Society of Physics Students (Professor Greg Taft - Advisor)
- Managed a successful recruitment dinner for prospective physics
majors early in the fall semester.
- Arranged a dark-sky observation session for the impressive Leonid
meteor showers in November.
- Sponsored two model rocket launches for grade-school age children
throughout central Wisconsin.
- Toured the UW-Madison Department of Materials Science where several
recent UWSP physics alumni have engaged in graduate studies.
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Major Field Test in Physics - 2003
- Each spring, our senior physics majors are required to take the Major
Field Test administered by Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ.
This year, the twelve students (mostly juniors) who wrote the exam
collectively scored at the 50th percentile nationally.
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Academy of Letters and Science Awards
- Brian Yulga - graduating senior.
- Joshua Garbe - continuing student.
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Student Research
- Josh Garbe and Nick Petersen co-authored the paper
"Cation Mobility in Several Copper-Based Argyrodites" with
Professor Bob Beeken in the
Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids.
- Jason Slattery co-authored the paper "How Do Liquid Crystals of
Different Molecular Length Mix in Thin Films" with Professor Mick
Veum which was accepted for publication in European Physics Journal
E.
- Paul Omernik, Mike Stoneman, and Nea Gouin presented the results of
their undergraduate research projects at the College of Letters and
Science Research Symposium, the UW System Undergraduate Research
Symposium (Eau Claire), and the American Association of Physics
Teachers meeting (Austin, TX), respectively.
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Curriculum Revision
- Physics and Astronomy faculty spent much of the 2002-03 academic
year revising the curriculum for physics majors. Required
courses were streamlined, optional courses in computational physics
and electronics were added, and the sequencing of advanced courses was
adjusted to accommodate semester abroad or internship experiences for
our undergraduates.
- Significant increases in the number of physics majors at UWSP are
reflected in enrollment figures for advanced level course work.
Upper division courses now serve 15-20 students each semester.
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Astronomy
- Professors Katie Jore, Randy Olson, Dan Rislove, and David Tamres
visited Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, AZ for observation sessions with students Joe
Christensen, Jesus Medina, and Matt Schmidkamp.
- Professor Olson continues to publish a regular column called "Sky
Lights" in NewMonth magazine distributed throughout eastern
Wisconsin.
- David Tamres presented "Modeling White Dwarf Stars on a
Spreadsheet" at the American Association of Physics Teachers
Conference in Austin, TX.
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Laser Physics
- Professor Kameshwar Razdan published the article "Demonstrating
Optical Beat Notes Through Heterodyne Experiments" in the American
Journal of Physics.
- Professor Greg Taft contributed the chapter "Practical Issues,
Marginals, Error Checks, and Error Correction" to the book Frequency-Resolved
Optical Grating: The Measurement of Ultrashort Pulses published by
Kluwer Press.
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Condensed Matter Physics
- Professors Brad Hinaus and Mick Veum co-authored "The Hard
Drive: An Experiment for Faraday's Law" in the Physics Teacher.
- Professor Mick Veum co-authored papers appearing in Physical
Review E and Ferroelectrics with collaborators at the
University of Minnesota.
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Wisconsin Teaching Fellows Program
- Professor Brad Hinaus has been appointed a 2003-04 Wisconsin
Teaching Fellow. Only two representatives from each UW campus
are so honored each year. Congratulations, Brad!
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Upcoming Professional Travel Plans
- Professor Kameshwar Razdan will lead a semester abroad group to
London during Fall Semester, 2003.
- Professor Mick Veum will spend the summer months engaged in research
with collaborators at the University of Minnesota.
- Ellynne Kutschera has been accepted as a Research Experiences for Undergraduates
(REU) participant to work with Professor Veum in Minneapolis.
- Jesus Medina has been accepted into a similar REU Program at the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
- Ryan Ruhland will spend the summer engaged in an REU Program at Coe
College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
- Josh Garbe will be involved in an REU Program this summer at Montana
State University-Bozeman.
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