HONORS COLLEGE FACULTY TO
LECTURE ON EXOTIC MATTER AND NEW DIMENSIONS

MIAMI (January 23, 2009) – The first Spring Semester Honors College Colloquium will feature FIU Physics Professor  and Honors College Faculty Fellow Pete Markowitz. The lecture will take place on February 5, at 3:30 pm in DM 100 on the University Park Campus. The topic of his lecture will be “Exploring Exotic Forms of Matter: from Strange Nuclei and Stars to Extra Dimensions.” He will also discuss his work on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest and highest energy particle accelerator, located near Geneva, Switzerland.

Markowitz helped design the calibration for the collider’s particle energy-measuring device. He notes that the primary goals of this potentially groundbreaking experimental device are to achieve a greater understanding of the formation of the universe following the Big Bang as well as the nature of dark matter and its impact on the universe’s development. “Although the universe is made up mainly of protons and neutrons, it may also contain exotic matter and places where new dimensions are curled up into spaces smaller than a fingernail,” he says. He will also talk about experiments conducted by FIU faculty and students that measure the properties and even the possible existence of phenomena.

The Honors College presents two programs each semester as part of its Colloquia series on both campuses. Prominent FIU scholars address the Honors College and FIU community throughout the academic year.

For immediate release

CONTACT:   Juan Carlos Espinosa, The Honors College
(305-348-4100), espinosj@fiu.edu