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Rutgers vs UCLA vs Michigan for String Theory

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 9:11 pm
by QuantumSpaceTime
Any thoughts?

Re: Rutgers vs UCLA vs Michigan for String Theory

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 5:05 pm
by yxfu93
Almost the same situation here... any detailed thought? I know Rutgers has Greg Moore, but is there any other cons and pros for these schools?

Re: Rutgers vs UCLA vs Michigan for String Theory

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 5:19 pm
by slowdweller
What type of string theory?

Re: Rutgers vs UCLA vs Michigan for String Theory

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 5:36 pm
by PathIntegrals92
UMich-Ann Arbor! The high energy theory group there is a really great group!
Professors to consider: James Liu, Leopoldo Pando Zayas, Finn Larsen, and Henriette Elvang (she also does a lot of particle physics).

I do not know much about the other two schools...


Edit: I realize I didn't give you too much Info. PM if you have specific questions and I can see if I can answer. For some reason I am paranoid that someone can figure who I am really am, haha. :lol:

Re: Rutgers vs UCLA vs Michigan for String Theory

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 10:38 pm
by slowdweller
I can say a few things about Rutgers as I visited the place a few days ago. It seems to me that they're one of the biggest high energy theory departments out of any school outside the top 15/20. On the more formal side of things we have Greg Moore, and Duiliu-Emanuel Diaconescu. Moore is excellent, well known and has very broad interests, though getting to work with him isn't easy. Diaconescu is also very good at what he does, though he said it himself that his work is a bit narrow, and a bit too mathematical and that one should try doing more popular and well-known topics for a dissertation. Other than that, there's Tom Banks. I'm not at all familiar with his work, but he's a well known string theorist who was produced successful students in the past (Lubos Motl). There are also a couple of hep-pheno people, so overall it's a big department, and finding something you like shouldn't be difficult. Another positive is that in the past the funding situation has been quite good for hep-th students, though it's difficult to say whether this will continue to be the case.

The campus itself I thought was quite shitty. Old ass buildings in a cold town with no greenery. It seemed like a somewhat depressing place to be honest, but this is just my opinion. I went to a very well known "pretty campus" place for my undergrad :P

Michigan again, is a pretty big place, though since there is no one close to my interests, I didn't apply. It seems particularly strong in AdS/CFT related stuff.

All I can say about UCLA is that it has Eric D'hoker, and after skimming through his string theory lectures in the IAS volumes on Quantum Fields and Strings for Mathematicians, it seems that he knows his stuff :)

Re: Rutgers vs UCLA vs Michigan for String Theory

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 3:31 am
by yxfu93
Oh really... I did not really know Rutgers has such a bad campus... is it only the subcampus for physics building, or the whole New Brunswick campus? And the city may not be a too big concern since it is not far from NYC.
I am interested in more mathematical things, but AdS/CFT stuff is also fun to me.
Some people was saying Rutgers has an advantage of being close to Princeton (they even have program that allow enrolling classes in each other), and UCLA has similar good proximity to CalTech and other institutes in south cal. Is that really something worth taking into account?

Re: Rutgers vs UCLA vs Michigan for String Theory

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 2:28 pm
by slowdweller
yxfu93 wrote:Oh really... I did not really know Rutgers has such a bad campus... is it only the subcampus for physics building, or the whole New Brunswick campus? And the city may not be a too big concern since it is not far from NYC.
I am interested in more mathematical things, but AdS/CFT stuff is also fun to me.
Some people was saying Rutgers has an advantage of being close to Princeton (they even have program that allow enrolling classes in each other), and UCLA has similar good proximity to CalTech and other institutes in south cal. Is that really something worth taking into account?
Well to be fair, I didn't do much exploring. I only took a superficial look at the Busch campus (the subcampus with the physics building), but I wasn't swept away with what I saw. Yes, proximity to Princeton is a plus, I've heard, and for good reasons: summer schools in interesting topics every year, courses in subjects not offered at Rutgers, famous people such as Seiberg and Witten.