JMU Physics & Astro Blog

New publication in Applied Spectroscopy

2012-02-01T10:44:00.005-05:00

Did you know that the ability of thin oxide films to absorb infrared radiation depends on whether they "sit" on a metal, or on a piece of semiconductor, or on an insulator? Undergraduate student Anita Vincent-Johnson discovered that this is the case by creating computer simulations of the response of the thin films to the infrared radiation. The effort was accomplished under the direction of Dr. Giovanna Scarel and the results were discussed with collaborators of the University of Utah and of Howard University. The team discovered a peculiar substrate sensitive thickness where the effect is particularly evident, as illustrated in the picture on the left. The full reference is A. J. Vincent-Johnson et al., "Effects of metallic, semiconducting, and insulating substrates in the coupling involving radiative polaritons in thin oxide films", Applied Spectroscopy vol. 66 (2), pages 188-197 (2012).

Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics

2012-01-24T15:38:00.001-05:00

ReneeAhern, Christina Hanks, Anita Vincent-Johnson, Liz Visosky, and Nora Swisher attended theSoutheast Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (SCUWP) at theUniversity of Tennessee, January 12-15, 2012. Here's what Nora says about the experience.

Over the long weekend we got to attend talks from successfulwomen in physics, present our own research, interact with other women inphysics over free meals, and listen to panels discussing careers, grad school,and undergraduate research. We also gotto tour Oak Ridge National Laboratory and see some of the incredible resourcesthere, like the Spallation Neutron Source and their supercomputing facility. Thisis actually the 2^nd year I’ve attended this conference (Anita and Iwent to it at Duke University in 2010). I thought both trips were great experiences.SCUWP and other women in physics events provide the opportunity for young womento network and gain motivation and support to continue physics.

It is not O.K. that there are so few women in physics in theUnited States. Because of societal cues given to us our whole lives, women tendto have more self-doubt in their STEM abilities, and people have internal biasagainst women in STEM fields whether they realize it or not (women need to higher credentials in order to be judged as equally productive as men). To fix this we needthe current women in physics to stay and continue breaking the mold. We needrole models and mentors for young women, and we need to keep improving theclimate by continuing to have good family policies, flexible schedules, and speakingout when colleagues make inappropriate comments. As an anecdote, I haveexperienced some inappropriate conversations, although the men probably did notrealize it was uncomfortable for me. Once during a class, the professorand students discussed a system to rate female physical attractiveness. That mightnot have happened in class with a different female student ratio.

Although, women have some equalities(equal pay not being one of them), women still have many stereotypes toovercome. Unfortunately some of these stereotypes are preventing physics fromgaining all the contributions that women and other minorities have to offer. Iknow it’s a subtle and difficult problem to fix, but it should be fixed beforewe can call our society truly equal, developed, and rational.

New Planetarium Shows, Public Star Parties and the End of the World!?

2012-01-18T21:16:00.006-05:00

With the start of a new semester already in full swing, there is a lot going on that John C. Wells Planetarium this semester! This month the 2:30pm family show is "Legends of the Sky: Orion", while the the 3:30pm feature show is "Stars of the Pharaohs". Following each show, a live star talk featuring the Harrisonburg night sky will be presented. Both shows are FREE with seats available on a first-come, first-seated basis! You can find our full schedule of shows that will be presented this semester at the Planetarium website.

A brand new initiative we are launching this semester is monthly star parties at Astronomy Park, located in the meadow behind the Physics & Chemistry building. The first star party will take place on Friday, January 27 starting at 7pm with subsequent public observing sessions on the last Friday of each month! Since these observing sessions are weather-dependent, the decision to proceed with observing or to postpone to Saturday (our back-up night) will be made by 4pm on each day. This decision will be published on the Planetarium website, the Planetarium facebook page and via the Planetarium twitter feed. If you have never seen Jupiter with its Galilean satellites, Saturn and its majestic rings, Mars, Venus or even the Moon through a telescope, you definitely do NOT want to miss any of these star parties!

