Photos 2008 Program

Over 125 Prospects in Theoretical Physics (PiTP) Participants attended this year's program on the campus of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS).  The schedule offered two morning lectures each day of the program, and participants were given the chance to explore the lecture materials more fully each afternoon through Homework and Question & Answer sessions.  Participants also enjoyed many opportunities for one-on-one in-depth discussions with lecturers during the morning and afternoon breaks, as well as over lunch in our Dining Hall.  

• Organizers and Lecturers included:
• Week 1 Photo: (from left to right) Stuart Raby (The Ohio State University), Edward Witten (IAS), Chiara Nappi (Princeton University), Luis E. Ibáñez (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), John Schwarz (California Institute of Technology), and Herman Verlinde (Princeton University). Not pictured here: Nima Arkani-Hamed (IAS).
• Week 2 Photo: (from left to right) Shamit Kachru (Stanford University), Stuart Raby, John Schwarz, Chiara Nappi, Edward Witten, Hans-Peter Nilles (Physikalisches Institut der Universität Bonn), and Herman Verlinde.

• Here you can see several lecturers in action during the formal sessions in Wolfensohn Hall: (in alphabetical order) Luis E. Ibáñez, Stuart Raby, Herman Verlinde, and Edward Witten. 

• Participants also were encouraged to approach lecturers informally with their questions, as seen in these photos of individual discussions with Professors Raby and Nilles. 

• Morning and afternoon breaks provided wonderful opportunities for participants to share ideas and build friendships among themselves: Break 1, Break 2, Break 3, Break 4, Break 5, Break 6, Break  7.

Participants and lecturers were invited to attend two special dinners held during the program.  Week 1's Welcome Dinner was hosted by Dr. Peter Goddard, Director of the Institute, and Mrs. Helen Goddard, and Week 2 featured a more casual evening gathering, a Pizza Party.  The latter featured not only good food and much fun, but also special entertainment provided by several of the participants.

• Pizza Party 1*: Lecturers and organizers enoyed the opportunity to relax with participants over an informal meal of pizza, melon and popsicles, as seen in this photo of (from left to right) Professors Raby, Schwarz, and Nilles together with one of the program participants.

• Pizza Party 2*: Participants found many humorous moments to share together during the evening.

• Pizza Party 3**: Participant Theodor Brasoveanu (Princeton University) was the key organizer of the evening's musical entertainment, as well as one of the performers.

• Pizza Party 4**: "Los Gauginos" sang for their supper. Performing were program participants (from left to right) Aaron Vincent (McGill University), Jeanne Parmentier (Ecole Polytechnique, CPHT), Theodor Brasoveanu, Anke Knauf (McGill University), and Federico Urban (University of British Columbia) on the guitar. Click here to read the Lyrics or see a Video (hi resolution) (or lo resolution) of the performers.
  [Based on original song "Take Me Out," (Franz Ferdinand), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_9GR9kdZ3o]  

In addition to all of the activities noted above, participants were encouraged to organize additional activities during their "down time," and they did so with gusto, resulting not only in the wonderful musical entertainment presented at the Pizza Party, but also in the occurence of numerous frisbee and soccer competitions, as well as three special evening programs during which they came together to offer individual presentations about themselves and their personal areas of study.

• Frisbee Game**

• Participant Talks**

As you can see, 2008 was another busy and productive year for the Prospects in Theoretical Physics Program!

 * Photo provided by program participant Jianwei Mei (Texas A&M University)
**Photo provided by program participant Borun Chowdhury (The Ohio State University)