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Ithaca College Physics Department
News From Summer 2004 to Graduation 2005
You can also Read About This Year's Events in the Monday
Mornin' Memo |
Commencement 2005 : Sunday May 16th, 2005 |
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Sameer Garg (heading off to work for Google)
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Eric Leibensperger (attending Harvard for astrophysics) |
Matt Sprague (attending CalTech for chemistry)
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David Whelan (working as a researcher at Cornell Univ) |
Natalie Burek (will be teaching high school physics)
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Alex Williamson (heading to Brandeis to study theoretical particle physics)
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Dave Drollette (will be working for a bit before deciding his next career move)
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Jason Aiken (isn't sure where he is headed, but it will probably involve some aspect of business)
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Graduating seniors not able to attend graduation are:
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| Kyle McMann |
Nate Newton (Nate Newton graduated in December and is working while figuring out his next move)
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| Jay Schuran |
Greg Shear (just finished an audio production internship in Los Angeles and is seeking an audio production job) |
Mechanics Class Presentations : Thursday, April 28th, 2005 |
The students of Professor Bruce Thompson presented the results of their mechanics
class projects.
See
photos of the event
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The physics department celebrated its 3rd annual spring banquet. |
Pictured are (standing L-R) Lia Stelljes, Maria Gonzalez,
Sanya Levi, Beth Clark Joseph, Natalie Burek (seated L-R) Melissa
Gilbert, Sweta Shah
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The physics department celebrates the end of the academic year
with the culminating event that is the spring banquet. Eligible
members were inducted in to Sigma Pi Sigma (the national physics
honor society), the faculty presented the Balance award, and
the faculty presented graduation awards to the seniors.
Alumnus Robert MacCurdy '99 shared his current research endeavors
with the department at the banquet.
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Ford Observatory "Star Party": Friday (4/15) 8:30 - 11:30 pm |
The Ithaca College Society of Physics Students and the Department of Physics invite all IC students, staff, faculty, their families and friends to an open house at the Ford Observatory. To attend, just show up in front of Textor hall by the flagpole. A shuttle van will make regular runs (approximately every 30 minutes) to convey visitors to the Observatory and back. The last shuttle leaves for the observatory at 11:00 pm. There is no parking available at or near the Observatory so please do not drive private vehicles. The access road is NOT lighted, so please use the shuttle van rather than walking up.
This event depends on clear skies. If skies are not perfectly clear on Friday evening, call 274-3012 after about 7:30 PM or visit the observatory website to see if we are going ahead as planned:
http://www.ithaca.edu/briotta/observatory/index.html
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Ice Cream social to celebrate the successful faculty search |
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We handed out World Year of Physics 2005 pins to recognize all of the hard work that the entire department did in ensuring a successful faculty search.
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2005 James J. Whalen Academic Symposium |
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Kudos are in order. Each
year the top 5% of the students who completed their freshman
year are inducted into the Oracle Society a local honor society.
These are this year's inductees who are Physics majors/minors:
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David Baker
Lia Stelljes
Professor Michael Rogers
(The spring term faculty inductee)
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A few of our first year physics students were selected for
the Dean's list
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David Baker
Maria Gonzalez
Maksim Sipos
Lia Stelljes (exploratory, now a declared physics
major)
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Research in Hawaii
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Physics Professor Luke Keller and Physics Student David Whelan traveled to Hawaii to conduct astronomical observations
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The physics faculty do more than just teach together
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Physics Professor Rogers learns to cross
country ski with the instruction of physics professors Luke
Keller and Bruce Thompson.
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Ithaca College Welcomes in the New Year by Changing the Date on the Towers
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Each year Ithaca College welcomes
in the New Year by changing the date on the Ithaca
College Towers at midnight. Place your mouse over
the picture to the left to see the date change. test
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The
Physics Department celebrated the
arrival of the end of the semester
and the approaching Solstice by
having a Pre-Solstice Party |
Matt Sprague and Eric Leibensperger
enjoy a bit of relaxation time.
