Physics & Astronomy Newsletter Alumni July 2015

Physics & Astronomy Newsletter
Alumni
July 2015
Graduation 24 June 2015
Congratulations to everyone who graduated this week
E m e r i t u s P r o f e s s o r J o h n W Al l e n
It is with much regret that I have to inform you that our colleague and friend
Professor John W Allen sadly passed away on Wednesday 8 July 2015.
His funeral will take place in Cambridge, and a memorial event is expected
to be arranged in St Andrews in the autumn.
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It’s Official! Ultra-low Vibration Lab and Clean Room Opened by
Education Secretary
The official opening of the
School’s new Ultra-low
Vibration (ULV) Lab and
Clean Room was held on
21st May, attended by
around 80 PandA staff and
research students, plus
senior University staff and
external guests.
Head of School
Prof Andrew Cameron gave
a brief history of this
important project and Prof Alan Miller,
Chief Executive Officer of the Scottish
Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA)
explained the importance of the new
facilities in strengthening SUPA’s
research capabilities. Angela Constance,
Cabinet Secretary for Education and
Lifelong Learning, performed the opening
ceremony and was then given a tour of
the ULV Lab by Dr Peter Wahl.
Pictures by
Wendy Clark
Guests were able to learn about the
science the new facilities have been designed for through
presentations by Professor Klaus Kern (Max Planck
Institute for Solid State Research), Professor J C Seamus
Davis (Cornell), and Professor Jeremy Baumberg
(Cambridge). Staff also gave tours of the ULV Lab and
demos of research done in the clean room.
The ULV Lab is the most advanced of its kind in the UK and one of just a handful worldwide. It will allow Dr Wahl’s group to
carry out imaging and study of individual atoms in advanced materials, with the vision to tailor them for future applications.
The existing clean room will continue to be used and the new facility will advance research on lasers and optoelectronic
materials and their applications. Prof Ifor Samuel, Dr Graham Turnbull, Prof Malte Gather, Dr Andrea di Falco, and
Dr Liam O'Faolain and their research teams are amongst the users of these facilities.
Many thanks again to all PandA staff and students for their patience and co-operation during the construction and
particularly to Building Manager Derek Milroy for his technical advice and hands on role in the project.
Peter Wahl’s research Group
Organic Semiconductor Research Centre
Synthetic Optics Research Group
Nanophotonics Research Group
PandA School News Page
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Prof Graham Turnbull
Congratulations to Graham Turnbull, who has been promoted to a personal chair.
This is a well-deserved accolade for the excellence of Graham's research in organic
semiconductor lasers, including explosive vapour detection with polyfluorene lasers
applied to minefield mapping using trained bees (yes, you read that correctly), LED
lighting for high-speed wireless data transmission and many other innovative projects
with major downstream impact potential for the benefit of society at large.
Plus of course his superb and well-received contributions to undergraduate and PG
teaching and his many other roles in the School and beyond, including Director of
Postgraduate Studies.
Well done Graham!
Also congratulations go to Dr Vivienne Wild and Dr Andrea di Falco
who have been promoted to Readers.
All posts take effect on 1st August 2015.
Congratulation to Prof Ifor Samuel
Congratulations to Prof Ifor Samuel and Sally Ibbotson at Ninewells Hospital for the
"Clinical PDT research excellence award" for research excellence in the field of
Photodynamic Therapy, awarded by the International Photodynamic Association at their
15th World Conference in Brazil.
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/physics/news/Panda_news/idws_REAward_22_06_15.php
P r o f An d y M a c k e n z i e F R S
Prof Andy Mackenzie has been awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Society.
The Society Fellowship is made up of the most eminent scientists, engineers and
technologists from the UK and the commonwealth, who are elected for life through a peer
review process on the basis of excellence in science.
There are approximately 1,600 Fellows and Foreign Members and elect around 50 new
Fellows annually. Prof Mackenzie joins St Andrews Professor James Naismith and
Professors Emeriti Eric Priest and Wilson Sibbett and Professor Jim Scott who has recently
joined the School.
In 2013 Andy took up post as Director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of
Solids in Dresden, Germany, retaining a partial position in St Andrews and establishing
formal collaborations between the two institutions.
