Valentini will explain to a general audience the nature of quantum physics and clarify some of the myths and misconceptions surrounding it.

Valentini studied mathematics and physics at Cambridge University and received a PhD in astrophysics from the International School for Advance Studies in Trieste. He has held postdoctoral positions and the University of Rome and Imperial College London. He has several publications, his most recent including "Hidden Variables and the Large-Scale Structure of Spacetime," "Extreme Test of Quantum Theory with Black Holes" and "Black Holes, Information Loss, and Hidden Variables."

The lecture is open to the public. A reception will follow the lecture.

The Sobczyk Public Lecture is a joint physics, math and astronomy endeavor sponsored by the Clemson University departments of physics and astronomy and mathematical sciences.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in physics, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Physics.

Clemson University physics professor Terry Tritt has been recognized with the 2008 Governor's Award for Excellence in Scientific Research.

In announcing the award, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said, "This is a testament to your hard work and outstanding talent as an educator and researcher. Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do to further scientific research in South Carolina and throughout the world."

Tritt has received international attention for his study of thermoelectric energy. He says that energy now lost from hot engines could save billions of dollars if it could be captured and converted into electricity. He will be a keynote speaker at the Automotive Industry's Global Powertrain Conference in Chicago in October.

"Thermoelectric energy conversion is a solid-state technology that is environmentally friendly. One of the more promising down-to-earth applications lies in waste-heat recovery in cars and trucks," said Tritt.

Tritt maintains that more than 60 percent of the energy that goes into an automotive combustion cycle is lost, primarily to waste heat through the exhaust or radiator system.

Clemson research focuses on developing higher-efficiency thermoelectric materials that could increase savings significantly. Research into the electrical and thermal properties of new materials could reduce the world's reliance on fossil fuels and has shown promise with two classes of materials: low-dimensional systems for enhanced electrical properties and increased phonon scattering that leads to inherently low thermal conductivity.

Tritt heads up the Department of Energy's Center of Excellence in Thermoelectric Materials Research at Clemson, one of the leading laboratories for thermoelectric materials in the world. The national center focuses on the next generation of thermoelectric materials for power conversion and refrigeration. Researchers in physics, materials science and chemistry screen promising new classes of materials in order to achieve higher-performance thermoelectric materials. DOE has renewed the program with $1.5 million a year in research funding for the next three years. He also has a contract with the Air Force for work on thermoelectric materials development.

The Governor's Award for Excellence in Science honors an individual or team in the state whose achievements and contributions to science in South Carolina merit special recognition and promotes wider awareness of the quality and extent of scientific activity in South Carolina. Earlier this year, Tritt received the Clemson Alumni Award for Research and the College of Engineering and Science Award for Achievement in the Sciences.

A team of Clemson University researchers, led by Apparao Rao, professor of physics, has invented a way to make beds of tiny, shock-absorbing carbon springs which possibly could be used to protect delicate objects from damaging impacts. With collaborators at the University of California at San Diego, the team has shown that layers of these tiny springs called coiled carbon nanotubes, each a thousand times smaller than a human hair, can act as extremely resilient shock absorbers.

The corresponding scalebar is in the unit of 1 micrometer (a millionth of a meter) and a nanometer (a billionth of a meter).

Similar coiled carbon nanotubes have been made before, yet Clemson researchers say this method is unique since beds of coiled carbon nanotubes can be grown in a single step using a proprietary hydrocarbon-catalyst mixture.

The group also envisions coiled nanotubes in soldiers body armor, car bumpers and bushings and even as cushioning elements in shoe soles.

"The problem we have faced in the past is producing enough of these coiled carbon nanotubes at a reasonable cost to make a difference," said Rao. "Because our current method produces coiled nanotubes quickly in high yield, it can be readily scaled up to industrial levels. After formation, the coiled nanotubes can be peeled off in one piece and placed on other surfaces to form instant cushioning coatings."

In earlier studies, Rao and his team, along with UCSD collaborators, tested more conventional straight carbon nanotubes against coil-shaped nanotubes. When a stainless steel ball was dropped onto a single nanotube layer, the coiled nanotubes completely recovered from the impact, while the straight ones did not.

"It's like an egg toss," said Rao. "If you move your hand backward as you catch the egg and increase the time of contact over which the impact occurs, the impact will be less forceful and the egg will not break. It is the same phenomenon experienced in catching a baseball."

In previous work, Rao's group developed a process that coaxes a traditionally straight carbon nanotube to split into a "Y" shape. When powered by electrical voltages, the Y-branched nanotubes behave like tiny switches or transistors that process information.

