अमेरिकामा कार्यरत नेपाली वैज्ञानिक डा. नवीन मालाकारले अमेरिकी अन्तरिक्ष संस्था नासामा काम गर्दा अविस्मरणीय अनुभव हासिल गरेको बताएका छन् । उनले सन् २०१४ देखि सन् २०१७ सम्म नासाको जेट प्रपल्स ल्याबमा पृथ्वीको तापमानसम्बन्धी अनुसन्धान गरेका थिए । ‘विश्वकै प्रतिष्ठित वैज्ञानिक संस्था नासामा अनुसन्धाता भएर काम गर्दा म एकदमै उत्साहित थिएँ । त्यहाँ केही गरेर देखाउनुपर्छ, के सिक्नुपर्छ भन्ने हुटहुटी मनभित्र रहेको थियो,’ उनी भन्छन् ।
नवीनले पृथ्वीको तापमान नाप्ने नयाँ गणितीय ‘एल्गोरिदम’ तयार पारेपछि वैज्ञानिक जगतमा उनको चर्चा बढेको थियो । यस कामका लागि उनले पृथ्वीका चार भूउपग्रहको २० वर्षदेखिको तथ्यांक विश्लेषण गरी तापमान नाप्नका लागि नयाँ विधि पत्ता लगाएका थिए । यो विधि पत्ता लागिसकेपछि अब एउटै गणितिय विधिअनुसार विश्वका विभिन्न स्थानको ताप नाप्न सकिने डा. नवीन बताउँछन् । योभन्दा पहिले पृथ्वीको तापमान सम्बन्धी अध्ययन–अनुसन्धान गर्दा अप्टिकल तथ्यांक मात्र उपलब्ध हुन्थ्यो ।
सन् २०११ मा न्युयोर्कस्थित सुली अल्बानी युनिभर्सिटीबाट कम्प्युटेसनल फिजिक्समा पिएचडी गरेका नवीन पृथ्वीको तापमान अर्थात् ज्वरो नाप्ने अनुसन्धानमा त्यसयता निरन्तर लागि परेका छन् । उनले सन् २००३ मा त्रिभुवन विश्वविद्यालय भौतिकशास्त्र विभागबाट ‘ब्ल्याक होल’सम्बन्धी अनुसन्धानमा एमएस्सी गरेका हुन् । उनी अहिले उस्टर स्टेट युनिभर्सिटी, म्यासाचुसेट्सको अर्थ, इन्भारोमेन्ट एन्ड फिजिक्स विभागमा असिस्टेन्ट प्रोफेसरका रुपमा अध्यापन तथा अनुसन्धान गर्दै आएका छन् ।
आफूले प्रतिपादन गरेको पृथ्वीको तापमान नाप्ने विधि जलवायु परिवर्तन, विपद्, कृषि बालीविज्ञान आदिका लागि उपयोगी हुने उनको धारणा छ । पछिल्लो समय उनी नेपालको विभिन्न क्षेत्रमा जलवायु परिवर्तन र तापमान वृद्घिसम्बन्धी अनुसन्धान गरिरहेका छन् । अनुसन्धान पूरा गरेर यसको नतिजा सार्वजनिक गर्न अझै केही समय लाग्ने उनको भनाइ छ । वैज्ञानिक अनुसन्धान, विज्ञान लेखन र भावी योजनामा केन्द्रित रहेर डा. नवीनसँग दृश्य टिभीले गरेको कुराकानी यहाँ प्रस्तुत गरिएको छ ।
Saturday, August 27, 2022
Friday, July 23, 2021
Convening the fourth ANPA Conference 2021
I am thankful for all the support and help received during organizing the fourth ANPA Conference 2021. It was held on a virtual platform on dates July 16 through 18, 2021.
The special highlight of the conference was the Nobel Laureate Dr. Joachim Frank, who delivered a keynote talk during the conference. In his talk, he discussed his discovery about single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2017 with Jacques Dubochet and Richard Henderson.
The second keynote talk was delivered by professor Bijaya Karki, Professor at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA.
