Physics Newsblog

Category: News

Andrea Lappi Retires After 40 Years at Tech

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The Department of Physics will not be the same without Andrea Lappi, who begins a new chapter in life this month.

Andrea has been a part of the Physics family for 21 years — from 1991 to 1998 and 2007 to 2021. She joined Michigan Tech in 1981, and initially worked in Employee Relations, Education and Public Services offices. Later, she worked with the Graduate School, the Vice President of the Michigan Tech Fund and the Vice President of Advancement.

Andrea has always gone above and beyond as a key person in helping students, staff and faculty in the department. We wish her an enjoyable retirement!

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Yap named University Professor

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Yoke Khin Yap, a professor in the Department of Physics, was selected to become Michigan Tech’s newest University Professor during the 2019-2020 academic year, through a highly selective process. Yap joined the Department of Physics in 2002 and was promoted to full professor in 2011. Ravi Pandey, chair of physics, said “Dr. Yap is enthusiastic about both teaching and research and treats the two as inseparable.”

Read more in Tech Today.

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In Print

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Complex, noncore-shell morphology of BC-containing particle, from Figure 1, image A in recent study.

A recent study, Radiative absorption enhancements by black carbon controlled by particle-to-particle heterogeneity in composition, stemming from a collaboration between Brookhaven National Laboratory, Michigan Tech, and other institutions was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and has been highlighted in the research highlights section of Nature Climate Change this March. 

The research resulted in the development of a new modeling approach – guided by experimental results – to account more accurately for the effects of soot on climate. Coauthors of the paper include two former students of the Atmospheric Sciences Ph.D. program from the physics department, Drs. Janarjan Bhandari and Swarup China.

Janarjan Bhadari, ’18, currently works at the Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota, and Swarup China, ’14, is at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

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GSG Merit Awards – Winners Announced

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This years awardees for the Graduate Student Government Merit Awards have been decided. A total of 88 nominations were received from departments all across campus. The decision process was not an easy one as there was a very strong pool of nominations this year. We are very grateful to all of our nominees for all of the work they put in to improve and enrich the life of our graduate students.

Without further ado, here are the award winners:

  • Exceptional Staff Member – Claire Wiitanen, Administrative Aide from the Physics Department
  • Exceptional Graduate Mentor – Victoria Bergvall, Associate Professor of Linguistics, Humanities
  • Exceptional Student Leader – Jacob Blazejewski, a PhD student from Mathematical Sciences
  • Exceptional Student Scholar – Nancy Henaku, a PhD student from Humanities

Congratulations to our winners and all you have done for our graduate students!

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Call for Applications: Songer Research Award for Human Health Research

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Matthew Songer, (Biological Sciences ’79) and Laura Songer (Biological Sciences ’80) have generously donated funds to the College of Sciences and Arts (CSA) to support a research project competition for undergraduate and graduate students.

Remembering their own eagerness to engage in research during their undergraduate years, the Songers established these awards to stimulate and encourage opportunities for original research by current Michigan Tech students. The College is extremely grateful for the Songers’ continuing interest in, and support of, Michigan Tech’s programs in human health and medicine.

Any Michigan Tech student interested in exploring a medically related question under the guidance of faculty in the College of Sciences and Arts may apply. Students majoring in any degree program in the college, including both traditional (i.e., biological sciences, kinesiology, chemistry) and nontraditional (i.e., physics, psychology, social science, bioethics, computer science, mathematics) programs related to human health may propose research projects connected to human health. 

Submit applications as a single PDF file to the Office of the College of Sciences and Arts by 4 p.m. Monday, March 30. Applications may be emailed to djhemmer@mtu.edu.

Read more about the Songer Research Award here.

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Physics Colloquium – Graduate Presentations

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Two Physics Graduate Students will be presenting their research at 4 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 20) in Fisher 139.

Tyler Capek (advisor Claudio Mazzoleni) will present “Measuring Humidification Effects on Atmospheric Particles Optical Properties with a Novel Humidity-Controlled Albedometer.”

Abu Sayeed Md Shawon (advisor Will Cantrell) will present “Laboratory Measurement of Aerosol Scavenging by Activation in a Cloudy, Turbulent Environment.”

A social with refreshments will be held 30 minutes prior to the talk in the Fisher Hall lobby.

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U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Physicist to Visit Campus

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Ben Dzikowicz will present “A Taste of Acoustics at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory” at 11 a.m. Thursday (Feb. 20) in GLRC 202.

In the New York Times Magazine in 1915, Thomas Edison wrote an editorial addressing concerns over US involvement in WWI stating “The Government should maintain a great research laboratory… In this could be developed…all the technique of military and naval progression without any vast expense.” From this editorial, the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) was established in 1923.

Dzikowicz, a physicist in the NRL Acoustics Division, will provide a brief overview of NRL, followed by information on arctic-related programs and new navigation/sonar techniques he developed utilizing transducers capable of producing sound fields with spiral wavefronts.

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