Yale University

Interviewed by
David Zierler
Interview date
Location
video conference
Abstract

David Zierler interviews Larry Gladney, professor of physics and Dean of Diversity and Faculty Development at Yale. He describes the origins of this Dean position, and how he worked to make STEM a more inclusive, accepting place over the course of his career. He recounts his childhood in East St. Louis, opportunities that led to an undergraduate education at Northwestern, where he developed interests in experimental physics. He explains the attraction of being recruited to Stanford; Burt Richter invited him to work at SLAC. He describes his thesis research under the direction of John Jaros and Bob Hollebeek, looking for supersymmetric electrons. Gladney discusses postdoctoral research at Penn, where he worked with Brig Williams on the CDF project. He also goes into the excitement surrounding the search for the top quark at Fermilab. He describes joining Penn’s faculty, while also getting involved in diversity promotion within/beyond the physics department. He then discusses contributions to the BaBar collaboration and he explains the interest of particle physicists moving into cosmological research, at the turn of the century. Gladney describes his time as the department chair at Penn and his work on LIGO and the LSST, and he discusses the state of play in high-energy physics in the post-SSC environment. At the end, he surveys some of the most promising research in cosmology and why engaging young students is so crucial for the future of the field. 

Interviewed by
David Zierler
Interview date
Location
Video conference
Abstract

Interview with Pierre Sikivie, Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Florida. Sikivie explains how the social isolation imposed by the pandemic has been beneficial for his research, and he recounts his childhood in Belgium and his family’s experiences during World War II. He discusses his undergraduate work and his natural inclination toward theoretical physics, and the opportunities that led to his graduate work at Yale under the mentorship of Feza Gürsey. Sikivie explains that his initial interests were in elementary particle physics which was the topic of his research on Grand Unification and the E6 group. He describes his postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland where he worked on CP violation, and he explains his decision to pursue his next postdoctoral position at SLAC to work on non-Abelian classical theories. Sikivie explains that his interests in cosmology and astrophysics only developed during his subsequent work at CERN, and the circumstances that led to axion research becoming his academic focal point. He describes his appointment to the faculty at the University of Florida and when he became sure that axions would prove to be a career-long pursuit. He narrates his invention of the axion haloscope and how this research evolved into the ADMX collaboration. Sikivie explains why he was, and remains, optimistic about the centrality of axion research to the discovery of dark matter, and he discusses the import of QCD on axion physics over the past thirty years. At the end, Sikivie surveys some of the challenges working in a field whose promise remains in some way hypothetical but which nonetheless holds promise for fundamental discovery.

Interviewed by
David Zierler
Interview date
Location
Video conference
Abstract

Interview with Raman Sundrum, distinguished university professor of physics at the University of Maryland. Sundrum recounts his childhood in India, Maryland, and Australia and he describes his life as the child of an international economist with the UN and the World Bank, and a pediatrician. He describes his undergraduate experience at Sydney University where he majored in physics and where he learned that his abilities were in theory. Sundrum discusses his time as a graduate student at Yale, where he was accepted to the math department, and he explains how he immediately shifted over to physics. He explains his initial difficulty settling on a research focus under the direction of Laurence Krauss before he developed a relationship with Mark Soldate and settled on thesis research on particle theory beyond the Standard Model. Sundrum discusses his postdoctoral work at Berkeley, where he spent time at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. He describes being recruited by Howard Georgi to do postdoctoral work at Harvard, and he explains how he collaborated with Lisa Randall and how the Randall-Sundrum papers originated. Sundrum describes the impact of this collaboration on research in supersymmetry, and he explains the events leading to his tenure at Johns Hopkins. He explains how his research focus shifted to cosmology and he discusses his decision to switch to a faculty position at Maryland, where he became director of the Center for Fundamental Physics. At the end of the interview Sundrum explains his longstanding fascination with metaphysical ideas, and he reflects on the importance of developing intellectual maturity over the course of one’s career.

