Research Experience for Undergrads

"I wasn't quite sure about doing research all summer long. I didn't think I'd like it too much, actually. But it ended up being more fun than I had anticipated. I actually enjoyed learning a lot about computers and the research topics. Plus, I made friends in the program who were a lot of fun and had the same interests as me. The grad students I worked for were also fun to meet and work with - they were helpful and always willing to help out the little undergrad in their office. I also really enjoyed the professor I worked for. Larry was a wonderful teacher and never made me feel like I didn't belong. He helped me out, but didn't hold my hand through the whole summer. Overall, I'd say that my REU experience has been a very useful and rewarding one. It was a glimpse into the real world." -Betsy Miller
Betsy will also be presenting work she did over the summer with Prof. Larry Rudnick at a conference this October.

"This summer I had the opportunity to help out with a low temperature experiment that focused on the transmission of helium atoms through a superfluid helium slab. I contributed by writing interfacing code as well as making vaious parts for the experiment. I was able to learn a lot about what it means to do physics research and look forward to an opportunity like this again." -Daniel Enderton

Carlos Santa, a junior from the University of Puerto Rico with a major in Physics & Electronics, carried out research at the Infrared Laboratory in the Astronomy Department. His advisor was Dr. Terry J. Jones and he spent his time re-designing the optical system of the Minnesota Infrared Polarimeter(MIRP) using optical software programs. The reason for doing this was because the MIRP needs to be relocated to a new telescope so the new dimensions of it requires a new optical design. It employs a polarimetry technique to measure magnetic fields of galaxies and starts. "I consider the experience very useful and neccesary for any student who is considering applying to graduate school because it can give you an idea of what research experience is about." - Carlos Santa

"My project involved finding the origin of scattering for conducting electrons in GMR phenomena. During the summer I learned how to sputter and the ins and outs of the big sputtering system in Dahlberg's lab. Knowing how to sputter, I came up with a formula for the multilayer samples used in the experiment. Doesn't sound like much, but I had to locate the first (and largest) peak in the periodic exchange coupling that takes place when you increase the thickness of the conducting layer (Cu) of the Co/Cu/Co samples. I also had to find balance low overall resistances with measurable GMR in the samples." -Tim Fister

Dan Marrone, pictured here at a shop safety course, spent his summer working on a continuing project studying Cosmic Ray Background radiation under the supervision of Prof. Shaul Hanany. His work entailed applying a method of deformation of mirrors in an off-axis gregorian telescope to minimize coma and astigmatism, the two principal abberations in such a telescope.

Under the supervision of Prof. James Kakalios, Eric Pinnick studied the interaction between two vortices in a rheoscopic fluid. The vortices were generated be two rotating vertical cylinders immersed in the fluid. Measurements were made as a function of rotation speed, rotation direction, seperation between the vortex cylinders, depth of the fluid, and the geometry within the tank in search of some kind of periodic behavior.

Kathryn Zurek worked with Professor Y.Z. Qian studying theoretical models of aspects of supernovae.

Michael D'Agostino worked in the laboratory of Prof. C.C. Huang, studying the properties of thin film liquid crystals. Using optical techniques, he examined the birefringence induced by an applied field across these films.