Postgraduate News

At two ceremonies in the year 2000 a total of 15 students graduated with a PhD in Physics - surely a record for the School. Four students also graduated MSc. The PhD graduates were:

Scott Dann
Thesis: Modelling electron densities and neutral winds in the equatorial and low latitude ionosphere

Mark Foley
Thesis: Electronic transport properties of semiconductor microstructures

Michael Johnston
Thesis: Quantum-well infrared photodetectors

Lois Jones
Thesis: Radiotherapy optimization: biological and physical concepts

Wei Li
Thesis: Investigations of surface structural, electrical and electroluminescent properties of porous silicon, and of rupture luminescent properties of natural fibres

Zhen Wei Lin
Thesis: A magneto-optical study of the electromagnetic properties of high-temperature superconductors

Ahmed Mahmoud
Thesis: Microstructure and flux-pinning characteristics in (Y,Nd)Ba₂Cu₃O_7-8 High Tc superconductors

Philip Miles
Thesis: Neutron scattering studies of the high temperature superconductor Bi₂Sr₂CaCuO_8+x

Douglas Murray
Thesis: Violation of fundamental symmetries in atoms and nuclei

Eileen O'Heley
Thesis: The Las Campanas/Anglo Australian Observatory Rich Cluster Survey: bridging the gap

Ilya Ponomarev
Thesis: Interaction-driven effects in complex electron systems

Pavel Shevchenko
Thesis: Quantum phenomena in strongly correlated electron systems.

Yin Sheng Sun
Thesis: Instrumentation for astronomy

Yalong Tian
Thesis: Perturbation theory for polarized radiative transfer computation

Hans-Juergen Werner
Thesis: Efficient radiation parameterizations for numerical weather prediction models with applications to clouds and aerosols

The School hosted the annual Postgraduate Awards competition for the NSW Branch of the Australian Institute of Physics. This was a very pleasant afternoon with excellent presentations from postgraduate students from various universities, including several from the School of Physics at UNSW.

Conducting experiments in the laser laboratory. Practical work is a feature of the new Postgraduate course in Photonics and Optoelectronics.

In 2001 we are offering several new postgraduate coursework programs. In the area of Photonics we will offer a Graduate Certificate, a Graduate Diploma and a Master of Science and Technology. There has been a big demand for graduates in this discipline and the response to our new courses has been very gratifying. A Graduate Diploma in Medical Physics is now also offered. This is designed for graduates in Physics who lack any Medical Physics in their degree and who wish to enter this professional area.