New and Noteworthy
April 24, 2008: Dr. Thushara Perera joins the department as tenure-track Assistant Professor of astronomy and physics. Click on the URL below to learn more about Professor Perera.
http://www.astro.umass.edu/~perera/iwu_blurb/
April 24, 2008: Professor Spalding gives the "Charles Lindberg Lecture" at UW-Madison. The title of his talk: "Small Masses Require Small Forces: Micro-mechanical Control via Transfer of Optical Momentum."
April 22, 2008: Professor Jaggi elected Chair of Promtion and Tenure Committee for 2008-09.
April 21, 2008: Beginning Fall 2008, Ikenna Odinaka ' 08 will pursue his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at Washington University.
Jay Christensen' 08 (physics minor) will be attending Rush Medical College in the Fall.
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April 18, 2008: Ed Price' 08 is joining Teach for America! He'll be teaching secondary Chemistry in Memphis,TN.
April 16, 2008: Ryan Esch '08 has been accepted into the dual-degree program at Bradley, where he plans to study Civil Engineering. He plans to pursue a Masters Degree.
Scott Swisher '08 (physics minor) has been admitted into the graduate Econ programs at Cornell, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Michigan State.
April 14, 2008: After numerous visits around the country, Becky Carlton '08 finally accepts the offer from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to pursue her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering.
After much deliberation, Nick Timme '08 has accepted the offer from Indiana University to pursue his Ph.D. in Physics.
April 12, 2008: Professor Jaggi is the keynote speaker at the Phi Kappa Phi induction ceremony. The title of his talk: � New wine in old wineskins?: Is nuclear the new green?�
Three physics students present papers at the John Wesley Powell Research Conference.
"Investigation into Factors Affecting the Operating Deflection Shapes of a Mandolin" by Thomas Traynor '08(physics minor) and Prof. Morrison;
"The mode shapes and frequenciesof carbon fiber plates" by Nick Timme '08 and Prof. Morrison;
"Stock Index pricing with random walk and agent based models" by Scott N. Swisher IV '08(physics minor) and Prof. Seeborg
April 10, 2008: Colin Komar '08 will enter the Ph.D. program at West Virginia University where he will study Plasma Physics.
April 9, 2008: Professor Wilson presents a workshop, "Hiroshima and Nagasaki for Teachers,"at the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras, San Juan, Seventh Conference: Science, Environment and Society, La Ciencia al Servicio de la Paz y los Derechos Humanos (Science in Service of Peace and Human Rights)
April 9, 2008: Alex Boecher '08 will pursue his graduate studies in Environmental Studies at UW-Madison.
April 8, 2008: Sawyer Campbell '08 accepts the offer from The College of Optical Sciences at The University of Arizona to do his PhD. in Optics.
April 6, 2008: In Fall 2008, Thomas Traynor '08 (physics minor) will start working for Abbott Laboratories.
April 5, 2008: Thomas Traynor '08 (physics minor) ( working with Prof. Morrison) and Sawyer Campbell '08 present research papers at the ISAAPT Spring 2008 Meeting in Urbana, IL .
"Investigation into Factors Affecting the Operating Deflection Shapes of a Mandolin"; Thomas Traynor '08 (physics minor), Illinois Wesleyan University.
"Calibration of Webcams for Imaging"; Sawyer Campbell '08, Illinois Wesleyan University and Illinois State University
March 2008: Dan Haeger '08 accepts offer from UCSB to pursue his Ph.D. in Materials Science Engineering.
Read about the exciting summer research done by Dan Haeger '08 at UC Santa Barbara on blue lasers. http://www2.iwu.edu/CurrentNews/newsreleases08/stn_DanHaeger_308.shtml
March 2008: Professor Spalding is President of a new national organization called ALPhA (for "Advanced Lab Physics Association"), which is working to establish a network of instructors interested in the experimental part of the undergraduate curriculum, emphasizing the arc of development desired beyond the introductory level. In this capacity, Prof. Spalding hosted open meetings for Advanced Lab instructors from across the nation both at the Winter Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), which was held in Baltimore, and at the annual March Meeting of the American Physical Society (APS), which was held in New Orleans. ALPhA is working collaboratively with both APS and AAPT and can already point to a number of new resources that are coming together to help Advanced Lab Instructors. -- So far, these include:
A listserv:
An Advanced Lab website (with content coming on line):
March 1-20, 2008: Colin Komar, Becky Carlton, Dan Haeger, Nick Timme and Alex Boecher travel to universities around the country to decide which offer (of admission into graduate school and scolarship/fellowship) they will accept.
January 2008:
December graduate Janelle Bailey '08 accepts position at Farmer's Insuarance Company.
December graduate Andy Nelson '08 accepts position (as research engineer) at the U.S. Army Core of Engineers (CERL).
December 2007: December graduate Janelle Bailey '08 receives the prestigious full-ride scholarship to attend law school at the University of Kansa City Law School, starting Fall 2008; she acepts it.
November 2007: December graduate Andy Nelson '08 successfully defends his Research Honors thesis : "Visualizing a Fourth Dimesnion: Hypercubic Resistor Networks".
