Bulletin of the American Physical Society
18th Annual Meeting of the APS Northwest Section,
Volume 62, Number 7
Thursday–Saturday, June 1–3, 2017; Forest Grove, Oregon
Session F1: Plenary Session III |
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Room: Taylor-Meade Performing Arts Center McCready Hall |
Saturday, June 3, 2017 8:45AM - 9:20AM |
F1.00001: Topological materials: from spin-orbit coupling to supersymmetry-on-a-chip Invited Speaker: Joseph Maciejko Last year's Nobel prize in physics was awarded to Thouless, Haldane, and Kosterlitz ``for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter''. The theoretical and experimental discovery of topological insulators in particular has led to an explosion of activity in condensed matter physics over the past ten years or so. In this talk I will give an overview of the field of topological materials, and argue that recent developments in this field may lead to the observation of exotic phenomena predicted in elementary particle physics such as axions and supersymmetry. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, June 3, 2017 9:20AM - 9:55AM |
F1.00002: KlpA is a novel processive kinesin-14 motor with tunable directionality Invited Speaker: Weihong Qiu Kinesins are naturally occurring protein-based motor proteins that can use chemical energy to drive directional movement and generate forces inside the cells. Kinesin-14s are a distinct subset of kinesin motors that typically contain an N-terminal nonmotor microtubule-binding tail and a C-terminal microtubule-binding motor domain. Extensive studies suggest that kinesin-14 are commonly considered to be nonprocessive minus end-directed motors. However, our recent study shows that KlpA -- a kinesin-14 from the filamentous fungus \textit{Aspergillus nidulans} -- is a context-dependent bidirectional motor: between a pair of microtubules, it behaves similarly to other kinesin-14s to exhibit canonical minus end-directed motility, but on a single microtubule, it surprisingly moves processively toward the plus end on a single microtubule. We further show that the N-terminal nonmotor microtubule-binding tail of KlpA is required for it to achieve processive plus end-directed motility on single microtubules. By shortening the N-terminal tail of KlpA or inserting a flexible linker between the tail and the motor domain, we have now engineered two new KlpA variants that both exhibit processive minus end-directed motility on single microtubules. Collectively, these results show that KlpA is a novel processive kinesin-14 motor with tunable directionality [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, June 3, 2017 9:55AM - 10:30AM |
F1.00003: Phys21: Preparing Physics Students for 21st Century Careers Invited Speaker: Paula Heron \subsection{With support from the NSF IUSE program, the AAPT and APS formed a Joint Task Force on Undergraduate Physics Programs (JTUPP). The task force reviewed employment data, surveys of employers, and reports generated by other disciplines. We also met with physicists in selected industries to get their views on the strengths and weaknesses of physics graduates, commissioned a series of interviews with recent physics graduates employed in the private sector, and identified exemplary programs that ensure that all of their students are well prepared to pursue a wide range of career paths. The resulting report ``PHYS21: Preparing Physics Students for 21st Century Careers'' describes the skills and knowledge that undergraduate physics degree holders should possess to be well prepared for a diverse set of careers and makes recommendations intended to help departments and professional associations support student career preparation.~} [Preview Abstract] |
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