The third highlight of the conference was a Nepal focussed session that discussed the Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy of the Nepal government to engage Nepali scientific diaspora for the development of the country. Dr. Rudra Aryal facilitated the Nepali-diaspora session, with the panelists Dr. Sunil Babu Shrestha, the vice-chancellor of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, Dr. Vishnu Raj Upreti, the executive chairperson of Policy Research Institute, Dr. Binil Aryal, the Dean of Institute of Science and Technology, Tribhuvan university discussed the current status of research activities in Nepal and how the Nepali diaspora could contribute to accelerating the research collaboration among Nepali scientists.
During the three-day conference, there were 116 papers presented in two parallel sessions. The conference was held on a virtual platform as we could not run the in-person meetings. Hopefully next year we will have a hybrid program like we did in 2019 at Brooklyn College.
The selected papers based upon the conference will have an opportunity to be published in the special issue of the Nepal physical Journal of Nepal Physical Society. We have made a special issue editorial team members consisting of myself, D.Pashupati Dhakal, Dr. Arjun Dahal, Dr. Chiranjivi Lamsal, and Dr. Dilli Raj Paudyal. The editor of NPS (Dr. Binod Adhikari) will be the managing editor.
During the last leg of the conference, the annual general meeting (AGM) was held. Various activities conducted by ANPA were presented. Dr. Chandra Adhikari was the master of ceremony who summarized various ANPA activities, Dr. Shree Krishna Bhattarai presented the development of the new website platform, Dr. Pashupati Dhakal talked about the ANPA Winter Workshop 2020, Dr. CR Bhatt discussed the ANPA student travel award; Dr. Tikaram Neupane discussed the ANPA summer camp for the high school students, and the meeting ended with a message from the president Dr. Jagan Devkota.
My sincere thanks to all the participants for the great enthusiasm and support provided by the community to organize a successful conference.
Saturday, June 5, 2021
Use of smartphones in experimental physics...
Diffraction Experiments with a Smart Cart
The Physics Teacher 59, 272 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1119/10.0004155
Writes: The use of smartphones in experimental physics is by now widely accepted and documented.1–5
I included one of the smartphone lab using the camera to find the focal length of the phone's camera lens.
1.M. Monteiro, C. Stari, C. Cabeza, and A. Marti, “The polarization of light and Malus’ law using smartphones,” Phys. Teach. 55, 264 (May 2017). https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4981030, Google ScholarScitation, ISI
Thursday, July 9, 2020
Researchers Identify Areas Impacted by Extreme Heat to Help Vulnerable Residents Prepare
Researchers at Worcester State are working on identifying “hot spots” in Worcester to help the most vulnerable city residents survive a growing number of extreme temperature events.
Assistant Professor of Earth, Environment, and Physics Nabin Malakar, Ph.D., and student John Veneziano ’20 are focusing on heat vulnerability, looking at places where income level, age range (children and elders are particularly vulnerable), and housing environment stress leave people at risk of being impacted by extreme heat events. Their research will help communities make decisions about safety, Malakar says.
“It just stands out from the data,” Malakar says. “More than 50 percent of people are living in urban areas where the heatwave can seriously impact human health and wellbeing.”
Venezio and Malakar’s research poster “Identifying Areas Impacted by Extreme Heat Events in Worcester, Massachusetts” was presented at the 100th American Meteorological Society meeting in Boston in January.
Extreme temperatures are “one of the leading causes of hospital visits and health issues,” write Malakar and Veneziano in their abstract. The impact of these extreme temperature events will increase as the Earth warms as a result of climate change.
“We want to make people aware of it so in the future we can be prepared about future climate changes,” Dr. Malakar says.
Malakar and Veneziano looked at the “urban heat island” effect, caused by a larger number of people and buildings close together in urban areas, the number of extreme heat events, and the expected increase in the number of these events as a result of climate change and the urban heat island effect that Worcester experiences.
His presentation was well-received. “[There were] a lot of good responses to the presentation. John was enthusiastic about it,” Dr. Malakar says.
Working on this research was an opportunity for Veneziano to get experience and exposure. While Veneziano was very prepared going into the international conference, he was still “really nervous.” There were more than 1,000 posters organized by topic, and more than 40 people viewed with interest and asked questions about his presentation, Veneziano says.
“People were generally really curious about what I had to say,” Veneziano says, especially given that Malakar has worked with the core team of NASA scientists who worked on developing the satellite remote sensing data.