Lastly, with calendar turning the page to 2012, no doubt you have heard of the many ridiculous doomsday scenarios circulating online and in the tabloids you see at the grocery store. All these end-of-the-world prophecies, from the Mayan calendar ending, to the Earth's magnetic field suddenly reversing polarity in 2012, are all baseless and without any scientific merit. I've written my own short "Debunking 2012 Doomsday Prophecies" which you can find at the Planetarium website.

I hope to see many of you at the Planetarium or at a star party this semester!

Clear skies!

Shanil Virani

Director, John C. Wells Planetarium

Hard Times for Physics Departments Everywhere

2012-01-11T11:26:00.000-05:00

In the APS News ,December 2011 (Volume 20, Number 11) the Back PageThe Economics of Education: Closing Undergraduate Physics Programs, by Theodore Hodapp describes a pretty dismal state of affairs for physics Departments in this country. The heart of the matter is given in this paragraph:

These recent decisions in a number of states indicate that the era, if it ever existed, of a program existing because it is unthinkable not to offer physics is over. Dominating the current academic landscape are huge numbers of business, psychology, communications, and life-sciences majors. Physics undergraduate degrees accounted for 0.88%² of all majors in 1966. Now they account for 0.32%. Figure 1 shows how physics has fared compared to the aggregate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields. The total number of physics graduates is roughly the same as it was in the late 60’s at around 6,000, but as a fraction of the undergraduate degrees it has fallen by almost a factor of three from its former standing. Further, if you normalize the data to the US population, which increases at roughly 1% per year, the data indicate that other majors have successfully lured away students who previously would have majored in physics. As a colleague recently said to me, “Who is better equipped to deal with the challenging problems that currently face our society–physics or psychology majors?” Psychology graduates increased from roughly 17,000 to 100,000 in those same four and half decades.

All pretty sobering stuff. Have a look at the full article for all the details.

Grant awarded for research on radiative polaritons

2012-01-04T14:45:00.003-05:00

The Jeffress Memorial Trust has awarded a grant in support to the research that Dr. Scarel and her students are pursuing to understand the interaction between infrared radiation and matter. The funding will support an experiment in which infrared radiation with electric field perpendicular to the surface of a planar oxide film will excite radiative polaritons. A linearly polarized electromagnetic field, such as that used in the proposed experiment, is shown in the picture above. This experiment is expected to unambiguously correlate the absorption of infrared radiation with radiative polaritons. Dr. Scarel and her students hope that in the future the results of this research will inspire the design and development of devices to harvest and transform into electricity the infrared radiation from the sun and the atmosphere.

Jeffress Research grant awarded to Dr. Adriana Banu

2012-01-04T10:44:00.002-05:00

Nuclear astrophysics research program at JMU is up for a good start in 2012!

The Thomas F. Jeffress and Kate Miller Jeffress Memorial Trust has approved a Jeffress Research grant of $25,000 to James Madison University in aid of Dr. Banu's project - "Studying the (alpha,p)-process in X-ray bursts using rare isotope ion beams". Dr. Banu and one of her research students, Brent Glassman, will conduct the research experiment, in collaboration with a team of scientists at the Cyclotron Institute at Texas A&M University, most probably in late spring this year. Stay tuned for the results! For more information, contact Dr. Banu at banula@jmu.edu.

Shanil Virani, Planetarium & Recruiting Director

2011-12-23T09:58:00.000-05:00

The Department of Physics and Astronomy is delighted to announce that Shanil Virani will begin his duties full-time as Director of the John C. Wells Planetarium in January 2012. He brings planetarium experience both from Yale University as well as JMU. He is an enthusiastic and capable educator and is already working to move the planetarium program forward.

With our annual planetarium attendance near 10,000, there is already a vibrant program in place. Shanil already has many ideas for extending the reach of our programs both on- and off-campus. If you would like to discuss ideas for how the planetarium as a full-dome video facility, a star projection facility or as a unique auditorium can fit with your educational plans, please contact Shanil at viranisn@jmu.edu.