Interviewed by
David Zierler
Interview date
Location
Video conference
Abstract

Interview with Sarah Demers, Horace D. Taft Associate Professor of Physics at Yale University. Demers explains her academic lineage connection to Taft, and she surveys the challenges of remote work in the pandemic. She recounts her Vermont childhood growing up in the church as the daughter of a United Methodist minister and how her family discussed the compatibility of science and religion. Demers discusses her undergraduate experience at Harvard and her early struggles with physics. She describes her relationship with Melissa Franklin and her first experiences with the CDF detector project at Fermilab. Demers explains her decision to go to the University of Rochester for graduate school where she studied under the direction of Kevin McFarland, and she describes plotting the Z boson at Fermilab. She describes her first job teaching at Roberts Wesleyan College and her subsequent appointment as part of SLAC’s team for ATLAS at CERN, where she developed an infinity for the triggers of experiments. Demers explains the opportunities that led to her faculty appointment at Yale, and she describes the interests that led to her book on physics and dance. She discusses her ongoing collaboration with ATLAS, the tenure process at Yale, and her work on Mu2e. Demers describes the “aesthetic hints” that may prove to be physics beyond the Standard Model, and she explains why the LHC can play a pivotal role in the search for dark matter. At the end of the interview, Demers discusses her current interest in tau leptons, she describes the issue of bias as a blockage to improving diversity in the field, and she reflects on the technological improvements that have propelled her field forward. 

Interviewed by
David Zierler
Interview date
Location
Video conference
Abstract

Interview with Michael Dine, Professor of Physics at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Dine conveys his provisional excitement over the g-2 muon anomaly experiment at Fermilab and he recounts his childhood in Cincinnati. Dine discusses his undergraduate education at Johns Hopkins, his developing interests in physics, and the opportunity that led to his graduate research at Yale. He describes working under the supervision of Tom Appelquist and trying to understand the force between heavy quarks within quantum chromodynamics. Dine describes his earliest exposure to string theory and his decision to take a postdoctoral appointment at SLAC, where he worked with Jonathan Saperstein on the next order calculation of the total electron-positron cross section. He discusses Lenny Susskind’s work on Technicolor and his subsequent appointment at the Institute for Advanced Study, his close collaboration with Willy Fischler, and the excitement surrounding supersymmetry at the time. Dine describes the impact made by Ed Witten when he arrived in Princeton and he discusses the origins of axion-dark matter research. He discusses his first faculty position at City College in New York and his reaction to the “string revolution” of 1984 and AdS/CFT a few years later. Dine explains his decision to move to UC Santa Cruz and his burgeoning interest in cosmology, he reflects on when his research focused to physics beyond the Standard Model, and he explains why it is possible to decouple the expectation that supersymmetry must be detected at the LHC. He explains why string theory is making strides toward experimental verifiability, and he reflects on the utility of being a theorist. At the end of the interview, Dine emphasizes his optimism about the axion as a dark matter candidate and why the field is moving steadily toward a greater understanding of physics at both the largest and smallest scales.

Interviewed by
David Zierler
Interview date
Location
Video conference
Abstract

Interview with Elaine Oran, Professor of Aerospace Engineering and O’Donnell Foundation Chair at Texas A&M. Oran describes her core interest in fluid dynamics and why aerospace engineering provides an ideal home department for her research. She recounts her childhood in Philadelphia, her early interests in science, and her undergraduate experience at Bryn Mawr. She explains her decision to attend Yale for her graduate work in physics, where she focused on phase transitions, and she explains the opportunities that led to her work at the Naval Research Laboratory. Oran describes her research in laser-matter interactions and the value of the Laboratory for Computational Physics. She discusses her early interests in reactive flows and how this field became broadly applicable across the sciences. Oran describes being in Washington on 9/11 and her involvement in studying the explosions. She discusses her decision to join the faculty at the University of Maryland and her research in fire whirls and she explains her subsequent move to A&M where she was attracted by the interdisciplinary research opportunities. Oran describes her work in numerical simulations and the interplay between theory and experiment in her research. At the end of the interview, Oran emphasizes the importance of spontaneity and an openness to pursue science in unexpected directions.

Interviewed by
David Zierler
Interview date
Location
Video conference
Abstract

Interview with Anjelica Gonzalez, associate professor of biomedical engineering, and Faculty Director of the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale. Gonzalez explains the origins of the Center and the challenges of getting it started during the pandemic. She recounts her family’s diverse background and her childhood in Las Vegas. Gonzalez describes her early interests in science and her undergraduate experience at Utah State, where she focused on biomedical engineering. She discusses the opportunities that led to her graduate studies at Rice, where she conducted thesis research on neutrophil engagement with soft tissue mimetics and her interest in applying therapies for sepsis. Gonzalez describes her research assistantship at Yale to work with Mark Saltzman and Jordan Pober, and she explains the collaborative nature of immunobiology research. She describes her faculty appointment and the positive changes that Yale has embraced in advancing diversity and inclusion, and she explains why biomimetic development is at the heart of her research and how this work could be useful for Covid research and therapies. At the end of the interview, Gonzalez reflects on the ways science benefits when it embraces diversity, and she conveys optimism for the positive health impacts that her future research can yield.

