NEWS

The Department of Physics announces and congratulates the following Summer 2011 Research Award recipients:

Two Brockport Physics Students will be working on research projects this summer. This year’s Mancuso Scholar, LeighAnn Larkin, will be working at the College at Brockport with Dr. Stanley F. Radford on the “Modeling of Light-heavy Quarkonia.” (Due to the Department’s move to temporary quarters, we aren’t able to support our usual contingent of student researchers.) In addition, Alexandria Kuhl was selected to participate in the REU program at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Congratulations to both of these students!

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Four Brockport Students present at RSPS XXX

Four Brockport Physics students presented papers at the Rochester Society of Physics Students meeting on May 9, 2011 at the University of Rochester. The students and their talks were:

Paul Bauch - "Room Acoustics - Measurement and Analysis.”
Andrew Gaul- “Indium Thin Film XRD Characterization and Electrical Analysis.”
Ryan Held- “Non-linear Dynamics of an Electrical and Mechanical System.”
Todd Rutkowski- “A Mutual Inductance Bridge for Conductivity Measurements.”

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Fun with Physics Toys at Seymour Library

The Physics Club will present a walk-in program for children ages 4-12 and their parents highlighting the physical principles used in many toys. The program runs from 10:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 26 at the Brockport-Seymour library.

Students from the Physics Club will be presenting Fun with Physics Toys at the Seymour Library from 10:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 26. Each semester, the Physics Club takes toys from the collection of former Department of Physics Chair Richard Mancuso to the library. Children of ages 4-12 and their parents can wander from station to station to see how the toys work and get a chance to try them out. Club members explain the physical principles used by the toys at a level appropriate to the child's age.

This is a drop-in program, so stop by with your children any time between 10:30 and 1:00. The library is located at 161 East Avenue in Brockport. See Flyer here.

The Department of Physics announces and congratulates the following Summer 2010 Research Award recipients:

Richard V. Mancuso Summer Research Award in Physics:

Andrew Gaul, "Multi-layer elemental thin film superconductivity." Faculty advisors: Professors Johnson-Steigelman and Tahar.

Brockport Foundation Summer Research Award:

Paul Bauch, "Thin films and superconductivity." Faculty advisors: Professors Johnson-Steigelman and Tahar.

LeighAnn Larkin, "Intergalactic MgII absorbers in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey." Faculty advisor: Professor Monier.

Brockport Physics Summer Research Award:

Jacob Beyer, "Intergalactic MgII absorbers in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey." Faculty advisor: Professor Monier.

Kevin Grossman, "Ferric Chloride intercalated graphite 2-D magnetic and electronic model." Faculty advisor: Professor Tahar.

The Physics Department would like to announce and congratulate the following:

Michigan State University Physics Research Experience for Undergraduates:

Alexandria Kuhl. Project and faculty advisor TBD.

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Four Brockport Students present at RSPS XXIX

The 29th annual Rochester Symposium for Physics Students (RSPS) was held at the University of Rochester on Saturday April 17, 2010. Students from 12 regional institutions presented research on a variety of topics including astronomy, condensed matter physics, particle physics, environmental physics, instrumentation and techniques, and educational physics. Approximately 70 students and faculty attended the symposium.

Bob Crown presented images from and details about the installation and calibration of a new CCD camera and filter system on a telescope at the College at Brockport’s observatory. James Enos presented a talk on the development of a sample heater to be used in a vacuum vapor deposition system at Brockport. Galen Fellows presented a talk describing the design and implementation of lab equipment to be used to study rotational motion and air resistance in future introductory laboratory classes at Brockport. Kara Richter presented results from a laboratory apparatus she has developed to investigate Faraday rotation. The system will be used in future advanced lab classes at Brockport.

The four presenters were accompanied by fellow student Chris Knupp and Professors Johnson-Steigelman, Monier, and Tahar.

The day also included a rousing round of Physics Jeopardy. Brockport’s team came in third place out of six competing teams. James Enos stated that the team knew more of the answers, but they weren’t able to buzz in first on every question. The day ended with a trip to the Lab for Laser Energetics.

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Dr. Richard V. Mancuso (1938-2009)

Dr. Richard V. Mancuso (1938 - 2009) passed away early December 15. A member of the Brockport Department of Physics for 40 years, and Department Chairman for 23 years, Richard was a terrific colleague, a dear friend, and mentor to many students over the years. He will be sadly missed. A memorial service was held on Saturday, December 19, 2009-11 a.m. at SUNY Brockport, Seymour College Union - Ballroom.

In 2008, a fund to support undergraduate student research in physics was created in Richard's honor with a gift from a generous donor. If you would like to make a contribution to this fund you may do so here .