Royal Society New Fellows 2015
Condensed Matter Physics Research in St Andrews
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
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Razorbill
St Andrews-based company Razorbill Instruments has won the Mercia Fund Management’s Q1 Business Plan
Competition. The Razorbill team, who presented their pitch to the investment team at Mercia’s Midlands-based
headquarters in Warwickshire, will receive a £3000 cash prize. Razorbill aims to develop their product for launch in
Spring 2016. The company has spun-out from research carried out in this School.
Mercia Fund Management, which is one of the leading technology investors in the UK, already has strong partnerships
with nine UK universities based in the Midlands, which offer an enviable source of pipeline investment opportunities, as
well as technological expertise. Mercia is now looking forward to strengthening its partnerships with universities and
businesses across Scotland and the north of England. Nicola Broughton, Investment Director and Head of University
Technology Transfer at Mercia, said: “We are very pleased to announce Razorbill as the winner of our Business Plan
competition. Mercia continues to work with university spinouts in its core geographical areas of the Midlands, North and
Scotland, and this is a great example of how we can provide early stage support as we seek to strengthen our
relationship with key Scottish universities, which include St Andrews.”
Razorbill is developing nanopositioning technology that can deliver precise and
reliable nanoscale movement, which will have a wide range of microscopy and
nanofabrication applications. It was founded in 2014 by three St Andrews
scientists: Alexander Ward, Jack Barraclough and Clifford Hicks. They currently
have a proof-of-concept prototype, and are also continuing to develop and test
their product, whilst hoping for a potential product launch in Spring 2016.
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/physics/news/Panda_news/aw_merciaRB_01_05_15.php
Mercia Fund Managment Prize Announcement
Razorbill Instruments
Alex Ward, picture by Iain Stewert
Photography
Messier 2015 MERLOT award for QuVis interactive simulations
Dr Antje Kohnle has won a major award for her "QuVis" simulations used in the
teaching of quantum mechanics.
The "Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching"
organisation - MERLOT - has announced that Dr Kohnle is the recipient of their 2015
"Physics Classics Award". Dr Kohnle leads a team developing these simulations that
allow students at a variety of levels to explore the ideas of quantum mechanics. The
simulations have become part of a project with the UK Institute of Physics, and are
used in various institutions.
Every year each of the MERLOT Editorial Boards selects an outstanding resource
from its discipline to receive the MERLOT Classics Award. MERLOT considers this
learning material an exemplary online learning resource and recognises it as such on
its website. QuVis joins "HyperPhysics" as another winner of this award.
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/physics/news/Panda_news/askQuvis_09_06_15.php
QuVis website
MERLOT
MERLOT item on Award Winners
Merlot Review of QuVis
Follow the Observatory on
https://www.facebook.com/StAndrewsObservatory
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@jgtelescope
Prof Gather wins 1.5M Euro Grant for Bio -Lasers
Prof Malte Gather has been awarded a 1.5 million Euro grant by the European Research Council to further advance
ground-breaking work on lasers based on a protein found in bioluminescent jellyfish.
The five year Advanced Bioderived and Biocompatible Lasers
(ABLASE) project led by Professor Gather starts this month and will
develop lasers based on single biological cells.
In earlier research Professor Gather found that the green fluorescent
protein molecules that jellyfish produce can be used to turn individual
human kidney cells into tiny lasers. The discovery earned an entry in
the Guinness World Records for the first living laser. Recent work has
involved developing tiny solid-state lasers with record performance from
fluorescent proteins found in the jellyfish.
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/physics/news/Panda_news/mg_ABLASE_03_06_15.php
Gather Lab
SUPA
Human Frontier Science Program
European Commission 7th Framework Programme
U n i v e r s i t y T e a c h i n g Aw a r d s 2 0 1 5
Exceptional staff from within the University were recognised for their hard work in a ceremony in Parliament Hall in April.
University Teaching Awards are nominated by the Heads of Schools and Student’s Association Teaching Awards are
nominated by the students.
Those shortlisted from PandA were:
For the Proctor’s Award that is run by the Proctor and the Student’s Association:
School President Louise McCaul
Former School President Claire Motion
Student’s Association Teaching Awards:
Dr Andrea di Falco for Postgraduate Research Thesis Supervisor
Dr Bruce Sinclair for Excellence in Teaching—Sun-honors level
Dr Charlie Baily for Innovation in Teaching
University Teaching Excellence Award was awarded to:
Dr Bruce Sinclair for his commitment to widening access
The photo shows the winners from across
the categories, and is taken from the
University's Facebook page.
