Vladimir Agranovich
RICHARDSON, Texas (Dec. 8, 2003) – The
University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) will host an assemblage of leading scientists in the important
area of material science, including Professor Alexei Abrikosov, the 2003 Nobel Laureate in Physics,
at a conference in late January in honor of Dr. Vladimir Agranovich.
Agranovich is head of the theoretical physics department
at the Institute of Spectroscopy at the Russian Academy of Science and is a professor of physics
at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. For the past year, he has been working
with UTD while on an extended sabbatical.
The theme of the conference, which will open with a
reception at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22, at the Omni Hotel, 701 E. Campbell Road in Richardson,
will be “Photonic, Excitonic and Spintronic Processes in Nanostructures.” The conference
will resume at 8:30 the following morning, Friday, Jan. 23, in Room 1.118 of the School of Management
building on the UTD campus.
During the conference, participants will hear a presentation
by two other Nobel laureates, Dr. Alan MacDiarmid, co-winner of the prize in chemistry in 2000 and
holder of the James Von Ehr Distinguished Endowed Chair in Science and Technology at UTD, and Dr.
Alan Heeger, a co-winner of the prize in chemistry in 2000 and professor of physics at University
of California, Santa Barbara. Other scheduled speakers include Dr. Eli Yablonivitch of UCLA,
winner of the 2001 Julies Springer Prize in Applied Physics, and Professor Alex Kaplyanskii, a corresponding
member of Russian Academy of Sciences who serves on the faculty of the Ioffee Physics and Technology
Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Additional speakers will be Paul Barbara of The University
of Texas at Austin, Manuel Cardona of the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Germany,
Elias Burstein of the University of Pennsylvania, Mikhail Alfimov of the Russian Foundation for Basic
Research in Moscow, Esther Conwell of the University of Rochester, Z.Valy Vardeny of the University
of Utah, Joseph Birman of the City University of New York and Y. Ron Shen of the University of California,
Berkley. The first day’s presentations will end at 4 p.m.
Of Agranovich, who turned 75 this year, Dr. Da Hsuan
Feng, vice president of research and graduate education at UTD, said, “Besides being a good
friend and a great human being, Vladimir is a world-class scientist in material research. That
is why someone of the caliber of Dr. A. A. Abrikosov was more than enthusiastic in committing to
come to this great scientific gathering when we invited him a few months ago. The recent news from
Sweden that Dr. Abrikosov has been selected for the Nobel Prize is indeed icing on the cake!”
With a large number of Russian scientists participating
in the conference, a special banquet will be held at the Omni Hotel at 5:45 p.m. on Friday, Jan.
23, and will feature a presentation by Congressman Curt Weldon, R-Pa., vice chairman of the U.S.
House Armed Services Committee and the Congressional point person in dealing with the Russian DUMA. Weldon
has a deep interest in U.S.-Russian relations and is the only member of Congress who speaks fluent
Russian. His speech will be on “21st Century Responsibilities of the United States as
a Global Power in Eastern Europe.”
The presentations will continue on Saturday, Jan. 24,
beginning at 8 a.m. in the auditorium of the School of Management building.
There is a $150 charge to attend the conference, which
includes the reception, the banquet and a luncheon on Jan. 24. Reduced student pricing is
available. For additional information, or to register, visit http://www.utdallas.edu/research/ or
call 972-883-4568.
Active researchers and students are welcome to submit
research for presentation in poster form. Accepted posters will be on display for attendees
and speakers to review during the conference. The topic of the research for the poster session
is “Nanostructure: Synthesis, Characterization and Properties.” For more
information on submitting research, please e-mail marc@utdallas.edu.
About UTD
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart
of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor,
enrolls about 13,700 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront
of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment
of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please
visit the university’s web site at www.utdallas.edu.