Elizabeth Simmons, Ph.D.

Dean & Professor of Physics

Background: After earning an A.B. in Physics from Harvard in 1985, I spent a year as a Churchill Scholar at Cambridge, completing an M.Phil. in 1986. I earned my Ph.D. in Theoretical Particle Physics at Harvard in 1990 and was a postdoctoral fellow in Harvard's theory group until 1993. I joined the physics faculty of Boston University in 1993, and spent ten years there as an Assistant Professor and then an Associate Professor (with tenure). In the summer of 2003, I moved to Michigan State University.

I am currently both a Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Dean of the Lyman Briggs College here at Michigan State University. I enjoy working with the interdisciplinary faculty in Lyman Briggs to bring a strong understanding of the inter-relationships between science, technology, and society to our students. At the same time, I am very pleased to be a member of the lively research atmosphere in the High- Energy Physics Group.

Research: I am a particle theorist, whose research focuses on the origins of the masses of the elementary subatomic particles (or, more precisely, on electroweak and flavor symmetry breaking). I am particularly interested in the properties of the top quark, the heaviest of all the subatomic particles discovered to date, with a mass approximately that of an atom of gold!

Teaching: I enjoy teaching physics courses at all levels, from introductory mechanics and electromagnetism to junior-level mathematical methods to graduate classical mechanics. Incorporating live demonstrations of physical principles and discussion of conceptual questions gives students the chance to test their understanding of the material as we move through a class session. I also try to show how course material relates to my own research specialty; even students taking first-year electromagnetism can appreciate how magnetic fields are employed in the design of cutting-edge particle accelerators. Currently, I team-teach LBC/PHY 415 (Methods of Theoretical Physics) in spring semesters with Prof. R.S. Chivukula of the Physics and Astronomy Department.

Outreach: Part of my mission as a teacher is to encourage more students (especially groups currently under-represented in physics!) to consider studies and careers in the physical sciences. At BU, I founded the Pathways Program which encourages high-College girls to pursue careers in science and engineering. As Chair of the Outreach Committee for Snowmass 2001 (an international particle physics conference), I coordinated three weeks of educational offerings for high-College teachers, K-12 students, and the general public. Here at MSU, I've enjoyed participating in Einstein Day for the World Year of Physics 2005, and the annual Lansing-area Girls Math Science conference.

Selected Awards and Professional Activities:

* ACE-Michigan Women's Distinguished Leadership in Higher Education Award (2005)
* CIC Advanced Leadership Program Fellow (2004-05)
* Physics Today article "How to Popularize Physics" published January 2005
* Mathematical and Physical Sciences Advisory Board, National Science Foundation (2004-07)
* QuarkNet Advisory Board (2004-06)
* Fellow of the American Physical Society (elected in 2002)
* Bunting Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (2000-01)
* NSF POWRE (2000) and CAREER (1995) awards, a DOE OJI (1995) award, and the 2002 Scholar/Teacher of the Year award at Boston University.
* Scientific Advisory Board member of the Aspen Center for Physics (since 1994).
* Co-organized workshops on the Flavor Problem and Electroweak Symmetry Breaking there in 1998 and 1996 and the Focal Week on Women in Physics in 1994; co-organized a workshop on Educational Outreach for summer 2004.