Month: May 2014

Associate Professor Huentemeyer Provides Updates on HAWC

Petra Huentemeyer
Petra Huentemeyer

Astrophysics Highlights from the APS April Meeting

HAWC Observatory Online
At a press conference, Petra Huentemeyer of Michigan Technological University gave a status update and early results from the High-Altitude Water Chernkov (HAWC) observatory. HAWC will produce a wide-field picture of the universe in TeV gamma rays and cosmic rays. With just one third of its total planned array online, HAWC has already exceeded the sensitivity of its predecessor MILAGRO.

Read more at the American Physical Society News, by Calla Cofield.

Professor Daavettila and the Nuke Program

Don Daavettila
Don Daavettila

Physics Faculty Emeritus Don Daavettila fondly recalls the days of the nuclear engineering master’s program at Michigan Tech. And the fact that nuclear power seems to be coming back in vogue after nearly fifty years doesn’t surprise him.

“Nuclear is the way to go,” says the former chemistry and physics professor. “It’s a solid 20 percent of where we get our power today.”

Read more at TechAlum Newsletter, by Don Daavettila.

Professor Daavettila

Physics alumni Kim Bylund (Warner), Ken Kok, and Marty Vonk share experiences with Professor Daavettila in From the Email Bag.

Read more at TechAlum Newsletter.

Perry Martin and California Chrome

Perry and Denise Martin, along with Steve and Carolyn Coburn, are co-owners of Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome. Perry Martin earned a degree in applied physics from Michigan Tech in 1978. Perry is President of Materials Technology Labs in McClellan, California.

Extra points: Kentucky Derby winner (partially) made in Michigan

His name may be California Chrome, but you can trace the Kentucky Derby-winning horse owner’s roots to Michigan.

Perry Martin, one of the co-owners, graduated from Michigan Tech in 1978. Catherine, his 83-year-old mother, is from Iron Mountain but now lives in Dickinson County.

Read more at Detroit Free Press.

Kentucky Derby hopeful has Tech connections

Perry Martin grew up in Chicago, developed a love for horses there, but did find his way to the U.P. He recalls with pleasure his many happy summers with his grandparents and their beagle “Duke” in Iron Mountain.

Read more at the Mining Gazette, by Burt Angeli.

Best Grad Student Talks and Posters 2014

Physics Poster Session 2014We are pleased to announce the following awards in association with the recent graduate oral and poster presentations.

Best Talks

Hao Zhou – Observing Very High Energy Gamma-ray Emission from Geminga with the HAWC Observatory

Hugo Ayala Solares – Observing the Galactic Diffuse Gamma-Ray Emission

Best Posters

Joseph Niehaus – Laboratory Measurements of Contact Freezing by Dust and Bacteria at Temperatures of Mixed Phase Clouds

Ran Duan – A Multi-band, Unidirectional, Phase-preserved Lensing Invisibility Cloak

Join us in applauding these and all of the graduate students for their effort and accomplishments.

The Physics Department Poster Session was held on April 17, 2014, in the Fisher Atrium. The physics graduate student talks were held throughout the latter part of Spring Semester 2014.

Congratulations to the four winners and everyone else on their presentations!

View the 2014 Physics Department Poster Session photo gallery.

Transistors Without Semiconductors Highlighted

MRS Spring 2014 highlightResearch work lead by Professor Yoke Khin Yap (Physics) has gained attention in the 2014 Materials Research Society (MRS) Spring Meeting at San Francisco, held on April 21-25, 2014. The presentation, “Transistors without Semiconductors: Tunneling Behavior of Boron Nitride Nanotubes Functionalized with Gold Quantum Dots”, presented in Symposium BB: Materials for End-of-Roadmap Devices in Logic, Power and Memory, was highlighted in the official website of MRS.

This work was conducted in collaboration with Professor John Jaszczak (Physics), Dr. Dongyan Zhang (Physics), physics graduate students Madhusudan Savaikar, Douglas Banyai, Boyi Hao (All in Physics), and collaborators from Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Submitted by Yoke Khin Yap.

Yap Organizes Symposium MM for Spring 2014 MRS Meeting

MRS Spring 2014Professor Yoke Khin Yap (Physics) organized Symposium MM in the 2014 Materials Research Society (MRS) Spring Meeting at San Francisco on April 21-25. The symposium, “Nanotubes and Related Nanostructures” was co-organized with Don Futaba from National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST, Japan), Annick Loiseau from Laboratoire d’Etude des Microstructures (LEM, France), and Ming Zheng from National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The Director of the Michigan Tech Multi-Scale Technologies Institute (MuSTI), Professor Craig Frederich (MEEM) hosted the invited speakers and organizers in a dinner event. Professor Frederich co-chaired session six in the symposium.

From Tech Today.

REF Awards for Cantrell and Yap

Research Excellence Fund Awards Announced

The Vice President for Research Office is pleased to announce the 2015 REF awards and would like to thank the volunteer review committees, as well as the deans and department chairs, for their time spent on this important internal research award process.

Will Cantrell, EPSSI/Physics, received an Infrastructure Enhancement Grant.

Yoke Khin Yap, Physics, received a Technology Commercialization Grant.

Read more at Tech Today.

Jaszczak Presents on Nano-Islands

MRS Spring 2014Professor John Jaszczak (Physics) presented an invited talk on “Simulation of Charge Transport in Disordered Assemblies of Metallic Nano-Islands: Application to Boron Nitride Nanotubes Functionalized with Gold Quantum Dots” at the Spring 2014 Materials Research Society meeting in San Francisco. Co-authors included Professor Yoke Khin Yap (Physics), Professor Paul Bergstrom (ECE), Zhang Dongyan (Physics), physics graduate students Madhusudan Savaikar, Douglas Banyai, Boyi Hao, and collaborators from Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

From Tech Today.