Dept News Summer 2007

East Tennessee State University Department of Physics, Astronomy, and Geology Department News Summer 2007

General News

The Dept hosted an international Astronomical Conference on `The Biggest, Baddest, Coolest Stars' from July 16-18, 2007. The conference was held at the Millenium Center across the street from ETSU. Dr. Don Luttermoser was the chair of the Organizing Committee; Drs. Beverly Smith, Richard Ignace, Gary Henson, and Mark Giroux were members of the committee. For photographs from the Conference, click here.

Lattie Collins and Gail Carrier retired from ETSU in June 2007. For the last two years, Lattie had been working part-time as director of the Medical Professions student advising office. Gail was the secretary in the Medical Professions office. Lattie retired from the full-time physics faculty in summer 2005.

A picture from the retirement party. Lattie is on the left, Gail is in the solid blue dress in the middle right. Dept Exec aide Debbie Starnes is in pink on the left.

Left: Gail, Theresa Marlow, and Constance Alexander.
Right: The cake.

Student Activities

ETSU Physics major Sharon Gray is working this summer with Dr. Richard Ignace on an H-alpha study of Beta Lyr.
ETSU Physics major Chris Carver is working this summer with Dr. Beverly Smith on modeling galaxy collisions.
ETSU Physics major Sabrina Hurlock is working this summer with Dr. Beverly Smith analyzing optical images of interacting galaxies obtained with the SARA telescope.
James Madison University undergraduate Robert Mesler is working with Dr. Gary Henson this summer, as part of the SARA Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. He is working on a project on variability in post-AGB stars.
Christina Bunker, an undergraduate student from SUNY Stony Brook, is working with Dr. Richard Ignace this summer as part of the SARA REU program. Her project is titled `Microlensing of Dusty Envelopes'.
Jason Carson, an undergraduate from Western Kentucky University, is working with Dr. Richard Ignace this summer as part of the SARA REU program. He will be studying polarization of circumstellar envelopes.
New ETSU graduate David Simpson (Physics major, graduated May 2007) is working this summer with Dr. Beverly Smith on various projects. He will be attending grad school at Penn State in the fall.
Recent ETSU graduate Amanda Moffett (Physics major, graduated May 2006) is working this summer with Dr. Beverly Smith on GALEX observations of galaxies. She will be attending grad school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the fall.
ETSU Physics major Ryan Deskins is participating in the Ohio Wesleyan REU program in Delaware, Ohio this summer. He is working with Dr. Bob Harmon on 'Stellar Surface Imaging via Light Curve Inversion'.
ETSU Physics major Tommy Byrd is participating in the Undergraduate Internship Program in Nanotechnology at the University of California at Berkeley this summer.
ETSU Physics major Wes Erbsen is participating in a Research Experience for Undergraduates program at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. He is working on designing a device to measure flexure of substances in a strong electromagnetic field.
ETSU Geology major Jess Buckles is doing research with Dr. Yongli Gao this summer.
Six ETSU geology majors are working with Penn-Virginia Oil Company this summer, either as part of their student co-op program or as full-time summer workers. These include Morgan Pate, Taylor Burnham, Robyn (Nikki) Gibson, Tom Strader, Ralph Bandy, and Kyra Hubbard.
ETSU Geology major Taylor Burnham has been awarded an Honors College Summer Research Fellowship to study the geology of the Mongolian petroglyphs in the Altai Mountains. He will be traveling to Mongolia July 12 - August 15 with Dr. Mick Whitelaw.
Five undergraduate students and 4 graduate students are working with Dr. Steve Wallace and Dr. Blaine Schubert on paleontology projects this summer. The undergraduates include ETSU students Brian Compton, Megan Bates, John Graybeal, and Aliana J. Reichert-Eberhardt, along with Melanie Miller, an intern from Sewanee University. The graduate students are ETSU students April Nye, James Scott, Keila Bredehoeft, and Grant Boardman.
Rachel Baker (Physics major, 2005) has been named a Quillen Graduate Scholar for 2007. She is currently a graduate student in Education at ETSU.

A nice picture of six of the students working on astronomy projects the dept this summer. This picture was taken during the Biggest, Baddest, Coolest Stars Conference. From left to right: Christina Bunker, Sharon Gray, Robert Mesler, Sabrina Hurlock, Chris Carver, and Amanda Moffett. For a bigger picture, click here.

A scene from the Dept Pizza lunch on June 6, 2007. From left to right: David Simpson, Rico Ignace, Jason Carson, Yongli Gao, and Jess Buckles.

A scene from the Dept Pizza lunch on June 6, 2007. From left to right: Jess Buckles, Bob Mesler, Amanda Moffett, Yongli Gao, and Christina Bunker.

A scene from the Dept Pizza lunch on June 6, 2007. From left to right: Chris Carver, Bob Mesler, David Simpson, Rico Ignace, and Yongli Gao.

A scene from the Dept Pizza lunch on June 6, 2007. From left to right: David Simpson, Yongli Gao, Jess Buckles, Christina Bunker, and Chris Carver.

News from the past...
Fall 2006 - Spring 2007
Summer 2006
Fall 2005 - Spring 2006
Summer 2006
Fall 2004 - Spring 2005
Summer 2004
Spring 2004
Fall 2003
Summer 2003

Last updated: 1/18/08 by B. J. Smith.