Issue 1, 2014
Issue 2, 2007
Spring evening from Nordita
Nordita had a board meeting on March, 30th in the Nordita house. The protocol will be posted on the web page later.
Two assistant professor positions in theoretical physics, with no particular specification of research fields, were announced during the fall. We received 135 applications over a wide range of areas. In order to evaluate the applications a procedure with seven initial referees was adapted. The fields and the referees were:
| Condensed matter | Stellan Östlund |
| Condensed matter, complex systems | Mogens Høgh Jensen |
| Condensed matter, theoretical chemistry | Börje Johansson |
| High energy physics: | Per Osland |
| String theory | Joseph Minahan |
| Astrophysics | Kimmo Kainulainen |
| Astroparticle physics | Juri Poutanen |
Two referees, Finn Ravndal and Peter Fulde, were appointed for the final evaluation. Their reports were submitted on March, 16th. An evaluation committee, composed by the appropriate deans at KTH and SU (Folke Snickars and Anders Karlhede), two student representatives, three members appointed by Nordita (Ulf Wahlgren, Axel Brandenburg and Risto Nieminen), and the two final referees appointed by Nordita (Finn Ravndal and Peter Fulde), has a first meeting on April 4th 2007, to decide on interviews. The first set of interviews will take place before May, 2007. Three instead of two assistant professors will be appointed, since Anupam Mazumdar is leaving us in September.
The external advisory committee now comprises 5 members: Terri Hwa from San Diego, Renata Kallosh from Stanford, Graham Ross and Joseph Silk from Oxford and Susan Coppersmith from Wisconsin. In addition, Steven Kivelson from Stanford will contribute to the work in the committee. The role of the scientific committee is to advice the board on research themes, announcements of positions and to evaluate program proposals.
Nordita will from 2007 support scientific programs, which are concentrated efforts where a number of scientists work together on specific problems for an period of 1-3 months. Nordita will fund, fully or partially, up to five program-months per year. Scientific programs were announced during the fall for 2007/2008. Nordita received 15 program applications, which were reviewed by the advisory committee. During the board meeting 2007-03-30 it was decided that the following programs should receive support:
Quantum Fluids www.nordita.org/qf2007 (Egor Babaev KTH, Hans Hansson SU, Mats Wallin KTH, Frank Wilczek MIT), August 15- September 30 2007
TeV scale physics and dark matter (Katri Huitu Helsinki, Per Osland Bergen), two months during the spring 2008
Collective dynamics in information systems (Erik Aurell KTH, Mikko Alava Helsinki), one month during the spring 2008
Origins of homochirality (Axel Brandenburg Nordita, Raphaël Plasson Montpellier), February 2008
Turbulence and dynamos (Anvar Shukurov Newcastle UK, Kandaswamy Subramanian Pune India), one month during the spring 2008.
Since the programs must not overlap for practical reasons, Nordita will contact the applicants to discuss both the time and the budget,
A policy statement for Nordita has been suggested by the Director. The board had several objections, and the statement is presently being reformulated. When it has been accepted by the board it will be posted on Nordita's home page.
There are still problems with Nordita's computer network and home page. The problems are being resolved, but it will take some time.
The next board meeting is scheduled to 8th June 2007.
Ulf Wahlgren Director