Research Experience for Undergrads

2011 REU Program

This year, student research projects covered a particularly broad range of topics, including biophysics, space physics, observational astronomy and cosmology, experimental high energy and astroparticle physics, theoretical high-energy physics, as well as experimental condensed matter physics with investigations into magnetism, superconductivity and spintronics.

Benjamin Absher, junior (Washington and Lee University) worked with Prof. Vincent Noireaux on modeling of protein synthesis in a cell-free Escherichia Coli system.

Emily Dvorak, junior (University of Wisconsin, River Falls) worked with Prof. J. Mans on developing protocols to isolate electron signals in the Compact Muon Solenoid at the Large Hadron Collider.

Christopher Frye, junior (University of Central Florida) worked with Prof. J. Mans on developing procedures for identifying electromagnetic showers in the Forward Hardon Calorimeter at the Large Hadron Collider.

Peter Hansen, junior (University of Nebraska, Lincoln) worked with Prof. J. Mueller on quantifying protein expression distributions in cell populations.

Rachel Mensch, sophomore (Washington and Lee University), worked with Prof. James Kakalios, investigating the variations in the optical absorption spectra of thin film mixed phase semiconductors as a function of the nanocrystalline concentration.

Noah Mitchell, junior (St. Olaf University), worked with Prof. Evan Skillman, determining star formation rates in a survey of nearby starburst dwarf galaxies.

Darrell Montonera, junior (Gordon College), worked with Prof. William Zimmermann studying the influence of an externally applied electric field on the condensate fraction in superfluid He II.

Jonathan Morris, junior (University of Minnesota Twin Cities), worked with Prof. Vincent Noireaux, characterizing diffusion processes in living cells, using fluorescence microscopy.

Brent Perreault, junior (Concordia College), worked with Prof. Ken Heller, working on the particle tracking algorithm for the NuMI off-axis electron-neutrino NOvA experiment.

Christopher White, sophomore (Rice University), worked with Prof. J. Woods Halley, performing simulations of condensate-mediated transmission in superfluid helium.

Andrew Zabel, junior (Bethel University), worked with Prof. Marvin Marshak, discovering a "moon shadow" in the histogram of neutrino-induced muon events recorded in the MINOS far detector at the Soudan Underground Physics Laboratory. 2010 Group

Talia Clark junior (Barnard College) worked with Prof. Ken Heller on Physics Education project, assessing the effectiveness of various techniques designed to improve students' problem solving skills.

Anne Gambrel, junior (University of Tulsa) worked with Prof. Shaul Hanany, on developing a Focal Plane Equalizer for EBEX, a balloon-borne polarimeter designed to study the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation.

Chris Granstrom-Arndt, junior (University of Minnesota Twin Cities) worked with Prof. J. Woods Halley on the creation and detection of low temperature helium vapor pulses projected through a thin film of superfluid helium, to study the condensate interactions.

Brian Hake, junior (Point Loma Nazarene University) worked with Prof. Terry Jones on developing an optical polarimeter instrument control system, used to study light polarization of celestial objects.

Trevor Hutchinson, junior (Lewis and Clark College) worked with Prof. James Kakalios, studying the thermal equilibration properties of mixed-phase amorphous/nanocrystalline silicon thin films as a function of nanocrystalline concentration.

Zofia Kaminski, junior (University of Dallas) worked with Prof. Joachim Mueller on tracking fluorescent microspheres in order to study single protein dynamics.

May-Ling Li, junior (Reed College) worked with Prof. William Zimmermann on the effects of electric fields on the lambda transition of superfluid helium.

Paige Martin, junior (Harvard University) worked with Prof. Ken Heller, exploring a passive cooling method for electronics heat dissipation for the NOvA experiment detector.

Eric Petersen, junior (Michigan Technological University) worked with Prof. Evan Skillman, analyzing the spectral signature of cold neutral hydrogen in low metallicity galaxies.

Peter Rosenberg, junior (SUNY, Geneseo) worked with Prof. Joe Kapusta on a theoretical nuclear physics project studying the O(4) Linear Sigma model with a bosonic chemical potential.

Rebecca Ruckdashel, junior (Cornell University) worked with Prof. Alex Kamenev, studying the Lotka-Volterra model for population density oscillations.

Joseph Sobek, junior (Winona State University) worked with Prof. John Wygant on a space physics project, studying surface waves in the current sheet of Earth's geomagnetic tail.

Joshua Sobrin junior (Fordham University) worked with Prof. Shaul Hanany, designing a payload recovery system for the EBEX balloon-borne polarimeter experiment.

Natalie Weisse junior (University of Dallas) worked with Prof. Vincent Noireaux on an experimental biophysics project, studying expression and manipulation of trans- membrane proteins for the development of a functioning artificial cell.

2009 Group

Bradley Christensen, junior (University of Rochester) worked with Prof. Prisca Cushman on the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment.

Sean Dobberstein, junior (Northern Michigan University) worked with Prof. Evan Skillman, on an observational astrophysics project, developing a catalog of HII regions of nearby spiral galaxies.

Matthew Drake, junior (University of Massachusetts, Amherst) worked with Prof. William Zimmerman, studying the properties of the lambda-transition in superfluid helium-4.

Eric Dzienkowski, junior (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) worked with Prof. Daniel Cronin- Hennessy on developing detectors for the NOvA project to study neutrino oscillations.

Grace Elwell, junior (Carelton College) worked with Prof. Vuk Mandic, on the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment.

Vanessa Engquist, junior (University of Nebraska, Kearney) worked with Prof. John Wygant on analyzing the influence of interplanetary magnetic fields on the auroral kilometric radiation.

Aaron Feickert, junior (North Dakota State University) worked with Prof. Jeremy Mans developing new algortihms to study particle decays in the Compact Muon Solenoid at the Large Hadron Collider.

Kathleen Foote, junior (Providence College) worked with Prof. Ken Heller, on a Science Education program, analyzing gender differences in performance in Introductory Physics courses.

Jon Graves, junior (University of Nebraska, Omaha) worked with Prof. Yong-Zhang Qian on a theoretical nuclear astrophysics project, simulating the shock front dynamics during supernova explosions.

Mark Pepin, junior (Creighton University) worked with Prof. Marvin Marshak analyzing cosmic ray shower data recorded by the Soudan II underground detector.

Christopher Pierse, junior (St. Louis University) worked with Prof. Vincent Noireaux on an experimental biophysics project, studying gene expression kinetics for the development of a functioning artificial cell.

Katherine Reeves, junior (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities) worked with Prof. Daniel Cronin-Hennessy on an experimental high-energy physics project, studying photon energy resolution in the BES-III Electromagnetic Calorimeter.