August 1, 2023 Throughout the Fall Semester Space Science and CSPAR will be conducting a Colloquium. We invite both faculty and students to join us! Refreshments for the audience are served before the talk. Check for dates, speakers, and topics below. For further information on the Colloquium, please contact space_science_colloquium@uah.edu. Important In-person Colloquium will be held Fridays at 12:30pm in Cramer Hall (CRH) room 2096. Refreshments will be served for the audience at 12:00pm in the 2nd floor lobby. View Campus Map. Parking: Visitors need to sign in at the Cramer Hall (CRH) front desk and have their ID in order to get a parking pass. Date & Place: 2/21/2025Speaker: Dr. Themis Cronis, Clinical Assiciate Professor, Physics, UAHTitle: Physics in Games Abstract: Feynman once remarked, “It is interesting why some people find science fascinating and others find it dull. One of the things that make science difficult is that it takes a lot of imagination”. But how can we expect students to develop this imagination when traditional methods of teaching physics rely on unimaginative, rote-based, and often tedious approaches? As someone passionate about computer games, I have been a strong advocate for the gamification of physics over the past years. I have been part of a team that developed and tested Simphy (https://simphy.com), a unique platform that enables users to unleash their creativity by designing engaging, even wildly imaginative, physics experiments. This software provides real-time graphical and physical solutions, making abstract concepts more tangible and interactive. I have fully integrated Simphy into all my undergraduate classes, as well as both in-person and online laboratory curricula, transforming how students engage with physics by fostering fun times, curiosity, experimentation, and deeper understanding. These efforts have culminated in the creation of an undergraduate physics textbook, which I aspire to see replace our current laboratory and course adoptions. During the presentation, the audience can actively participate by accessing the links below. These links are how Simphy experiments show up in our UAH student Canvas’ as they are fully HTML enabled (i.e. embedded widgets). On different occasions, I am also providing an interactive Python code that compliments Simphy’s solution. In that sense, the students do not just “plug numbers” but discover the very nature of the physical and mathematical/numerical methods involved. Demonstration Links: Free body diagram: https://simphy.com/usersimulation?fbd-example-21275 Physics of Angry birds: https://simphy.com/usersimulation?projectile-target-ssim-58417 Box compressing a spring: https://simphy.com/usersimulation?energy-7a-51974 Centrifugal force: https://simphy.com/usersimulation?centrifuge-example-20668 Damped oscillations : https://simphy.com/usersimulation?damped-oscillations-20247 J.J.Thomson experiment : https://simphy.com/usersimulation?jj-thomson-18339 Charge orbitals: https://simphy.com/usersimulation?el-field-orbit-updated-17012 Kirchhoff: https://simphy.com/usersimulation?kirchhoff-1a-57932 RL circuits: https://simphy.com/usersimulation?X_L_frequency-98169 Lenses: https://simphy.com/usersimulation?optics-demo-27580 Date & Place: 3/21/2025Speaker: Dr. Gabe Xu, Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UAHTitle: Torsional Magnetic Reconnection for Space Propulsion Abstract: Magnetic reconnection is a well known phenomenon in astrophysical plasmas and occurs in the solar corona and Earth's magnetotail. Astrophysical plasmas have complex 3D magnetic structures which can produce magnetic null points and result in 3D reconnection events. This work is focused on a particular type of 3D reconnection called the torsional magnetic reconnection (TMR). TMR is one potential mechanism for solar flare and has been investigated theoretically and computationally since the early 2000s. Besides astrophysical cases, 3D reconnction also has potential application to space propulsion and inertial fusion, if the phenomenon can be produced in the lab. This talk presents a brief background on TMR and the current efforts to produce TMR in the laboratory scale for both fundamental science and as a potential space propulsion. The work is funded by the DOE and NASA. Date & Place: 4/18/2025 Speaker: Dr. Jakobus Le Roux, Professor, Space Science, UAHTitle: TBD Abstract: TBD Fall 2024 colloquium schedule Spring 2024 colloquium schedule Fall 2023 colloquium schedule Spring 2023 colloquium schedule Fall 2022 colloquium schedule