Physics Newsblog

Category: News

Alum Bhabana Pati Visited on Friday

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Jacek Borysow and Bhabna Pati
Jacek Borysow and Bhabana Pati

Dr. Bhabana Pati visited the department on Friday, July 12, 2013. Bhabna graduated in 1997 with a Ph.D. after working with Dr. Jacek Borysow as a “laser junkie.” She developed the single mode tunable titanium sapphire laser and subsequently tunable ultraviolet laser via sum frequency generation in a non-linear crystal.

Today she is a principal scientist at Q-Peak Co. and still a “laser junkie,” trying among many other things to shoot lasers at the Moon to find out its composition via Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy.

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Grand Slam: Jaszczak Contributes to Four Articles in Rocks and Minerals

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Fluorapatite
Fluorapatite

The March/April edition of the magazine Rocks & Minerals would be considerably slimmer if physics professor John Jaszczak’s contributions were extracted.

With John Rakovan (Miami University), he coordinated a series of articles on mining in the Arusha region of Tanzania. He coauthored “Miracle at Merelani,” an article on minerals found at the Karo Mine, providing electron microscope images and photos of many showy specimens from the Seaman Mineral Museum. He also edited a pictorial of Merelani, a village near the mine.

In addition, he coauthored “Fluorapatite from a Remarkable Occurrence of Graphite and Associated Minerals,” providing three photos for the article.

Lastly, Jaszczak wrote the Word to the Wise column entitled “Raman Spectroscopy in the Identification and Study of Minerals,” which introduced readers to this powerful tool for identifying and characterizing minerals.

From Tech Today.

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Will Cantrell on Best Professors

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Associate Professor Will Cantrell (Physics) is quoted in an article about how to find the best professors, published on the web site OnlineSchools.org. See Online Schools.

From Tech Today.

The Faculty Factor: How to Pick the Best Professors

Learning that takes place outside of the classroom is also equally important, and frequent interaction with professors can lead to greater gains in personal development and general education knowledge, the study found. It’s all about having a professor who is accessible.

“If you can go to a professor’s office and ask him or her for help, you will be able to learn a lot more,” says Will Cantrell, an associate professor of physics at Michigan Technological University. “A lot of university-level material is difficult. You probably will get stuck on something. There’s no substitute for having someone who has already mastered the material help you get unstuck.”

When you’re looking for a new dentist or hair dresser, it’s almost a no-brainer that you get the word-of-mouth before you’re sitting in the chair and it’s too late. The same can go for professors. When shopping for classes, ask current students in your area of study for recommendations on teachers they’ve liked.

“Talk to other students. There is no substitute for this,” says Cantrell. “Ask other students what classes they liked, and more importantly, why they liked those classes and professors. Take classes from professors that helped students learn, not just the ones who were easy.”

Read more on Education Debate at Online Schools.

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Levy Art in Michigan Tech Magazine Spring 2013

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Courtroom PaintingPainting for Justice

Miguel Levy is a mosaic: a physicist who loves to paint, an atheist who honors his Jewish heritage while harboring a deep sympathy for the Palestinian cause.

He started participating in demonstrations, which inspired his art. However, most of his paintings are based on photographs that appeared in news media, including Free Gaza! perhaps his favorite work.

Read more at Michigan Tech Magazine, by Marcia Goodrich.

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