About the Symposium

On April 19-21, the UK Department of Physics and Astronomy hosted a conference to honor UK professor Keh-Fei Liu for his accomplishments in physics, on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

The conference brought together 14 distinguished nuclear and particle physicists from around the world. Their talks, together with talks by 6 UK physicists, included a diverse range of topics in nuclear and particle physics, and frequently touched on the ways in which Liu's research has influenced their own. The conference, titled "A Subnuclear Journey", was sponsored jointly by the UK College of Arts and Sciences, the Office of the Vice President of Research, the Office of the Provost, the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the Center for Computational Sciences.

Among the conference talks were three colloquia, to which the UK community and the general public were invited. Norman Christ of Columbia University, a world leader in designing, building, and using supercomputers to study the low-energy interaction of quarks and gluons, spoke on how his group has been able to push simulations to unprecedented realism. Stan Brodsky, the 2007 winner of the prestigious Sakurai Prize of the American Physical Society for his research in theoretical nuclear and particle physics, spoke on the applications of string theory to nuclear physics. Robert McKeown of Caltech gave a colloquium reviewing recent progress in understanding the properties of neutrinos, and the consequent need for a major revision in the Standard Model of particle physics.

A highlight of the conference was the banquet at Jonathan's restaurant in downtown Lexington, held the evening of April 19 in honor of Keh-Fei (see photos). Seventy of his friends attended, with many standing up to offer a toast and share anecdotes about Keh-Fei's remarkable career.

Professor Liu has been on the faculty of UK's Department of Physics and Astronomy since 1980. In the course of his research career he has published more than 150 scientific articles and given over 200 invited talks in 15 countries.
The main focus of Liu's research is Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the fundamental theory of the strong force, which holds quarks together inside protons and neutrons. A large component of Liu's research effort is devoted to the computational approach to this theory known as lattice QCD, which requires vast supercomputing resources and large-scale collaborations. Liu's current research includes calculations of the masses and other properties of subatomic particles, the internal structure of protons, and bulk properties of quark-gluon plasmas. The results obtained by Liu's research group have been used to confront experiments done at national labs, to test theoretical models of the strong interaction, and to help understand the roles played by strongly interacting particles in the development of the very early universe.

Liu's research has been funded continuously by the Department of Energy since 1982. He won the First Prize Award in Theoretical Physics from Academica Sinica in 1987, received a prestigious Humboldt Senior Scientist Award in 1990, was UK University Research Professor for 1992-1993, and was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1997 "for his pioneering work in lattice gauge calculations which checked nuclear models quantitatively."

Keh-Fei Liu received his B.Sc.(with highest honor) from Tunghai University in 1968, and his M.A.(1971) and Ph.D. (1975) from the State University of New York, Stony Brook where his thesis adviser was renowned Professor Gerry Brown. He was an Adjunct Assistant Professor at UCLA (1979-80) before joining the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UK as an Associate Professor in 1980. Liu was promoted to Professor in 1986. He was a Visiting Professor at Stony Brook in 1985-86 and again in 1990, was a Humboldt Awardee at HLRZ, in Juelich, Germany in 1991, and has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Science and Technology, Hefei, China since 1989.

Liu has also gained recognition for his work as a social activist, which grew out of his 1992 legal fight with a local dancing school over its discriminatory practices against his daughter and other minority students. With the help of his daughter's school teacher, other parents, and The National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), he eventually won the case and subjected the dancing school to the supervision of the city's Human Rights Commission. This experience led to a continuing and active involvement with NCCJ, where he served as a board member and regional adviser for many years.

More recently, Liu has become an advocate for scientists around the world who have been victims of political and social injustice. He served as a member of the Committee on International Freedom of Scientists of the American Physical Society from 2001 to 2004. In recognition of his tireless efforts as a human rights advocate, he was named an "Unsung Hero" by Humanitarium of Lexington in 2006.