New Initiatives
- Programs: Faculty governance recently approved two new physics
emphases in addition to the traditional physics major at UWSP. One
emphasis is in applied mechanics, the other in applied electronics.
Each of these new emphases will feature an internship as part of program
requirements. The applied emphases will officially commence during
the 2007-08 academic year.
- Facilities: A new Condensed Matter Research Laboratory was
opened in the Fall 2005. This facility (Room C-120 in the Science
Building) provides more spacious accommodations for research groups
headed by Professors Beeken, Hinaus, and Veum. In addition, a 16
inch Meade LX200GPS telescope has been installed in the UWSP
Observatory. The new telescope provides superior optics and
features computer tracking that automatically locates any of 145,000
celestial objects that are stored in its memory.
- Approved for Construction: Renovation of Room A-104 Science
scheduled for the summer of 2006 will create dedicated space for our
computational physics course, computer-based tutorial sessions, and
serve as an after-hours study area for an expanding number physics
majors.
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Academy of Letters and Science Awards
- Kevin Zick - graduating senior.
- Joshua Hastey - continuing student.
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Student Research
- Matt Loth co-authored the paper "Laser-stimulated synthesis of large
fractal silver nanoagregates" with Professors Greg Taft and Sasha Popov in the
journal Nanotechnology.
- Karen Chamberlin and Steve Lynam presented the results of their
optics research with Professor Hai Nguyen at the Division of Atomic
Molecular, and Optical Physics (DAMOP) conference in Knoxville,
Tennessee. There they met Nobel Laureate Eric Cornell, who stopped
by their poster to learn of their work.
- Rob Behringer, Matt Earleywine, Jeremy Hammond, Erin Kostuch,
Matthew Newby, and Stephen Zielke all presented the results of their
undergraduate research projects at the 2006 Letters and Science
Symposium in April.
- Karen Chamberlin and Kyle Taylor presented a poster of their
research with Professor Hai Nguyen at the Capitol Rotunda in Madison.
The event allowed state legislators to become familiar with the quality
of research conducted by undergraduates at UW System campuses.
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Astronomy
- Amy Wilder accompanied Professor Randy Olson and Lecturer Art
Stevenson to Kitt Peak National Observatory this year.
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Laser Physics
- Professor Greg Taft continues collaborative investigations with
Hungarian colleagues Laszlo Nanai and Daniel Szenteszi and has exhanged
visits between UWSP and the University of Szeged this past year.
- Emeritus Professors Allen Taylor and Kameshwar Razdan have joined
Hai Nguyen's research group.
- Professor Hai Nguyen co-authored the paper "Relative charge transfer
cross section from Rb(4d)" with collaborators at Kansas State University
in Physical Review A.
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Condensed Matter Physics
- Professor Mick Veum co-authored "The role of molecular weight and
phase sequence in the temperature variation of film tension above the
bulk isotropic transition in freestanding liquid-crystal films" that was
recently accepted for publication in Physical Review E.
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Upcoming Professional Travel Plans
- Professor Hai Nguyen will travel to Kansas State University this
summer to continue collaborative investigations with colleagues there.
- Eric Schultz will participate in a Research Experience for
Undergraduates (REU) program this summer, also at Kansas State
University.
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