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Brockport Physics students selected for Summer Research Awards

The inaugural Richard Mancuso Undergraduate Research Award has been awarded to sophomore Ryan Held. Ryan, currently a sophomore Physics major, will be working with Dr. Eric Monier on “Intergalactic MgII Absorbers in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.” The Mancuso award is supported by a gift from Brockport Physics alumnus Christopher Leichtweis.

James Enos, a junior Physics major, has been selected as an award recipient under the new Brockport Foundation Summer Research Grant program. James will receive a research stipend and housing support for 10 weeks. James will be working on campus with Drs. Trevor Johnson-Steigelman and Mohammed Tahar on “Testing the Superconducting Properties of Thin Films of Elemental Metals and their Interfaces.”

The Department of Physics Undergraduate Summer Research Award recipient is Andrew Gaul, a sophomore. The award provides a stipend for 8 -10 weeks of research. Andrew will also receive housing support from the Brockport Foundation program. Andrew will also be working with Drs. Trevor Johnson-Steigelman and Mohammed Tahar on “Testing the Superconducting Properties of Thin Films of Elemental Metals.”

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Brockport students and faculty attend APS New York Section meeting

Several Brockport Physics students and faculty members attended the Spring meeting of the New York State Section of the American Physical Society (NYSS-APS) held April 17-18 at the University of Rochester. Students attending were: Paul Bauch, James Enos, Andrew Gaul, Ryan Held, Kara Richter, and Todd Rutkowski. Faculty members in attendance were: Trevor Johnson-Steigelman, Eric Monier, Stanley Radford, and Mohammed Tahar. The meeting consisted of several plenary talks on Physics and Physics-related topics, as well as a student poster session and a banquet.

Two Brockport Physics students presented posters during the Student Poster Session. James Enos presented his poster “X-ray Diffraction of Co/MgO(111),” summarizing his research with Dr. Trevor Johnson-Steigelman during Summer 2008. Ryan Held presented his poster “Damped Lyman-Alpha Systems at Low Redshifts” summarizing research performed with Dr. Eric Monier last summer and over the past year. Both James and Ryan intend to continue their research this summer.

Ryan Held’s poster was awarded 2nd Place in the Undergraduate Division.

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Brockport students and faculty attend Undergraduate Research Day at Syracuse University

On Saturday, November 22, 2008, a group of Physics students and faculty attended Syracuse Undergraduate Research Day at Syracuse University. Students James Enos, Andrew Gaul, and Ashley Versaggi and faculty members Trevor Johnson-Steigelman and Mohammed Tahar braved wintry conditions to attend the day-long conference. They were joined by Brockport Physics alumna Samantha Rinaldo (‘08). James Enos presented a poster “X-ray diffraction of Co/MgO(111).” The Research Day included talks and posters by undergraduates from throughout upstate New York, talks by Syracuse faculty, and a tour of the research labs at Syracuse University.

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Two Brockport Physics Students awarded Summer Research Grants

Junior James Enos and Sophomore Ryan Held are this year's recipients of Brockport Undergraduate Physics Summer Research awards. James Enos is working with Dr. Trevor Johnson-Steigelman in the area of surface science and x-ray diffraction, while Ryan Held is working with Dr. Eric Monier in the area of quasar spectral characterization.

The awards are in the amount of $3,200.00 and require eight weeks of on-campus research with a Physics faculty mentor. The awards are competitive, and are announced and awarded in the spring of every year.

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Stanley F. Radford, Professor and Chairman of the Brockport Physics Department has been awarded a KITP Scholars Fellowship at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara for the years 2008-2010. The Kavli Institute (KITP), headed by Physics Nobel Laureate David Gross, is one of the premier theoretical physics institutes in the country. The KITP Scholar program was established with the purpose of "supporting the research efforts of faculty at US colleges and universities that are not major research institutions" who have demonstarted "on-going research activity." The award funds a total of three round trips and up to six weeks of local expenses, to be used over a period of up to three years. Dr. Radford plans to begin his Scholar activities with a two-week visit in July 2008.

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Eric Monier, Assistant Professor of the Brockport Physics Department, in collaboration with David Turnshek (PI) and Sandhya Rao at the University of Pittsburgh, has been awarded a grant of $18,630 from NASA for observations with the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) satelite. The proposal, "Measurements of Cosmic Metallicity at Low Redshift Using Damped Lyman-Alpha Systems," was awarded 22 orbits of observing time on GALEX during the current cycle of operations.

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Mohammed Tahar, Associate Professor of the Brockport Physics Department, attended and presented a poster at the 25th International Conference on Low Temperature Physics (LT25) which took place in Amsterdam from August 6 to August 13, 2008. The poster was titled "Transport Properties of Sn and SbI3 Doped Single Crystal p-Bi2Te3", and is a result of measurements done at Brockport on materials from Baikov Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science. This conference was commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the liquification of Helium at Leiden University by Kammerlingh Onnes.

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