University Libraries Presents: STEM Speakers Series

Posted on August 15, 2017 by Clara Tran

The University Libraries is honored to have Dr. Chang Kee Jung, a SUNY Distinguished Professor in Physics, significant contributor to the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics, and shared award winner of the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, present the first lecture of the fall 2017 STEM Speakers Series. Dr. Jung’s talk, “Capturing Innovations and Underlying Physics in Sports” will be given on Tuesday, September 19 from 1pm-2pm. The event will be held in the Special Collections Seminar Room, E-2340, located on the second floor of the Melville Library.

Sports occupies an important part of American life as well as other parts of the world. It is often difficult to flip through the TV channels without encountering sports shows. Surprisingly, large fraction of the intriguing and often spectacular sports actions and feats can be explained using relatively basic physics concepts. In this talk Dr. Jung will explain the physics behind some remarkably creative innovations in popular sports (basketball, high Jump, gymnastics and swimming) using basic concepts in college entry level classical physics. The talk will feature exquisite and exclusive videos created by the New York Times graphics/multimedia team for sports that capture innovative feats of athletes like Simone Biles, Derek Drouin and Ryan Lochte.

This presentation was initially created in collaboration with Bedel Saget, a New York Times graphics/multimedia editor for sports. Bedel Saget received a 2nd place award for his team’s work, titled, “The Fine Line: Simone Biles Gymnastics” at the prestigious 2017 World Press Photo Digital Storytelling contest in the Immersive Storytelling category.

We welcome students, faculty, staff, and the general public to register here and join us for this special event.