|
WKU Department of Physics and Astronomy
Summary of Student Accomplishments for the 2005-2006
Academic Year
Graduates for the 2005-06 Academic Year
- Timothy Morgan, Spring 2006 (will attend graduate
school in microelectronics-photonics at University of Arkansas).
- Charles Poteet, Spring 2006 (will attend graduate school in
physics/astrophysics at University of Toledo).
- John Rainwater, Spring 2006
- Shelly Smith, Spring 2006 (will attend graduate school in
Space Systems at Florida Institute of Technology).
- Richard Walters, Spring 2006 (will attend graduate school in
Space Systems at Florida Institute of Technology).
Student Research Participation in the WKU Department of Physics
and Astronomy (Faculty mentor in parentheses)
-
Jeremy Board "Wireless medical sensor network" (Barzilov)
- Erin Capece, "A search for the most distant
supernova with HST" (Louis Gregory Strolger)
- Jason Carson "Searching for Extrasolar Planets" (Charles McGruder)
- Jenny Culver "Spectral Analysis uisng FFT and Wavelets" (Womble)
- Jonathan Craft "Position sensitive neutron detectors" (Barzilov)
- Coty Elliott and Jason Wyatt ' Microwave Ice Sensor Design'
(Chris Bassey)
-
Dara Hardin "Public Relations in Scientific Institute" (Womble)
- Eric Houchins "Explosives Detection using Neutrons" (API)
- Joseph Howard "Investigation of Propulsion Systems for Interstellar Travel" (API)
- Timothy Morgan, "Development of an X-ray Diffraction System" (API)
- Jeremy Maune, "The Long Term Multiwavelegnth
Variability of TeV Blazars" (Mike Carini).
- Sarah McMurray "Determining the Cause of Nuclear Activity on Seyfert Galaxies" (Richard Gelderman)
-
Kyle Moss "Railcar Security" (API)
- Charles Poteet, "Pre-Main-Sequence Stars in the Giant
Star-Forming region NGC 3603" (Sergey Marchenko).
- Charles Poteet, "Derivation and use of the Geodesic
equation", Senior Mathematics Project, (Brett Bolen)
- Ian Rice, "Development of a Data Acquistion System for the RLEAKS Project" (API).
- Alison Rohde, "A search for the most distant supernova
with HST" (Louis Gregory Strolger)
- Noel Simms "Light Curves of Eclipsing Binaries"
(Charles McGruder)
- Shelly Smith, "Determining the Cause of Nuclear Activity on Seyfert Galaxies" (Richard Gelderman).
- Shelly Smith, "Ground-Based Optical Photometry of the
Variable Wolf-Rayet Star WR 123" (Sergey Marchenko).
-
Britton Wallace "Semi-Autonomous Robotic Sensors" (Womble)
- Richard Walters, "Analysis of the Multi-Color
Variability in S5 0716+714" (Mike Carini).
Summer 2005 Research Experiences
- Michael Holcomb: NASA Undergraduate Research Program at NASA
Glen Research Center.
- Tim Morgan, University of Arkansas,
microEP REU.
- Charles Poteet, Penn. State University.
- Shelly Smith, WKU (Sergey Marchenko).
- Shelly Smith, NASA Workshop (Huntsville).
- Richard Walters, WKU (Mike Carini).
Summer 2006 Research Experiences
- Jason Carson, Southeastern Association for Research in
Astronomy
- Jeremy Maune, WKU (Mike Carini)
- Sarah McMurray, University of North Texas Accelerator
Laboratory
- Erin Capece, WKU (Louis Gregory Strolger).
Presentations Made by WKU Students
WKU Department of Physics and Astronomy Colloquia Series,
September 12, 2005
- Richard Walters, "Structure Function Analysis of BL Lacertae
Objects PKS 0716 + 714"
- Tim Morgan, "Development and Characterization of Micro-Hall
Sensors Based on High Drift Velocity Materials"
- Michael Holcomb, "PVT and Optical Mass Gauging"
WKU Department of Physics and Astronomy Colloquia Series,
September 19, 2005
- Amy Kaczynski, "Radial Agglomeration of Particles by the Use
of Sound"
- Jeremy Maune, "Multiwavelength Observations of Terra-Gectren-Volt
Blazars"
- Charles Poteet, "A Chandra Study of Herbig Haro Objects:
HH184 & HH300"
- Shelly Smith, "Revealing Pulsations Within WR123 Using MOST"
WKU Department of Physics and Astronomy Senior Seminar
Presentations (PHYS 498), November 14 & December 5, 2005.