"Our studies with carbon nanotubes have been ongoing for quite some time," said Rao. "Each step along the way has led to the next breakthrough, and each time we've learned more about how they grow and what their applications could be. We believe that carbon nanotubes have tremendous potential for the lives of each one of us."

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in physics, please visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Physics.

Ginger Bryngelson and Hala Eid run a telescope at Kitt Peak. Ginger Bryngelson, a Clemson University physics and astronomy graduate student is part of the team that observed and compiled data on supernova SN2008D in a galaxy 90,000 light years away from Earth. Usually not seen until one to three weeks after an explosion, this supernova was captured immediately by the Swift X-ray Telescope as the star exploded and emitted a bright outburst of X-rays.

Bryngelson's and the group's observations and research on the birth of the supernova is featured in Thursday's issue of Nature in an article titled: "An extremely luminous X-ray outburst at the birth of a supernova."

The unprecedented observation has the potential to alter the way scientists view exploding stars. Until now a supernova's first moments have been shrouded in mystery.

"Seeing a core-collapse supernova this early on is unprecedented," said Bryngelson. "Core-collapse supernovae are stars that are so massive they explode because they can't support their own weight. Not a lot is known about the early explosions. My part in this research was to look at how quickly the light in the optical energy bands diminished after the explosion. And from that we can determine what physical and chemical processes are occurring."

A long list of researchers from across the world contributed to this study. They include researchers from Princeton University, Max-Planck Institute in Germany, the University of Chicago, the University of California-Berkley and the University of Texas at Austin, among others. Bryngleson collaborated with Peter Milne of the University of Arizona using data obtained with the Super-LOTIS Telescope. Clemson astrophysicist Mark Leising is Bryngelson's adviser.

Bryngelson is the daughter of June and Jay Bryngelson of Waco, Texas.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in physics, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Physics/index.php.

"Our goal is to pave a pathway for SCSU's students and for those from other predominantly minority colleges and universities to PhDs in physics and astronomy at Clemson and elsewhere," said Mark Leising, astrophysics professor and principal investigator on the project at Clemson. "These students are hugely underrepresented among doctoral students in the physical sciences."

Leising says Clemson's role is to collaborate with SCSU, provide research projects and observing opportunities for their students and prepare and mentor those who come to graduate school.

"There are bright students interested in science at universities like SCSU, but few go on to get doctorates and become leaders in the physical sciences. Our experience is that students who get the chance to participate in forefront research, discovering new knowledge rather than just reading about it, are more likely to pursue a career in science," said Leising.

Clemson will offer the expertise of its astronomy faculty and access to observing facilities, including its part of the 36-inch diameter SARA telescope along with some of its time on the four-meter diameter Mayall telescope, both on Kitt Peak in Arizona. Students will research the largest explosions in the universe, the production of the elements in stars, the formation of solar systems and exotic double-star systems.

For more than 100 years, the disciplines of engineering, science and textiles have been at the heart of Clemson University as it strives toward excellence and leadership. Today, Clemson is a nationally recognized research university where approximately 5,500 students are enrolled in engineering and science undergraduate and graduate courses.

For more information on physics and astronomy at Clemson, go to http://physicsnt.clemson.edu/.

In his research, Ke discovered that certain mammalian colon cancer cells contract when cell membranes interact with nanoparticles. This experiment offered a first-hand look at how nanomaterials interact with cell membranes and may trigger toxicity. His research also looks at how nanoparticles coated with different matter react in different aquatic solutions and in the food chain.

Nanoscience is the study of how materials behave when their dimensions are reduced to the nanoscale: 100,000th the size of a single human hair.

"With the mass production of nanomaterials in research labs and on the consumer market it has become imperative to understand the potential impact of these materials after they are incorporated into biological systems or discharged into the environment," said Ke, who is a professor in the department of physics and astronomy. "A major effort in our lab is to decipher the behaviors of nanomaterials in living systems and relate the biophysical studies to practical issues, such as gene- and drug-delivery and toxicity."

The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of the early career-development activities of teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organizations.

Ke and his research interests also were featured recently on the flagship page of Nature.com. The Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter named a review paper, "Carbon Nanomaterials in Biological Systems," that he wrote with collaborator Rui Qiao, a professor of mechanical engineering, one of its top papers of 2007. According to the journal, the selection includes the papers and review articles that are considered the very best contributions from 2007--those with the highest importance and that receive the highest number of downloads.

"These are great and much deserved honors for Pu-Chun Ke," said associate vice president for research and economic development John Ballato. "Given the accelerating pace of scientific advancements in today's technology-driven world, it's always a fight to stay at the cutting edge of the state of the art. This international recognition clearly points to the caliber of Dr. Ke's research and further validates Clemson's strength in advanced materials."