Congratulations to all.
Proctor's Award
Students' Association Teaching Awards
Teaching Excellence Awards
University news page on the awards
University Facebook page
School of Physics and Astronomy at the
University of St Andrews
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School President for the coming academic
year 2015-2016
Tomi Baikie is the new School President for 2015-2016, taking over the reigns
from Louise McCaul who will be the Science Faculty Student President.
Congratulation to you both!
Project Prizes
All students doing a degree involving our School
do a project in their final year. MPhys students do
this full time for their final semester; BSc students
have half their time on the project and half the
time on lecture modules. Most of these projects
were hosted by the School's research groups,
allowing our students to apply the knowledge and
skills that they have gained from their education
to exciting current topics in science. There were
many excellent achievements in the projects, and
today we celebrated the successes of those with
the highest attainments by having a small
reception in their honour.
The prize winners were:
Karina Sujita
Conor MacDonald
Melissa Guilian
Guy Brett-Robertson
Alex Walker
Henry Legg
B M L A Aw a r d t o
Phd student Louise Campbell
The British Medical Laser Association has just awarded two
prizes to St Andrews PhD student Louise Campbell. Louise
works with Drs Kenny Wood and Tom Brown. She is using
numerical modelling techniques from Astrophysics to explore the
propagation of light through human tissues and how this affects
light-based cancer-treatments.
At the BLMA annual conference held in April Louise presented
her research on modelling light distribution in tissue in
photodynamic therapy using both daylight and artificial light
sources. Louise won the prize for the best talk by a student or
junior doctor at the meeting.
Louise also won the BLMA education award of £1000 to support
her work in developing an optical skin model through visiting a
research group in the USA alongside her travel to the Photonics
West conference.
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Bees and bombs!
At the end of April, Graham Turnbull, Ross Gillanders and Paulina Morawska visited Biograd na Moru in Croatia for a
conference presenting their latest results for the TIRAMISU project, in which they’ve been developing polymer-based
optical sensors for explosive detection. While in Biograd they took advantage of a nearby test site at Benkovac to sample
explosive vapours from buried landmines.
One method to do that was to sample the air
with a vacuum, accumulating explosive
particles on the surface of a filter, before
exposing the polymer films to the filter material
and observing a change in light emission.
The other method was in conjunction with
colleagues from Zagreb and Zadar
Universities to sample the air from beehives.
Bees can be used as biosensors by training
them to smell explosives using sugar, water
and TNT, for example, or by simply allowing
them to fly around and then sampling the air
from the beehive using a specially made
cupola. The bees were good-natured
collaborators on the whole, though did get a
bit touchy around twilight.
The PandA team also helped set up the bee
tent at the conference demonstrations alongside cutting-edge demining vehicles and
detection instruments.
Driving in the Croatian countryside with 40,000 bees in the back of the car is a highly
recommended experience for all physicists!
Dr Ross Gillanders was invited to participate in the “Future Technologies” panel, at the
2nd Counter-IED Technology Workshop held in Madrid recently, to speak
about the explosives detection work being done as part of the TIRAMISU
project led by Prof Graham Turnbull in the Organic Semiconductors group.
The workshop, with the participation of NATO military groups and
academia, aimed to identify current and future technologies for efficient
detection and removal of IEDs in civilian and military environments.
While IEDs can be quite different to landmines in terms of chemical
composition, deployment and appearance, the work conducted in PandA,
in both material and instrumentation contexts, can move towards IED
detection.
Dr Tojeiro wins highl y contested award
Dr Rita Tojeiro is one of five winners of the "L’Oréal-UNESCO UK & Ireland For Women In Science Fellowships".
350 people applied for these awards, which promote and reward outstanding female
postdoctoral researchers in the UK and Ireland. Each award is worth £15,000, which
can be spent on whatever the winner needs to drive forward their research. The
winners will also benefit from a raft of career and life enhancing experiences such as
media training, personal-impact coaching, speaking opportunities, networking events
and access to senior mentors and role models.
The five winners were selected by a jury of eminent scientists, chaired by Professor
Pratibha Gai, who was L’Oréal’s International Laureate in 2013, and who is the
founding professor of electron microscopy and co-director of the York Nanocentre.
