Message from the Chair

Due to the ongoing pandemic, 2020 will be remembered as a challenging time for students but also faculty and staff at the University of Utah and the Department of Physics & Astronomy. In preparing for a return to campus for fall semester, the university developed coronavirus guidelines in partnership with the university’s public health professionals, with the primary goal of helping students continue their academic course work and research activities throughout the entire semester. The health and safety of students, faculty, and staff have been and will continue to be the top priority.

During the summer, the decision was made to have most students continue to learn online for fall semester. Faculty and department staff have continued to use teleworking arrangements. In addition to online classes, our instructors have been using other formats to enhance the learning experiences of our students, including small in-person classes; interactive video classes; and a hybrid of the two. We anticipate using these same models for spring semester classes.

Despite these challenges, I’m pleased to say that the fall semester has gone remarkably well. I want to express my thanks and gratitude to our faculty, students, and staff for making everything run as smoothly as possible. In fact, research activities among faculty, postdocs, and students remain vigorous and strong.

Our talented faculty continue to win awards and recognition from the U for their outstanding teaching and accomplishments, and I encourage you to read about their successes in the magazine.

While the challenges of the coronavirus are still with us and may remain so for the months to come, I remain optimistic that the university and the department will not only move past them successfully and continue to provide and achieve excellence in teaching and research, I even believe that the experiences we gather during these hard times may eventually allow us to emerge stronger and better prepared for the future. Still, at this time, we need to focus on the immediate challenges, and one is helping support Physics & Astronomy students who have encountered COVID-19 related difficulties. To accomplish this, we invite you to contribute to our Student Emergency Fund. You may donate at: giving.utah.edu/physics.

As always, thank you for your support. The generosity of donors drives the department forward in providing educational and research opportunities. Thank you for all you do.

Sincerely,

Christoph Boehme Professor and Chair Department of Physics & Astronomy

Christoph Boehme