Physics Newsblog

Category: Research

Kelley-Hoskins Nominated for Thesis Award

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MAGSThe Graduate School is pleased to announce that Evan Anderson is Michigan Tech’s nominee for the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools Distinguished Thesis Award.

Three other graduate students were also nominated for consideration. Jean DeClerck was nominated by her advisors, Ann Brady and Wendy Anderson (HU) and committee member Victoria Bergvall (HU). Nathan Kelley-Hoskins was nominated by his advisor, Petra Hüntemeyer (Physics). Andrew Orthober was nominated by his advisor, Carol MacLennan (SS). All of the nominations were noteworthy for their scholarship, and the evaluation panel had a difficult task in selecting one nominee to represent Michigan Tech.

Read more at Tech Today, by the Graduate School.

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SURF Awards 2013

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SURF will Fund 26 Students

This summer, the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) will fund 26 students from across the University with funds from the Vice President for Research, the Honors Institute, the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, the Earth Planetary and Space Sciences Institute, and the Department of Physics. The total funding for the program this year is $85,800.

From Tech Today.

SURF award recipients in physics include:

Joseph Charnawskas
Advisor: Raymond Shaw
The Effects of the Gravitational Force on Water Particles in a Turbulent Flow

Mick Small
Advisor: Yoke Khin Yap
Photovoltaic Responses of Quantum Dot Sensitized ZnO Nanowires

Angela Small (Honor’s Institute)
Advisor: Jacek Borysow
Analysis of Artificial Breath Samples Using Raman Spectroscopy for Medical Diagnosis

Kevin Rocheleau (Honor’s Institute)
Advisor: Petra Huentemeyer
Analysis and Modeling of Diffuse Gamma-Ray Emission from the Cygnus Region using FERMI and HAWC Data

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John Jaszczak Publishes in Rocks and Minerals

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Rocks And MineralsJohn Jaszczak, professor of physics and adjunct curator of the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum authored/co-authored three papers in the March-April 2013 issue of the journal Rocks and Minerals: “Raman Spectroscopy in the Identification of Minerals“, “Miracle at Merelani: A Remarkable Occurrence of Graphite, Diopside and Associated Minerals from the Karo Pit, Block D, Merelani Hills, Arusha Region, Tanzania,” and “Fluorapatite from a Remarkable Occurrence of Graphite and Associated Minerals from the Karo Pit, Block D, Merelani Hills, Arusha Region, Tanzania.”

From Tech Today.

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Spacetime Brew in Michigan Tech Research Magazine 2013

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Space Time BrewSpacetime: A Smoother Brew Than We Knew

Spacetime may be less like beer and more like cognac. Or so an intergalactic photo finish would suggest. Michigan Tech physicist Robert Nemiroff reached this heady conclusion after studying the tracings of three photons of differing wavelengths recorded by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in May 2009.

Read more in Michigan Tech Research Magazine, by Marcia Goodrich.

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Kantamneni, Gurganus, Beals, Yapici, Hao and Savailkar at GRC 2013

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Graduate students in Physics will be giving poster and oral presentations at the Graduate Research Colloquium 2013. Their presentations will take place on the second day of the colloquium, February 22, 2013, in the MUB Ballrooms A & B. Presenters, abstracts, and schedules are posted on the Graduate Student Government website.

Day 2 Feb 22 Poster Presentations 10am-12pm
Abhilash Kantamneni

Day 2 Feb 22 Oral Presentations 1:00pm to 3:00 pm
Colin Gurganus
Matthew Beals
Tolga Yapici
Boyi Hao
Madhusudan Savaikar

GRC Awards Banquet 2013

A night of food and festivity to celebrate the best of Michigan Tech in research, scholarship and service.

View the gallery on the GSG Facebook page.

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Nemiroff on the Not-There Universe

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Dark MatterThe Discover blog “Out There” features Professor Robert Nemiroff’s (Physics) research on the nature of spacetime. In “Dispatches from AAS: The Not-There Universe,” editor Corey Powell writes about three discoveries that are remarkable for what they did not find and quotes Nemiroff as saying “perhaps the golden age of cosmology is not over just yet. There may be more discoveries out there.”

Special for classic rock fans: Powell draws a parallel with the 1960s Zombies hit “She’s Not There.”

From Tech Today.

Dispatches from AAS: The Not-There Universe

Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity implies that space should be smooth at very small distances, just as it is smooth at the distances we experience. Some newer theories, which attempt to go beyond relativity, suggest otherwise: They predict that sub-subatomic space is a froth of unseen particles and energy. Nemiroff figured out a way to see who is right. He tracked gamma rays—radiation that is like light but much more energetic—from an exploding star roughly 7 billion light years from Earth, and looked for signs that they had scattered off any frothy space along the way. He found none. For the umpteenth time, a challenge to Einstein has failed.

Read more at Discover Magazine, by Corey S. Powell.

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