The Department of Physics is pleased to announce the best oral and poster presentations by physics graduate students during the Physics Colloquium poster session held on April 19, 2012, in the Aftermath Atrium in Fisher Hall. There were two similarly rated best oral presentations: “Conduction Amongst Mesoscopic Particles” by Douglas Banyai and “Calibrating a Gamma-Ray Observatory” by Nathan Kelley-Hoskins. There were also two similarly rated best poster presentations: “Individual Particle Analysis of Carbonaceous Aerosols Emitted from the Las Conchas Wildfire, Los Alamos, NM” by Swarup China and “Exploring Cloud Microstructure with the HOLODEC I” by Matthew Beals. The presentations were evaluated by the physics graduate students and ranked in order of preference. The winners will receive a small monetary award.
The University is recognizing two faculty members with the 2012 Research Award, Robert Nemiroff and Andrew Storer. In nominating Nemiroff, physics professor Don Beck and Ravindra Pandey, chair of the physics department, cited his research based on gravitational lensing, noting that his groundbreaking predictions regarding binary stars, quasars and microlensing events (which give insight into stellar distributions and dark matter) have been proved correct. In another project, Nemiroff and his graduate students searched gamma-ray bursts to find “echoes” caused by the gravitational lens effect of dark matter. READ MORE
The Center for Teaching, Learning and Faculty Development seeks input for its annual Distinguished Teaching Awards, which recognize outstanding contribution to the instructional mission of the University. Finalists in physics include Will Cantrell and John Jaszczak in the Associate Professor/Professor Category. Submit comments by March 30.
Physics graduate student Saikat Mukhopadhyay is a recipient of a Finishing Fellowship from the Michigan Tech Graduate School. The fellowships provide support to PhD candidates who are close to completing their degrees; they are available through the generosity of alumni and friends of the University.
Engineering Physics graduate student Neluka Dissanayake is a recipient of a Finishing Fellowship from the Michigan Tech Graduate School. The fellowships are intended to recognize outstanding PhD candidates who are in need of financial support to finish their degrees and are also contributing to the attainment of goals outlined in The Michigan Tech Plan.
The Michigan Tech chapter of the Society of Physics Students (SPS) has been selected as one of the 2011 Outstanding SPS Chapters. This is the second year in a row that the local chapter has earned such a distinction from the Zone Councilors and Associate Zone Councilors.
This chapter is part of Zone 09, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Upper Michigan, and Wisconsin. Award selection criteria include involvement with national meetings, outreach effort, community service, interaction with alumni, student recruitment, and more.
According to the Zone Councilors & Associate Zone Councilors, “This chapter makes a great push to keep alumni involved, while still looking towards the future and actively recruiting new members.”
“Our major is not easy, and we work together in order to make the times more fun, as Physics is our passion, and though it can be frustrating at times, we want nothing more than for our students to want to get a career in Physics.”
Professor Miguel Levy (Physics) has been named a Fellow of The Optical Society, which brings together scientists, engineers, educators, technicians and business leaders in the fields of optics and photonics. Election to the rank of Fellow is based on outstanding contributions to optics through accomplishments in science and engineering, technical leadership and impact on the optics community. Levy was recognized for outstanding and fundamental contributions in the areas of magneto-optic and opto-electronic films, and extensions of the theory and applications of magneto-optic photonic crystals.
Michigan Tech has nominated four undergraduates for 2012 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships. Physics major Ben Malec is one of the nominees. Malec tracks particles in a turbulent fluid in which gravitational settling also plays a role. He hopes to apply what he learns to better understand the behavior of clouds.