Oakland University Department of Physics

04/15/2026

Dear all,

Our final colloquium for the Winter semester will be given by Professor David Garfinkle from our Department of Physics. David will talk about "Cyclic Cosmology", please see the abstract below.

The colloquium will take place in MSC 185 from noon to 1 pm on Thursday, April 16. Please join us for this intriguing talk!

Abstract: One striking feature of the early universe is that the density of matter and energy is almost exactly the same everywhere. The usual explanation for this uniformity is a period of very rapid expansion shortly after the Big Bang. Instead we consider the possibility that the uniformity was produced before the Big Bang, at a time when the universe was contracting.

03/09/2026

Check out Oakland University's (Rochester, MI) two-week summer program for high school students - "Quantum Physics and Research Opportunities", June 22 – July 2! We will discuss revolutionary ideas in physics that were developed in the beginning of the 20th century, including the Nobel Prize-winning research of Einstein, Rutherford, Bohr, and others. Students' feedback on past programs was overwhelmingly positive (see details at https://sites.google.com/oakland.edu/khain/summer-program). To apply, please submit a brief google form, and we will contact you right away:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdVT3FkRK_az6FAA3HO8ROOKaKZgDqCWdC_xkSHyCAXy1ilJg/viewform

02/07/2026

The APS Topical Group on Medical Physics awards two Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Awards on an annual basis. This year the award goes to Christopher McDonough, a PhD student in our Medical Physics program, working with Professor Alexey Tonyushkin. Christopher will receive the award at the APS Global Physics Summit that will be held on March 15-20, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. He will present an invited talk in the “Medical Physics Analysis and GMED Dissertation Awards” session. Congratulations!

01/26/2026

Physics colloquium this week will be given by our new faculty member, Professor Artem Litvinenko. Artem got his PhD from Saratov State University (Russia) and has recently joined our Department of Physics after holding postdoctoral positions in France and Sweden. Prof. Litvinenko is an experimentalist and does research in the fields of Spintronics, Magnonics, Spin-wave based Computing and Ising Machines (see more at https://www.oakland.edu/physics/research/). The title of his talk (Thursday, January 29, MSC 185, noon – 1 pm) will be “Magnonic-based computing and signal processing”. We all are happy to welcome Artem to our department!

11/10/2025

Department of Physics Professor Yang Xia was elected a Fellow of the International Orthopaedic Research (FIOR) at the 2025 International Combined Orthopaedic Research Societies World Congress. It is a world-wide triennial congress on orthopaedic research, which just concluded in Adelaide, Australia. Congratulations!

09/02/2025

Dear all,

This is the announcement for our first "Social Hour & Pizza Talk" of this semester. On Friday September 5th at noon-1pm in MSC 185.

Mehdi El Bouhaddouti, David Garfinkle and Ilias Cholis will discuss
Title: "The Latest news from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory"

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) has recently made public its latest observations of gravitational waves emitted during the merger of binary compact objects. The current catalog contains nearly 200 such merger events, allowing us to observe such systems deeper into the universe than ever before. Furthermore, the increasing number of such observations allows us to ask questions on the population properties of these merging binaries and even the mechanisms that bring them into existence.

Again, we will have food (pizza and soft drinks) followed by a talk. Also please contact us to give a talk.

Best,
Alexey, Clara and Ilias

08/22/2025

The recent 18th International Conference on Magnetic Resonance Microscopy (University of Würzburg, Germany) featured presentations from two faculty members of our Department of Physics. Professor Yang Xia gave a talk titled “Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis Following a Sub-Critical Impact by µMRI” and Professor Alexey Tonyushkin gave a talk titled “Next-Generation Single-Sided MPI Scanner – Towards Clinical Applications”. Here are our OU faculty in Germany:

07/08/2025

Dr. Puwal is scheduled to teach PHY 3080 Physical Oceanography in the Fall 2025 semester. The course focuses on oceans, climate science, and marine geology. A field lab to measure the flow of a stream will be part of the course. Dr. Puwal was recently interviewed for the OU Alumni Magazine about the new outdoor classroom space. His interview can be read here:

Oakland University’s biological preserve offers a breadth of opportunities for students, faculty and campus itself

07/03/2025

Amanveer Singh defended his PhD dissertation in Medical Physics yesterday. Congratulations Amanveer!

06/25/2025

Dear all,

The Department of Physics advanced program for high school students started yesterday. This year we have a record number of participants: 32 students from 16 high schools! In addition to my lectures on Modern and Quantum Physics, Rao Bidthanapally presents experimental demonstrations of various phenomena and our faculty give seminars on the topic of their research. Yesterday Yuejian Wang gave a talk on high pressure research, today Alexey Tonyushkin discussed his imaging research, see below two group photos from both labs.

Evgeniy Khain

05/08/2025

Check out Oakland University two-week summer program in Quantum Physics and Research Opportunities for high school students! In the program, June 23 – July 3, we will be discussing revolutionary ideas in physics that were developed in the beginning of the 20th century and will talk about the Nobel Prize-winning research of Einstein, Rutherford, Bohr, and others. Students' feedback on past programs was overwhelmingly positive (see details at https://lnkd.in/gm2WSJrx). Additionally, OU physics faculty will present their scientific research and discuss potential research opportunities for high school students in the coming academic year.

Troy School District, Troy High School Parent Page, Parents and Teachers of International Academy - Okma, Rochester High School Falcons, International Academy, Northville Public Schools, Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, PACE-Professional and Continuing Education at Oakland University, Oakland University College of Arts and Sciences, Rochester Community Schools, MI, Stoney Creek High School, Rochester Adams High School, Novi Community School District, Farmington Public Schools, Birmingham Public Schools, Berkley Schools, Detroit Country Day School, Walled Lake Central High School, Lake Orion Community Schools, Southfield Public Schools, Cranbrook Schools, Bloomfield Hills High School, Indus Center for Academic Excellence, Livonia Public Schools, West Bloomfield School District

04/24/2025

During the Oakland University Founder’s Day celebration, Professor Tonyushkin was recognized for his research and received the research excellence award. Below are the official citation and the photo of Alexey Tonyushkin with President Pescovitz. Congratulations, Alexey!