Daniel L. Stein

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

2001 State of the Department Address
The following is the State of the Department Address, delivered by Dr. Daniel Stein at the
Physics Department holiday party, December 2001.

Once again, I'm very pleased to welcome all of you to our annual Christmas party. This past year has been more difficult than most, but it's both uplifting and comforting to be able to gather with good friends and enjoy together all that this season has to offer us.

Public perceptions notwithstanding, universities are not insulated from the rest of the world; they're very much a part of it, for better or worse. Lately I'm sure it feels more like ``worse'' to most of us. The Arizona state budget, guided by our able legislators and governors, has gone straight down the tubes, after a period of good times from which the university was largely excluded. At times like these, though, we're fortunate to have strong university leadership.

While the effects on the Physics Department from this year's budget shortfall could have been much worse, they were still significant. One of our highest priorities in recent years has been to hire additional experimental colleagues in the areas of atomic, condensed matter, and biological physics. These priorities will not be forsaken while I'm Department Head. As we're all aware, however, startup costs for new experimentalists, especially in what is sometimes called ``table top'' physics, are considerable; and this money is simply not there at the moment. So we had no choice but to take the difficult step of postponing this year's atomic/condensed matter experimentalist search. That search will be restarted as soon as possible.

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