2001-2002 Colloquium Series
NAU Physical Sciences (Bldg 19, Rm 321), Thursday, 15 November 2001, 4:00 PM
(Refreshments at 3:45 PM)
DENDRITIC STRUCTURE: A NEW PARADIGM IN THE PHYSICS OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS
Alex Umantsev , NAU Physics & Astronomy.
Abstract
In physics, simplicity has always been equated with beauty. Today in the
physics related to research on materials, however, another trend is clear:
the degree of complexity in our descriptions is increasing. It appears that
our traditional simplicity metaphor should be complemented: complexity
is pervasive. This talk will present examples of complex systems using the
dentritic structure of materials
Alex was educated in Russia. He received his B.S. in Physics from the Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology and his Ph.D. from the National Lab for Metallurgy. He came to this country in 1989 and worked at first as a post doc and then as a research associate at Northwestern University. The last four years he taught physics and astronomy at Saint-Xavier University in Chicago and maintained close research ties with Northwestern. Alex's research interests are in different areas of materials physics, especially phase transitions and structure formation far from thermodynamic equilibrium.
Local Host: Sean Frigo, (928) 523-0195.