Honors Program

Honors Senior David Dolgitzer to Present at APS Conference in Chicago

David Dolgitzer '22David Dolgitzer ’22, Honors Physics major and Mathematics minor, has been accepted to present his research at the Annual American Physical Society Meeting in Chicago March 14-18, 2022. Over 12,000 physicists from around the world are expected to attend the meeting’s week of events, including short classes, scientific exhibitions from government, commercial, medical, and academic participants, and a career expo. The meeting will also include special “Future of Physics Days,” which include undergraduate events sponsored by APS and the Society for Physics Students (SPS). Undergrads like David have the opportunity to present their research, learn about grad school and career options, and connect with the scientific community.

As part of the Future of Physics Days, David will be presenting his recently published article, “Dynamical quantum phase transitions in the spin-boson model.” This research was sponsored in part by The Frank J. Murphy, Jr. ’69 STEM Internship Fund, which seeks to propel Honors students majoring in STEM disciplines to prepare for compelling STEM careers through engagement in internships. David completed research remotely during the spring of 2021 under the guidance of Dr. Yusui Chen, Assistant Professor of Physics at New York Institute of Technology. Their research focuses on open quantum systems (i.e. engineered structures that exhibit quantum properties and interact with their environments) and tries to challenge a long-established approximation in the process of measuring the system-environment interactions, called Markov approximation. They implemented non-Markovianity in order to extract more valuable information that is otherwise lost.

David became interested in pursuing a degree in the natural sciences after completing three years of service in the Israel Defense Force. He realized that many bright, young people tend not to enjoy science — usually through insufficient or unengaging education — and his goal is to rectify that by becoming an educator. His goal is to complete his undergraduate degree and then move on to graduate and Ph.D. programs in theoretical physics, so he can teach the next generation of research scientists.

David has also worked extensively under the mentorship of Dr. Debing Zeng, Associate Professor of Physics, throughout his four years at Saint Peter’s University. Dr. Zeng served as advisor for David’s Honors senior thesis. He will present his thesis, “Investigating Dynamical Quantum Phase Transitions in a Multiple-Qubit System,” on Thursday, March 31, 2022 at 3pm in McIntyre Conference Center Room A. All are welcome to attend.

The Honors Program wishes a hearty congratulations to David for his great success!