Click on their picture to see a
few more shots of our get together. |
Britt Scharringhausen
shared with us her knowledge of Solstices,
and lots more. Click on the image
above to see her presentation slides. |
Sustainability
Café , Noon,
Thursday, November 11
Klingenstein Lounge, Campus Center
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Wind Power
As concern over long-term supplies of fossil fuels and the environmental impacts of their use continue to grow, energy issues will become increasingly important to academic institutions like Ithaca College. There will come a time when the environmental damages caused by fossil fuel use are no longer acceptable to us or to our students. One way that we can prepare for the impending change is to choose to develop our renewable energy resources. Right now, the economic incentives for wind power from the State of NY are so good that Ithaca College can benefit environmentally and financially from building a wind power facility on campus. By developing our wind power potential, Ithaca College can project the image of high technology, being future-oriented and environmentally responsible.
At this talk we will present the basics of harnessing wind for power and lead a discussion on how a wind tower on campus might be used to affect curriculum development. We will discuss the Ithaca College Wind Power initiative being led by Dr. John Confer (Biology), as well as the Ecovillage wind power study being led by Dr. Francis Vanek (Cornell, Ecovillage). (Also of interest are the Cornell University plans.)
Presenters are Beth Ellen Clark Joseph (Assistant Professor in the Physics Department with research interests in Planetary Science and sustainability engineering), and David Sungarian (Graduate Student in Mechanical Engineering at Cornell University working with Dr. Francis Vanek).
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Seeing Beneath the Soil |
Click on the picture above to see an interactive
Quicktime move of the slides used during the
Cafe. When the Quicktime opens you need to click
on each frame to see the next slide.
On Tuesday, November 9, 2004 at 7:30 pm in the
Emerson Suites Ithaca College's own Professor
Michael Rogers spoke about Ground-based Remote
Sensing. Technological advances in the past two
decades have allowed ground-based remote sensing
tools to be effectively used at archaeology and
environmental study sites. IC physics
professor Michael Rogers spoke about his uses
ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry, and other
methods to look into the ground without excavating.
Interactive demonstrations will illuminate how
these methods work, and Dr. Rogers shared
upcoming work that might entice students to join
the survey team!
The Physics Café is a campus-wide lecture series sponsored
by the Physics Department of Ithaca College. The idea
is to grab and hold the attention of science and non-science
majors by offering talks on exciting and accessible
current topics in physics, such as the time-warping
properties of black holes, or the exploration of planet
mars. The talks are presented in a café environment,
where coffee is served and students and physicists
can informally discuss new ideas.
A place to relax, enjoy some coffee and cookies,
and explore ideas about our physical universe...
for science and non-science types! To see photos of the Cafe : Seminars/PhysicsCafe/IMAGES-PhysicsCafe/IMAGES-04-FA/WebGallery/index.htm |
Professor Bruce Thompson and SPS members helped with the Sciencenter's annual egg-drop |
| Professor Thompson helps judge the annual egg-drop competition held on the Ithaca Commons each year. This year's event had a special appearance by Bill Nye who served as the commentator for the event. |
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Student Research Symposium |
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On Tuesday, November 2nd and Thursday, November
4th 6 Physics Students presented the results
of their summer research. Follow the link below
to see pictures of the symposium and look at
the student's presentations.
For more information: Events/A11-StudentSymposium/StudentSymposium2004/index.htm |
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Don't
miss the total lunar eclipse, starting at 9:14 pm EDT on Wed
Oct 27th! |
The Society of Physics Students and the IC Physics Department are hosting an open house at IC's Ford Observatory on Wednesday October 27.
As of 6:45 pm the Eclipse Observing is a
go. Call 274-3012 for updates.
Of course you can see the lunar
eclipse without a telescope, but we'll
be showing off other celestial gems including
star clusters, galaxies, and nebulae
as we wait for the eclipse to progress.
Time: 8pm to 11pm
Rides:
We will run shuttles to and from the observatory every
30 minutes from the turnaround
in front of Textor Hall, beginning
at 8pm. The last shuttle will
leave for the observatory at
10:30 pm.
Please do not drive personal
vehicles to the observatory,
there is no parking available.
For your safety: Ithaca College recommends that you
use the shuttle, but if you prefer to walk to the
observatory BRING A FLASHLIGHT
and DO NOT MAKE THE TRIP ALONE.
The road through the woods is very dark!
