Faculty positions

1
Faculty positions There is great pressure within
the department to make new faculty hires. Recent
resignations (Wijers, Aleiner, Schaefer, Orozco)
and retirement (Kahn) add to our need to move
forward. The University is in sufficient budget
distress that it is clear that a) getting new
searches approved for next year will be very
hard b) any special arguments we can make are
welcome and the argument that we lost faculty
in the past two years will not by itself carry
the day, as all departments are trouble, and need
to reduce budgets. c) leveraging new
appointments with non-university funds is an
important ingredient. The two positions for
which offers are out (M. Aronson, CM experiment
and N. Pietralla, nuclear experiment) both had
special arguments that enabled the administration
to approve. We are essentially unique in CAS in
getting these positions this year.
2
What I seek in this meeting I expect that
circumstances in the university will change
rapidly generally the prospect for new hires
next year is dim. The advice given to CAS is 14
cut from June 2002 over the academic years
2002-4. However, we dont have a budget from
Albany/SUNY Central yet and thus the reaction of
the local campus is not yet firm. This year, the
advice to the campus has worsened over time but
we have seen some minor openings that if we know
what we want to do, could be exploited. I would
like to have the advice from the department on
what our most urgent needs are not in the sense
of a formal report as in the LRP, but more
individually. The idea is that I would like to
have the sense of the department so as to be able
to move rapidly as conditions evolve. I assume
that the advice will often be prefaced by the
most pressing need is to hire in my own area .
That is fine, but what I really need is a more
global look at the departments needs, and I will
especially value your outlook on the needs in
other areas than your own. Advice can come
publicly in this meeting or privately later,
after more thought and consultation with your
colleagues. (I apologize in advance for this
meeting not including the full faculty! )
3

• Positions to consider
• Astrophysics
• Atomic Molecular Optical Physics
• Biological physics
• Condensed Matter Theory
• Instrumental astronomy
• Nanofabrication/ devices
• Nuclear theory
• Spin nuclear/particle physics

Positions in nuclear experiment and condensed
matter experiment were advocated in the LRP, and
offers are now out
Resignations From Long Range Plan
report spring 2002 Order is alphabetical !
No sense of priority intended.
4

• 2001-2 LRP Committee recommendations
• (no priority given)
• Applying Physics to Biology
• Condensed matter experimental physics of
  materials offer out
• Spin Physics from RHIC search made, no offer
• New astronomical research (instrumentation)
• Low energy nuclear physics offer out
• Also mentioned as desireable nuclear theory,
  nuclear astrophysics, high energy physics,
  condensed matter nanoelectronics, accelerator
  physics, high intensity laser physics
• 1999 LRP Committee recommendations (in priority
  order)
• atomic, molecular and optical physics T.
  Weinacht hired
• high energy physics/neutrinos C. McGrew hired
• astronomy instrumentation
• physics of biology
• experimental mesoscopic physics

5

• There are many factors that would influence our
  choice of new hires
• How many hires can we make? On what timescale?
• What does the startup cost?
• Is there leveraging from outside funds? (BNL,
  grant, )
• Special resources here to retain a new hire
• Will new hire encourage a current faculty
  member to stay?
• What level should the appointment be?
• Curriculum pressure
• Graduate student demand
• Grant income generated
• Preserving existing strengths of department
• Possibilities for new initiatives for research
• How we proceed will depend on some mix of these
  factors, and on the external circumstances. The
  importance of the factors will probably be
  time-dependent, so getting LRP-type advice with a
  static outlook is probably not appropriate.

6
Some statistics RF approximate expenditures by
group (taken from AY 2001-2) Group in
group Tot RF ( K) IDC (K)
K/faculty Astronomy 9 1103
284 123 CM Theory 3 951
233 317 CM Expt 5 460
82 92 Atmospheric 1
135 35 135 AMO
4 749 144 187 CM
devices 3 2850 795
950 Nuc theory 6 1064
345 177 Nuc expt 3
824 156 275 Heavy Ion 3
714 108 238 X ray
2 569
141 285 HE expt 8
2465 397 308
7
Some statistics Ph.D. research grad students by
group Group in group
students stud/fac. Astr. Observing 7
5 0.7 Astr. Theory 1.5
3 2 CM Theory 3 4
1.3 CM Expt 5 5 1
AMO 4 15
3.8 CM devices 3 13
4.3 Nuc theory 5.5 8
1.5 Nuc expt 3 5
1.7 Heavy Ion 3 7
2.3 X ray 2 7
3.5 HE expt 8
13 1.6 ITP 10 14
1.4
8
Some statistics Grad students by group outside
Department Group
students Accelerator(Peggs/BenZv
i) 4 AMO
(DiMauro) 5
Biophysics(Dilmanian, Reinstein et al.) 8
Chemistry(Stell) 1 CM Theory (Davenport,
Essler) 3
9

