G reetings PandA Alumni!

Hope you are doing well. PandA is doing quite well, thank you.

It's been an exciting semester with the arrival of three new faculty. I mentioned Paco Salces Carcoba and Denis Seletskiy in the last newsletter. They have arrived and are settling in fine.

Also, the search for the Director of QNM-I was successful, and we welcomed Bob Ledoux to the department. He brings a vast amount of just the kind of experience we need for this position. Along with Niklas Mueller, and his spouse Svende Braun who is making great strides as a Research Assistant Professor in particle physics, we're finally enjoying having many new faces in the department. This year, we're searching for a radio astronomer.

We achieved a rare hat-trick of sorts with not one, not two, but three of our faculty winning five-year NSF CAREER awards this summer/fall: Diana Dragomir, Francis-Yan Cyr-Racine, and Tonmoy Chakraborty. These are highly competitive and prestigious awards, and to get three in one year just speaks to the quality of our faculty.

Quantum continues to be a very visible and growing part of our effort, and you can read about Quantum Week in New Mexico, the state's investment in a new quantum venture studio, and the continuation of the QPAQT degree certificate program in the stories below. Things really are taking off here in the world of quantum and it's very exciting.

The multi-faceted issue of AI finally shone bright enough on our radar that we decided to form an ad hoc committee to come up with some recommendations and resources, especially on the teaching side. AI tools are now providing correct solutions to even graduate quantum homework problems (!), which is making us rethink the concept of homework altogether. That also feeds into how we use our TAs for grading, which may look very different even just one year from now. Such a huge issue!

Finally, I announced that this will be my last year as Department Chair, and on July 1 next year, our new Chair will be Greg Taylor. I'm thrilled that he is willing to take on this challenging role, and I'm confident the department will be in great hands. I will be retiring in June and shortly thereafter moving to London, which I'm very excited about.

Don't forget there are many ways to support the Department. Giving Tuesday is Dec 2. Happy Holidays!