Veneziano and Malakar started working together when Veneziano was in one of Malakar’s environmental science classes. Veneziano was a “bright student” and he “stood out” Malakar says. While Veneziano was “kind of shy in the beginning,” he now needs minimal direction in the second year of their ongoing research.
“The purpose of research is to make the difference,” Malakar says. “The ultimate goal is to contribute to society to make a difference in people’s life.”
Monday, June 22, 2020
Summer Course Recognizes First-Year Students May Need More Help Transitioning to College [Archive: news.worcester.edu]
June 22, 2020
By: Nancy Sheehan
A new summer course will allow incoming first-year students to get a jump on their journey into higher education at Worcester State University.
Called “Lancer Learning,” the free, three-credit course, which will run during Summer Session II, aims to bridge the gap between high school and college to help ensure students’ academic success. The course will be offered online in a flexible format so students will have a variety of ways to complete assignments and engage with faculty, current WSU students, and others.
Faculty leads will be Colleen Sullivan, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology, and Nabin Malakar, Ph.D., assistant professor of earth, environment, and physics. They will be assisted by a group of faculty, staff, and administrators who have volunteered their time to help with the course.
“It’s a multidisciplinary course that will talk about the expectations inside the classroom and open students up to Blackboard, our learning management system, which they’ve probably never used before,” says Tammy Tebo, M.Ed, assistant dean of academic services. “They’ll be getting critical feedback from professors on how they should be writing in college, and be taught learning strategies specific for first-year students.”
The course also will help incoming students build relationships with Worcester State faculty, staff, students, and administrators. “We want to provide them opportunities to gain more confidence and be better prepared to begin their first semester,” Tebo says.
Sullivan says she hopes the course will introduce students to important tools they can use once the fall semester starts and they officially become college students.
“What Nabin and I are trying to do is to incorporate the technology they will be using and identify some literacy resources so they can find the right tools they will need for their classes in the future,” she says. “We’re also going to work on having students start to experience learning at a college level so they can get a sense of the kinds of expectations that professors usually have.”
The course has been designed to position students for success over the next four years, Malakar says. “We want these students to excel at our university,” he says. “Given the new scenario of this pandemic, we want to make sure that our students are successful and well prepared for the upcoming fall semester.”
The concept for the course arose when President Barry M. Maloney set up safe reopening teams and asked one of them to focus specifically on what high school seniors coming to Worcester State in the fall might need.
“This year is very different than before because of the pandemic,” Tebo says. “These students have experienced a major disruption, so we hope this course will fill the gap of the information they might have lost since they’ve been out of touch and maybe haven’t held a pencil in a few months.”
The course will give enrollees social tools as well as academic ones, Sullivan says.
“Offering both academic and social support will alleviate some of the nervousness and anxiety that they might have about coming into a new environment,” she says. “They don’t know where to look for help, so sometimes they get a little lost and this class is designed to introduce them to some of those resources and show them where they are on campus. We hope that helps alleviate some of the first-semester jitters that they often experience.”
Course participants also will be able to get to know some of the people they will encounter when the fall semester begins. The larger group will be divided into smaller cohorts of 10 to 20 students at times, each working with its own group leader.
“Even though this is going to be online, they will be able to meet people, know a face, find somebody they have something in common with, so that even from a social perspective, it’s not as scary to them in the fall semester,” Sullivan says.
“We want to align students toward their future and familiarize them the tools that are available,” Malakar says. “We want them to make friends with the people that they’re going to be with, and to know that the professors are not the scariest people in the world, and that the Worcester State campus is a place where they can find all the resources they need.”
Tentative plans call for the course to be graded on a pass/fail basis. “Lancer Learning” will run in two segments. At some point between July 6 to 10, students will need to attend one virtual welcome event for enrollees. During this time, they will learn how to log in to BlackBoard (an online system where grades and assignments are posted), review course expectations, and meet our faculty.
From July 13 to Aug. 28, students will be expected to log in regularly and submit assignments on time. Each week, assignments and activities for the week will be posted on Mondays and due on Saturdays.
How to register:
An email has been sent to the Worcester State Gmail accounts of all incoming first-year students. In it, there is an electronic form to submit to enroll in the course. The deadline for enrollment is Friday July 3. Students can ask any questions by emailing asuccess@worcester.edu or their academic advisor.