Daniel L. Stein

Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics, Biophysics.
Ph.D., Princeton University, 1979
dls@physics.arizona.edu

1998 State of the Department Address
The following is the edited version of the State of the Department Address, delivered by Dr. Daniel Stein at the
Physics Department holiday party, December 1998.

We'll start as usual with the state of our faculty. Our faculty is changing rapidly, due both to retirements and to new acquisitions. I'm glad to report - again - that many of our retired faculty have remained active, either through research, teaching, or outreach activities, and continue to contribute to the health of the department, and I'm glad to see some of them here tonight. During the past year we made two additions to our faculty, both of whom arrived as assistant professors. Charles Stafford is a theoretical condensed matter physicist who works on physics at the mesoscopic scale - that is, somewhere between (on a logarithmic scale) the size of atoms and that of objects in our everyday macroscopic world. This is a new, exciting, and rapidly developing field, notable both for its importance in basic research issues involving fundamental aspects of quantum phenomena, and for its potential in the development of new devices. Our other new hire, Koen Visscher, hasn't arrived yet - he's finishing several research projects at Princeton, and will be arriving here in mid-spring. Koen works in the area of experimental biological physics, where he is considered a pioneer in the new technique of optical trapping, and is well poised to address fundamental - and deeply important - questions involving motor activity at the cellular level. They are both enthusiastic about teaching, and I expect that they will inject a burst of energy and enthusiasm into all aspects of our departmental life. I'm very happy to (once again) welcome them on board.

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