Department News Spring 2006

Guest Speakers  We've had another semester full of talks attended by faculty and students.  Mike DeCarlo, brother of Dr. Vic DeCarlo and accomplished comic artist, spoke about "The History and Science of Superheroes" on April 19.  On February 9 Dr. Timothy Turkington from Duke University Medical Center gave a talk on "Medical Applications of Physics." Also Dr. Thomas Carter, Visiting Scientist in the Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security Program at the University of Illinois gave a seminar on "The Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster" on May 3.
 

Physics Club  On February 22 Sarah Carlson, Keith Hubbard, Andrew Beaver, and Tammy Kjonaas traveled to Ball State University in Muncie, IN to listen to a talk by the world-famous string theorist Brian Greene titled "String Theory: Reaching for Einstein's Dream."  After the talk they spoke with Dr. Greene, had him sign their books, and took a picture with him. 

 

Department News Fall 2005

Guest Speakers  In celebration of the World Year of Physics, we had three guest speakers in the department this semester.  On November 9 Dr. Dennis E. Krause, Wabash College, spoke about "Searching for New Forces at Sub-micron Separations using Casimir Force Experiments."  On November 17 Dr. Erik Ramberg, Fermilab, gave a talk titled "Searching for Dark Matter in the Soudan Underground Laboratory."  On December 7 Dr. Matthew Lister, Purdue University, talked about "Astrophysical Jets Associated with Supermassive Black Holes."

New Faculty  Dr. Kiriyama has left DePauw and moved to Greenville, NC to pursue an degree in medical physics at East Carolina University.  She will be deeply missed around the department, but we're very lucky to be welcoming a new faculty member at the same time.  Dr. John Caraher joined us this fall. He was previously teaching at Wabash College.  This semester he will be teaching Principles of Physics I and II and will soon be developing the new Atomic and Molecular Physics course.  

New Lab Supervisor  In December Andy Smith left DePauw as he accepted a position at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in the Digital Libraries department.  He's very happy with his new job, and we're excited for him.  We'll miss him very much though!  Tammy Kjonaas, a 2003 DePauw Physics graduate, accepted the position of Lab Supervisor. 

Department Luncheon  On September 22 we had a luncheon to celebrate Dr. Caraher joining the department and to give the first-year students a chance to get to know the upper-class physics students.   Fifteen students attended the luncheon. 

 

Department News Summer 2005

Summer Research This was a busy summer for the physics department; nine students worked on campus doing physics research for SRF!  Four students, Jeremy Alland, Evan Dickerson, Jeff Tienes, and Nicholas Vetz, worked with Dr. Brooks and Andy Smith researching the flight of kicked footballs with various temperatures, pressures, and degrees of wear.  Five students worked with Dr. Komives in DUNPL.