Texas A&M Physics and Astronomy

Can we get a gig 'em 👍 as we welcome Dr. Simon North, the new dean of the Texas A&M University College of Arts & Sciences!

We look forward to working with Dean North as we continue strengthening our excellence in academics, research and service to create lasting impact for Texas and beyond.

Read more about Dean North here: tx.ag/SimonNorthDean

Saturn has a giant hexagon spinning at its north pole, first discovered in the 1980s and later captured in stunning detail by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. This massive storm is wider than Earth itself and has remained nearly unchanged for decades. 🤯

At its center sits a powerful hurricane-like vortex with winds reaching nearly 300 mph! Even after years of studying Saturn up close, the hexagon remains one of the solar system’s greatest mysteries! Would you want to see Saturn up close? 👀

Visit https://science.nasa.gov/mission/cassini/science/saturn/hexagon-in-motion/ for more information and follow Kevin M. Gill on Flickr for more pictures!

We are proud to congratulate graduate student Iain Bisset on being awarded a prestigious U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Fellowship. Advised by Professor Bhaskar Dutta, Iain will spend the remainder of his PhD at Los Alamos National Laboratory, collaborating with leading scientists across institutions on cutting edge neutrino research.

Iain received the award for his proposed research project, “Developing Rigorous Methods of Model Discernment in Neutrino Phenomenology.” The origin of dark matter and the smallness of neutrino masses remain two of the most fundamental open questions in particle physics. In his fellowship proposal, Iain aims to address these challenges by developing machine learning based techniques to identify experimentally accessible signatures of new physics.

His work will focus on efficiently distinguishing rare signals from complex background data, enhancing sensitivity to subtle features in particle interactions such as kinematics, timing, and topology. These approaches will help enable the identification and characterization of dark sector interactions and the underlying mechanisms responsible for generating neutrino masses.

The DOE SCGSR award recognizes outstanding academic accomplishments, the merit of the proposed research, and the potential to make important contributions to the mission of the DOE.

Please join us in congratulating Iain on this outstanding achievement!