• The case for hires in the several areas
• (my own take amendments welcome!)
• AMO
• Faculty is down to 2.5 1 research with
  departure of L. Orozco and P. Koch to Associate
  Dean.
• Course pressure we have several courses that
  should be taught by AMO faculty Lasers,
  Graduate 566 and 567, Optics Rotation, Sr. Lab,
  Grad Seminar. Current faculty dont quite go
  around.
• AMO is a very active field of physics research
• High demand of students (20 current students in
  AMO PhD research)
• Desire to retain national position after Orozco
  departure, send signal that Stony Brook remains
  in the business
• Cost of start-ups is large

10

• Astronomy
• One could argue that two hires are desired
  refill the Wijers position, and the hire
  recommended by the Long Range Plan. The
  priorities within the Astronomy Group are still
  being discussed.
• Course pressure to maintain the AST undergrad
  major, the set of popular DEC courses, the
  graduate offerings, and Sr. Lab, we are often
  short astronomy faculty, particularly when one or
  more is on leave.
• LAMA initiative LAMA has made progress in the
  past year, with a funded phase I, collaboration
  with Columbia and American Museum of Natural
  History, and renewed efforts for major donations,
  plan for building LAMA at Apache Point NM (SDSS)
  site. Progress raises pressure for instrumental
  astronomy hire.
• SMARTS consortium telescopes, success in getting
  Keck, Spanish radio telescope, Hubble time gives
  improved Stony Brook telescope time.
• Discoveries in astronomy and cosmology are high
  profile in science and the public.
• Expect the start up cost for an astronomy hire to
  be rather small, but for the instrumentation
  position there will be significant needs.
• Student pressure is not high in observational
  astronomy

11

• Biological Physics
• Stony Brook has had a very high profile in the
  area of X-ray optics and its applications for
  some time. Two long range planning committees
  have advocated modest expansion here.
• Last LRP report identified areas protein
  structure using electron/X-ray microscopy at
  BNL/SB meaning of genome sequences
  computational neuroscience.
• Good funding record
• High student pressure
• Small but highly visible group
• Biological physics is clearly a growth field in
  physics nationally and will be well supported.
• Environmental applications are important socially
• Cost of start up is probably moderately high
• This position is special as it probably
  represents a new direction for the department,
  rather than building within an existing group ---
  but there will be affinities to the current X-ray
  group, or perhaps aspects of condensed matter.

12

• Condensed Matter Theory
• We lost Igor Aleiner. Previous losses (Kivelson,
  Chakravarty, Hwa, Jain) have been difficult for
  the department. CM theory has generally
  appeared on LRP reports when the size of the
  faculty dipped to the current three .
• A major and very diverse area of physics that is
  at the core of most university departments. New
  subfields of CM appear regularly and need
  theoretical development.
• Funding is moderate
• Our graduate students have not flocked to CM
  theory do we understand this? (4 supported by
  SB faculty 3 to outside theorists. Though some
  students working on nanodevices, micro-
  electronics are effectively doing theory.)
• d) Cost of start up is relatively small

13

• Microelectronics, Nanofabrication
• This area was not on the prime list in the past
  LRP, but is advocated because of special
  expertise now in place at Stony Brook upon which
  we could capitalize. (Nanofabrication labs of
  Jim Lukens)
• Stony Brook effort is well recognized nationally
• General area of nanotechnology is growing, with
  new opportunities
• Funding possibilities are excellent our largest
  area of support
• Student pressure is high
• We have invested in considerable infrastructure
  in nanofabrication in past there is an
  opportunity to exploit this.
• Cost of start up will be reasonably large, though
  we may hope that existing infrastructure can
  partially offset.

14

• Nuclear Theory
• Stony Brook has a long history of nationally
  recognized strength in nuclear theory. The group
  has influenced several major aspects of nuclear
  physics heavy ions, supernovae,
  non-perturbative QCD, random matrix theory
• Resignation of Thomas Schaefer, loss of state
  funded research appointment
• Group is relatively large five academic faculty
  and one research professor. There is an active
  and productive interplay within the group, and
  with nuclear/RHI experiment.
• Expect BNL RIKEN joint appointment for duration
  of assistant professor appointment thus near
  term cost is small.
• Research funding has been strong
• Start up costs small
• Student pressure is moderate

15

• RHIC Spin physics
• RHIC is now accelerating polarized protons in
  addition to heavy ions. The two programs are
  rather distinct, but both use the PHENIX
  detector. The polarized program aims to
  understand what carries the nucleon spin the
  gluon, or quark orbital angular momentum effects.
  We expect RHIC spin program to go on for perhaps
  8 years, with possible further related effort
  using e-p/e-A collisions. RHIC spin program is
  about equidistant between particle physics and
  heavy ion physics.
• LRP argument to add a new faculty to capitalize
  on the spin program and to develop leadership in
  this field.
• Expect BNL RIKEN joint appointment for first five
  years, so salary cost is low.
• There is a prospect for significant new grant
  income (via MoU from BNL RIKEN) for new PHENIX
  silicon detector fabrication (1M). To get
  this, need to hire soon.
• Start up costs relatively small due to the
  existing infrastructure in the existing PHENIX
  group.