Rochester Symposium for Physics Students

PROGRAM

8:00 AM – 8:30 AM:  Registration and poster setup (B&L LOBBY)

8:30 AM:  Welcome (B&L 109)

Prof. Frank Wolfs, University of Rochester.

 

8:45 am – 10:00 am:  Session IA.  optics, quantum optics, and quantum mechanics (B&L 109)

8:45     Polarization of Iridescent Shells

Carrie Burgess, Colgate University

9:00     Spatial Mode Encoding of Photons Using Spatial Light Modulators

Xinru Cheng, Colgate University

9:15     Using a Spatial Light Modulator to Create Poincare Laser Beam Patterns

Brett L. Rojec, Colgate University

9:30     Frequency-Stabilized External-Cavity Diode Lasers for an Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory Magneto-optical Trap

Peter Heuer, Maitreyi Jayaseelan, Justin T. Schultz, Marek Haruza, Azure Hansen, and Nicholas P. Bigelow, University of Rochester

9:45     Oscillations in Classical and Quantum Mechanics

Philippe Lewalle, Shantanu Agarwal, and Prof. Joseph Eberly, University of Rochester


8:45 am – 10:00 am:  Session IB.  instrumentation (B&L 106)

8:45     Refurbishment of the Houghton College Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM)

Mark Spencer and Brandon Hoffman, Department of Physics, Houghton College

9:00     Designing the Trigger Monitor for the LUX Dark Matter Detector

Brian Degner, Eryk Druszkiewicz, and Frank Wolfs, University of Rochester

9:15     Exploring the Capabilities of the Houghton College Cyclotron

Nicholas Fuller, Sylvia Morrow, and Mark Yuly, Department of Physics, Houghton College

9:30     Low activity Mössbauer Sources for Undergraduate Labs

Keith Mann, Emily Morrow, and Mark Yuly, Department of Physics, Houghton College

9:45     Laser Target Position Determination From Digital X Ray Images

Erini Lambrides, University of Rochester

 

10:00 am – 10:30 AM:  session II.  Poster session (LOBBY)

Construction of an Optical Tweezer Apparatus

Pavel Aprelev and Chad Orzel, Union College

Measuring the incidence of LIRGs among blue EDisCS Cluster Galaxies

Alissa Earle and Dr. Rose Finn, Siena College

Study of Electrodeposition of Bi-Fe-O Thin Films

N. F. Prestes*', H. F. Jurca', W. H. Schreiner', and D. H. Mosca', ' Federal University of Parana, * Vassar College

Testing the use of GPUs to calculate the two-point angular correlation function

Christopher Godfrey and Matthew Bellis, Siena College

Proof of Principle for Positioning System for Outdoor Robotics Applications

Sheila Hanna, Renee Bourgeois, and Dr. Michele McColgan, Siena College

Measuring the Cross Section for the 12C(n, 2n)11C Reaction in the 20-30 MeV Energy Interval

Garrett Hartshaw, Keith Mann, Tyler Reynolds and Mark Yuly, Stephen Padalino, Danae Polsin, Megan Russ, Michael Krieger, Collin Stillman, Angela Simone, Mollie Bienstock, and Drew Ellison, and Craig Sangster, Houghton College, SUNY Geneseo, and the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester

The Incidence of Dust-Obscured Star Formation in Nearby Galaxy Clusters

Amy McCann, John Moustakas, and Rose Finn, Siena College

Single-emitter fluorescence in nanostructures for single-photon source applications

Dilyana Mihaylova, Justin Winkler, Svetlana Lukishova, and Zhimin Shi, University of Rochester

The Transverse Doppler Effect: A Possible Undergraduate Lab to Demonstrate Relativity

Emily Morrow, Keith Mann, and Mark Yuly, Department of Physics, Houghton College

Examining Parity Violation in Beta Decay using Gamma Ray Polarization

David Richards and Mark Yuly, Department of Physics, Houghton College

On the Perturbative Solution of Functional Differential Equations

Thaddeus Savery and Graziano Vernizzi, Siena College

A Monte Carlo Algorithm for Predicting RNA Secondary Structure

Aaron van Dyne and David Mathews, Roberts Wesleyan College and the University of Rochester

