4.2 Connections to Other Units

Please direct comments to Carl Michal.

The Department has close connections to many other units on campus through a variety of teaching and research initiatives and cross-appointments.

4.2.1 Undergraduate Education

[See earlier Chapter.]

In the area of undergraduate education, Physics and Astronomy works closely with Botany, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, and Zoology in presenting Science 1 and the Coordinated Science Program.

These programs have met with considerable success since their introduction and now account for a significant fraction of the 1st year undergraduate teaching load. In later years, Physics 438 (Zoological Physics) is cross-listed as Biology 438 and co-taught with a faculty member in Zoology. Physics 455 (Statistical Mechanics) has recently been combined on an experimental basis with Chemistry 407/503.

The Honours Biophysics program has forged new links between this Department and the various Life Sciences Departments involved. After just three years in existence, this program already rivals the Honours Physics program in enrollment. Further growth will allow the creation of courses tailored for the program, possibly in collaboration with faculty in the Life Sciences, Chemistry, or Engineering.

4.2.2 Research Initiatives

4.2.2.1 Canada Research Chairs

With the announcement of the Canada Research Chairs program, the Department has invested heavily in expanding and solidifying its links to other units. The Department has taken the lead in the `Quantum Structures and Information' cluster, which involves Chemistry and Computer Science. The first proposed appointment in this cluster is to 50% joint appointment between Physics and Chemistry, as a Tier 1 CRC chair.

The Department is also leading the `Origins and Mathematical Structure' cluster, with which Mathematics is involved.

The Department is involved in the Biotechnology and Genomics cluster, as well as the Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems cluster. In the former, there is a strong possibility of a joint appointment with Chemistry and in the latter, the Department will be joint home to the director of the newly funded (CFI, BCKDF) Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center.

While the CRC program is an important part of the Department's plans for strengthing our inter-unit links, it is by no means the only avenue by which we are pursuing such initiatives. In addition to a variety of current joint appointments (Evan Evans, Pathology; William Hsieh, Earth and Ocean Sciences; Alex MacKay, Radiology; Andre Marziali: Biotech lab; Tom Tiedje, Electrical and Computer Engineering). The Department has recently made an offer of a 50% joint appointment to the incoming head of Chemistry, and submitted a UFA nomination for Vesna Sossie, who is an important part of the TRIUMF/UBC PET program.

Other initiatives the Department is pursuing include an expansion at the interface of Nanoscience and Biophysics. The marriage of semiconductor fabrication technologies with the self-assembly and specific binding properties of biological molecules promises to revolutionize sensor, diagnostic and micro-array techniques. As such research will have a profound impact on the fields of genomics and proteomics, discussions have been ongoing with the Biotechnology Laboratory on how best to leverage our joint strengths.

The research activities of many other Department members are connected to other units on campus through a variety of formal and informal arrangements. Some examples include:

4.2.2.2 The Institute of Applied Mathematics

The IAM designs and oversees interdisciplinary M. Sc. and Ph. D programs for graduate students from different Departments working with applied mathematics. The IAM also supports colloquia and seminars, maintains a computer lab, and provides consulting to those using applied mathematics in their research. The IAM involves approximately 16 Departments on campus.

4.2.2.3 Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences

PIMS ``is dedicated to promoting all aspects of the mathematical science by stimulating, coordinating and facilitating the activities of the mathematical scientists in Alberta and BC [and Washington].'' PIMS involves the theory group of this Department, and connects to other Mathematically oriented groups both on campus at UBC as well other Universities in BC, Alberta, and Washington State. PIMS currently supports three post-doctoral researchers working in this Department (Luis Lehner, Sumati Surya, and Konstantin Zarembo), as well as the string-theory seminar series.

4.2.2.4 Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory

AMPEL is a multi-disciplinary materials research facility housing faculty from Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Metals and Materials Engineering. The facility encourages interaction between laboratories of the various groups housed within. Much of the growth forseen in the Department in the fields of Nanoscience and Condensed Matter Physics will have strong connections with existing faculty and facilities here. In addition, the initiative joining Biophysics and Nanoscience will depend on the strengths in this facility.

4.2.2.5 Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics

The LMB is a recently funded (CFI, BCKDF) collection of research infrastructure hubs for the study of biological molecules. Members of the Department involved with the LMB to various extents include Bloom, Evans, MacKay and Michal. As the department's committment to Biophysics expands as described above, it is expected that our participation in the LMB will see a concomittant growth.

4.2.2.6 High-Performance Computing

The Department is home to a 128 processor Beowulf cluster as described in the Computing Research Facilities section. This cluster has users from a variety of Science and Engineering departments on campus, and plans for the expansion of the cluster and its impact on campus are underway.

4.2.2.7 TRIUMF

While not a ``unit'' of UBC, TRIUMF has a significant presence on the UBC campus. A wide variety of research from this Department takes place here as evidenced by the list of Department members involved: Auld, Brewer, Bryman, Craddock, Hasinoff, Hearty, Johnson, Kiefl, Mattison, McKenna, Measday and Waltham. In addition, TRIUMF staff members, J. Ng, and S. Yen have adjunct or Associate status in this Department. This involvement spans a range from fundamental subatomic physics to medical and condensed matter physics.

4.2.2.8 BC Cancer Research Centre

Again, while not a unit of UBC, the BC Cancer Research Center is the source of many interdisciplinary initiatives with which the Department is involved. Researchers R. Durand, E. Grien, C. MacAulay, P. Olive, B. Palcic, and L. Skarsgard all have Associate, Adjunct or Honorary Professor status in the Department.

4.2.2.9 Medical Physics Program

The teaching and research core of the Medical Physics program is carried out by a large number of Associate, Adjunct and Honorary professors in the Department from the BCCRC and the Cancer Hospital (BC Cancer Agency), namely B. Clark, S. Flibotte, and E. Grien, along with J. Aldrich (Radiology), A. Celler (Radiology), A. MacKay (Physics/Radiology) and Qing San Xiang (Radiology) form the teaching and research core of the Medical Physics program. All of these faculty have affiliations with the local teaching hospitals. About 1/5 to 1/4 of the graduate students in the department work in this area. The success of this program from both a teaching and graduate research point of view has inspired the creation of a formal Medical Physics graduate program, described in the Graduate Program Section.

4.2.3 The CIAR

Please direct comments to Ian Affleck.

This Department currently has nine faculty members who are members of three different Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIAR) programmes: Cosmology & Gravity, Superconductivity and Nanoelectronics. These memberships provides the faculty members with teaching relief and networking; they also enhance the visibility of our Department and provide the Department with a powerful tool for recruiting new faculty.

The large number of CIAR members with reduced teaching loads provides both a rationale and a need for bridged faculty appointments. A potential danger is that the CIAR funding is plentiful but very soft. Part or all of it could be cut off at any time with very short notice due to faculty members leaving the Department or changing priorities at CIAR. In principle CIAR funding of programmes and appointments is generally for five years with renewals possible but increasingly difficult. However, the CIAR has been known to reduce funding at unexpected times. The Cosmology & Gravity programme is up for its five year review this year and the Superconductivity programme is to be reviewed next year.

The ongoing and potentially new CIAR programmes provide opportunities for future recruitment of faculty members. A new programme in Quantum Computing is under consideration by CIAR. Two of its three proponents are Bill Unruh, presently in this Department and Raymond Laflamme, a CRC nominee. In addition, expansion of the Nanoelectronics programme looks quite likely as do personnel changes in the two older programmes, if they are renewed.