For more information about the eclipse:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/13oct_lunareclipse.htm?list471374
For more information about the
IC event AND IF YOU WOULD LIKE
TO HELP: Luke Keller (lkeller@ithaca.edu)
or David Whelan (dwhelan1@ithaca.edu) |
Kevin Faehndrich and Greg Shear tie for third place in the
undergraduate poster session at the New York State Section
of the American Physical Society Biannual Symposium in Brooklyn,
NY
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Physics students Kevin Faehndrich and Greg Shear tied for third
place in the New York State section of the American Physical
Society's biannual symposium poster session. Kevin's poster
is titled: "Cesium
Magnetometer Surveys at a 1,000-Year-Old
Pithouse Village Site in Southwestern,
New Mexico" and Greg's
title is: "Reduction
of Parallax Error in Cesium Magnetometer
Surveys Using Laser Alignment." (click on the previous titles
to see Kevin and Greg's posters.) \The symposium was held on
October 15-16, 2004, at the New York City College of Technology
of the City University of New York in Brooklyn. The topical
symposium was entitled "Physics of the Microworld: From Quarks
to Nanostructures." Physics professor Michael "Bodhi" Rogers
proudly watched as his research students were each awarded a
$25 prize. |
Kudos are in order. Each
year the top 5% of the students who completed their freshman
year are inducted into the Oracle Society a local honor
society. These are this year's Fall term inductees who are
Physics majors/minors: |
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Reuben C. Gergan
Nitin K. Rajan
Can Coler
Melissa L. Gilbert
Kristiyan R. Georgiev |
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Over 30 department members showed up to the Physics
Fall Picnic. Everyone seemed to have a great
time and Bodhi (with help from Brandon Sforzo)
grilled up some tasty food. Some photos are already
posted and stay tuned for more.
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Physics Professor Luke Keller and physics student
David Whelan recently made observations using the
Palomar 200-inch telescope
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click here for more photos |
The Physics Faculty met briefly after Convocation
with our incoming class. We have 8 official
physics majors in the class of 2008 with a few
exploratory students seriously considering physics
(obviously not all of the new students made it
to our meet and greet pictured below).
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IC Physics Faculty Featured in the Ithaca College
Quarterly Alumni Magazine
(click on the image below
to read the article).
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The IC Physics Summer '04 Researchers
took the annual summer day
trip to Ithaca's Sciencenter.
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| Professor Bruce Thompson
organized an afternoon trip for all of the IC Physics summer
researchers to the Ithaca Sciencenter. We all had a great time
checking out the exhibits, bugging Natalie Burek (an IC Teacher-Physics
Major who is interning at the Sciencenter via a summer stipend
from the IC Physics department), and concluded by playing eighteen
holes of Galaxy Golf.
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Professors Bruce Thompson and Beth Clark Joseph demonstrate
the Anti-Gravity Mirror.
See more
photos here
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Bruce and Katie kicked off the
summer with a Taco Party.
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Professor
Bruce Thompson organized a great
start to the summer by hosting a
Taco Party at his house. Most of
the summer researchers were able
to attend the party, but a few of
the summer gang were already on their
way to research sites elsewhere.
Natalie Burek is interning at the Sciencenter
Scott Boyd is working with Dan Briotta
Sweta Shah and Sanya Levi are working with Beth Clark Joseph
Eric Liebensperger is working with Luke Keller
Alex Williamson is working with Bruce Thompson |
Student Sweta Shah and Alumni Nate
Ricci play badminton
See more
photos here
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Professor Rogers, Kevin Faehndrich, and Greg Shear head off to NM to conduct research.
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| We will conduct cesium magnetometer studies at Gila Encantada site, a Late Pithouse (A.D. 550 - 1000) period site located in southwestern New Mexico in a region classified by archaeologists as the Mimbres Mogollon culture area. The goals of these studies are to gain a better understanding of the magnetic geophysical signature left by the occupants of the site, and improve methods of gathering and interpreting these data. We specifically plan on using Maximum Entropy image enhancement techniques to see if we can obtain the same information found in high resolution data using low resolution data. Resolution is defined by how close the survey lines are placed; the closer they are the higher the resolution, which also means a longer and more costly survey. Additionally, the results of the magnetometer survey will help guide archaeological excavations to be conducted by Dr. Barb Roth (Department of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies, University of Nevada, Las Vegas). |
See more
photos here
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