- Richard Walters, "The Nature of the Multi-Color
Microvariability in S5 0716 + 714"
- Tim Morgan, "Development and Characterization of Micro-Hall
Sensors Based on High Drift Velocity Materials"
- Shelly Smith, "An Observational Study of Seyfert Galaxies"
- Charles Poteet, "Revealing the Nature of Faint X-Ray Sources
in the Supergiant Star-forming Region NGC 3603"
Argonne National Laboratory Undergraduate Symposium, November
2005.
- Ryan Moore, "Threat level determination through
elemental analysis"
- Richard Walters, "Structure function analysis of blazar
PKS
0716+714"
- Sarah McMurray, "Design and construction of the WKU Ion
Beam Materials Analysis Laboratory"
- Shelly Smith, "Revealing pulsations of WR123
using MOST"
- Jonathan Craft "Investigation of ranges for proton
recoil reaction products in gas mixtures of position sensitive
neutron detectors"
- Ian Rice, "Harmonic prime mover development for
thermo-acoustic agglomeration"
Posters at the Capitol, Frankfort, KY February 2006
- Amy
Kaczynski
-
Sarah McMurray (student), Dara Hardin (student), Alexander
Barzilov, Phillip Womble, “Biometric Fingerprint Access System
for Critical Infrastructure Protection,”
- Shelly Smith
-
Tim Morgan (student), Alexander Barzilov, Phillip Womble, and
Doug Harper, “Beam Line Optics for 2.5 MeV Van de Graaff
Particle Accelerator,”
- Richard Walters
WKU Sigma Xi Undergraduate Research Conference, April 8, 2006.
- Jeremy Board, and Alexander Barzilov, "Integrating
Wireless Networking for Medical Monitoring"
- Dara Hardin, and Phillip Womble, "Public Relations'
Role in a Scientific Institute"
- Eric Houchins, Tim Morgan, Ian Rice, Jeremy Board,
Joseph Howard, Alexander Barzilov and Phillip Womble, "Elemental
Analysis Using Pulsed Fast Neutrons"
- Joseph Howard, and Alexander Barzilov, "Analysis of
Propulsion Systems for Deep Space Flight Missions"
- Tim Morgan, Jeremy Board, Kyle Moss, Eric Houchins,
Ian Rice, Doug Harper, Phillip Womble, Alexander Barzilov, and
Jon Paschal, "Rigaku D-Max B XRD: A Materials Characterization
Tool for IBMAL"
- Kyle Moss, Lindsay Hopper, Tim Morgan, Phillip Womble,
and Alexander Barzilov, "Rail Tank Car Lakage Detection System (RLEAKS)"
- Ian Rice, and Phillip Womble, "Behavior of a Sodium
Iodine Detector under Neutron Irradiation"
- Ryan Simpson, Chris Bassey " A Comparison of
Microwave Coplanar Structures for Use as Dielectric Thickness
Sensors".
- Shelly Smith, Sarah McMurray, Richard Gelderman
"Determining the Causes of Nuclear Activity in Seyfert Galaxies"
Presentations at National Meetings
- Sarah McMurray, Shelly Smith, "Triggering Mechanisms for
Active Galaxies: Multi-Wavelength Images", at the National
Conference on Undergraduate Research (April 2006, Asheville,
NC).
- T. Morgan and S. Whitteburg , Determining the phase
boundary of circle and square nanomagnets at Sigma Xi Student
Research Conference, Seattle, WA
Nov. 4-5, 2005.
- Charles Poteet, "A Chandra Study of Herbig-Haro
Objects: HH184 & HH300", poster presentation
at the 207th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (Jan.
2006, Washington, D.C.)
- Richard Walters, "" poster presentation at the 207th meeting
of the American Astronomical Society (Jan. 2006,
Washington, D.C.).
- Jeremy Maune, "The Long Term Multiwavelegnth Variability of
TeV Blazars", poster presentation at the 207th meeting of the
American Astronomical Society (Jan. 2006, Washington, D.C.).
Presentations by Faculty at National Meetings with Student
Co-Authors
-
A. Barzilov, P.C. Womble, J. Paschal, L.
Hopper, R. Moore, T. Morgan (student), B. Wallace
(student), J. Board (student), K. Moss (student),
and J. Howard (student), “Inexpensive Robot Platforms for
Detection and Neutralization Applications,” in the 7th
International Symposium on Technology and the Mine Problem,
Monterrey, CA (2006).
- Chris Bassey and Gregory R. Simpson.
“Development of Dielectric Biosensors for Diagnostic
Applications” Paper presented at the American Physical Society
March Meeting at Baltimore, Maryland, March 13-17, 2006.
- Chris Bassey and Gregory R. Simpson.
“Microwave Biosensors for Dielectric Thickness Measurements”
Poster presented at the 50th Annual Meeting of American
Biophysical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah, February 18-22, 2006.
- Chris Bassey and Gregory R. Simpson.
