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IU South Bend Physics & Astronomy Indiana University

Andrew Ratkiewicz Receives 2024 Alumni of the Year Award for School of Natural Sciences

Posted on by hpscott

Andrew Ratkiewicz, who graduated in 2006 with a B.S. in physics and a minor in math, was honored with the 2024 Alumni of the Year Award for the School of Natural Sciences at the 3rd annual Night of the Titans event on Tuesday, September 17th, 2024.

Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus Jerry Hinnefeld was featured in a prerecorded introduction for Andrew, and the award was presented by Associate Dean Henry Scott. Our chair, Prof. Monika Lynker attended as well. Professors Hinnefeld, Lynker, Schrimmigk and Scott all worked with Andrew on various research projects with Andrew during his time at IU South Bend. While in South Bend to receive the award, Andrew gave a talk in our Contemporary Physics Seminar about some of his current work: Nuclear-Plasma Interactions at the National Ignition Facility (NIF).

We are all incredibly proud of Andrew!

Photos of Andrew receiving the award. The two images on the left are from IUSB photographer Michael Caterina. The lower-left photo includes Chancellor Susan Elrod on the left and Moira Dyczko, Director of Alumni Relations and Campus Ceremonies, on the right.

Commencement 2024

Posted on by jhinnefe

Five physics graduates participated in IUSB Commencement exercises on Tuesday, May 7.  Four of them are pictured here with Prof. Emeritus Jerry Hinnefeld — Phillip Derrickson, Zach Groshans, Joy Thompson, and Michael Wujcik.

The fifth, Emilee Edmonds, processed with the Platform Party as this year’s student speaker. Here she is giving her speech and receiving her diploma from Chancellor Susan Elrod.

Our sixth physics graduate, Seamus Cash, did not participate in Commencement.

Congratulations to all of our 2024 physics graduates!

Honors Night 2024

Posted on by hpscott

The College of Arts & Sciences celebrated its annual Honors Night on Thursday, May 2nd. The Department of Physics & Astronomy gave several awards:

Excellence Award in Physics

  • Phillip Derrickson

Ƶ Scholarship (for 2024 – 2025)

  • Nicholas Good

CTS Scholarship in Physics (for 2024 – 2025)

  • Akira Clark
  • Cosmo Cripe
  • Ryleigh Jebson
  • Josiah Nelson
Back Row, L to R: Nicholas Good, Phillip Derrickson, Prof. Scott Front Row, L to R: Ryleigh Jebson, Akira Clark, Prof. Lynker

 

Special Eclipse-Education Meet the Stars Events in January, February and March

Posted on by hpscott

 

Totality Path for the April 8, 2024, Eclipse. Click image for link to NASA's "When and Where" page.
Totality Path for the April 8, 2024, Eclipse. Click image for link to NASA’s “When and Where” page.

Please join IU South Bend faculty and student hosts for all-ages educational programming designed as preparation for the April 8th, 2024, solar eclipse (link to NASA’s eclipse site). These events are free, open to the public, and all are welcome!

These are intended to be fun yet educational and structured so that attendees have multiple simultaneous opportunities to participate in all or just a subset of the planned activities.

This is a collaborative program organized by faculty from the School of Education and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. Faculty include Prof. Terri Hebert, Dept. of Professional Education Services, and Profs. Jerry Hinnefeld and Henry Scott, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy; there will also be student volunteers from the Physics Club and Prof. Hebert’s science-methods courses.

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New Endowment: Dr. and Mrs. Thomas R. Connon Physics and Astronomy Department Fund

Posted on by hpscott

We are pleased to announce that a new endowment has been established to support the Department of Physics & Astronomy:

Dr. and Mrs. Thomas R. Connon Physics and Astronomy Department Fund

Dr. Thomas Connon, O.D., and his wife, Sue Ann Connon, were both students at IUSB in the 1970s. Dr. Connon worked closely with Professors Bruce Zimmerman (emeritus and still active on campus) and James Piowaty, and he was nearly done with a BA in physics when he left the university in 1978 to join the Air Force and, eventually, become an optometrist. Mrs. Connon completed her degree and is an alumna of the IUSB Dental Assistant Program.