Read about his work at http://www2.iwu.edu/CurrentNews/newsrelease07/fac_Jaggi_607.shtml
November 2007: Prof. Nathan Frank publishes, with co-authors, " Exploring Neutron-Rich Oxygen Isotopes with MoNA" in Proton Emiiting Nuclei and Related Topics-PROCON2007 edited by L. Ferreira and P. Arumugam.
October 2007: Professor Wilson conducts a workshop,A Natural � Nuclear Physics, Nuclear War. Is It Missing from Your Physics Curriculum?at the IL-AAPT Fall Meeting at Lincoln Land Community College, Springfield, IL.
August 2007: Six students return to campus after exciting and successful summer research at different research universities: Andy Nelson at UIUC, Becky Carlton at Washington University, Colin Komar at Baylor University, Dan Haegar at UC Santa Barbara, Ikenna Odinaka at UIUC, and Nick Timme at Kansas State University.
August 2007: Prof. Linda French starts her term as the Director of IWU's London Semester Program.
August 2007: Prof. Gabe Spalding co-chairs the topical Conference on Optical Trapping and Optical Micro-manipulation IV (sponsored by SPIE), San Diego, California. For conference proceedings, click here
August 9, 2007: Prof. Ray Wilson guides a workshop at the International Institute onPeace Education, 25th Anniversary Symposium at the United Nations, "Missing from Your Curriculum?"
August 2007: Santanam Kasturi, M.Tech.,appointed as Adjunct Instructor for Fall 2007
August 2007: David Wolfe, Ph.D., reappointed as Adjunct Associate Professor for Fall 2007
August 2007: Nathan Frank, Ph.D., joins the department as Visiting Assistant Professor
July 2007: Prof. Andy Morrison presents paper titled "Incorporating space missions into a fundamental astronomy course" at the AAPT Summer Meeting in Greensboro, NC.
une 2007: Prof. Ray Wilson conducts Hiroshima and Nagasaki for College Teachers: A One-week Workshop, June 25 - 29, 2007 (click here for workshop webpage)
April 2007:Thomas Traynor'08 (working with Professor Morrison) wins the first priize for student research at Spring 2007 Meeting of ISAAPT. "Construction of an Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometer" Thomas Traynor, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL 61701.
March 2007: Prof. Ray Wilson, presents a paper, "Missing from Your Physics Curriculum?"at the IL-AAPT Spring Meeting at WIU, Macomb, IL.
August 2006: Prof. Gabe Spalding co-chairs the topical SPIE Conference on Optical Trapping and Optical Micro-manipulation III (sponsored by SPIE)
August 2006: David Wolfe, Ph.D., appointed as Adjunct Associate Professor for Fall 2006
July 2006: Prof. Narendra Jaggi chairs the session on Upper Level Curricular Issues at the National Conference of Physics Department Chairs (sponsored by the American Physics Society) in Maryland. www.aps.org/programs/education/ chairs/upload/SessionII_1.pdf
July 2006: Prof. Beth Cunningham presents an invited talk at the National Conference of Physics Department Chairs (sponsored by the American Physics Society) in Maryland.
July 2006: Beth Cunningham, Ph.D., the new Provost and Dean of Faculty at IWU, joins the department as Professor of Physics.
June 2006: Prof. Ray Wilson conducts Hiroshima and Nagasaki for College Teachers: A One-week Workshop7 (click here for workshop webpage)
August 2005: Prof. Gabe Spalding co-chairs the topical SPIE Conference on Optical Trapping and Optical Micro-manipulation II in San Diego, California.
June 2005, Andrew Morrison, Ph.D., joins the department as Visiting Assistant Professor
June 2005, Deadly Objects In Space: Prof. Linda French charts objects in the solar system, some of which come quite near Earth. French says new evidence leads her to believe asteroids and comets may be comprised of the same materials. WGLT's Jim Browne talks with her about her studies.
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May 05: Prof. Linda French is the recipient of a Cottrell College Science Award from the Research Corporation |
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May 05: SPS designs and builds a giant trebuchet (click here to see a videoclip) |
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April 05: Class of 2005 (Left to Right): Gautham Narayan to Harvard, Prakrit Jena to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Kayode Karunwi to Georgia Institute of Technology, Brian Simoins to NIST. Not pictured: Jason Forster to Yale, Sam Stahnke to Washington Univ, |
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November 04: Groundbreaking work in optical sorting by Prof. Gabe Spalding featured in "Optics in 2004" issue of Optics & Photonics News. |
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August 04: "Character critical to liberal arts education"; Narendra Jaggi speaks at FY Convocation |
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May 04: Prof. Gabe Spalding and Ram Mohan win Cottrell College Science Awards from Research Corporation |
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April 04: Joe Binder '04 was named a 2004 "Lincoln Laureate" by the State of Illinois. This honor followed on the heels of his Goldwater Scholarship. |
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October 03: Prof. Narendra Jaggi, elected IWU Professor of the Year for 2003 , was also named the 2003 Illinois Professor of the Year by CASE and the Carnegie Foundation. |
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April 03: Alex Laurie '03 was named a 2003 "Lincoln Laureate" by the State of Illinois. |