A Yb:KGd(WO4)2 Femtosecond Oscillator for Non-Linear Microscopy Applications

Justin Verde, Col. Kraig, and E. Sheetz, United States Military Academy, West Point


10:30 am – 11:30 am:  Session IIIA.  Biological and medical physics (B&L 109)

10:30   Establishing institution-specific action levels for EPID-based QA for IMRT at the URMC

A Saldan, D Rosenzweig, A Gray, R Meiler, D Clark, R Abu-Aita, M Schell, and D Cavanaugh, University of Rochester

10:45   Hole Transport in DNA: Part I

Alexander J. Breindel, Rachel E. Stuart, William J. Bock, David N. Stetler, Shane M. Kravec, and Esther M. Conwell, University of Rochester

11:00   Hole Transport in DNA: Part II

Alexander J. Breindel, Rachel E. Stuart, William J. Bock, David N. Stelter, Shane M. Kravec, and Esther M. Conwell, University of Rochester

11:15   Simulating Dynamics of Coupled Josephson Junction Neurons

Siyang Guo, Colgate University

 

10:30 am – 11:30 am:  Session IIIB.  condensed matter and solid state physics I (B&L 106)

10:30   Frequency Synchronization and Non-Linear Dynamics in Josephson Junction Arrays

Matthew Brunetti, Colgate University

10:45   Fluxon Tunneling in Josephson Junction Arrays

Ryan Freeman, Colgate University

11:00   Rate constants of lithium molecules

Colleen Kelleher, Siena College

11:15   Magnetic Susceptibility Measurements

Kyle Conine, SUNY Brockport

 

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM: Lunch (Meliora, Ballroom)

 

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm: Physics Jeopardy (B&L 109)

 

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm:  Session IVA.  astrophysics (B&L 109)

1:30     A Search for Rapid Emission Line Variations in Quasars from the SDSS

Stephanie Hathaway and Dr. Eric Monier, SUNY Brockport

1:45     The Firefly CubSat: Mission and Scientific Motivation

Lindsay McTague, Dr. Allan Weatherwax, and Dr. Matthew Bellis, Siena College, NASA GSFC

2:00     Visual Analysis of Models of the Inflation Field Potential

Mark Sullivan and Evan Halstead, Union College

2:15     Dielectric Material for a Radar Calibration Satellite

William Schmidt, Justin Vonsik, and Joshua Wilson, United States Military Academy, West Point and MIT Lincoln Laboratory

 

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm:  Session IVB.  High energy and particle astrophysics (B&L 106)

1:30     The Evolution of Time Dependent Non-asymptotically Flat Branes

Taylor Piccarreto, SUNY College at Cortland

1:45     Search for Dirac Monopoles with the CDF II Detector

Nicolas Cothard, Jonathan Lewis, Homer Wolfe, and Daniel Golden, University of Rochester, FNAL, The Ohio State University

2:00     Extracting Muon Momentum Scale Corrections for Hadron Collider Experiments

Aaron van Dyne, Arie Bodek, Willis Sakumoto, and Jiyeon Han, Roberts Wesleyan College and the University of Rochester

2:15     Building a Computer Cluster in Order to Simulate Dark Matter Interactions in Parallel

Colin Lauer and Christopher Wells, Department of Physics, Houghton College


1:30 pm – 2:15 pm:  Session IVC.  condensed matter and solid state physics II (B&L 407)

1:30     An Evaporation Deposition System for the In-Situ Study of Thin Metal Films

Joshua Mertzlufft and Brandon Hoffman, Department of Physics, Houghton College

1:45     The Design and Construction of an Interferometer System for the Study of Thin Metal Films

Tyler Reynolds and Brandon Hoffman, Department of Physics, Houghton College

2:00     Vacuum Deposition and Characterization of Thin Indium Films

Jeremy Mehta, SUNY Brockport