Department News Spring 2005

Faculty Award  The Fisher Fellowship Award for 2005-2006 was awarded to Dr. Kertzman for "The First VHE Gamma Ray Survey with the Whipple 10m Telescope."  Congratulations Dr. Kertzman!

World Year of Physics  In celebration of the World Year of Physics, the department hosted an Open House on April 23.  The event consisted of dozens of activities and displays, Star Lab presentations, and demonstration shows on pressure, sparks, heat, and engines.  The event was very well attended by both students and the community.

Department News Fall 2004

Faculty Awards Congratulations to Dr. Brooks and Dr. Kertzman!  Dr. Brooks was recently awarded a Faculty Fellowship for 2005-2008 for his project "Modifying the Physics and Astronomy Instructional Delivery System Utilizing the Laptop Initiative and DyKnow."  Dr. Kertzman received a University Professor award for 2005-2009.  The award announcement can be found here.

Department News Summer 2004

Summer Research Dr. Komives and three students had a productive summer doing research on campus. Keep an eye on this spot for a link to their posters!

 

Department News Spring 2004

Graduation Congratulations to our senior class, Adam Shields, who is off to graduate school at the University of North Carolina.

Sigma Pi Sigma Initiation Five new members were inducted into Sigma Pi Sigma, the physics honor society, in April.  Along with the requisite grade point average, prospective inductees had to demonstrate their belief in the laws of physics and come face to face with a swinging bowling ball. Check out the telling photos in our photo album!

Physics Club Physics club had an active semester. The club had two field trips, one to the Indiana University Cyclotron facility and the other to  Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. We also started “Connection Thursdays”, in which students and faculty gathered for lunch and viewing an episode of James Burke “Connections” series. Club members served as judges at the South Central Indiana Regional Science Fair in March.  And last but not least, the club designed T-shirts this spring.

Nuclear Physics Research In April Dr. Komives and junior Aung Kyaw Sint  presented a poster at the “International Conference on Precision Measurement with Slow Neutrons” in Maryland. Their poster is titled: A Gamma Polarimeter for Neutron Polarization Measurement in a Liquid Deuterium Target for Parity Violation in Polarized Neutrons Captured in Deuterium.

Sabbatical for Dr. Kertzman Dr. Kertzman was on leave spring semester to work on her  gamma ray astronomy projects. And since she maintains the department web page, its a bit out of date. Once she catches up and finds out what went on while she was gone, she'll get the web page updated! Dr. Kertzman spent three weeks in Arizona conducting observations with the Whipple 10m Gamma Ray Telescope. She also worked on improving "2-D" analysis techniques for the Whipple data, and developed a sky survey method.

 

Department News Fall 2003

New Classrooms! The Julian renovation is pretty much finished, and we have all our new teaching spaces this fall. Our new class rooms are wonderful, with built in technology (computer, dvd, video, projectors, etc all at the touch of a button!). We also have a new computer lab, and a great student study room with individual desks for physics majors. It will take a good part of the semester to finish getting our stuff out of storage and getting settled in. Its been a long haul with this renovation, but it was worth it!

Julian Rededication We are hoping to see many of our alumni at the Julian Rededication Oct. 31- Nov. 1. There will be a physics department open house on Friday, Oct. 31 from 4:00 - 6:00. Here for the rededication and Board meeting, former Astronaut Joe Allan visited with students at breakfast and at an informal reception in the new physics lounge.

Physics Club Physics club had a good fall. We had an open house lunch in the new student study room. Dr. Joeseph West from Indiana State University gave a talk on the dynamics of rings. Physics club members participated in a Halloween Open House at McKim Observatory. The Advanced Lab class gave presentations of their projects at a physics club meeting. Students and faculty took a trip to hear a lecture by Dr. Brian Greene. Plans for a trip to Fermilab were moved until spring semester.

Astronomical  events Late summer, Dr. Kiriyama kept a close watch on Mars, taking regular images with a web cam. She also arranged a Japanese Moon Festival at McKim for the September full moon. Dr. Kiriyama and Kertzman set up a telescope for viewing the large sunspot group in October.

