My Physics web page at PVAMU
 

Assistant Prof.  Orion CIFTJA
Department of Physics
Prairie View A&M University
Prairie View, TX 77446
TEACHING
FALL-2003:

SPRING-2004:

FALL-2004:

ESSAYS (for bonus points): Begin with abstract, not to exceed 250 words, which represents the rationale of the work. The body of the narrative may not exceed 1700 words, double-spaced, in at least 10-point type, excluding abstract, figures and references. The narrative should expand on the abstract and include a description of the work. Include pertinent literature citations (when available). Do not cut and paste from the Internet!

P.S: Send the essay electronically as a Word-format file (prefered!) or pdf file. 

Due Date: On or before the final test

TOPICS OF INTEREST:

  • What good is Physics to the person on the street
  • What is Newton's legacy
  • Who is the greatest American physicist?
  • What does it take to win the Nobel prize in Physics
  • Why was Galileo convicted?
  • What do you like most about Physics
  • I hate Physics and sciences because....
  • Who are the ten best living Physicists of the world and what have they done
  • Science debates pseudoscience: do the U.F.O-s exist?!

SPRING-2005:

SUMMER-2005:

FALL-2005:

Download General Physics Lab I (PHYS-2111) manual  here

SPRING-2006:

Download General Physics Lab II (PHYS-2121) manual here

FALL-2006:

CAS aspiration statement

SPRING-2007:

FALL-2007:

Download University Physics Lab I (PHYS-2511) manual here ; Download University Physics Lab II (PHYS-2521) manual here

RESEARCH
My areas of research interest and varying degree of expertise are:
  • Strongly correlated electronic systems
  • Fractional quantum Hall effect
  • Semiconductor quantum dots
  • Quantum liquids and solids 
  • Quantum Monte Carlo simulation methods
  • Molecular magnetism
These topics belong to the domain of  Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics and  are closely related to nanotechnology, semiconductors, nanodevices, etc. 
 
In the following  work we try to explain why electrons in a two-dimensional sample tend to behave as liquid crystals, namely they are neither in a solid, nor in a liquid state, but somewhere in between  [Trial state for a two-dimensional hexatic, A. J. Schmidt, O. Ciftja, and C. Wexler, Physical Review B 67, 155315 (2003)].In a more recent work [Liquid crystalline states for two-dimensional electrons in strong magnetic fields, O. Ciftja, C. Lapilli and C. Wexler, Physical Review B 69, 125320 (2004)],  we found some evidence for a nematic liquid crystal state at Landau level filling factor: 4+1/3, however it appears that the "tetratic" and "hexatic" liquid crystal states for Landau level filling factors, 4+1/5 and 4+1/7 are energetically less favorable than the isotropic Laughlin liquid states. 
SERVICE
Several Department Committee-s
Several College Committee-s
Several University Committee-s
 
 

Education:

  • Ph.D, International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA/ISAS), Trieste, Italy (1997)
  • M.S,  International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA/ISAS), Trieste, Italy (1995)
  • Diploma, International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy (1994)

Office: 330F New Sci. Bldg
Phone: 1-(936)-261-3137
Fax: 1-(936)-261-3149
E-mail: ogciftja@pvamu.edu

Read about Dr. Ciftja named a KITP SCHOLAR for the period 2007-2009. Here is the Roster of KITP SCHOLARS since 1998. Here are Pictures of KITP SCHOLARS since 1998. Here is a description of KITP, University of California, Santa Barbara  (from Wikipedia).

Research Interests:

  • Strongly Correlated Electronic Systems
  • Fractional Quantum Hall Effect (FQHE)
  • Semiconductor quantum dots
  • Quantum liquids and solids
  • Monte Carlo simulation methods
  • Molecular Magnetism
This poster (.ppt) was presented at the 2-nd Annual TAMUS "Pathways Research Symposium", held in Corpus Christi, TX on October 15-16, 2004.
 
This  poster was presented at the  Gordon Research Conference on "Correlated Electron Systems" held in Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA on June 20-25, 2004.
 