The Wells Planetarium is an amazing venue with capabilities unique among planetariums of its size. Come join Shanil in exploring the universe with the greater JMU community.

In addition to Shanil's duties in the planetarium, he is also charged with student recruiting. As many know, Dr. Jon Staib continues to orchestrate our winter recruiting/scholarship efforts that have done so much to grow our department into a nationally recognized program. However, since he retired several years ago, we've been living on borrowed time, hiring him part-time to continue with his successful approach.

This spring, Jon and Shanil will work together on the recruiting to pass the baton on to Shanil for the future. This combination of outreach and recruiting put Shanil in a central position to take our department to the next level in our quest to be the biggest, best and most amazing undergraduate physics department in the nation.

Join us in welcoming Shanil to his new position.

PandA Holiday Party

2011-12-23T09:40:00.001-05:00

On the last day of classes, December 9, we hosted our annual department holiday party. As can be seen above, the pizza was a welcome component of the festivities.

Santa's helper, Dr. Butner, delivered a welcome round of joy and presents. The students also ~~roasted~~ presented gifts for the faculty.

A complete set of photos is found here.

As always the holiday video was met with howls of laughter and a good time was had by all.

Mystery of the Christmas Star

2011-11-18T17:20:00.007-05:00

The John C. Wells Planetarium at JMU and the JMU Department of Physics and Astronomy are pleased to present a special full-dome planetarium movie entitled "Mystery of the Christmas Star" beginning THIS FRIDAY & SATURDAY evenings at 7pm! This movie allows audiences to journey back 2000 years to Bethlehem in pursuit of a scientific explanation of the star the wise men followed to find the baby Jesus. This modern retelling of the Christmas story is sure to charm and captivate audiences of all ages. All shows are free and seats are first-come, first-seated! Each performance will be followed by a live star talk featuring the Harrisonburg night sky.

The John C. Wells Planetarium is located in Room 1103 of Miller Hall.

View the trailer

Astronomy at the Market II

2011-11-07T20:48:00.006-05:00

If you missed Team Awestronomy at Harrisonburg's Farmers Market last Saturday... you missed another good show (wondering about our debut? it's been immortalized here)! The team had a rain (snow) check appearance for the event scheduled for October 29th, when the weather was just impossible for any solar view or relaxing conversations about the Sun, Galaxies, Binary Stars, Big Bang, the History of Astronomy, you name it, only it has to be astro-wise...

On November 5th, the day was gloriously sunny, and the expected (and existing) cold temperatures did not seem to bother anybody eager to watch the Sun in action and understand its whereabouts. And it paid off: there were three quite obvious flares a the edge of the solar circle, and two other little bunches (sunspots come in pairs, usually) smack in the middle, very clearly spotted with the ... sunspotter.

Witness the team in action:

Do you know why the team was there last Saturday, and will be there again next semester (planned for every last Saturday of the month, weather permitting)? Read this, they confessed:

Emil Christensen: The reason I wake up at eight AM on some of my Saturdays is for science. It may sound corny, but it is true nonetheless. I have a lot of fun with the team taking astronomy to the market. There is a great sense of camaraderie in our group, and it makes it that more of an enjoyable experience. Also, it gives me a chance to share what I know, and hey, who would't want to play with liquid nitrogen.

Anthony Saikin: My reasons for doing this:

-Its not everyday that you see a group of people out with a telescope, It truly sets a person's day apart from others.
-The public usually isn't that Astro-literate. It's nice to educate the public.
-The conversations with people. Those who stop by often are interested in what we are doing there and sometimes the conversation will stray from Astronomy into some local science education issue, and how more opportunities for science education should be available.

-Its fun. Especially making Edible Comets, and serving them to people.

Jimmy Corcoran: I enjoy bringing Astronomy to the Farmer's Market because it's a great way to share and spread scientific knowledge within the Harrisonburg area. It surprises me everytime how many people, of every age, show their interest in science when given the opportunity.