More on this story
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Lightbox
The Light Box Celebration of the 2015 International Year of Light in Physics, Poetry
and Photography was held on 9th April here in Physics. There were contributions from
new and established poets, photographers and physicists from St Andrews and
beyond.
Commissioned by the University of St Andrews for the UNESCO 2015 International
Year of Light, Light Box is an artistic collaboration between poet Robert Crawford and
photographer Norman McBeath, launched at the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 23
February.
Online version of the book
International Year of Light in Scotland
International Year of Light
P a n - Am e r i c a n H i g h w a y w o r l d r e c o r d c yc l e a t t e m p t
Two University of St Andrews students are attempting to break the world record for the fastest time to complete the
gruelling Pan-American Highway from Alaska to
Argentina by bike.
Medical student Danny Beech and physics student
Chris Lally will average over 140 miles per day over the
14000 mile journey which follows the spine of the
Rocky Mountains, through the tropical climate of
Central America, across the lifeless Atacama desert
and finally over the Andes towards Patagonia and on to
the bottom of Argentina.
The pair, who head off at the end of July, are funding
the world record attempt with a £6000 R&A
International Travel Scholarship and a £5000
Alex Richardson Award.
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news/archive/2015/title,261187,en.php
B i o p h o t o n i c s Aw a r d s
The International graduate summer school
"Biophotonics ‘15" brought together 58 biophotonics
graduate students from all across the globe to
Sweden for a week of inspiring lectures on topics
such as tissue optics, super continuum sources and
photoacoustic tomography.
The theme this year was Entrepreneurship, starting
with a keynote lecture from Eric Swanson (Acacia
Communications). The central idea was that success
can be measured in the translation of your research
into a product that could have a real impact.
The School's Prof Kishan Dholakia was a speaker at
the summer school, and won the prize for the lecturer
most appreciated by the students.
Naomi McReynolds was presented for the winning
company ‘CFC’ (Cardiac Fast Check). This company's mission was to provide fast and inexpensive technology for early
detection and monitoring of myocardial infarction, using a portable Raman device.
School news page for more of the story
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Staff and Student News
Joining since our last Newsletter are:
Professor:
James F Scott (see below)
Research Fellows:
Caroline Murawski
Tom Wood
Maria Kotlyar
Alfredo Gonzalez-Fernandez
Welcome to Prof Jim Scott
James F. Scott ("Jim") has been appointed as Professor in the School of Physics and
in the School of Chemistry, coming to St. Andrews after sixteen years as a professor
at Cambridge University. Jim is an experimental condensed matter physicist with a
strong interest in ferroelectric oxides and fluorides, combining an effort in technology
transfer (ferroelectric memory devices) and basic science (quantum critical points,
multiferroics, phase transitions). He will share the laboratory of Dr. Finlay Morrison, a
Reader in Chemistry here, with whom he worked for five years at Cambridge. He has
won a few odd prizes for his research and was elected FRS in 2008.
Jim is enthusiastic about joining St. Andrews and has moved into a old waterfront
house in St. Monans with his Russian wife Galya.
His family originated in "the deep south" -- Kelso and Melrose -- but settled in
Philadelphia in the 17th Century. Despite the American accent, he has a keen love of
(soccer) football, and unlike most Yanks, understands cricket (played a little at Oxford
in 1970 and lived in Australia for eight years). He enjoys collaborative research, with
both theoreticians and experimentalists.
Congratulations go to….
Carolin Villforth on her appointment to a Lectureship in Astrophysics at the University of Bath,
Carolin received her PhD from University of Turku (Finland), she spent some of the time during
her PhD working at the Nordic Optical Telescope on La Palma and at the Space Telescope
Science Institute in Baltimore (USA). She moved to University of Florida for her first postdoc
before moving to University of St Andrews in 2013 as a SUPA Advanced Fellow. Carolin will start
the lectureship in a new astronomy group at University of Bath in September.
And also to Craig Stark on his appointment to a Lectureship in Mathematics at the
University of Abertay.
Craig jumped ship (or perhaps LEAPed across the bridge) in 2012, moving from a
postdoctoral position in the Solar Physics group to work with Christiane Helling's team
on the physics of ionization processes in exoplanetary atmospheres.