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in physics, visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Physics/index.php.

For Dr. Ke's full profile on the website for Nature, visit http://network.nature.com/profile/ke.

For more information on Clemson's graduate programs in physics, visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Physics/index.php.

During the academic year, fellows study at their universities and conduct a research project under supervision of an academic mentor and in consultation with an ETS research scientist. During the summer, fellows participate in the ETS Summer Internship Program for Graduate Students. The program is open to national and international applicants who are enrolled in a doctoral program and who have completed all required coursework toward the PhD.  Applicants should be at the dissertation stage of their program.

The deadline for applying for the summer internship and postdoctoral fellowship programs is February 1, 2008. The deadlines for applying for the Harold Gulliksen program are December 3, 2007 for the preliminary nomination materials and February 1, 2008 for the final application materials.

For more information on these great fellowship and internship opportunities - including information about stipends awarded with each, the application process, etc - Please visit www.ets.org/research/fellowships.html.

This inaugural fellowship program recognizes the students' past achievements and contributions to Clemson and confirms each student's future commitment to COMSET and its vision to be the internationally recognized academic leader in optical materials.

The Graduate School would like to congratulate each student on this prestigious honor and thank them for being such a wonderful representative of Clemson University.

To find out more about the COMSET Graduate Fellowship program, visit http://comset.clemson.edu/article.php?story=funding_opps or contact Dr. Dennis Smith at dwsmith@clemson.edu.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in chemistry and physics, please visit the following websites, respectively: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Chemistry/index.php and www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Physics/index.php.

Caron St. John, associate dean of the College of Business and Behavioral Science at Clemson University, has received the Dr. Charles Townes Individual Achievement Award for outstanding leadership, innovation and technological excellence in the Upstate community.

St. John is the founder and director of the Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership at Clemson and director of the MBA program.

The Dr. Charles Townes Individual Achievement Award honors an individual who exhibits a commitment to the advancement of technology and the Upstate community through technology-oriented contributions. Such contributions may be business, civic and/or educational in nature and must benefit the Upstate.

InnoVision is the premier awards program focused exclusively on celebrating achievements in innovation and technological excellence in the South Carolina Upstate region. The following 10 counties are in the South Carolina Upstate region: Abbeville, Anderson, Cherokee, Greenville, Greenwood, Laurens, Oconee, Pickens, Spartanburg and Union.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in the College of Business and Behavioral Science, visit http://business.clemson.edu/.

Tritt delivered an address at the Alan MacDairmid Memorial Nano Energy Summit on challenges in alternative energy, specifically thermoelectricity used to generate electrical energy from waste heat.

"Thermoelectric generators are currently used in NASA's deep-space probes to convert the heat of radioactive elements to electrical energy, powering these systems for over 30 years," Tritt said. "Thermoelectric energy conversion is a solid-state technology that is environmentally friendly. One of the more promising 'down-to-earth' applications lies in waste-heat recovery in cars."

Tritt said more than 60 percent of the energy that goes into an automotive combustion cycle is lost, primarily to waste heat through the exhaust or radiator system.

"Even at the current efficiencies of thermoelectric devices, 7 to 8 percent, more than 1.5 billion gallons of diesel could be saved each year in the US if thermoelectric generators were used on the exhaust of heavy trucks. That translates into billions of dollars saved," Tritt said.

Clemson research focuses on developing higher-efficiency thermoelectric materials that could increase savings significantly. Research on the electrical and thermal properties of new materials could reduce the world's reliance on fossil fuels and has shown promise with two classes of materials: low-dimensional systems for enhanced electrical properties and increased phonon scattering that leads to inherently low thermal conductivity.

Tritt heads up the Department of Energy's Center of Excellence in Thermoelectric Materials Research at Clemson, one of the leading laboratories for thermoelectric materials in the world. The national center focuses on the next generation of thermoelectric materials for power conversion and refrigeration. Researchers in physics, materials science and chemistry screen promising new classes of materials in order to achieve higher-performance thermoelectric materials. DOE recently renewed the program with more than $1 million a year in research funding for the next three years.

NanoTX, presented by Semiconductor Industry Association, highlights advances in nanoscience and explains how nanotechnology is being used today and how it will impact a broad range of industries tomorrow, including electronics, energy, aerospace, defense, biomedicine, robotics, chemicals and more.

Part of the conference included a Nobel Laureates reception in honor of the discovery of the buckeyball which opened up nanotechnology to the world.

For more information on Clemson's graduate programs in physics, visit: http://www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Physics.