 

Department News Summer 2003

Summer Research We had a busy summer around the department. Six students were here working on four different projects. Heather Byars worked with Dr. Brooks and Andy Smith building a robotic solar telescope, Matt Bowers and Aung Kyaw Sint worked with Dr. Komives on a nuclear physics experiment to measure the depolarization of neutrons, Alaska Subedi did a computational quantum mechanics project with Dr. Kiriryama, and Leslie Moore and Sara Baughman observed variable stars at McKim Observatory with Dr. Kertzman. Senior Adam Shields was off campus working on a nuclear physics experiment at TUNL (Triangle Universities Nuclear Lab). You can find more information about their projects on the student research page.

 

Department News Spring 2003

Graduation Seniors Maren Fjord, Tammy Kjonaas, Tommy Mitchell, Mark Rickard, and Tim Tharp graduated this May. They are off to graduate programs in physics, engineering, and chemistry, or to jobs. Good luck to one of our favorite classes!

New Department Suite We were able to move into our new departmental office suite during Winter Term.  The new physics office space in in the smaller western addition to Julian (basically we are over the former loading dock!). We are all very happy with the new space. We also are using three of our new classrooms. Things are a bit crazy, as we have no storeroom this semester. All our lab equipment is in various places in the basement, and Andy is kept busy moving  equipment around. The student study room also is not finished yet, but the majors have been making use of the departmental common area. The renovation should be finished late this summer, and by fall semester we will have all our new space for teaching.

New Look to the Electronics Course This spring Dr. Brooks is teaching his newly revised electronics course in the newly renovated electronic/optics lab room.

Sabbatical for Dr. DeCarlo Dr. Decarlo is on a sabbatical leave this spring. He is working on compiling a book of papers and articles on cosmology.

Physics Club Physics Club has had a good semester. Dr. Kiriyama and Dr. Komives have each given talks about their research, and the club had a great time one evening going bowling! They are still hoping to hold an egg drop contest this semester. When it happens, I'll post the photos here!

Gamma Ray Astronomy Once again, senior Tammy Kjonaas and Dr. Kertzman made a trip to Arizona to observe with the Whipple 10m gamma ray telescope. This time things didn't go too well....the weather was bad (clouds and even snow!) and  a power problem damaged the high voltage crate. Tammy and Mary finished off their trip by rewiring the high voltage system. But the fun didn't stop there...their travel home was disrupted by an ice storm in Dallas. After countless cancelled flights, made it home 48 hours late. Click here to see our gamma ray photo album.

In April, Dr. Kertzman gave a talk "Ground Based Very High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy" to the Indiana Astronomical Society. Click here to read an abstract of her talk.

 

Department News Fall 2002

New Faculty Dr. Alexander Komives joined the department this fall. This year he will be teaching introductory physics, electricity and magnetism, and the SRF first year seminar. He is also busy establishing his research lab in experimental nuclear physics.

Building Renovation We are in the midst of the Julian Science and Math Center Renovation project. Its been noisy, dusty, too hot or too cold, but in the end we will have a wonderful new facility. During Winter Term the physics faculty will move into our new office suite, and for spring semester we will have half of our new teaching lab spaces ready to use for classes. The entire renovation project will be completed for classes fall semester 2003.

Physics Club Physics club has had an active semester with several talks, a trip to the play "Copenhagen", and a trial run of an egg dropping contest.

Gamma Ray Research Senior Tammy Kjonaas and Dr. Kertzman had a five night observing run at the Whipple Gamma Ray Observatory. This was Tammy's third gamma ray observing trip.

New Look to the Optics Course On his sabbatical last spring, Dr. Brooks revamped both the optics and electronics course. This fall the new optics course was taught to a full class of ten students.

Advanced Lab Projects See the Fall 2002 Advance Lab Chaos projects here.

 

Department News Summer 2002

Summer Research Student Tim Tharp spent the summer at Los Alamos National Lab, New Mexico working for an REU program in plasma physics.  Tammy Kjonaas worked for a summer REU program with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, WV.