Dr. Connon had been practicing as an optometrist in Dayton, Ohio, for decades before deciding, in 2013, that he’d still like to complete his physics BA. He coordinated with the Department to identify his remaining requirements, and it turned out that he was able to complete them at a community college in Ohio.

He graduated with a BA in Physics in 2015 and has recently retired from his career as an optometrist. He remains interested in physics, however, and the Connons established the new endowment in 2023. We are extremely grateful to the Connons for their generosity and would like to thank Moira Dyczko, Director of Alumni Relations and Campus Ceremonies, for her work in getting everything set up.

The endowment is designed for flexible use, but all in support of “equipment and programming” for the Department of Physics  & Astronomy.

Dr. Thomas Connon ’15 and Prof. Henry Scott

Meet the “Stars” Event

Posted on by jhinnefe

Details: The IUSB Observatory will be open, weather permitting, from 7:00-8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 15.  Two of the best object for visual observing, Saturn and Jupiter, are in the evening sky these days, and we’ll be slewing the telescope back and forth between them, with maybe a short detour to Uranus, during this event.

Come to the elevators on the 1st floor of Northside Hall at any time between 7:00 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. and wait to be escorted to the rooftop observatory.  If the building is locked come to the northwest entrance.

Please be sure to check back here before traveling to campus in case we need to cancel due to inclement weather.

This event is being organized by the IUSB Physics Club and the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy.

MTS Map

Physics Club Hosts Renewable Energy Competition for IUSB Sustainability Challenge

Posted on by hpscott

As part of this month’s Sustainability Challenge (a series of campus-wide activities related to IU’s Climate Action Plan), the Physics Club hosted a “Renewable Energy Competition” on Tuesday, October 24th. Although billed as a competition, this was more of a fun, participation-based activity to get people together and think about renewable-energy technology — harnessing wind energy, in particular.

With no advanced preparation, participants were asked to design and construct a novel turbine apparatus, with the goal of maximizing rotation speed while being driven by a constant wind source, using only materials provided by the club — all had to be built using a CD or DVD optical disc as a chassis.

Once ready, models were tested by snapping them on to a motor apparatus that had been extracted from a non-working CD player and connected to a multimeter, with VAC being used as a proxy for rotation speed. (This idea was inspired by a popular Science Olympiad event.)

First-year physics major Akira Clark won overall for designing and building the fastest-turning turbine, Ryleigh Jebson produced an especially intricate design, Zach Groshans and Phillip Derrickson demonstrated the most collaborative effort and Kerrie Jean, Emilee Edmonds and Michael Wujcik each made remarkable progress by taking an iterative approach to continuously refine their designs.

2023 Adams’ Night at the Observatory

Posted on by hpscott

Physics faculty members Jerry Hinnefeld and Henry Scott hosted the Adams High School Science Department Chair, Matthew McQueen, and students from two of his Fall 2023 astronomy classes, for a special Meet the Stars event at the IUSB Observatory on Monday, October 16th. There were over twenty people in the Adams group, including some parents and grandparents.

Heavy cloud cover precluded visual observations, but it was an engaged group, and we gave a thorough tour of the facility. Additionally, the students are just starting to learn about astronomical spectroscopy in class, so Prof. Hinnefeld walked them through the equipment and processing steps he uses with IUSB students to collect spectra. He also showed and discussed recent data and images from the facility.

DTSI Internships at LLNL (Deadline: 1/26/2024)

Posted on by hpscott

Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) offers summer student programs including the Defense Science and Technology Internship (DTSI) with many options that may be of high appeal to physics students. The program includes close mentorship with a staff scientist.

Here’s a link to a flyer for the 2024 program: DSTI flyer 2024.pdf.

We’re posting information about this program, specifically, to our blog because one of our alums, Dr. Andrew Ratkiewicz (IUSB B.S. 2006; link is to a 2021 bio on our blog), is a staff scientist at LLNL (and experienced mentor for the program), and he has offered to answer questions from our students. Let me know if you’re interested, and I’d be happy to put you in touch with him!

Here’s a list to a complete list of internships at LLNL: https://st.llnl.gov/opportunities/student-internships/internally-sponsored-internships.

 

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