Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2017
Volume 62, Number 1
Saturday–Tuesday, January 28–31, 2017; Washington, DC
Session H16: Nuclear Physics Careers Off the Beaten PathCareers Industry Invited Undergraduate
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Sponsoring Units: DNP FGSA Chair: Nicholas Weingartner, Washington University Room: Washington 3 |
Sunday, January 29, 2017 8:30AM - 9:06AM |
H16.00001: Mid-Career PhD Physicists: Academia {\&} Beyond Invited Speaker: Susan White What jobs do mid-career PhD physicists hold? In a first-ever study, we collected data in 2011 from over 1,500 physics PhD recipients from the classes of 1996, 1997, 2000, and 2001. About 45{\%} of the physics PhD recipients in these classes immediately took jobs that were not temporary, and over 40{\%} accepted postdocs. How does taking a postdoc affect mid-career employment? What is the relationship between first job (after any postdocs) and mid-career employment? How do physicists' actual jobs compare with what they thought they would be doing when they graduated? Using our initial employment and mid-career data, I will answer these questions and more. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, January 29, 2017 9:06AM - 9:42AM |
H16.00002: Nuclear Detection for Homeland Security Invited Speaker: Robert Ledoux There is a great need for new non-intrusive inspection technologies that provide substantially more information than conventional X-ray or neutron beam projective imaging technologies in the fields of Nuclear Security and Materials Identification. In recent years, a variety of techniques using high energy X-ray beams have been developed to provide non-destructive materials discrimination and identification. These new techniques employ a broad range of nuclear physics phenomena and measurement technologies. Examples of the present state-of-the-art nondestructive assaying technologies will be presented with emphasis on how exploiting nuclear interactions produces a wealth of new information for non-intrusive inspection even if contraband is shielded by many inches of steel. The author will also describe his path from academic nuclear physics to entrepreneurship in the medical, semiconductor implantation and security fields. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, January 29, 2017 9:42AM - 10:18AM |
H16.00003: Nuclear Physicists in Finance Invited Speaker: Carlo Mattoni The financial services industry presents an interesting alternative career path for nuclear physicists. Careers in finance typically offer intellectual challenge, a fast pace, high caliber colleagues, merit-based compensation with substantial upside, and an opportunity to deploy skills learned as a physicist. Physicists are employed at a wide range of financial institutions on both the “buy side” (hedge fund managers, private equity managers, mutual fund managers, etc.) and the “sell side” (investment banks and brokerages). Historically, physicists in finance were primarily “quants” tasked with applying stochastic calculus to determine the price of financial derivatives. With the maturation of the field of derivative pricing, physicists in finance today find work in a variety of roles ranging from quantification and management of risk to investment analysis to development of sophisticated software used to price, trade, and risk manage securities. Only a small subset of today’s finance careers for physicists require the use of advanced math and practically none provide an opportunity to tinker with an apparatus, yet most nevertheless draw on important skills honed during the training of a nuclear physicist. Intellectually rigorous critical thinking, sophisticated problem solving, an attention to minute detail and an ability to create and test hypotheses based on incomplete information are key to both disciplines. [Preview Abstract] |
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