Jaszczak Publishes on Nanotech Innovations

Journal of Nano EducationProfessor John Jaszczak (Physics), former undergraduate student Echoe Bouta, and Professor of Practice Mary Raber (Institution for Interdisciplinary Studies) published a paper “Nanotech Innovations Enterprise at Michigan Technological University” in the latest edition of Journal of Nano Education, which is a special issue commemorating ten years of National Science Foundation funding of Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education programs.

From Tech Today.

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Fan Yang Research

Fan Yang - Nucleation Rates
Figure 1. wi and ni relationship for two ice nucleation rates. Blue points are from LES with lower ice nucleation rate and red points are higher ice nucleation rate. Solid and dashed lines are best fitted 2.5 slope lines.

Minimalist model of ice microphysics in mixed-phase stratiform clouds

Fan Yang

Advisor: Raymond Shaw

Mixed-phase clouds, which can exist days even weeks, are frequently observed in the Arctic region where they play an important role in the radiation balance. Observations also show that ice particles precipitate from these clouds nearly all time. The question of whether persistent ice crystal precipitation from supercooled layer clouds can be explained by time-dependent, stochastic ice nucleation is explored using an approximate, analytical model, and a large-eddy simulation (LES) cloud model. The updraft velocity in the cloud defines an accumulation zone, where small ice particles cannot fall out until they are large enough, which will increase the residence time of ice particles in the cloud. Ice particles reach a quasi-steady state between growth by vapor deposition and fall speed at cloud base. The analytical model predicts that ice water content (wi) has a 2.5 power law relationship with ice number concentration (ni). wi and ni from a LES cloud model with stochastic ice nucleation also confirm the 2.5 power law relationship. The prefactor of the power law is proportional to the ice nucleation rate, and therefore provides a quantitative link to observations of ice microphysical properties. Figure 1 shows LES results for two ice nucleation rates: Blue points correspond to low ice nucleation rate and red points to high ice nucleation rate. It’s clearly to see that points follow the 2.5 power law as our analytical model expected. The intercept shift predicted by the minimalist model is 1.05, which is very close to the best fitted line shift in Figure 1, 5.77-4.75=1.03. This provides a compelling link between ice microphysical properties and the ice nucleation rate within the cloud, which may be used in future analysis of cloud observation.

Reference

Yang, F., M. Ovchinnikov, R.A. Shaw (2013), Minimalist model of ice microphysics in mixed-phase stratiform clouds, Geophys. Res. Lett. doi: 10.1002/grl.50700 (accepted)

Alum Bhabana Pati Visited on Friday

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.

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

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.

Will Cantrell on Best Professors

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.