We held our 2022 induction ceremony for Sigma Pi Sigma (ΣΠΣ), a physics honorary society, immediately following the last class meeting for AST-N 390 of the semester: Seamus Cash (shown in photo); Emilee Edmonds; and Preston Porter. This brings the total membership in our local chapter well into the 70s subsequent to our first induction back… Read more »
Departmental News
Physics Presentations at the 2022 IUSB URC
Three physics students presented at today’s Undergraduate Research Conference (URC): Cody Cripe gave a talk entitled Acoustic Transducer Sensitivity near Cryogenic Temperatures, based on the work he’s been doing in Prof. Levine’s astroparticle-physics lab on transducer design and construction; and Phillip Derrickson and Emilee Edmonds presented a poster entitled Exoplanet Light Curves and Confirmations to… Read more »
Three Titans to Week-long Nuclear Science Summer School at MSU
Physics majors Phillp Derrickson (center), Emilee Edmonds (right) and Preston Porter (left) have each been accepted to the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL)’s NS3 Nuclear Science Summer School at Michigan State University (MSU) this summer. NS3 is for undergraduates and combines lectures, collaborative activities, peer networking and research mentoring to provide an immersive experience in… Read more »
Alum Update: Emily Grace ’11
After receiving a Psychology BA from Bethel University in 2006, Emily Grace came to IUSB where she completed both a Physics BS and an Education MS in 2011. While at IUSB she was remarkably engaged in all aspects of campus life and was especially active in Prof. Ilan Levine’s astroparticle-physics lab where she developed a… Read more »
River Montessori High School Visit
Henry Borjas, a 2016 IUSB alum with a B.A. in math and a minor in physics, is now a math teacher at River Montessori High School. Mr. Borjas brought a group of students for a visit with Prof. Jerry Hinnefeld in March. As can be seen in the pictures, they toured the observatory and explored… Read more »
Radiography Presentation on April 7th
The Department of Physics & Astronomy is pleased to welcome two faculty from the IU South Bend Vera Z. Dwyer College of Health Sciences as the latest speakers in our “Careers in Physics” series. Professors Maryann Oake and Rory Langton will speak about the use of X-rays in medical diagnostics — a core component of… Read more »
The Titan Weather Station @ The IUSB Observatory
After wanting to acquire a departmental weather station for many years, Brian Davis recently mentioned a design sold by Weatherflow that has no moving parts, wirelessly connects to a hub, and is solar powered. This sounds perfect for deployment outside our astronomical observatory, so we purchased one in February and installed it today. Their offering… Read more »
Alum Update: Shelly Lesher ’99
Subsequent to earning a B.S. in physics in 1999, Shelly Lesher went to the University of Kentucky where she completed a Ph.D., also in physics, in 2005. Dr. Lesher worked with Prof. Hinnefeld while at IUSB and has become an accomplished nuclear physicist herself: she is now a professor at the University of Wisconsin La… Read more »
Fabricating Sensors for Environmental Data Logging
Here’s a shot of dual physics & math major Christian Rugelio (’22) working with Prof. Brian Davis in Prof. Levine’s astro-particle physics lab: Prof. Levine and his astro-particle team have been expanding their attention even more broadly in recent years and applying their expertise to new problems. In fact, on this day Prof. Davis is… Read more »
Physics Seminar Thursday, January 20, at 3:00 PM — All Welcome!
Please join us via Zoom for a special research presentation by IU Bloomington Ph.D. candidate Patrick Blackstone. Patrick is a theorist with an especially strong interest in undergraduate teaching (he’s a Future Faculty Teaching Fellow). Further, the format of his presentation will be shorter than normal, at only twenty minutes, followed by questions, as we… Read more »