The faculty, students, and staff welcome Dr. Robert Thornton to the Department of Physics. Dr. Thornton earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.S. in Physics from Lehigh University, and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Hawaii. Currently, he is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania designing the mechanics for a state of the art cryogenic millimeter camera.  The camera is the primary instrument on the ACT 6-meter telescope, which measures the cosmic microwave background at high angular resolution.  In addition, Dr. Thornton has taught astronomy courses at the University of Pennsylvania. In the fall semester, Dr Thornton will be teaching Elements of Physical Science (PHY 100) and Engineering Graphics I (PHY 115). We look forward to his arrival.  

Pictured is Miguel Abele (BS Physics ’11) describing his research at the Central Pennsylvania Consortium Astronomer’s Meeting at Franklin & Marshall. Miguel has been working with Dr. Carolyn Sealfon in collaboration with Kavilan Moodley at the University of KwaZulu-Natal to understand the origin of the dark matter density profile of halos. Miguel has also presented his work at the Philadelphia Area Astronomer’s Meeting at Widener University and WCU All Science Poster Session.

A team of eight Physics and Chemistry students with Dr. Felix E. Goodson (Chemistry) and Dr. Anthony J. Nicastro (Physics) conducted an extensive investigation of a class of block copolymers.  The team synthesized the compounds and examined their thermal properties and light-emitting properties.  One particular compound possessed a pronounced first-order transition which continuously morphed to a uniaxial order just prior to melting.  For those interested in learning more, the paper can be found here.

Robert M. Brown Endowed Scholarship for Physics:
Maxwell Henderson (Physics BS '10)
Robert Virgin (Physics BS Ed '09)

The Roger and Diane Casagrande Scholarship
Matthew Prusko (Physics/Eng '10)

The CETP Scholarship in Physics:
Robert Virgin (Physics BS Ed '09)

Dr. Michael F. Martens Award:
Jared Campbell (Physics BS '10)
Nathan Kocher (Physics/Eng '10)
Alexandru Nitica (Physics BS '09)
Matthew Prusko (Physics/Eng '10)

Benjamin Faber Scholarship:
Miguele Abele (Physics '11)