The amount is the second installment that provides for approximately one-third the $290,000 cost for 33 nights on the telescope during the second year of a three-year agreement made through the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), which is funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF). It also allows Clemson to trade its Mayall four-meter time for access to other telescopes in the U.S. system around the world.

"Charles Curry and his generosity have opened many Clemson student and faculty eyes to the mysteries of deep space," said associate professor Jeremy King, who along with other faculty have taken students on regular trips to Kitt Peak. "These collections of telescopes are among the best in the world and offer a chance in a lifetime observing opportunity for our aspiring Clemson student astronomers. It also gives them an edge in a competitive job market."

A group of Clemson students and faculty travel to Kitt Peak July 18-25 to study the formation of stars and the chemical evolution of the very early universe, among other things. They've also used their time to study gamma-ray bursts, supernovae and planet formation in deep space, where distances are measured in light years.

Through the Seneca-based Curry Foundation, more than $300,000 has been donated to the astrophysics program at Clemson since 2001. In addition, Charles Curry has endowed three fellowships for outstanding graduate student researchers in astrophysics over the past three years.

The Clemson University physics and astronomy department is an undergraduate, graduate and post-doctorate program with 26 faculty members. For more information about the graduate program in physics and astronomy, see http://physicsnt.clemson.edu.

In response to her award, Bethany stated, "I was completed shocked. The award is very prestigious, and I had already received the South Carolina Space Grant; I wasn't expecting to be accepted. The money the fellowship provides will allow me to focus on my research.  In addition, the fellowship requires an internship with the NASA center I applied to, Goddard Space Flight Center, which adds another dimension of opportunity to my research."

For more information about the NASA Graduate Student Researcher Program, visit http://fellowships.hq.nasa.gov/gsrp/nav.

To find out more about Clemson's graduate program in physics, visit http://physicsnt.clemson.edu/?main=p_grad&sub=programs or contact Dr. Mark Leising at lmark@clemson.edu.

Four 30- to 40-foot-long NASA suborbital sounding rockets were launched into the night sky within a period of 16 minutes as part of the HEX 2 project, a collaborative effort between the University of Alaska at Fairbanks and Clemson.

"We had absolutely ideal conditions for the launches," said Clemson physics professor Miguel Larsen. "We are interested in the auroral displays because they produce electrical currents that heat the atmosphere. Wind patterns become altered as the atmosphere heats up, and this can cause changes in satellite orbits and interference with radio communications."

The rockets carried chemical tracer experiments from Larsen and instruments from Clemson assistant physics professor Gerald Lehmacher. At 60 miles above the ground, the chemical tracer glows and can be tracked as it is carried by winds high up in the atmosphere. The instruments measured the changes in atmospheric pressure created by the heat.

The rocket range is located 30 miles north of Fairbanks. The data will be analyzed to yield a three-dimensional picture of the neutral winds and density changes that occur during auroral disturbances.

Twelve undergraduate and four graduate students from Clemson participated in the NASA-funded study.

"The rockets are useful in figuring out the layers of the atmosphere," said Clemson senior and physics major Caroline Yount of Conover, N.C. "The ionosphere is the link between space and earth. It's a natural communications tool. So we send communication signals into this level with the rockets to see how the sun is affecting the earth."

Yount recently spent time in Alaska with Clemson physics professor Miguel Larsen and a group of 12 undergraduate and two graduate students. She has presented previous findings at national and international conferences. She adds that NASA is interested in the research.

Yount was awarded the Robert H. Goddard Space Research Scholarship for 2006-2007. The award honors one undergraduate a year in the United States for outstanding contribution to the field of space research. It was in Washington, D.C., that she met and dined with astronauts John Glenn and Mike McCulley, NASA Director Mike Griffin and retired Air Force Major General Robert Dickman.

"I felt inspired by the company I was in," recalls Yount.

She attributes her inspiration and success to a number of traits:
- Curiosity and a love of reading
"You have to let yourself go sometimes and do something the opposite of physics," she said. "Find a balance. I love to dance, cook and hang out with friends."
- Experience evaluation
"Whether it is good or bad, it will help you figure out where you fit in," she said.
- Take the time to apply for scholarships and get to know professors.
"I don't have innate talent," she said, "but I like what I do, and I work hard."

After she completed her senior year at Clemson in May, Yount planned to attend graduate school for medical physics or participate in Teach for America.

Editor's notes:
- Caroline Yount was in Fairbanks, Alaska, through Jan. 21.
- Digital photographs of Yount are available online. To download the photographs, go to http://clemsonews.clemson.edu/WWW_releases/2007/January/Image_pages/Yount.html.