Nathan DiDomenico: Science’s positive effects on society are numerous and sizeable. Along with other parts of our culture such as politics and fine art, science has sculpted our civilization into what it is today. Artists and politicians often have large groups of fans that they rely on for success , but the public seems removed from the process scientific discovery and therefore many feel apathetic towards the field of science. This cannot be allowed because progress in the scientific pursuits also relies heavily on how many fans it has. You don’t have to be a scientist to be a fan of science; you only need to recognize the benefits and beauty of scientific curiosity and discovery. The reason I am happy to bring astronomy to the market is because astronomy is a very astounding and wonderful field in science and I think that by talking about it with people I can play a small role in creating more fans of science.

Kyle Eskridge: Astronomy at the market is a good opportunity to get the community excited about astronomy and science in general. It is particularly good to get children excited about science because it may inspire them to one day become scientists or engineers which we could always use more of.

Thanks everyone for the smart questions and comments on how science fills up your everyday lives!

Support Don Chodrow

2011-10-25T13:41:00.001-04:00

The Department of Physics and Astronomy is nominating Dr. Chodrow for the College of Science and Mathematics Teaching Award. Please send an e-mail to Dr. Scully (scullyst@jmu.edu) telling why you think Dr. Chodrow deserves this award. How did having him for mechanics (or other courses) change your life, your career path, your understanding of physics? Time is short. Get your e-mail to Dr. Scully by November 1.

This is your chance to thank him for that mental kick he gave you to start you on the path to success. Help us help him get the recognition he deserves.

3 Astronomers Share the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics!

2011-10-04T16:08:00.006-04:00

This morning 3 American astronomers received the call of a lifetime when they were notified by the Nobel committee that they would share the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics!

Prof. Adam Riess of The John Hopkins University/Space Telescope Science Institute, Prof. Saul Perlmutter of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory/UC Berkeley and Prof. Brian Schmidt, an American now working at the Australian National University, were recognized “for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe through observations of distant supernovae.”

In the 1920s, Edwin Hubble discovered that the Universe is expanding. He found that the further a galaxy is from us, the faster it moves away. If you play this movie backwards, it provides an independent piece of evidence that there was a Big Bang. Today, these 3 astronomers are being recognized for their 1998 discovery that the expansion of the universe is actually accelerating and not linear like Hubble discovered. This accelerating expansion is being driven by a mysterious force called "Dark Energy" about which little is known except that it makes up ~70% of the Universe! The group that discovers what Dark Energy actually is will likely also win the Nobel Prize in Physics.

That these 3 astronomers won the Nobel Prize for their work is not surprising since it was recognized immediately after publication that their result has a profound significance on our understanding regarding the evolution of our Universe. Indeed, both teams shared the 2007 Peter Gruber Foundation Cosmology Prize -- a gold medal and $500,000 -- and Science magazine dubbed their work as "The Breakthrough Discovery of the Year" in 1998.

Congratulations gentlemen on a very well-deserved honor!

We took the Astronomy at the Market, literally.

2011-10-02T23:55:00.016-04:00

One astro faculty and a group of astro students (you'll see exactly which ones soon) took the department's Coronado solar telescope at the Harrisonburg Farmers Market. Along with the telescope, they also sported asunspotter, also to catch the Sun of course, just a little bit differently, in a clearly safe and simple way. The group also "cooked" edible comets (tasting suspiciously like ice cream), and showed how they can form their tails when the future eater pretends to be the Sun and blows a bit of "solar" wind on them.