Interviewed by
David Zierler
Interview date
Location
Video conference
Abstract

Interview with Subir Sachdev, Herchel Smith Professor of Physics at Harvard University. Sachdev surveys his current research projects which includes a focus on Planckian metals and the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model, and he describes the interplay between theory and experiment on the topics he is following most closely. He describes the major advances in spin liquids research, and he recounts his childhood and Jesuit education in Bangalore. Sachdev discusses his undergraduate education at the Indian Institute of Technology and he explains the circumstances that led to his family’s emigration to the United States and his transfer to MIT where Dan Kleppner was a formative influence. He explains his decision to move to Harvard for graduate school, where David Nelson supervised his thesis research related to Nelson’s interests in developing the theory of the structure of metallic glasses. Sachdev describes his postdoctoral work on quantum spins and antiferromagnets at Bell Labs, and research advice he received from Bert Halperin. He explains his decision to join the faculty at Yale, he describes his key collaborations with Nick Read on quantum antiferromagnets and he narrates his increasing interest in cuprates. Sachdev discusses his decision to write Quantum Phase Transitions and he describes the origins of the SYK model and its relevance for black hole research. He discusses his involvement in string theory and his longstanding interests in Bose-Einstein condensation. Sachdev narrates his decision to transfer to Harvard and he describes his work in quantum chaos. He describes his professorship at the Tata Institute and the meaningfulness of being able to travel to and maintain contacts in India. At the end of the interview, Sachdev explains open issues in the theory of pseudo-gap in the high-temperature superconductors, how the SYK model may contribute to the development of a theory of quantum gravity, and he provides a long-range view of developments in the field of strange metals.

Interviewed by
David Zierler
Interview dates
April 13, April 15 and April 22, 2021
Location
Video conference
Abstract

Interview with Pierre Ramond, Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Florida. Ramond recounts childhood in Paris, he describes his family’s experiences during World War II, and he explains that opportunities that led to his education in electrical engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He discusses his graduate degree in physics at Syracuse University to focus on general relativity and his first exposure to the earliest iterations of string theory. Ramond describes his work at Fermilab on Veneziano modelling, his postdoctoral research at Yale, and his subsequent work at Los Alamos. He describes Gell-Mann’s interest in grand unified theories and the influence of Ken Wilson. Ramond explains the excitement regarding the muon anomaly experiment at Fermilab, and he narrates his decision to join the faculty at the University of Florida. He explains how the department’s stature has risen over the past forty years, and he reflects on his involvement with the superstring revolution in 1984. Ramond describes the difference between effective and fundamental theories in particle physics and he conveys the productive intellectual ferment at the annual Aspen conferences. He describes his service work on the faculty senate and he describes his leadership position at the APS during the discovery of the Higgs. Ramond explains why he thinks supersymmetry would have been detected at a completed SSC and he reflects on receiving the Dirac medal in 2020. At the end of the interview, he discusses Einstein’s misgivings on quantum mechanics, he imagines how string theory might be testable, and he explains why he remains interested in CP violation.

Interviewed by
David Zierler
Interview date
Location
Video conference
Abstract

Interview with Lee Smolin, Founding and Senior Faculty Member at the Perimeter Institute with faculty appointments at the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo. Smolin narrates the origins of the Perimeter Institute and he describes his unorthodox views on what exactly cosmology is. He describes loop quantum gravity and the notion of a “theory of everything” and why he has much love for string theory despite perceptions of the opposite. Smolin explains the utility and trappings of the Standard Model and he searches for deeper meaning in the origins and societal impact of the pandemic. He recounts his childhood in Cincinnati and his early appreciation for physics and the circumstances that led to his undergraduate education at Hampshire. Smolin explains his attraction in working with Sidney Coleman at Harvard, and why he saw a grand plan in his desire to learn quantum field theory. He describes meeting Abhay Ashtekar and his postdoctoral work at UC Santa Barbara and then at the Institute for Advanced Study. Smolin describes his formative relationship with Chandrasekhar at Chicago, his first faculty appointment at Yale, and his tenure at Syracuse where he found a strong group in relativity and quantum gravity. He explains his reasons for transferring to Penn State and his involvement in loop quantum gravity achieving a mature state amid a rapidly expanding “relativity community” throughout academic physics. He describes his time at Imperial College, where he developed a quantum gravity center with Chris Isham and he historicizes the technical developments that connected his theoretical work with observation. Smolin describes his book "The Life of the Cosmos" and his foray into thinking about biology and why he identifies as a self-conscious Leibnizian who tries to connect cosmology with the concept of a god and the centrality of astrobiology to these issues. At the end of the interview, Smolin explains why he continually returns to quantum gravity, and he conveys his interest in keeping philosophy at the forefront of his research agenda.