Fall 2008 News


FALL 2008-SPRING 2009 DEPT NEWS

Faculty/Staff

Dr. Mark Giroux (left) won the 2008 ETSU Distinguished Faculty Award in Teaching.

Mr. James Tittle  (right) started work as a temporary instructor in the dept in Fall 2008.   Mr. Tittle received his B.S. in Physics from ETSU in 1976, and his M.S. in chemistry in 2000.

Exec Aide Debbie Starnes left the Dept in September 2008 for a new position in the Public Safety Dept.   She was replaced in October by Karen Sullivan.

  Dr. Mark Giroux and the ETSU mace.  He was the Mace-Bearer at the December 2008 and May 2009 graduation ceremonies.











Dr. Richard Ignace won a 2009 ETSU College of Arts and Sciences Research Award
















Dr. Mark Giroux was the featured speaker at the 2009 Academic Excellence Convocation

Students

Physics majors Rachel Miller, Sharon Gray,and Sabrina Hurlock (left to right), at the Physics and Astronomy Dept display at Homecoming, October 18, 2008

Physics major Chris Carver (on left) at Dept Display at Homecoming, October 18, 2008.

Physics major Sharon Gray (on right) at Dept Display at Homecoming.

Physics majors Chris Carver and Sharon Gray (on right) at Dept Display at Homecoming.

Physics majors Chris Carver (on right) and Sabrina Hurlock gave talks during the April 7, 2009 ETSU Undergraduate Student Research Symposium.  Chris' talk was on `Cortical Thickness in Children', while Sabrina spoke on `A Real-Time Space Weather Tool'.   Chris also served as a moderator of one session.

Physics major Sharon Gray won the ETSU Unsung Hero Award in Spring 2009.  Sharon  graduated in May 2009.





Rachel Miller won the 2009 Outstanding Student in Physics award.   She graduated in May 2009, and will be attending graduate school in Physics at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in the Fall.









Physics major Chris Carver successfully defended his honors thesis on April 27, 2009.   His thesis is titled `Investigating the Effectiveness of Genetic Algorithms when Modeling Galaxy Collisions'.   Chris is in both the ETSU University Honors program and the Physics Honors-in-Discipline program, and is also majoring in History in addition to Physics.   He graduated in May 2009, and will attend the Quillen Medical School at ETSU starting in Fall 2009.

A collection of Physics majors from the Spring 2009 physics student reception. From left to right: Brandon Little, Rachel Miller, Sharon Gray, Scott Price, Cameron Shawver, Alfred Hopkins, Jesse Delatte, and Sabrina Hurlock.  Brandon, Rachel, Sharon, Scott, and Cameron graduated in May 2009, along with Chris Carver (not shown).

Alumni

Ryan Deskins  (Physics major class of 2008; left) started graduate school in Physics at Florida State University Fall 2008

Tommy Byrd (Physics major class of 2008) started graduate school in Physics at Clemson University Fall 2008

Dr. Jason Osborne (Physics major class of 1999) started a position as a Visiting Professor in the Math Department at Florida State University this fall.  Dr. Osborne received his PhD in math from North Carolina State University in 2007.

Jonathon Qualls (Physics major class of 2007) started graduate school in Engineering Physics at Appalachian State University this fall.

Kristin Stone Holmes (Physics major class of 2005) successfully defended her masters thesis in mathematics at ETSU on March 24, 2009.   The title of her thesis was `Locating-Domination in Complementary Prisms'.  She received her masters degree in May 2009.

Amanda Moffett (Physics major class of 2006) has been awarded two graduate research fellowships: a NASA Harriet Jenkins Fellowship and a North Carolina Space Grant  Fellowship.   Amanda is a graduate student in Astronomy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.



Physics major David Begley (middle) graduated from ETSU in December 2008. David is shown with Drs. Beverly Smith and Mark Giroux in this picture.


Wes Erbsen (picture on right) also graduated from ETSU in December 2008.







News from the Past....


Last updated: 6/5/09 by B. J. Smith