An Introduction

Introduction - Oct 19 1:57PM

Hello, thank you for adopting me in the Adopt-a-Physicist program.

To get an idea of who I am, you can view my profile.

-Mike Syphers

Hello from North Carolina - Oct 19 4:51PM

Mr. Syphers,

My name is Keenan and I am an Honors Physics student at […]. In school, my two favorite subjects are math and physics. I am also an all-Conference baseball player here in North Carolina. I am very interested in your field of accelerator physics because it seems to be one of the most specialized fields of study in the world. Particle accelerators seem to be gaining in popularity worldwide, and you seem like a foremost authority. I was wondering, what made you decide to enter this field of physical study? What do you find so unique about accelerator physics that made you chose this field for a career? I also just wanted to thank you for participating in the Adopt a Physicist program. I really appreciate it and I know that this will be a great experience for everyone who is involved.

Thank you,

Keenan

Re: Hello from North Carolina - Oct 19 11:10PM

Hi Keenan,

Good to hear from you. In a sense, I sort of "fell into" the field soon out of college. I had my Bachelor's degree, and a friend was working at Fermilab -- in the suburbs of Chicago -- and told me I should apply. It was a great opportunity, and a great job, but most of all I really enjoyed working on the large machines and learning about how they worked. I soon realized that I could (a) use the physics I learned in my 4 years of college, and (b) learn a lot of new physics and new generate new skills. I liked "turning knobs" in the control room, seeing things happen before my eyes, and then I wanted more to learn why it all happened. So, I had to go back to school to learn more physics so I could "speak the language" and go further in the subject. And, at that time, it allowed me to be connected to world-leading research while I studied, which is truly unique. The big accelerator labs are very exciting places.

Cheers,
-Mike

Re: Re: Hello from North Carolina - Oct 26 8:39PM

Dr. Syphers,

Thank you for you post. It's so interesting the various ways that people like yourself end up in the field of study and profession that you did. But now that your official job has changed, is as much time as you would like spent doing research? I understand that you are a professor at Michigan State, and I can understand how educating young minds would be an exciting endeavor, but it seems to me that your true passion lies in researching accelerator physics and developing cutting edge technology for it.

-Keenan

Re: Re: Re: Hello from North Carolina - Oct 27 3:22PM

Hi Keenan,

Very interesting line of questioning. Ever consider law? ;-)

Actually , yes I think it's a good mix for me right now. I am in a position now where I can do research, help manage a $0.6B project, and teach and mentor physics students all at the same time. And make a good living doing it! And, a big part of "managing" for me is directing efforts to solve very complex problems. So, in a technical sense, it is still very satisfying.

Cheers,
-Mike
Re: Re: Re: Re: Hello from North Carolina - Oct 31 5:34PM

Dr. Syphers,

Happy Halloween! I hope the students up in East Lansing haven't been too wild in their festivities. I was wondering about your early interest in physics. Have you always known what field you wanted to be in and always worked towards that field (I guess in this case accelerator physics)? Or when you were in school did you ever contemplate different applications of physics like engineering or something to that effect.

Thanks,

Keenan

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hello from North Carolina - Nov 01 12:23AM

Hi Keenan,

Lots of students out roaming around, but behaving for the most part. ;-)

I really got interested in "science" at a young age. When I was growing up (10 years old, say), the Gemini and Apollo space programs were going on, and I loved learning about the stars, planets, sun and moon, etc. So, I started out wanting to be an astronomer or astrophysicist when I first went to college. However, I learned quickly that there weren't too many jobs in that field at that time (many more these days than back then), and so for a while I didn't know exactly what field of physics to go into. When I got the job at Fermilab after college, I found "accelerator physics" and really enjoyed the work. So, that's when I went on in that direction.

Also in high school, I did think a little about engineering and architecture, and many of my friends in science/math went those directions. I also thought about journalism, too.

Cheers,
-Mike

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hello from North Carolina - Nov 02 11:12AM

Dr. Syphers,

As an expert in you field, what has been the most interesting thing you have ever done? Have you learned anything or discovered something that has truly fascinated you or given you a new appreciation or love for your studies?

-Keenan

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hello from North Carolina - Nov 02 8:09PM

Hi Keenan,

It's really hard to point to one thing in my career and call that the most interesting thing I've done. I continue to learn new things every day, and the excitement of learning and solving problems and figuring things out is always there. I thought I knew a lot about accelerators (and compared to most people, I guess I do), but I just took this new job at MSU this year and we are building an accelerator which has requirements on the beams and systems which I have never had to deal with before. But, rather than saying "I don't want to do that because I don't know how," I like to say, "I want to do that because I don't know how." Know what I mean?

Right now I'm working with a team of scientists, engineers, and technicians and we are trying to design a system that will accelerate a large variety of different atomic isotopes, smash them into targets, collect the by-products (which will also be a very large range of different types of elements), slow them down and collect them, then re-accelerate them to well-defined known energies so that they can be systematically studied -- all before most of them radioactively decay away. And I only do the "accelerator" part; there's a whole other team that figures out how to actually DETECT these nuclei and determine their energies, masses, charges, lifetimes, and so on. Then, with that information, people can better deduce how stars are made and evolve and how the universe is put together. So, that's what I'm doing right now, and I'm just never sure how to make the job more interesting than that…

Cheers,
-Mike

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hello from North Carolina - Nov 03 8:28PM

Dr. Syphers,

Wow. I get the feeling that you may be one of the minorities that really loves and has a passion for what they do. Those are really incredible experiments. I may not have be the most knowledgeable, but I at least know that life is better when you do something you enjoy. But I just have a quick clarification question. Do you work with developing the accelerator or accelerating the particles themselves? Or both? It seems like the only people that would understand how to build the accelerators must know how to accelerate the particles, and vice versa.

-Keenan

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hello from North Carolina - Nov 03 11:27PM

Hi Keenan,

I tend to work on all aspects of these accelerators. As you succinctly surmised, I started out learning how to accelerate particles in existing accelerators, which led me to learn how they work, and thus ultimately learned how to build new ones. And I still do a little of all of that.

Cheers,
-Mike


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hello from North Carolina - Nov 07 5:24PM

Dr. Syphers,

Do you have any recommendations about physics to a young student that is interested in the subject? I find it fascinating, but I know nothing about the professional field and even less about the depths of the subject itself.

-Keenan

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hello from North Carolina - Nov 08 12:15AM

Hi Keenan,

One good place to start might be to go to Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org) and look up physics, and then follow the various links to see if they lead you to interesting places. (I'll bet they will!) Also, the professional society for physicists is called The American Physical Society, and their web site has a section about Careers in Physics. (see: http://www.aps.org/careers/) Those two web sites should get you going!

Best of luck, and I hope you continue to enjoy your physics class this year!

Cheers,
-Mike

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hello from North Carolina - Nov 09 10:12AM

Dr. Syphers,

I wanted to thank you for everything you have done with the Adopt-a-Physicist program. I have really appreciated it and have really enjoyed getting to speak with you about the world of physics. Thank you for everything.

Sincerely,

Keenan