Department News Spring 2002

Sad News Dr. Paul Kissinger died of a heart attack on May 15. We were stunned and deeply saddened by his death. "Dr. K" retired in 2000, after 40 years with the department. You can read more about Dr. Kissinger in the DePauw News story: DePauw Mourns the Passing of Emeritus Professor Paul Kissinger

Award Professor Victor Decarlo receives the "DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR AWARD" for 2002-2004. The award is given for "sustained excellence in teaching and service". You can find more details in the full text of the award.

Sabbatical Leave Dr. Brooks is on sabbatical leave for spring semester 2002. During his leave, Dr. Brooks will work on redesigning two courses, Optics and Electronics.

Graduation Congratulations to graduating seniors Lucas Synder and Jeremiah Kermes. Lucas will be attending graduate school in astronomy at Ball State University in Indiana, and Jeremiah will be attending graduate schook in mathematics in North Carolina.

Department News Fall 2001

New Faculty This was a semester of change for us. Dr. Phillips left DePauw in June to accept a position at Loyola Marymount College in Los Angeles CA. We all wish Jeff the best of luck at his new position on the sunny west coast!  Dr. Kiriyama joined the department at fall break, and will start teaching full time spring semester. She will be teaching Introductory Physics, Math Methods II, and Senior Seminar this spring, as well as getting her research in molecular and atomic physics underway. 

Gamma Ray Research In November, Dr. Kertzman and junior physics major Tammy Kjonaas spent five nights observing at the Whipple Gamma Ray Telescope in Arizona. 

 

Department News Spring 2001

SPS Inductees Congratulations to the following students who met the qualifications to be inducted into Sigma Pi Sigma, the national physics honor society.

Robert Anderson	Renee Barnett
Aaron Ellis	Jeremiah Kermes
Jesse Kinder	Tammy Kjonaas
Anu Mathur	Rachel Miller
Mark Rickard	Alexander Scott
Lucas Snyder	Tim Tharp

           SPS recognizes outstanding scholarship in physics, encourages interest in physics at all levels and promotes an attitude of service of its members towards their fellow students, colleagues and the public. Although primarily comprised of physics majors, members are not required to be a physics major. The society was founded in December, 1921 and is a member of the American Institute of Physics. SPS has been at DePauw since 1966 and has over 125 members.
 
 
Gamma Ray Research at DPU Prof. Kertzman and physics major Tammy Kjonaas at the Whipple 10m gamma ray telescope on Mt. Hopkins, AZ. The two were there in April, 2001 studying active galactic nuclei and supernova remnants. For more information on Prof. Kertzman's research program visit her research page.

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

Department News Fall 2000 The school year has begun!  The department is excited by the new students who are taking physics for the first time, and we welcome back all of our returning majors.  One noteworthy change is that a new textbook (Six Ideas that Shaped Physics by Thomas Moore) will now be used for Principles of Physics (Physics 121 and 122).  The book reflects a new philosophy for the introductory course, one that emphasizes model building and problem solving.  Putting this philosophy into action means that the course will be taught in a more student centered manner than before.  The department is very excited by the changes and is confident that the students will learn more as well as enjoy the course.

 

Department News Spring 2000

Awards If it's spring, it must be time to congratulate another excellent group of physics majors on a year's accomplishments!  The following students received departmental awards & scholarships:

Aaron Ellis- O.H. Smith Scholarship
Jeremiah Kermes- Condit Scholarship
Jesse Kinder- Austin D. Sprague Scholarship

Graduation This year, four outstanding students graduated with majors in physics.  Congratulations on your hard work and good luck on your future!

Tim Osiek
Keoki Seu
Scott Spears
Brandon Witham 

Faculty Retirement The end of era is upon us- Paul Kissinger recently retired.  Dr. K taught at the University for 40 years and will be sorely missed.  Since joining the faculty in 1960, Dr. K. has received several honors.  He was chosen as the University's first Alumni Faculty Fellow and has been named an "Outstanding Professor" three times by students.  In 1991, he received the Mr. and Mrs. Fred C. Tucker, Jr. Distinguished Career Award, which honors senior faculty members for their contributions to DePauw.  In addition to teaching at DePauw, Dr. K. worked extensively with science enrichment programs in the military, as well as teacher workshops and summer institutes.  As physics major Aaron Ellis said in a recent newspaper article, "Dr. K is one of the best professors I've ever had at DePauw."