Department Highlights - 2001-2002
The Department of Physics and Astronomy recruited Dr. John Thompson to join the faculty beginning August 15, 2002 as an assistant professor, strengthening the Department's physics education research group.
Dr. John Thompson, assistant professor of physics and cooperating assistant professor of education, was awarded a Bachelor's Degree in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Sc.M. and Ph.D in Physics from Brown University, specializing in surface science. He then became a postdoctoral research associate in Professor Lillian McDermott's physics education research group at the University of Washington, one of the top groups in this field. Prior to joining the faculty at The University of Maine, John was an assistant professor of physics at Grand Valley State University. John's research interests include research-based approaches for effective K-12 teacher preparation, application of physics education research techniques to understand and improve student learning in upper level laboratories, and student learning of concepts related to sound. We are very please to have attracted him to our department.
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Some outstanding faculty accomplishments and awards during the year include:
- Dean Astumian was selected to write a review article for Physics Today, the publication sent to all members of the American Physical Society, on Brownian motors. Dean also gave ten invited talks, including one at the prestigious Gordon Conference on Nonlinear Science.
- David Batuski received a grant for telescope time at the Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile and at the Steward Observatory in Tucson, AZ to support his research on large scale structure in the universe. Observations were done by Physics and Astronomy Ph.D. candidate Simon Krughoff.
- Tom Hess and Charles Smith worked with a team of undergraduate and graduate students to design a series of eight sophomore-level experiments illustrating relativistic effects, known as the Einstein Project. To our knowledge, this laboratory is the only one of its kind, showing the impact of the theory of special relativity at such a basic level. Students, advised by Smith and Hess, designed and built the equipment, prepared materials to distribute to sophomores conducting the experiments, and tested each experiment. This project will continue through 2002-3 to finalize experiments, and then will be offered as an elective in Spring 2004.
- Neil Comins was invited to give the keynote address at the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Puerto Rico Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation in February, 2002.
- Charles Smith was selected for the College of Engineering Dean's Award, recognizing his many contributions to the Engineering Physics Program.
- Jim McClymer was selected as a NASA-ASEE Summer Faculty Fellow at the Marshall Space Flight Center for summerso fo 2001 and 2002.
- Bill Unertl was selected to serve as Program Chair of the Nanoscale Science and Technology Division of the American Vacuum Society. He is also a member of the Advisory Board for the International Nanotribology Forum.
- Michael Wittmann was selected toi serve as the organizer for the session entitled "The Role of Cognitive Science in Teaching and Learning" at the National American Association of Physics Teachers Meeting.
- Susan McKay served as a member of the Advisory Board for the Greater Boston Area Annual Statistical Mechanics Meetings and as a member of the editorial board of Computers in Science and Engineering.
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Some outstanding student accomplishments and awards during the year include:
- Joel Ngue Mba, a senior in Engineering Physics, was awarded the Hovey Award by the College of Engineering.
- Travis Gould, a senior in Physics, was the Department's selection to present his research at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Research Conference.
- Vincente Guiseppe, a Ph.D. student in Physics working with Professor Hess was awarded the Departmental American Association of Physics Teachers Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award for 2002.
- Mary Jo Norris, a Master's student in Physics working with Professor Hess was selected as AAAS internship to work in Washington, D.C., Spring 2002.
- Matthew Robinson, a Ph.D. student in Physics working with Professor McKay, was awarded the College of Engineering Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award for 2002.
Nine students from the Department participated in the Graduate Research Exposition on campus.
Eleven students were inducted into Sigma Pi Sigma, the national physics honor society.
Undergraduates in Physics or Engineering Physics were selected for summer internships at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, The UMaine Laboratory for Surface Science and Technology, The University of Michigan, Argonne National Laboratory, and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (California Institute of Technology).
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Building Projects completed:
- The Department completed, in collaboration with Facilities Management, a major renovation of its basement research laboratory wing. This project was supported by the Vice President for Research's Office. It has created three new laboratories and provides a cluster of space for biosensor and biophysics research for Dean Astumian, Paul Millard, and Karl Bishop. This project has also substantially improved facilities in the existing laboratories.
- The Department has completed a major renovation of 137 Bennett Hall, the largest lecture theater in the building. The design includes a new seating arrangement which permits convenient formation of small groups of students around tables for activities during lecture. The room can also be used in a traditional lecture format. This project has been supported by substantial alumni donations and funds from the UMaine Classroom Committee.
- The Department has renovated 201 Bennett Hall as the first room in a two-room Physics and Astronomy Learning Center. This room will serve as a computer classroom and cluster for departmental students. With a Curriculum Fee Grant from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in the amount of $23,040, as well as a $10,000 anonymous donation from a departmental friend or alumnus, the Department was able to furnish this room and equip it with eight state-of-the-art computers and software including Mathematica, MathCad, and other specialized software for our majors, as well as the Microsoft Office Suite, etc.
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Fourteen external grants were awarded with departmental faculty as PI or co-PI for a total of $4.2 million during the past year.