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N e p a l E a r t h q u a k e Ap p e a l
I was watching the news and just felt so sad for all those who’d lost their lives in the earthquake and as we’d held a
couple of very successful bake sales before, I wanted to do something to help those who were lucky enough to survive
and thought it was a great way to raise some money. The Physics and Astronomy staff have a very sweet tooth!
The bakers included myself, Linda Cousins,
Lesley Aitken, Sharon Scott, Sarah Webster,
Michael Mazilu’s children, Scott Johnston, Guy
Whitworth, Kate Rowlands, Carolin Villforth,
Alistair Hodson, Annelies Mortier and Jake
Cohen. Apologies if I’ve missed anyone out.
Scott and I sold the cakes at morning and
afternoon coffee and also lunchtime in the staff
common room and the “cake trolley” went
round some offices and the foyer.
I was overwhelmed at the generosity when I did
the final count. The total raised came to £840
and would like to thank all those who donated,
the member of staff who gave a charity cheque,
Scott for rattling the tin under peoples noses
and Barbara for helping in the common room.
Wendy
66th PandA Golf Tournament
Congratulations to all those who took part in the 66th Annual PandA Golf Tournament on 25th June. 31 people played the
Strathtyrum Course and prizes were awareded to:
1st Nett—
Max Schulz
Allen-Barkla Prize—
Brendon Lovett
2nd Nett—
Andrew Morton
Team Prize—
Mark Robertson, Max Schulz & Euan Shaw
3rd Nett—
Ian Van Beek
Nearest the Pin—
Dav MacFarlane
1st Scratch—
Graham Miller
Best Newcomer—
Nils Kronenberg
2nd Scratch— Scott Johnston
Magic Two’s—
Scott Johnston, Sandra Murray, Euan Shaw
Best Lady—
Golden Balls—
Alison McDonald
Sandra Murray
Ladies Prize— Wendy Clark
If you want to see some
more photos from the day,
go the to the school
Facebook page https://
www.facebook.com/
pages/School-of-Physicsand-Astronomy-University
-of-St-
A big thank you to Moira Jardine for presenting the
prizes.
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A n e w P h ys i c i s t
Congratulation to Lucy Hadfield and Russell on the birth of their beautiful daughter
Charlotte on 23rd May 2015.
An d a n e w As t r o n o m e r
Congratulation to Guillaume and Florence Laibe on the birth of their
daughter Chloe on 25th June 2015, a little sister for Manon.
Looks like the girls are totally outnumbering the boys in the latest
baby-boom!
PandA Website
There have been a couple of new links put onto the School webpage:
First is a link to the Who’s Who poster, which is only accessible to people within the
school, so you don’t need to run round to the posters anymore when you just can’t
put that name to the face! This will be updated in the Autumn at the same time as
the posters.
Second one is the PandA Marketplace, which again is accessible to only school people, so
if you are looking for accommodation, have somewhere you’d like to rent out, looking for a
flat share, or for example that bike has been sitting around for ages and collecting dust,
then list it on the Marketplace, someone here may be looking for one.
Email me at wc23 and I’ll include it on the page. Please let me
know when the ad can come down, don’t want it being full of out of
date items.
Both links are available on the Staff and Students page – Who’s Who
under Contact Details and PandA Marketplace within Staff Resources or scan the QR code.
The Open Championship 2015
The Principal’s Office has confirmed that for operational reasons the University will be officially closed on Thursday 16
and Friday 17 July 2015 during The Open Championship and most staff will not be required to attend work on those
dates.
Staff within Residential and Business Services, the Sports Centre, Estates and any other School/Unit who are required,
for business reasons, to work on these days will receive Time off in Lieu.
This is not annual leave but is in response to the external factors caused by The Open. No pro-rated entitlement arises
for staff who are not contracted to work on these days.
Please note that all University car parks will be closed to staff.
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Al u m n i N e w s
This is a new section for our quarterly newsletter, so we’d love to hear what our Alumni are up to. Email your story to
[email protected]
One item from solarpowerportal.co.uk—Following the recent launch of its
new Solar Intelligence division, Solar Media has acted swiftly to expand its in
-house resources, by hiring Finlay Colville as the new Head of Solar
Intelligence. He holds a BSc in Physics, and a PhD in nonlinear photonics
from the University of St. Andrews.
Next Newsletter
The newsletter is compiled by Wendy Clark.
If you’d like to suggest an item for inclusion in the next
newsletter, please contact Wendy on
[email protected] by 15th September 2015.