2015 recipient Mick Small (right) accepts the award from alumnus Dr. Joe Kuehl (left).
Left to right: Alumnus Joe Kuehl, Dr. Raymond Shaw, Mick Small, Raven Stone, Dr. Will Cantrell, Cody Bell, Eric Morris, Adam Laxo, Luke Schroeder, Dr. Ravi Pandey.
Department of Physics Senior Research Oral Presentations
Michigan Technological University
Thursday, April 16, 2015
3:00-5:00 pm
Room 139, Fisher Hall
All Are Welcome
Undergraduate Presentation Abstracts
Jeanine Chmielewski
Advisor: Dr. Aleksey Smirnov
Investigation of the Effect of the Verwey Transition on Remnant Magnetization in Magnetite
Luke Schroeder
Advisor: Dr. Ramy El-Ganainy
Supersymmetric Single Mode Lasing Arrays
Raven Stone
Advisor: Dr. Claudio Mazzoleni
Quartz-Enhanced Photoacoustic Spectroscopy of Light Absorbing Aerosols
Adam Laxo
Advisor: Dr. Raymond Shaw, Physics
Effect of Charge on Heterogeneous Ice Nucleation
Michael Small
Advisor: Dr. Yoke Khin Yap
Towards the Fabrication and Construction of Quantum-dot Sensitized Nanowire-based Photovoltaic Devices
Eric Morris
Advisor: Dr. Sean J. Kirkpatrick (Biomedical Engineering)
Analysis of Reperfusion in a Hand Using Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging
Cody Bell
Advisor: Dr. L. B. King, MEEM
Construction of a Retarding Potential Analyzer (RPA) for an Ion Thruster
Department of Physics Poster Session
Michigan Technological University
Thursday, April 16. 2015
1:00 – 3:00 pm
Aftermath Atrium in Fisher Hall
All Are Welcome – Refreshments will be served.
Graduate Poster Abstracts
Search for Sub-Planckian Length Scales in GRB 090510A and GRB 130427A
Chad Brisbois
Advisor: Dr. Robert Nemiroff
Quantum Inspired Non-reciprocal waveguide arrays on Garnet deposited Silicon-On-Insulator Platform
Dolendra Karki
Advisor: Dr. Miguel Levy
Freezing Water with Ionic Salts
Joseph Niehaus
Advisor: Dr. Will Cantrell
Ab Initio Study of the Structural and Electronic Properties of MgV2O4
Kevin Waters
Advisor: Dr. Ravi Pandey
Barium Concentrations in Rock Salt by Time-Resolved Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy
Kiley Spirito
Advisor: Dr. Jacek Borysow
Effect of Turbulence on Droplets in Precipitation
Neel Uday Desai
Advisor: Dr. Raymond Shaw
Towards Using Smartphones to Refine Sunrise and Sunset Time Models
Teresa Wilson
Advisor: Dr. Robert Nemiroff
Using LiDAR and RaDAR to Calculate Drizzle Rates in Marine Stratocumulus Clouds
M. Amanda Shaw
Advisor: Dr. Alexander Kostinski
Professor Yoke Khin Yap (Physics) held a workshop for ninth-grade students from three local high schools over the weekend. The theme of the workshop was Introduction to Nanotechnology and was part of the outreach and education activities in Yap’s research grant funded by the National Science Foundation.
This workshop was co-organized by Michigan Tech’s GEAR UP, a Pre-College Innovative Outreach Institute, with the assistance of Liz Fujita. The goal of the workshop was to help stimulate the interest of pre-college underrepresented groups (girls, students with dissability, etc.). A total of 104 female students from Houghton, Calumet and Lake Linden participated with their science teachers.
During the workshop, students were introduced to the concept of nanoscale and hands-on experience in making molecular structures. Following lunch there was a discussion on the potential applications of nanoscale materials. “Since Michigan Tech is the only research-intensive university in the area, we regularly provide educational support to the local communities,” says Yap. More outreach events like this are planned during the three-year research project.
Physics Colloquium
Michigan Technological University
Thursday, April 9, 2015
4:00 PM Fisher Hall 139
The HAWC Contribution to the Puzzle of Dark Matter
J. Patrick Harding
Physics Division, P-23
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Chemistry and Physics Colloquium
Michigan Technological University
Thursday, April 2, 2015
4:00 pm
Fisher Hall Room 139
Computer-Aided Nanomaterial and Nanostructure Design:
Nanoice, Gold-clusters, Superhydrophobicity, and 2D Materials
Prof. Xiao Zeng
Department of Chemistry
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Two recent Atmospheric Sciences grads, Dr. Swarup China and Dr. Jianqiu Zheng, have landed prestigious postdoctoral positions at two US National Laboratories. Swarup’s doctoral work was advised by Prof. Claudio Mazzoleni (Physics) and Jianqiu’s doctoral work was advised by Prof. Paul Doskey (CEE). Congratulations to Swarup and Jianqiu on this recognition of their hard work and important research contributions.
Swarup will be joining the Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory as a postdoctoral research associate in the group of Dr. Alex Laskin. He will be studying fundamentals of physical chemistry of atmospheric particles and their chemical aging through multi-phase atmospheric chemistry.
Jianqiu will be joining the Biosciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a postdoctoral research associate with the Microbial Ecology and Physiology group headed by Dr. David E. Graham. She will be part of the biogeochemistry team that is working on the Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments project (NGEE Arctic). A goal of NGEE Arctic is to reduce uncertainties in estimates of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions from high-latitude ecosystems by advancing understanding of the environmental drivers of biogeochemical processes across molecular to landscape scales.
Physics Colloquium
Michigan Technological University
Thursday, March 26, 2015
4:00 pm
Room 139, Fisher Hall
Dynamic Photoacoustic Spectroscopy for Trace Gas Detection
Charles Wynn
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Mont Ripley partnered with the Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College PEAR Center, to provide 13 Middle and high school age kids with 10 ski or snowboard lessons, paid for with a grant from the Department of Education. To fulfill the grant, the students had to participate in a science-related activity. The science activity was provided by Michigan Tech physicists Dustin Winslow, and Chiumun Michelle Hui, who presented “The Physics of Skiing.”