The kids enjoyed probing cratering on potential planets' surfaces with a variety of impactors (i.e., peebles). Imagine all these while we all talked a lot about astronomy:

The black holes were surely a hit, mainly because Nathan DiDomenico was there to answer the questions:

Kyle Eskridge mastered the Sun:

Jimmy Corcoran went extragalactic:

Anthony Saikin delighted audience with details about binary stars:

Emil Christensen illuminated on the history of astronomy, geo- vs helio-centric systems, telescopes, distances to stars, etc…

Anca Constantin featured the big bang and the history of the universe:

You can see here many more pictures with us and the curious people who surrounded us on that first day of October (also our 1st, and thus our debut with the "Astronomy at the Market" Show).

Our first thin film obtained with the ALD reactor

2011-09-29T20:51:00.004-04:00

Today marks the first successful thin film growth of Titanium Dioxide on Silicon substrate with the new ALD reactor built last summer in Dr. Costel Constantin's lab. This will enable us to grow oxide nanolayers or nanowires on semiconducting surfaces that can be used in building more efficient field effect transistors. A crucial role in this success were the efforts of Matthew Chamberlin, Kristen Deganais (REU student from University of Maryland Baltimore County), Bojan Ljubovic, and Renee Ahern who joined our group at the beginning of this semester. Renee helped a lot with setting up the ALD reactor for several growth attempts preceding today's growth.

... More on radiative polaritons at JMU!

2011-09-29T19:24:00.003-04:00

On October 19-22 2011 the 78th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Section of the APS will take place at Virginia Tech. At the event, Anita Vincent-Johnson, undergraduate student in Physics at JMU, will present the results of the study she performed this summer under the guidance of Dr. Giovanna Scarel and in collaboration with Dr. James Hammonds of Howard University in Washington DC. The study investigated computationally and experimentally the dispersion relations of radiative polaritons in thin oxide films. The team was finally able to demonstrate the radiative nature of the polaritons excited in thin oxide films by infrared radiation. These results will have great impact on the ongoing effort of the team to exploit radiative polaritons for harvesting energy from infrared radiation.

Radiative polaritons at JMU!

2011-09-26T14:44:00.003-04:00

Today Applied Physics Letter has published a paper reporting the discoveries made by a group of researchers at JMU. The paper is entitled “Heat recovery mechanism in the excitation of radiative polaritons by broadband infrared radiation in thin oxide films”. Anita Vincent-Johnson and John Bridstrup, undergraduate students in Physics, and Kyle Vasquez, who graduated in Chemistry last Spring, worked on the project between Summer 2010 and Summer 2011. Andrew Masters of Custom Thermoelectric (Bishopville - MD) developed the devices. Harry Hu contributed in improving the set up for the measurements. Giovanna Scarel led the team. The hope of the authors is that this research would trigger new work in buildig cells capable to harvest infrared radiation and convert it into electricity. Since infrared radiation is available day and night, the cells should work without interruption.

Superluminal Neutrinos

2011-09-24T18:00:00.000-04:00

The paper reporting on the faster than light neutrinos observed at CERN is on the web. It is clear that is not a simple time-of-flight measurement. It is also clear that a tremendous amount of work went into measuring the times and determining the distance.

Fall Picnic

2011-09-24T17:49:00.000-04:00

To start off the semester we enjoyed our annual fall picnic on Sunday afternoon September 18. We met at Purcel Park to enjoy the culinary delights grilled up by Costel Constantin. There was much good food brought and soccer for the ambitious.

See the full set of photos here.

JMU in the ALD firmament

2011-09-23T10:59:00.005-04:00

On September 20 2011 the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A published the paper “Wetting properties induced in nano-composite POSS-MA polymer films by atomic layer deposited oxides”. The paper reports the work performed by the JMU students Kyle Vasquez and Anita Vincent-Johnson under the guidance of the JMU faculty Chris Hughes, Brian Augustine, and Giovanna Scarel. The JMU team worked in close collaboration with the partners at NCSU: Kyoungmi Lee and Gregory Parsons. This paper will be included in a special issue of JVSTA totally devoted to Atomic Layer Deposition and will introduce JMU in the ALD firmament!

Could relativity be wrong?

