Past Physics & Astronomy Seminars

Spring 2026 Seminars

Date	Speaker & Affiliation	Topic or Title	Flyer
Jan 21	Peter Ferguson University of Washington	Unveiling Dark Matter with the Vera C Rubin Observatory	N/A
Feb 4	Charlynn Irwin Weber State University	Pipelines, Play-dough, and People *Student talk*	Flyer (PDF)
Feb 11	Shane Larson Clarkson University	An Audacious Enterprise: The Dreams, Realities, and Future of Gravitational Wave Astronomy	Flyer (PDF)
Feb 18	Jace Pincombe Weber State University	When Straight Lines Fail: Reflections on a Curved Path Through Physics *Student talk*	Flyer (PDF)
Feb 23	Amaya Sinha University of Utah	Star Clusters as Probes of Galactic Chemical Enrichment in the Age of Spectroscopic Surveys Unusual Location: Tracy Hall 340, 1:30-2:30	Flyer (PDF)
Feb 25	Charlotte Cannon Weber State University	The Proof in Einstein's Pudding: The Astronomy That First Supported the Theory of General Relativity *Student talk*	N/A
Mar 11	Korbin Stacey Weber State University	SEM-ing Is Believing: Exploring Materials at the Microscale *Student talk*	Flyer (PDF)
Mar 18	Casey Reeder Weber State University	Reduction of Annealing Temperatures in Solution Processed Nickel Oxide *Student talk*	N/A
Mar 20	Blake Dalto Weber State University	The Rough Truth About Thin Films *Student talk*	N/A
Mar 25	Patrick Weglinski Weber State University	Simulating Dark Matter models at the LHC *Student talk*	N/A
Apr 1	Draven Kaminski Weber State University	Computational investigation into Black Hole Quasi-normal modes of various systems *Student talk*	N/A
Apr 8	Justin Berry Weber State University	Computational Methods in Physics *Student talk*	N/A
Apr 15	Sophie Lappi Weber State University	Globular Cluster M2: Creating a Color-Magnitude Diagram *Student talk*	N/A
Apr 22	Amber Redmond Weber State University	Characterizing the Pegasus Cluster *Student talk*	N/A

Fall 2025 Seminars

Date	Speaker & Affiliation		Topic or Title	Flyer
Sept 3	WSU Physics & Astronomy Faculty		Introduction to Undergraduate Research
Sep 10		Jason Steffen University of Nevada, Las Vegas	Galactic Chemical Evolution and the Properties of Planets
Sep 17		Maria J Rodriguez Utah State University	Black Holes: Cosmic Monsters or Gateways to the Unknown?
Sep 24		Qi Feng University of Utah	Searching for Elusive Messengers with Ground-Based Gamma-Ray Telescopes
Oct 1	Ammon Washburn Goldman Sachs		Liquidity Optimization under Uncertainty
Oct 8		Jess McIver University of British Columbia	New discoveries with gravitational-wave astrophysics
Oct 15		Shai-Anne Nalder University of Utah	From Lab Bench to Community: The Life of a Parasite (and a Scientist)
Oct 22		Maureen Hintz Utah Valley University	Using the Planetarium to teach Scientific Modeling *Unusual location: this will be held in the Ott Planetarium in Lind Lecture Hall*
Oct 29		Sterling Cornaby Moxtek	Manufacturing X-ray Sources for Handheld X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and what it's like being a Physicist in a Manufacturing Company
Nov 5		Spencer Brickey Weber State University	Signatures in Silence: Searching Faint Stellar Systems for Dark Matter's Hidden Signal *Student talk*
Nov 12		Scott Lucchini Harvard	Refueling the Milky Way
Nov 19	Wesley Flinders Weber State University		Quantum Wave Simulation: A Comparison of Two Methods *Student talk*
Nov 26	Wesley Brown Weber State University		Game-Powered Learning *Student talk*
Dec 3	Sean Feeny Weber State University		From Standing Waves to Black Holes: Using Numerical Methods In Physics *Student talk*