Physics secretary Kathy Wollan celebrated her retirement on April 30, 2014.
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.
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.
We 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.
Research 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.
Professor 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.
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.
Professor 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.
This summer, the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program will fund 23 students from across the University with funds from the Vice President for Research and the Honors Institute. The total funding for the program this year is $80,500.
Among the recipients are:
Robert Innis
Applied Physics
Yoke Khin Yap
CVD growth of Molybdenum DiSulfide
Adam Laxo
Physics
Raymond Shaw
An Investigation of Aerosols as Catalysts for Contact Nucleation
It’s International Dark Sky Week: Take Back the Night
The Lyrid meteor shower peaked earlier this week, and here in the Upper Peninsula it would not have been difficult to see from pretty much anywhere. For the best view, one might drive out of town a little ways, maybe to the Breakers or McLain parks, but a short drive is all it takes.
The International Dark Sky Association tries to raise awareness to these affects and more. Information can be found at the IDSA website.
Read more at Tech Today, by Teresa Wilson, physics PhD candidate.