Manuel Calderón de la Barca Sánchez Professor of Physics September 17, 2013, Videoconference at ITESM for IFI students Physics Department Opportunities for Mexican Students at Graduate Program

Physics Department UC Davis: One of the best public universities UC Davis’ reputation continues to grow as one of the nation’s elite public universities, where innovative research is addressing the world’s most critical issues and students are equipped for productive, meaningful lives. Chancellor Linda Katehi U.S. News & World Report. “America’s Best Colleges 2013” #8 Public Research Universities 2

Physics Department Physics Graduate Program Physics: Ranked #26 in the US U.S. News & World Report, America’s Best Graduate Schools Research Areas Cosmology and Astrophysics, Observational and Theoretical Condensed Matter, Theory and Experiment High-Energy/Particle, Theory and Experiment Nuclear Physics, Experiment Complex Systems Biological Physics Physics Education Total Faculty: 46 3

Physics Department Active, Engaged, and Effective Faculty Physics Department Half of the department hired after Graduate students 40 research staff and postdocs The graduate program: ~2 years of graduate courses One written and one oral exam ~3 years of graduate research Writing of Ph.D. Thesis Mentoring: Graduate Advisors Thesis Advisors Profs. Robin Erbacher and Marusa Bradač Graduate Students: Ralph Edezhath and Michael Gardner 4

Physics Department Research at Davis and Beyond Research conducted on Campus, but through international collaborations. At Davis: Condensed Matter Experiment, Theoretical research, Complexity, Detector development. International collaborations: Collider experiments (High- Energy/Nuclear) CMS at the LHC, CERN STAR at RHIC, Brookhaven Natl. Lab Neutrino and Dark Matter LUX, South Dakota Double Chooz, France Cosmology LSST, at Chile Keck telescope, Hawaii 5

Physics Department Working at CERN for CMS Testing the electronics for the Cathode Strip Chambers. At the CMS center during heavy-ion data taking. 6

Physics Department At the STAR experiment, Brookhaven Natl. Lab The “Solenoidal Tracker At RHIC” is a collider detector for studying heavy-ion and polarized proton collisions. 7

Physics Department Cosmology Telescope time in Chile Department Chair, Andy Albrecht

Physics Department Building the Large Underground Xenon experiment Cavern to house the Xenon tank, to be surrounded by photomultiplier tubes. LUX experiment 9

Physics Department Funding for Mexican Students UC MEXUS (ucmexus.ucr.edu)ucmexus.ucr.edu University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States UC MEXUS-CONACYT Doctoral Fellowships for Mexican students info/doctoral_prospective.htmlhttp://ucmexus.ucr.edu/funding/prospective-fellows- info/doctoral_prospective.html Five years of funding Any of the UC Campuses Physical Sciences is one of the eligible fields of study 10 Susana Hidalgo Academic Programs Officer Wendy DeBoer Director, Academic Programs

Physics Department UC MEXUS: Tips on How to Apply Research possible campuses and programs 1 year in advance (Fall) Contact departments, Identify deadlines for application (Dec-Jan) Contact faculty conducting research in your area of interest Take the necessary exams TOEFL, GRE, Physics GRE Obtain preparation materials, use practice tests. Find out dates for taking them near you. Submit your applications in Dec-Jan Possible (and encouraged) to apply to many campuses Make it clear in your application that you are eligible for UC MEXUS funding Dec-Feb: Submit application to CONACYT April: Submit short UC MEXUS “Formato de Solicitante” This step is essential in their application process Enables UC MEXUS to communicate directly with the campuses regarding their solicitation of a UC MEXUS-CONACYT doctoral fellowship. 11

Physics Department Career Prospects Excellent job opportunities. Academic positions, postdoctoral research, National Labs, Industry, Finance, Consulting, Manufacturing, Engineering, etc. 12