Some of the new projects funded during the past year are: "Multifunctional SiAION Ceramic Coatings for High Temperature Aerospace Applications" [Lad, AFOSR]; "Nanomechanics Studies of Coatings" [Unertl, Paper Surface Science]; "A Model Program to Enhance Mathematics and Science Education" [McKay, Kaback, and Wittmann, U.S. Dept. of Education]; "Effects of Weak Electric Fields on Cells" [Astumian, Mobil Manufacturer's Forum]; "Peer-Led Team Learning in an Integrated Physics Education Research Introductory Physics Course" [Batuski and Kaback, NSF]; "Exact Results in Model Statistical Systems" [Kleban, NSF]; "The Kinetics of Crystallization of Colloids and Proteins: A Light Scattering Study" [McClymer, Maine Space Grant Consortium]; "Graduate and Undergraduate Research on Large Scale Structure in the Universe" [Batuski, NASA through the Maine Science and Technology Foundation]; Telescope time allocations at the Steward Observatory and Cerro Tololo Observatory (Chile) [Batuski]; "Analyzing Emissivities of Radon from Drinking Water to Determine Radon Exposures in Schools" [Hess - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency]; "Field Study of Emissivities of Radon from Drinking Water in Schools" [Hess - State of Maine]; "Statistical Analysis of Radon from Water in Schools" [Hess - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency]; "Development of a Prototype Chemical Agent Detector System Based on Semiconducting Metal Oxide Thin Film Technology" [Lad et al. - Office of Naval Research], "Predoctoral Training in Functional Genomics of Model Organisms" [Lad et al. - Office of Naval Research].
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Selected Publications (2001 - 2002)
(Physics and Astronomy faculty names are in bold. UMaine students or former students are underlined. Listing includes publications through 5/02).
"Towards a Chemically Driven Electron Pump"
R.D. Astumian and I Derenyl, Phys. Rev. Lett., 86, 3859-3862, (2001).
"Making Molecules into Motors"
R.D. Astumian, Scientific American, July (2001).
"The Power Spectrum of Rich Clusters on NEar-Gigaparsec Scales"
C. Miller and D. Batuski, Ap.J., 551, 635-642, (2001).
"Possible Detection of Baryonic Fluctuations in the Large-Scale Structure"
C. Miller, R. Nichol, D. Batuski, Ap.J., 555, 68-73, (2001)
"Evidence for Acoustic Oscillations in the Matter Power Spectrum"
C. Miller, R. Nichol, and D. Batuski, Science, 2302-2303, June 22, 2001.
(Also in Science Express, the online rapid publication of the Science Journal, May 25, 2001).
"Comment on: 'Core reconstruction in pseudopotential calculations' by J.R. Trail and D.M. Bird,"
K. Brownstein and Mingli Zhou, Phys.Rev.B15, May (2002).
Heavenly Errors, N. Comins, Columbia University Press, June (2001).
"Beyond the Pale", N. Comins, May (2002), Astronomy Magazine.
"Application of the Interleaved Comb Chopper to TOF Electron Spectrometry", R.H. Jackson,
L.J. Legore, Z Yang, P. Kleban, and B.J. Frederick, Surface Science, Vols. 502-503, 240248 (2002).
"Advantages of Maximum Likelihood Methods for PRBS Modulated TOF Electron Spectrometry",
L.J. Legore, R.H. Jackson, Z. Yang, L.K. DeNoyer, P. Kleban and B.G. Frederick, Surface Science, Vols. 502-503, 232-239, (2002).
"Performance of Zr and Ti Adhesion Layers for Bonding of Platinum Metallization to Sapphite Substrates," G. Bernhardt, S. Silvestre, N. LeCursi, S.C. Moulzolf, D.J. Frankel, and R.J. Lad, Sensors and Actuators B, 77, 368 (2001).
"Heteroepitaxial Growth of Tungsten Oxide Films on Sapphire for Chemical Gas Sensors,"
S.C. Moulzolf, L.J. LeGore, and R.J. Lad, Thin Solid Films, 400, 56 (2001).
"Mixed Vanadium-Aluminum Oxide Films for Sensing of Organic Compounds," C. Baratto,
G. Sberveglieri, I Ricco, G.P. Bernhardt, R.J. Lad, and J.F. Vetelino, Electrochem. Soc. Proc. 18, 470 (2001).
"Defects and Morphology of Tungsten Trioxide Thin Films", L.J. LeGore, R.J. Lad, S.C. Moulzolf,
J.F. Vetelino, B.G. Frederick, and E.A. Kenik, Thin Solid Films 406, 79 (2002).
"In-situ 4-point Conductivity and Hall Effect Apparatus for Vacuum and Controlled Atmosphere Measurements of Thin Film Materials", S.C. Moulzolf, D.J. Frankel, and R.J. Lad, Reviews of Scientific Instruments, 73, 2325 (2002).
Heteroepitaxy of Tungsten Oxide Films on Sapphire and Silicon for Chemiresistive Sensor Applications", R.J. Lad, IEEE Sensors Symp. Proc. 44.1 (2002).
"Effects of Cholesterol and Temperature on the Permeability of Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine Bilayers Near the Chain melting Phase Transition", W.V. Kraske and D.B. Mountcastle, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, 1514, 159 (2001).
"Inelastic Scattering in Mechanically Treated Niobium Point Contacts," Paul J. Dolan, Jr., Charles W. Smith and Eugene V. Slobodzian, Bull. Am. Phys. Soc., 47, 408 (2002).
"Surface Tension vs. Buoyancy: Tokar's Question", Charles W. Smith and Paul J. Dolan, Jr., The Physics Teacher, 39, 69-70 (2001).
"Blade Coating of a Rough Deformable Substrate," M. Giri, W.N. Unertl, and D.W. Bousfield, Proc. Advanced Coating Fundamentals Symposium, TAPPI Press, pp. 379-393 (2001).
"Investing Student Understanding of Quantum Physics: Spontaneous Models of Conductivity",
M.C. Wittmann, R.N. Steinberg, and E.F. Redish, American Journal of Physics, 70:3 218-226 (2002).
"The Object Coordination Class Applied to Wavepulses: Analysing Student Reasoning in Wave Physics", M.C. Wittmann, International Journal of Science Education, 24:1, 97-118 (2002).
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