Some of my recent papers ( . pdf ) that  indicate my current interests :

Some of my older  papers ( .  pdf)  :

Ethical behaviour in science, read about Schoen's case                                   
National Nanotechnology Initiative
This is a nice paper ( . pdf ) in Nanotechnology
A nice paper ( . html ) on Quantum Dots
Quantum dots from TUDELFT
 
The Texas Electronic Coalition for Physics (TECP)
If you think that Physics is not "cool" read Britney Spears Guide to Semiconductor Physics
 
Theoretical Physics Institutes: International Centre for Theoretical Physics (Trieste, Italy) ; Institute for Theoretical Physics (University of California at Santa Barbara) ; Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics (Seoul, South Korea) ; NORDITA (Copenhagen, Denmark) ; National Institute for Theoretical Physics (University of Adelaide, Australia) ; Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics (Moscow, Russia) ; Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics (Kyoto University, Japan) ; Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (Bombay, India) ; C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics (SUNY at Stony Brook) ;  Center for Theoretical Physics (Seoul National University, South Korea) ; Centre for Theoretical Physics (University of Groningen, Netherlands) ; Institute for Theoretical Physics (TU-Wien, Austria) ; Institute of Theoretical Physics (Bern, Switzerland) ; Institute of Theoretical Physics (Koeln, Germany) ; Pacific Institute of Theoretical Physics (UBC-Vancouver, Canada) ; Raman Research Institute (Bangalore, India)
 
U.S. DOE Labs can be found here
Professional Societies: American Physical Society (APS) ; American Institute of Physics (AIP)  ; Materials Research Society (MRS) ; American Mathematical Society (AMS) ; American Chemical Society (ACS) ; American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) ;American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) ; Institute of Physics (IOP) ; European Physical Society (EPS) ; National Academy of Sciences (NAS) ; Optical Society of America (OSA) ; Society of Physics Students (SPS) ; National Education Association

Physics Resources: E-print Archive (formerly xxx.lanl.gov) ; PhysicsWeb ; Physlink ; Physics Central ; FirstGov for Science  ; Physics Humor ; Nobel Prize Winners ; ISI Web of Knowledge ;  Astrophysics Data System (ADS.HARVARD.EDU)
Physics News: Physical Review Focus ; American Physical Society's What's New ; Institute of Physics Publishing's Weekly News ; Physics Newsletters 
Physics Jobs: Physics Today ; AIP Career Services ; The Chronicle of Higher Education ; HigherEdJobs ; Phds.org

Physics Journals: APS Journals ; AIP Journals ; IOP Journals ; Elsevier Journals  ; EDPSciences Journals ; WorldScientific Journals ; Springer Journals ; Wiley Journals ; Science ; Nature ; Nova Science Publishers

U.S. Physics Departments: Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ; Texas at Austin ; A&M at College Station ; Harvard ; MIT ; Yale ; Caltech ; Cornell ; Princeton ; Chicago ; Rice ; WUSTL ; Notre Dame ; Berkeley ; Washington at Seattle ; Stanford ; Duke ; Pennsylvenia ; Columbia ; Northwestern ; John Hopkins ; Brown ; Emory ; Virginia ; Carnegie Mellon ; Georgetown ; Michigan at Ann Arbor ; UCLA  ; Tufts ; North Carolina at Chapel Hill ; Southern California ; Brandeis ; California at San Diego ; Wisconsin at Madison ; Rochester ; Georgia Tech ; California at Davis ; California at Irvine ; California at Santa Barbara ; Pennsylvania State ; Florida at Gainesville ; Maryland at College Park ; Syracuse ; Iowa ; Purdue ; Georgia ; Ohio State ; Rutgers at New Brunswick/Piscateway ; Minnesota at Twin Cities ; Boston ; Indiana at Bloomington ; Michigan State ; Missouri at Columbia ; Colorado at Boulder ; NCSU at Raleigh ; Vanderbilt ; Wake Forest ; College of William & Mary  ; Case Western Reserve ; Lehigh ; Tulane ; George Washington ; Connecticut

U.S. Physics, Engineering, and Mathematics Departments (complete list), click here

Funding Agencies:  ACS Petroleum Research Fund ; Army Research Office (ARO) ; National Science Foundation (NSF)  ; National Institute of Standarts and Technology (NIST) ; National Institutes of Health (NIH) ;  Department of Energy (DOE)  ;Office of Energy Research at DOE ; Department of Education ; Office of Naval Research (ONR) ; Research Corporation  ; NASA ;  FedWorld (many links) ; ARPATP

Prairie View A&M Research Foundation

Office of Sponsored Programs

Texas A&M Research Foundation 

Office of Proposal Development

Mathematical/Physics Links:

  • Netlib Repository  "... is a collection of high quality mathematical software, papers, and databases."
  • MathWorld "... is a comprehensive and interactive mathematics encyclopedia intended for students, educators, math enthusiasts, and researchers ..."
  • Wikipedia  "The Free Encyclopedia"
  • The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) "All about soccer ..."

    NEWS:


    • Privacy Statement | Webmaster | Compact with Texans | ADA Resources | Search PVAMU

    © 2002 PRAIRIE VIEW A&M UNIVERSITY - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
    P.O. Box 519 • Prairie View, Texas • 77446-0519
    University Operator: (936) 857-3311
    Best viewed with Netscape 6.2 or IE 6.0