Projects
All students have ample opportunities to engage in research together with a faculty mentor. For students seeking the BS or BA degree research is a requirement, and it culminates with a presentation at a local, state, or national professional conference. Physics majors are also strongly encouraged to take advantage of opportunities for intensive summer research experiences at locations like national laboratories.
Recent and current student projects include:
- Ultrasonic studies of tissue
- Construction of a numerical action minimizer
- Modal characteristics of clarinet reeds
- Magnetic damping by eddy currents
- Diode laser atom trap
- Nonlinear dynamics and chaos
- Propagation of surface elastic waves
A brief description of the research projects each faculty member is engaged in follows; interested students can join the work in progress. Please click on "Information" to find out more about each faculty member's projects.
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Matthew Beaky:
Experimental projects using radio, microwave, and millimeter-wave radiation, with applications in spectroscopy and astronomy. Nuclear spin isomer conversion in polyatomic molecules; Building an optically-pumped submillimeter-wave laser; Experimental and computational studies of photonic bandgap crystals; Design and construction of a radio telescope; Radio detection of meteors; The practice of astronomy in early human cultures. |
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Taner Edis:
Mainly computational projects, plus some in physics education and the history and philosophy of physics. Developing a computer model used for atmospheric physics; Exploring how randomness arises in physical theories; Chaos in mesoscopic Josephson junction arrays; Dynamics on a random/discrete spacetime; Statistical inference and marginal effect sizes; How creationism affects physics education. |
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Michael Goggin:
Experimental, theoretical and computational projects involving quantum optics, nonlinear dynamics, and the classical-quantum transition. Laser cooling and trapping of atoms; The interaction of light with atoms; Distributions of short-time Lyapunov exponents of chaotic systems; Calculation of level curves of the Wigner distribution function for the square barrier potential. |
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Ian Lindevald:
Research involving the physics of sound production and radiation in musical instruments. Characterizing woodwind reeds -- asking whether variations in the vibrational modes of woodwind reeds are correlated with variations in the quality (timbre, "playability") of the reeds as perceived by players. Experimental component: using holographic interferometry to image reed vibrational modes as well as other acoustical techniques. Theoretical component: modeling reed vibrations using finite element techniques. |
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Peter Rolnick:
Physics education research projects for students at any level; Nuclear theory work concerning applications of relativistic hamiltonian dynamics to electron-deuteron scattering for advanced students. A numerical action minimizer; A study of pedagogical methods used in introductory physics courses; An electrolytic battery for an electric car; The effect of acceleration on the Twin Paradox; Solutions to the Skyrme Model with cylindrical symmetry. |
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Mohammad Samiullah:
Theoretical and experimental projects, plus research on physics education. Ultrasonic study of the elastic properties of heart tissue and other biological materials; Investigating the effectiveness of active learning methods in physics education; Examining the dark matter hypothesis; Wannier functions in semi-conducting quantum wells; Dissipative quantum systems; Skyrme model of nucleon-nucleon interactions; Alpha expansion; Bound states in quantum field theory. |
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Eduardo Sanchez Velasco:
Mainly theoretical and computational projects. Wave propagation, surface elastic waves; Ray theory and caustic formation; Physics of imaging, seismic and X-ray imaging; Mathematical physics, differential geometry; Foundations of quantum mechanics; Quantum optics and quantum electronics; Computational fluid dynamics; Numerical simulations in statistical mechanics; Phase transitions and critical phenomena. |