2011-09-22T21:15:00.000-04:00

From LiveScience

Physicists have found that tiny particles called neutrinos are making a 454-mile (730-kilometer) underground trip faster than they should — more quickly, in fact, than light could do. If the results are confirmed, they could throw much of modern physics into upheaval.

If this is verified, hang on to your hat. The ride will be wild. Overturning the universal speed limit changes everything.

I suggest not betting heavily on this being true.

Do basketball like a theoretical physicist

2011-09-17T08:19:00.000-04:00

Just in case you thought that theoretical physicists were only occupied with quarks, big bangs, phase changes, and Bose-Einstein condensates...think again. Alan Gabel and S. Redner at the Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University have made an excellent examination of scoring in basketball. The abstract spells it out:

We present evidence, based on play-by-play data from all 6087 games from the 2006/07–2009/10 seasons of the National Basketball Association (NBA), that basketball scoring is well described by a weakly-biased continuous-time random walk. The time between successive scoring events follows an exponential distribution, with little memory between different scoring intervals. Using this random- walk picture that is augmented by features idiosyncratic to basketball, we account for a wide variety of statistical properties of scoring, such as the distribution of the score difference between opponents and the fraction of game time that one team is in the lead. By further including the heterogeneity of team strengths, we build a computational model that accounts for essentially all statistical features of game scoring data and season win/loss records of each team.

Now you can tell your friends you were studying physics the next time you watch an NBA game on TV.

Department Picnic

2011-09-16T18:48:00.001-04:00

The annual Fall PandA picnic is Sunday September 18th at 1:00 PM. As usual, we will be in Purcel Park.

Come join us for the fun.

Matt's first paper has been accepted!

2011-09-15T14:28:00.003-04:00

Matthew Chamberlin who worked (really HARD!) with Prof. Costel Constantin since 2010 will publish his first paper in the Material Research Society Symposium Proceedings Journal.

The paper is entitled “Zinc and Zinc Oxide Nanowires Grown on PEDOT:PSS/SiO2 Conductive Polymer Thin Films by Vapor Phase Transport Deposition” and a copy of the paper can be found here. Matt is very intrigued by neuroscience, and I hope this paper will encourage him to apply to graduate schools where he can pursue his dream.

Congratulations!

How is Science Done?

2011-09-13T17:10:00.003-04:00

We live in extraordinary times. We know that our Universe began with a Big Bang 13.76 billion years ago, plus or minus 0.11 billion years (~1% precision!). We have learned that we really don't know what ~96% of the Universe is made of (i.e., "dark matter" and "dark energy"). We have very strong observational evidence that not only does our own Milky Way Galaxy harbor a supermassive black hole, but that every galaxy has one. Big puzzles remain as to how they grow to their large masses, and why some black holes are active and some are dormant. These scientific results are all a consequence of the scientific method, exemplify how progress is made and our knowledge advanced.

But do all members of our society and media truly understand how science is done and its importance? Indeed, in the last blog entry, we talked about a Physics department in trouble at UNC-W and the need for more physicists. In an intriguing article published online today and making its way around the internet, an astronomer who was part of the team that recently found evidence for a "diamond planet" calls into question whether our society truly understands how science is done and the consequences it has for us. If you have not already read it, I encourage you to do so. You can find the article here.

A Physics Department in Trouble

2011-09-10T12:37:00.001-04:00

The University of North Carolina-Wilmington has announced its plan for dealing with the 15.8% budget cut imposed on it by the state of North Carolina. Part of this is to merge the Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography with the department of Geology and Geography to form one department. This will, according to the administration result in the saving of about $80,000/year due to the reduction of one administrator and one staff position.

There is a petition seeking to reverse this decision and you are urged to visit and read what others have said and express your opinion.

We need more rather than less physics in the world. Add you voice to those who are trying to preserve this educational opportunity for the UNC-W students.

What Students Think...

