As posted previously, Jeff Yoder will be supported by the NSF REU program to conduct physics research at Oklahoma State University. Additionally, several of our students will receive SMART Summer Fellowship Awards to support their research with IUSB physics faculty: Gustavo Duran (w/ Prof. Hinnefeld) Johnathan Leece (w/ Prof. Schimmrigk) Stephanie Tallman (w/ Prof. Hinnefeld) Ali… Read more »
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Borntrager Nominated for IUSB Educator of the Year
Professor Brenda Borntrager, a senior lecturer in the Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, was nominated by students for IUSB’s 2019 Educator of the Year Award. The award was presented at the Student Government Association Award Ceremony on Friday, April 19th. Prof. Ann Grens (biological sciences) received the award this year, but Brenda and the other… Read more »
Physics Majors Win Awards at URC
As posted previously, several physics majors gave presentations at the 2019 IUSB Undergraduate Research Conference, and award winners have now been announced. We’re very proud that physics majors did especially well: Best Presentation in the Natural Sciences Shwetha Vittal Honorable Mention for Best Presentation in the Natural Sciences Phillip Marmorino Honorable Mention for Best Poster… Read more »
IN AAPT Meeting Held at IUSB
Prof. Jerry Hinnefeld arranged for IUSB to host a successful meeting of the Indiana Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers (INAAPT) on Friday evening and Saturday (April 12 and 12). All physics faculty attended, and both Profs. Hinnefeld and Ilan Levine gave presentations about their teaching efforts. As a nice surprise, alumnus Austin… Read more »
Student Presentations at IUSB’s 2019 URC
The 2019 Undergraduate Research Conference was held on April 12, 2019, and several physics majors gave talks in a session entitled “X-Rays, Electrons, Bacteria and Dark Matter:” Nathan Walkoski: Dark Matter Acoustics Skye McDonald (actually a biology major): A Simple Test of Using Powder X-Ray Diffraction to Quantify Calcite to Aragonite Fraction in Carbonate Samples… Read more »
Congratulations (and Thanks!) to Beth for Five Years of Service to the Department
Associate faculty member Beth Marchant was recognized for five years of service on Wednesday, April 10th. She has revamped PHYS-T 105 (Physical Science for Elementary Teachers) to include lots of active and project-based learning, and she participates in the scholarship of teaching and learning with presentations of her observations and experiences at AAPT meetings. She… Read more »
REU for Physics Major
Current physics major Jeff Yoder (`20) has received and will accept a position in the Oklahoma State University REU program this summer. Hopefully he’ll be willing to give a talk about his experience in PHYS-S 106 during Fall 2019. Congratulations, Jeff!
Visualizing Acoustic Modes in Instrument Materials
In a previous post, we featured ongoing work in our department by alums Tom Nania (Physics, ’13) and Alex LeClair (Computer Science and Applied Math, ’16) that’s connected to Tom’s local instrument-fabrication business, House of Luthiery. Here’s a video of Tom using a speaker to drive a wood sample at a known frequency while measuring… Read more »
3-D Printed Sample Holders for X-Ray Lab
Physics Education major Chandarin Nhol is the local guru with our 3-D printer, and after seeing the cool nose cones he’s been printing for model rockets, I asked if he could help solve a problem I’ve been having with our X-ray diffractometer. Briefly, the sample holders we’ve been using are made of aluminum, and although… Read more »
Prof. Levine Receives New NSF Award
Congratulations to professor Ilan Levine for securing new National Science Foundation funding in support of his work! The proposal title is MRI Consortium: Development of Instrumentation for the PICO-500 Bubble Chamber, and the award is for >$770k. Specifically, the funding will support Prof. Levine and his collaborators as they help to develop and fabricate a ton-scale… Read more »