Spring 2021 Newsletter

Letter from the Chair

This past term has seen the beginning of the return to normal conditions during the COVD-19 situation. Research on campus is in full swing and the APAM office now has limited operation; however, spring classes were still mostly remote. We expect we will have near-normal conditions in the coming Fall 2021 term. I expect this will mean that the number of emails requesting a chat on Zoom will decrease greatly (though not approach zero). Once again, I thank the wonderful efforts of our faculty, staff, and students for making this spring term one of distinction.

APAM continues to have much to be proud of! This term has seen our faculty being awarded new honors (Qiang Du and Yuan Yang), founding new journals (Qiang Du), publishing new books (Oleg Gang), and engaging in service to their research communities (Katayun Barmak, Qiang Du, and research scientist Yoshitomo Okawachi). This Newsletter also highlights our research in protecting coastlines from storms (Kyle Mandli and Daniel Bienstock), building tough 3D nanomaterials with DNA (Oleg Gang), and the use of light in quantum information systems (Alex Gaeta, Michal Lipson, and Nanfang Yu).

We follow the accomplishments of our students and alumni, and, of course, we honor our many winners of student awards and distinctions this term: Shaowen Chen, Alex Paskov, Joseph Lee, Junhui Zhang, Ruby Aidun, Anjali Verma, and Samantha (Sam) Mayers. 
 
In closing, this will be my final APAM Newsletter, as I end my third (non-consecutive) three-year term as chair of our fabulous department. It has been an honor to serve you. I am positive that APAM will continue to prosper under the leadership of incoming chair, Marc Spiegelman.

Stay well,

Irving P. Herman, Chair
Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia Engineering