College of Science
Department of Physics
Undergraduate Research Activities

Overview

The Physics Department has a long tradition of involving undergraduate students in high-profile research projects.  In our department and physics departments nationwide, research has become an important part of the undergraduate curriculum, and participation in research projects has become the rule rather than the exception on undergraduate transcripts.    Our department provides several avenues for students to participate in research.  These have included Phsx 2800 and 4800 Individual Research Projects, where students earn credit for participation in research, and various fellowship programs including summer stipends.  Students are encouraged to meet with faculty early in their studies to discuss how research might fit into their education.

Students generally present their research to the department through Phsx 4990 Senior Seminar or Phsx 4970 Senior Thesis.  Recently, we have had several students each year present their research to audiences outside Weber State, most commonly at regional physics conferences.

Research Groups and Areas:

Medical Physics (Dr. Michelle Arnold)

Recent Projects:

Andrew Cope, Porter Jones, Jared Peterson, Micah Thornley, Cory Vorel, Michelle Arnold.  2003.  Development, and calibration of a system for non-invasively measuring the concentration of lead in bone (using x-ray fluorescence).

Future Projects:

Summer 2004 and 2005.  Measuring lead levels in animals from the Sale Lake ecosystem – determining environmental levels of lead in the area.

2004.  Measuring the lead levels in human volunteers to investigate the “normal” concentration of bone lead for people that live in the Salt Lake area.

Recent Presentations:

Micah Thornely, Jared Peterson, Porter Jones, Michelle Arnold.  2003.  Measuring Bone Lead Levels Using X-Ray Fluorescence.  Undergraduate Research Symposium, WSU, Ogden, UT.

Physics Education  (Dr. Adam Johnston)

Recent Project:

 Troy Lund,  Adam Johnston, Development of a new laboratory program for the WSU Davis campus.

Recent Presentation:

Matt Smith, Colin Inglefield, Adam Johnston. 2002. Atomic Force Microscope Model (Poster), , American Association of Physics Teachers annual national meeting in Boise, ID.

Materials Science (Dr. Colin Inglefield)

Current Project:

Sean Fletcher, Colin Inglefield.  Photoreflectance investigations of semiconductors.

Recent Presentations:

McKay Garfield. 2003.  Stretched Exponential Relaxation in Silly Putty.  Society of Physics Students Zone 15 Meeting,  WSU, Ogden, UT

Christy McDonald, Colin Inglefield, Jared Olsen, Vladimir Kozhevnikov, and P. Craig Taylor. 2002.  Raman Scattering and Electron Spin Resonance Measurements of Liquid Sulfur Near the Polymerization Transition. The 4-Corners Section meeting of the American Physical Society. Salt Lake City, UT. Award: "Outstanding Presentation"

Jeremy Conlin and Colin Inglefield. 2002.  Modeling the Topography of Hot-Wire Chemical Vapor Deposition Grown Microcrystalline Silicon using a Voronoi Diagram,. The 4-Corners Section meeting of the American Physical Society, Salt Lake City, UT.

J. L. Conlin. 2002. Calculations of Internal Electric Fields in GaInP Quantum Wells.   Society of Physics Students undergraduate research session at the American Association of Physics Teachers annual national meeting, Boise, ID. 

Jeremy Conlin, Colin Inglefield, Maciej Manecki,  and Marek Matyjasik. 2001. Mobilization of Lead Studied by Atomic Force Microscopy" (Poster).  The  4-Corners section meeting of the American Physical Society, Las Cruces, NM.

James Gutierrez, Colin Inglefield, Matt DeLong, P. Craig Taylor, Scott Morrison, and Arun Madan. 2001. Structural Characterization of SiF 4, SiH 4, and H 2Hot-Wire-Grown Microcrystalline Silicon Thin Films with large grains.  The Spring 2001 Meeting of the Materials Research Society, San Francisco, CA.. A manuscript was published in the proceedings of Symposium A.(Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings Vol. 664)

Cameron Pedersen, James Gutierrez,  and Colin Inglefield. 2001. Measurement of the Recombination Velocity of Microcrystalline Silicon/Amorphous Silicon Interfaces.  Spring 2001 Meeting of the Materials Research Society, San Francisco, CA.

David Housely.  2001. Waveguides based on Photodarkening in As₂Se₃.  Society of Physics Students Zone 15 meeting, Provo, UT.

Atomic and Laser Physics (Dr. John Sohl)

Current Project:

Caleb Trammell, Steve Wheeler, Tyler Ellis, John Sohl.  Laser Cooling and Trapping of Rubidium Atoms

Recent Prsesentations:

 Brooks Mattison. 2002. Saturated Absorption in Rb with an Actively Stabilized Diode Laser. Society of Physics Students undergraduate research session at the American Association of Physics Teachers annual national meeting, Boise, ID. 7 Aug 2002

Steven D. Wheeler, John E. Sohl. 2002. Thermal Monitoring in Studying Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields. The 4-Corners Section meeting of the American Physical Society, Salt Lake City, 4 Oct 2002

Brooks Mattison. 2002. Saturated Absorption in Rb with an Actively Stabilized Diode Laser. The 4-Corners Section meeting of the American Physical Society, Salt Lake City, 4 Oct 2002

Ben Anger.  2001. Optimizing a Highly Stabilized Diode Laser. Society of Society of Physics Students undergraduate research session at the, Am. Assoc. of Physics Teachers, Idaho-Utah Section meeting, Provo, UT,

 Brittany D. Benko, W. Sue Fairbanks, John E. Sohl 1999. Characterization of dewlap ultraviolet reflectance in Anolis cristatellus. Fall Retreat of the Nebraska Behavioral Biology Group

Current Project:

Ben Edinger, David Whelan, Kevin Smith, AmyJo Johnson, Brandon Bailey, Michael Malmrose, Stacy Palen.  Tertiary Companions to Binary Stars in the MaCHO Database.

Recent Presentations:

Adam Reynolds and Stacy Palen. 2003. Astronomical Image Analysis in IDL.  Four Corners Section of the American Physical Society Meeting, Tempe, AZ.

Ryan Smith and Stacy Palen. 2003. Solar Observations at the Physics Department Observatory.  Undergraduate Research Symposium, WSU, Ogden, UT.