Dr. Nick Peters of ORNL to give seminar Friday, November 3
The WKU Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Student Chapter will host Dr. Nick Peters, a physicist from Oak Ridge National Laboratories. He will be presenting on Friday, November 3 at 3 PM in SH 1108 in a talk titled, “Study Hard! Scientific Research Uses Math Every Day.” His abstract and bio are below.
Dr. Peters is a member of the same quantum communications research team as Dr. Warren Grice who recently hosted our SPS trip or ORNL. All interested SPS students are encouraged to attend Dr. Peters’ talk.
Abstract:
We will give a brief history of Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL), some examples of major contributions to society, and what it is known for today. Then, to pick one of several ORNL strengths, we will describe computing enabling scientific progress in diverse research areas. As we approach the end of the Moore’s law era, we are investigating new paradigms to enable continued growth in computational capability. Once such technology is quantum computing. We will give a very brief introduction on what quantum computing is and what it is not. Then we will describe a recent physics simulation in an effort to understand the scalability of one of the most promising quantum computing technologies. As a second example of how we use math in research, we will describe nonlinear interferometry. Finally, we will describe reasons and opportunities to engage with ORNL.
Dr. Peter’s Bio:
Nicholas A. Peters received the B. A. degree summa cum laude in physics and mathematics minoring in computer science, from Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan, in 2000 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, in 2002 and 2006, respectively. After a short postdoc at the University of Illinois, in 2006, he became a Senior Research Scientist in Telcordia Technologies’ Applied Research Organization, which later became Applied Communication Sciences. In 2012, he was promoted to Senior Scientist at Applied Communication Sciences. In 2015, he joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory as Senior Research and Development Staff Member. In 2016, he was granted a joint appointment to the faculty of The Bredesen Center at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. In April 2017, he was appointed to lead ORNL’s Quantum Communications Team. He is the author of more than 60 journal and conference papers, and 13 US patents (pending and issued). His research has spanned multiple topics in experimental optics, quantum optics, quantum computing, quantum communications, and quantum information theory.
Dr. Peters’ awards and honors include a Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award in Emerging Technology, a National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation, invitation to the National Academy of Engineering’s (NAE) 18th annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering symposium, two Corporate CEO awards, and the Scott Anderson Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. He is a member of The American Physical Society (APS), and a Senior Member of The Optical Society (OSA) and The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Photonics Society. He is an active referee, primarily for APS journals, and has been an associate editor for the journal Optics Express since June 2016.
