 2009 fall 2009 spring 2010 fall 2010 spring 2011 fall 2011 spring 2012 fall 2012 spring 2013 fall 2013 spring 2014

GN Astronomy 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

OL OL 0 5 3 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1

(Overload or Outside lecturer)

JH 2 0 2 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

HH 2 2 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

JF 2 2 2 2 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

ST 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0

EB 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

NS 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

New 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

New 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

New Faculty aiding Grad program 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

New 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

New 4 (sliding start date matching ST) 2 2 2 2 2 2

Visiting Faculty and LC (inexpensive) 2 2 2 2 2 2

New 6 (If buyback going strong then add another here) 2 2 2 2

Faculty classes 14 12 14 16 18 16 17 18 18 17 19 19 19 19

Faculty buy back 0 0 0.5 0 0.5 0 0.5 0 1 1 1 1

Total classes 15 18 18 18 18 19 18 19 18 19 19 19 19 19

This projected hiring plan is that needed to cover our minimal teaching loads.

This will changed as we try to understand how to improve our introductory Physics classes for engineers.

Future of the Physics Department• We are discussing with the College of Engineering how to

improve the quality of Physics classes:1. Make smaller class sizes, 30 students instead of 90.2. Take the current 2 semesters at 5 credit hours each and

make them 3 semesters at 4, 4 and 3 credit hours.3. Get a better book, we are studying this right now.

• Doing option 1 or 2 alone would require 1.5 new faculty above our nominal level.

• Doing both option 1 and 2 would require 3 new faculty above our nominal level.

Future of the Physics DepartmentWhat research should the new hires be specialized in?

I propose that we hire groups in:1.high energy experimental physics (started),2. low energy experimental nuclear physics

(would be the only such group in Kansas)and

3. experimental Astro-physics (possible cooperation with NIAR)

Future of the Physics DepartmentWhy these specialization?

1. They work at national labs in big groups and do not need large amounts of start up money and are typically funded groups.

2. A small University can contribute substantial to these efforts getting students involved with major projects and results.

3. Rare isotope nuclear physics is a major need for future reactor energy needs, improving rare isotope cross sections can let us build safer reactors. Kansas wants to support future energy research and this would fit in to that plan.

4. NASA has an interest in both high-energy and low energy projects and this ties in nicely with an Astro-physics group.

5. Neither of the other two Kansas Universities has a nuclear group.

Future of the Physics Department• What size groups?

Both DOE and NSF, office of high-energy and nuclear physics have told me that a 2 or 3 faculty group is fundable. Less than 2 would not be funded, 2 not well and 3 would be considered strongly.

NASA program managers have asked that experimental groups have at least 2, but 3 would not bring us more.

Future of the Physics Department• The Physics Department currently has a experimental Solid

State Condensed Matter group doing material studies with Mössbauer Spectroscopy (Prof. H. Hamdeh and Prof. J. Ho). It will be expensive to bring in more people in this subject due to the start up packages in this field needing $300,000+, but this group is productive and should be supported as much as possible. They also need to establish outside funding.

• Cooperation with Engineering or Chemistry is possible.

• Can we get any cooperation with a National Laboratory or Industry?

Future of the Physics Department

• The Physics Department currently has one Theoretical Astrophysics faculty and one Theoretical Condensed matter physicists.

• In support of my proposed experimental high-energy and nuclear efforts I request that the new faculty hire be in support of the Graduate Ph.D. program specializing in theoretical nuclear or high-energy physics.

Future of the Physics Department

• Cooperation with other schoolsWe are currently reaching out to nine 4-year Liberal

Arts Colleges in this part of Kansas, and four schools are interested in both Instruction and Research cooperation between our Physics Faculty.

• RecruitingWe started in October of 2007 a program of recruiting

to get Physics majors, and when the time comes this will expand into a graduate program recruiting effort.

Funding the Growth

• Funding for this growth has to come from many sources:1. LAS support for faculty2. Outside funding for a faculty for supporting the graduate program for 4 years.

• Clair Booth foundation• WSU foundation• Physics department Benefactor

3. Support for Introductory Lab equipment:• LAS Technology grants• WSU Foundation• STEM grants• Industry (HP, MS, local companies)

Administration of the Growth• Reinstating the Master program is a local administrative

decision. The earliest we can ask for this is the Fall of 2009 and in Fall of 2008 recruiting efforts would have to start.

• The Ph.D. program would then turn on in the Fall of 2011 as the MS students pass their qualifying exam. This gives sufficient time to get the administration paper-work in order.

• At each phase of the growth: intro-physics lab updating, new faculty hiring, expanded research grants, the MS program and Ph.D. program all need careful watching of the program as it advances.

Conclusion• The Physics Department will expand its faculty, by how many and with what

emphasis depends partly upon this committee’s recommendation. It can be done in a way that:1. Improves teaching quality2. Improves research quality

• To get the highest quality new faculty and keep the good faculty we have I strongly recommend permitting us to create a small, low cost, creatively executed Physics Ph.D. program.

• Energy research is a major priority in Kansas and Wichita State University has many rules to play in this plan. I see Physics as contributing to this effort, and the new Physics faculty should be directed in basic energy sciences (low energy nuclear, high-energy and astro-particle physics) as the best direction to pursue.