Colloquia and Events | Cal State LA

FALL 2026 WEEKLY COLLOQUIUM SERIES

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2026

2:55 PM Pizza & Drinks

3:05 PM–4:20 PM Talk

Biological Sciences Room 247

Zoom Link

Infrared Astronomy to Infrared Sensing

Dr. Rahul I. Patel

The MITRE Corporation

Astronomers have detected and confirmed thousands of exoplanets –- planets outside our solar system. We use many methods to first discover these exoplanets, and subsequently study them. High-contrast direct imaging is one of these methods, where we search for the infrared light given off by any “newly” formed Jovian planets. To identify suitable stellar systems for exoplanet detection, we identify stars with circumstellar rings and disks of dust. These “debris disks” are seen as beacons pointing to exoplanetary systems, as the dust in the disk is replenished from collisions of asteroids and comets, which in turn is believed to be caused by the gravitational stirring of larger planetary bodies.

Now, if you’re still reading this abstract, you probably expect this talk to be all about the relevant research I’ve done in exoplanetology -- and you would only be half right. In this talk, I WILL talk about some of the work I’ve done on debris disks and high-contrast imaging. But a large chunk of people in academia tend to transition into non-academic career paths. The same is true of my semi-winding career path, as my current work sits outside of the typical academic career track. Therefore, I will not only talk about some very cool exoplanet research, but also how I ended up in an alternative academic career with the hope that you will take something meaningful away to use as a stepping stone for your own journey.

Fall 2026 Colloquium Schedule

(will be updated throughout the semester)

Meets every Thursday in Biological Sciences Room 247

2:55 PM Pizza & Drinks · 3:05 PM–4:20 PM Talk

Date	Invited Speaker	Institution	Title
09/03/2026	Department Faculty	California State University, Los Angeles	Department Research Opportunities (Meet & Greet)
09/10/2026	Ondrej Chvala	University of Texas at Austin	U.S. Nuclear Power: Then, Now, and Next
09/17/2026	Christine Nattrass	University Tennessee, Knoxville	Making the most out of comparing data and models
09/24/2026	Barry Weissman	David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA	Secrets of Corneal Physiology
10/01/2026	Shawn Pollard	University of Memphis	Disorder by Design: Controlling Composition in Ferrimagnets for High-Speed, Low-Power Spintronics
10/08/2026	Seth Linker	California State University, Los Angeles	Characterizing and Mitigating Scatterers in Optical Coatings for Gravitational Wave Detection
10/15/2026	Yannis Semertzidis	Institute for Basic Science’s Center for Axion and Precision Physics Research	Conquering the High-Frequency Axion Range
10/22/2026	Axel Drees	Stony Brook University	Trillions of Collisions, One Perfect Liquid: The Legacy of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
10/29/2026	Ondrej Chvala	University of Texas at Austin	U.S. Nuclear Power: Then, Now, and Next; Follow-Up
11/05/2026	Rahul Patel	The MITRE Corporation	Infrared Astronomy to Infrared Sensing
11/12/2026	M.S. Student Research	California State University, Los Angeles
11/19/2026	Sara Callori	California State University, San Bernardino	From Myth to Material: A Materials Physics Perspective on Adamantium
11/26/2026	Thanksgiving – Campus Closed
12/03/2026	Megan Connors
12/10/2026	Jonathan Daniel

Archived access to the Zoom recording of Dr. Caitlin Duffy's talk from October 9, 2025, "When Metals Become Strange"

Click Here for Access

Note: You will be prompted to login to Zoom; use passcode: 0#U@FS5$