Shawn Hilbert '04 Accepts Tenure-Track Faculty Position at
Texas Lutheran University, April 2009
Shawn Hilbert '04,
has just accepted the position of Assistant Professor of
Physics at Texas Lutheran University,
a liberal arts college of 1400 students
in southeast Texas.
Dr. Hilbert successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation
in Physics at the University of Nebraska
in April of this year.
He graduated from LVC with a major in physics in May 2004.
Dr. Hilbert did research in the quantum optics group at Nebraska,
and has always had an interest in working with undergraduates.
While at Lebanon Valley, Dr. Hilbert did research in quantum information
theory with
Professor Scott Walck,
resulting in a joinly authored paper.
In his research at Nebraska, Dr. Hilbert has authored or coauthored
two articles in scholarly journals and has two other articles
submitted for publication.
The picture at right shows him
in his lab at the University of Nebraska's Department of Physics
and Astronomy.
Dr. Hilbert will begin his responsibilities as a faculty member at TLU
this fall.
Congratulations Professor Hilbert!
Professors Scott Walck and David Lyons Publish
Quantum Information Article, March 2009
Professor Scott Walck of Lebanon Valley's Physics Department and
Professor David Lyons of the Mathematical Sciences Department
have published an article in the journal Physics Review A
on recent results in quantum information.
In quantum mechanics, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,
and quantum entanglement sees to it that consideration of the affairs
of a number of individual particles almost never tells the story about
the collection as a whole. Nevertheless, the state of affairs of a
collection of particles (the whole) is determined by the states of
larger subcollections (the parts) for all but a small class of
extremely entangled states, the identity of which has been unknown
until now. In this paper, Professors Walck and Lyons
show that the extremely entangled states
of a collection of quantum bits (simple particles that can only be
found in one of two states, say up or down), are none other than
Schrodinger Cat states, special types of highly correlated states in
which all quantum bits are up (cat alive) or all quantum bits are down
(cat dead). Thus, the Schrodinger Cat states possess a higher degree
of correlation than other quantum states, and appear to play a
privileged role in the theory of quantum entanglement.
Professors Walck and Lyons work with LVC students each summer
on research in the field of quantum information science.
Professor Mark Walker Lectures on German Atomic Bomb
Project, February 2009
Professor Mark Walker of Union College lectured on
"Nazi Physics and Hitler's Bomb". The topic overlaps with
the research of
Professor Michael Day
and
Nathan Hansell '02,
a degree candidate in LVC's
Master of Science Education program.
Nate's Masters thesis, "Teaching Module for the German Atomic
Bomb Project for High School and College Teachers,"
was influenced significantly by Walker's work.
The picture shows (from left) Professor Day, Professor Walker,
and Nathan Hansell '02.
Mark Walker is the John Bigelow Professor of History at Union College in New
York. He specializes in the history of German physics and is considered by many
to be the leading historian on the German atomic bomb project. He received his
Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1987, and has published numerous articles as
well as six books including his "Nazi Science: Myth, Truth, and the German Atom
Bomb." He has lectured throughout the United States and Europe as well as China
and Japan, and appeared in a 2005 NOVA documentary on the German atomic bomb
project.