“Microwave Sensors for Reducing Aircraft Icing Hazards”. Paper
presented at the Joint Annual Conference of the National Society
of Black Physicists, and National Society of Hispanic
Physicists. San Jose, California , February 15-19, 2006.
Students as Co-Authors of Papers
-
Sarah McMurray, Shelly Smith, "Triggering Mechanisms for Active
Galaxies: Multi-Wavelength Images", proceedings of the National
Conference on Undergraduate Research (in press).
- Tim Morgan, Ryan Moore, et. al.
"RadRobot: A WiFi Self-propelled Radiological Sensor" for
a Dept of Homeland Security Conference.
- Tim Morgan, Ryan Moore, et. al.
"A tracking technology for first responders and security
personnel" at the International Society of Optical
Engineers.
- Abe Music, Josh Hardy, et. al.
"Radiological Detection based on Cellular Phone Technology".
- Lefevre, L. Marchenko, S., Smith, S.,
Poteet, C.,
et al. "Oscillations in the Massive Wolf-Rayet StarWR123
with the MOST Satellite", 2005, ApJ, 634, 109L.
- Chris Bassey and Gregory R. Simpson
" A comparison of the coplanar waveguide (CPW) and
conductor-backed coplanar waveguide (CBCPW) for use as aircraft
ice sensors", Proceedings of IEEE-AP-S International Symposium
2006 USNC/URSI National Radio Science Meeting, Albuquerque, New
Mexico, 2006. (In press).
- Ostorero,L.,Walters, R,, Wills, W,
and 60 co-authors “Testing the Inverse-Compton catastrophe
scenario in the intra-day variable blazer S5 0716+71:
Simultaneous broadband observations* during November 2003.,
Astronomy &Astrophysics, 2006, in press.
- Raiteri, C. M.; Carini, M., Poteet, C.,
Wills, W. et. al., Witzel, A.; Xilouris, E.,
“The WEBT campaign to observe AO 0235+16 in the 2003-2004
observing season. Results from radio-to-optical monitoring and
XMM-Newton observations”, 2005, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 438,
39
- Böttcher, M.; Carini, M.;
Poteet, C.; Walters, R.; Wills, W. et. al.
“Coordinated Multiwavelength Observation of 3C 66A during the
WEBT Campaign of 2003-2004”, 2005, Astrophysical Journal, 631,
169
- Barnaby, D.; Carini, M. T.; Walters, R.;
Holcomb, M.; Littich, K. J.; Poteet, C.; Smith,
S. R., “Tapping Relativistic Jet Kinetic Energy to Maximize
Optical Variations in LBLs” , 2006 Bulletin American
Astronomical Society , 37, 1399
Awards won by Students
-
Dara Hardin, Honorable mention in
Journalism & Broadcasting section at 2006 WKU Sigma Xi
Conference.
- Eric Houchens, First Place in Physics and Astronomy section
at the 2006 WKU Sigma Xi Conference.
- Joe Howard, Third Place in Physics and Astronomy section at
the 2006 WKU Sigma Xi Conference.
- Charles Poteet, Best undergraduate presentation during Fall
student colloquia series.
- Charles Poteet, Recipient of the 2005 Douglas Humphrey Award
for Outstanding Service in Physics.
- Timothy Morgan, Honorable Mention in
Physics and Astronomy section at the 2006 WKU Sigma Xi
Conference.
- Timothy Morgan, Recipient of the 2005 George V. Page Award for
Excellence in Physics Scholarship.
- Timothy Morgan, Inducted into Sigma Xi as an Associate
Member (05-present).
- Timothy Morgan, Yellow Ribbon for Excellent Poster
Presentation at Sigma Xi Meeting 2005, Seattle, WA.
- Ryan Simpson, Second Place in Physics and Astronomy section
at the 2006 WKU Sigma Xi Conference.
- Richard Walters, Recipient of the 2005 Randall Harper Award
for Outstanding Research in Physics.
Scholarships and Fellowships won by Students
- Jason Carson, Kentucky Space Grant Consortium Scholarship
- Sarah McMurray, Kentucky Space Grant Consortium Scholarship
- Charles Poteet, Kentucky Space Grant Consortium Scholarship
- Timothy Morgan, Winner of Walton Doctoral Academy
Fellowship.
- Timothy Morgan, Winner of GK-12 Graduate Student Fellowship.
Other Accomplishments and Activities
- Volunteers for Science Olympiad: Selva Calderon, Jason
Musser, Ian Rice, Shelly Smith, Richard Walters, Alison Rohde,
Kyle Moss, Joe Howard, Jeremy Maune.
- Derrin Whitehead, Lab assistant for Astronomy 106 night time
telescope viewing sessions.
- Sarah McMurray and Dara Hardin, preparation of 2005-2006 newsletter.
- Michael Holcomb, Shelly Smith, Richard Walters: Observers at
the WKU Bell Observatory.
|
