Celebrating Black in Physical Sciences Colloquium Series
"Celebrating Black in Physical Sciences Colloquium Series" launched in spring 2022 and is organized by the UCI School of Physical Sciences Office of Access, Outreach and Inclusion where we invite physical scientists and mathematicians to share their research with the community while also allowing us the opportunity to celebrate their accomplishments. The colloquium series will feature speakers in each of the four department areas. If you have any questions or would like to recommend a speaker please reach out to aoips@uci.edu.
Read about past speakers below!
Precision Measurement of the Quantum Vacuum with Petawatt Lasers
Wendell T. Hill, III holds the rank of Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, (UMD) with appointments in the Institute for Physical Science and Technology and the Department of Physics, and is also a fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI). He is currently the director of the graduate Chemical Physics Program at UMD. He earned his BA from the University of California, Irvine, in 1974 and his PhD from Stanford University in 1980, both in physics. He was an NRC postdoc from 1980-1982 at National Institute for Standards & Technology (NIST, then the National Bureau of Standards) before joining the faculty of the University of Maryland. Hill’s honors include Presidential Young Investigator of the National Science Foundation (NSF), Fellows of The American Physical Society (APS), The National Society of Black Physicists and The African Scientific Institute, and has been profiled as a ScienceMaker for The HistoryMakers. His research interests are broad with publications ranging from high-energy particle physics to ultracold atoms; he wrote the introductory chapter on electromagnetic radiation for the Encyclopedia of Applied Spectroscopy, published in 2009 by Wiley and is the co-author of the physics text “Light-Matter Interaction: Atoms and Molecules in External Fields and Nonlinear Optics,” published in 2007 by Wiley.
Beryllium, Boron, and Bismuth: From Fundamental Redox Chemistry to Luminescent and Thermochromic Materials
Professor Gilliard is a native of Hartsville, South Carolina. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Clemson University where he was an undergraduate researcher in the laboratory of Professor Rhett C. Smith. He earned his doctorate in chemistry at The University of Georgia with Professor Gregory H. Robinson. Gilliard was a Merck Postdoctoral Fellow and a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow where he completed his studies working jointly at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich) with Professor Hansjörg Grützmacher and at Case Western Reserve University with Professor John Protasiewicz. Gilliard joined the faculty at the University of Virginia as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in the Fall of 2017. He has received several awards and honors. Recent honors include: named to Forbes Magazine 30 under 30 list in Science, Inorganic Chemistry and Chemistry-A European Journal Emerging Investigator, Chemical and Engineering News Talented 12 Scholar, Scialog Collaborative Innovation Award, National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, Organometallics Distinguished Author Award, Beckman Young Investigator Award, Packard Fellowship. He also serves on the editorial advisory board for Chemical Communications, Chem Catalysis, Inorganic Chemistry, and Angewandte Chemie.
Utilizing Math Models to Understand Infectious Disease
Omayra Y. Ortega is an assistant professor of mathematics & statistics at Sonoma State University in Sonoma County, California. She earned her Ph.D. (2008) and an M.S. (2005) in applied mathematics and computational sciences from the University of Iowa, where she also was awarded her Masters of Public Health. She earned a B.A. in music and in pure mathematics from Pomona College in 2001. Dr. Ortega has directed the Mathematical Epidemiology Research Group (MERG), an undergraduate research group, since 2007. Her scholarly interests reflect her expertise in mathematics: mathematical and computational biology, mathematical epidemiology in developing countries, infectious disease epidemiology, and the participation of women and minorities in sciences. Regarding the latter, she has organized an annual Sonia Kovalesky High School Mathematics Day at several institutions including the University of Iowa, ASU’s West campus, Pomona College, and Sonoma State University in recognition of the day’s namesake, Sonia Kovalevsky, who was one of the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics. Dr. Ortega is currently the President of the National Association of Mathematicians Inc. (NAM), a non-profit professional organization in the mathematical sciences with a mission and purpose of promoting excellence in the mathematical sciences and promoting the mathematical development of all underrepresented minorities.