Fall 2010/Spring 2011 News
Faculty and Staff
Mallika Dhar started a new position as
Lecturer in the Department. She recently finished her
Ph.D. in Computational Science with Emphasis in Physics from
the University of Southern Mississippi. She previously
obtained a B.S. degree in Physics from the University of
Calcutta in India and an M.S. in Physics from the University of
Southern Mississippi.
Students
Physics major Thomas Gemmer
graduated from ETSU in August 2010 with a Bachelors
of Science in Physics degree.
Eleven Physics majors were awarded `Learning Experiences in
Astronomy and Physics' (LEAP) scholarships from a new program
funded by the NASA Tennessee Space Grant program and the
ETSU
Foundation. For more information about this
scholarship, click
here.
Four ETSU Physics majors attended the 2nd Annual Southeast
Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics, held January
14-16, 2011 at North Carolina State University in Raleigh
North Carolina. These students were Olivia
Miller, Erin Middlemas, Yesenia Cruz Pascual, and Laura
Buchanan. Olivia Miller presented a poster on her
research entitled `Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in Interacting
Galaxies'. This research was done in
collaboration with Dr. Beverly Smith.
Physics Major Ryen Lapham participated in `Posters at the
State Capitol Day' in Nashville TN in February
2011. At this event, undergraduates from various
Tennessee Universities presented posted on their research to
the state legislators. Ryen's poster was on `Star
Formation in the Interacting Galaxy Arp 107'. The
press release on this event is posted
here.
Several Physics majors and Physics/Astronomy minors gave
presentations at the Boland Undergraduate Research Symposium
and/or the Appalachian Research Forum, held at the Millenium
Centre in Johnson City across the street from ETSU March 22
and 24, respectively. These presentations
included the following talks:
William Jamieson (Double Major, Physics and
Math): `Characterizations of the Interated Hypercube Graph
Family'
Ryen Lapham (Double Major, Physics and Math):
`Star Formation in the Interacting Galaxy Arp
107'
Jessie Deering (Astronomy Minor/Math Major):
`Double Domination of Graphs and their
Complements'
Jeremy Brooks (Physics Minor):
`Curve Fitting of Cardiac Action
Potentials'
Posters included:
Olivia Miller (Physics Major) :
`Ultra-Luminous X-Ray Sources in Interacting
Galaxies'
Ryen Lapham (Physics/Math Major):
`Star Formation in the Interacting Galaxy Arp 107'
Two Physics Majors completed Honors Theses during Spring
2011. Coral Franklin (shown at left) presented her
thesis entitled `Spitzer IR Colors of Normal Spiral Galaxies
as a Function of Hubble Type' on April 11. Ryen Lapham
presented his thesis `UV, Optical, and Infrared Imaging of
the Interacting Galaxy Arp 107 and Its Star Forming Regions'
on March 21.
Graduating Senior Coral Franklin won the `Outstanding Senior
in Physics' award for 2011, for having the highest overall
GPA.
In this picture, she is posing with the food for the annual
spring Department lunch in honor of our graduating seniors.
Here is a group of physics majors at the Spring Dept
lunch. From left to right: Alyssa Spooner, John Adams
(partially hidden), Erin Middlemas, and Chance Brown.
Here are two additional pictures of physics majors from the
Spring 2011 Dept lunch. On the left is Brett
Bailey; on the right is Josh Kindle.
Four Physics majors graduated from ETSU in May 2011, shown
left to right above: John Burdette, Coral Franklin, Ryen
Lapham, Trisha Massenzo
Alumni
Sharon Gray (Class of 2009) started
graduate school in Material Science and Engineering at the
University of Tennessee Space Institute.
Kristin Stone Holmes (Class of 2005) started graduate school
in Computational Sciences and Informatics at George Mason
University this fall.
Jason Beaulieu (Class of 2010) started
graduate school this fall in Mechanical Engineering at
Virginia Tech.
Qiongge Li (Class of 2010) started graduate school this fall
in Physics at the University of Georgia.
Daniel Phillips (Class of 2010) started graduate school this
fall in Microbiology at the University of Maryland in
Baltimore. At ETSU, Daniel was a double major in
Physics and Biology.
Weisong Tu (Class of 2010) started graduate school in Physics
this fall at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
R
achel Baker (Class of 2005) started a new
job teaching physics at Daniel Boone High School in Fall
2010. She received an M.S. in Education from ETSU
in 2009.
News from the Past.....