2011-09-02T10:20:00.005-04:00

With the start of the new semester, students return to the classroom eager and excited to learn! Well, ok maybe not everyone. Nevertheless, students do walk into our classroom with preconceived notions about how the world works, some of which are just wrong. A classic example is the cause of the seasons, where in survey after survey, a majority of respondents claim the cause of our seasons is the changing Sun-Earth distance (not right!). Curious to learn what my students think when they hear the word "Astronomy", I asked my Astronomy 120 (The Solar System) students to write three words on an index card. The wordle below is the result of this exercise.

PandA Photo

2011-08-27T10:04:00.001-04:00

On Friday, we took time to gather (nearly) everyone together for our annual department photo.

Standing, left to right:
Anca Constantin, Deepshikha Shukla, Kevin Giovanetti, Costel Contantin, Gabriel Niculescu, Art Fovargue, Shanil Virani, Shaleen Shukla, Chris Hughes, Mark Mattson, Giovanna Scarel, Harry Hu and Steve Whisnant.

Seated, left to right:
Sean Scully, Ioana Niculescu, Harold Butner, Brian Utter, Scott Paulson, Klebert Feitosa, Adriana Banu, Geary Albright and Kim Emerson.

Not present:
Don Chodrow and Elizabeth Jeffery.

We have an amazing and diverse faculty. Our size is impressive, comparable even to some PhD granting institutions. We are up to 21 full-time faculty now.

Nanoparticles and atomic layer deposition

2011-08-25T19:46:00.003-04:00

A team of researcher from NCSU and JMU has discovered a method to fabricate FePt nanoparticles using atomic layer deposited Al2O3! The paper is published online by Nanoscale: A.C. Johnston-Peck, G. Scarel, J. Wang, G.N. Parsons, and J.B. Tracy, “Sinter-free phase conversion and scanning transmission electron microscopy of FePt nanoparticle monolayers”. G. Scarel - JMU - has deposited the Al2O3 layers.

For us, its tomorrow...

2011-08-25T15:36:00.000-04:00

While students are flocking in (except for freshmen, who are already here) this weekend for classes to start on Monday, for the faculty, it begins tomorrow. We have a day filled with the joy of meetings: all faculty in the university followed by a college meeting and finally one for the department.

On the other hand, we do get fed twice, once by the university and once by the college. But by the department meeting we're all full and just ready to go home. Thus, it starts with a meeting of mostly announcements and is over pretty quickly. There will be another department photo this year, so watch for this next on the blog.

So, all you students and former students, just realize that the work starts sooner for us (and in May lasts longer). While you are out having the last party before classes this weekend, we're ~~having a last fling as well~~ home making final preparations for class and getting our syllabi and notes in order.

Welcome back. See you on Monday.

How Scientists View One Another

2011-08-12T16:41:00.000-04:00

Of course, no one at JMU views anybody this way.

Spend your money on "Awesome"

2011-08-10T09:25:00.000-04:00

This morning one of our 1985 graduates, Gregory Meeks, send along a link to a video that gives a good explanation what NASA is doing and why it should be supported. Gregory is the NASA Liaison to the State of Florida and works at the Kennedy Space Center.

Thanks to Gregory for passing this along

Phys 105

2011-08-07T10:42:00.000-04:00

This fall we have 33 enrolled in Phys 105. This isn't quite a record, but it is within a few of our largest class. According to the declared degree programs and majors for these folks we have

1 major pursuing a BA degree, 32 in the BS program.
2 majors in the pre-physician assistant program.
3 in the pre-med program.
1 in pre-law
1 in pre-professional secondary education
8 are women

The pre-professional students in the program indicate that the word is getting out that physics is the best place to start such a career. We are trying a combination of making this explicit in the catalog and educating the orientation advisors.

Secondary education and the BA degree continues to appear in very small numbers. Nevertheless, they are still present. With a new effort starting this fall to encourage students into teaching, having only one on the list now is not indicative of the graduation rate down the road four years. The BA degree, in its current incarnation, will always be appealing to a small number of students.

Perhaps most encouraging is the presence of 8 women in the class (yeah!). This puts us at just shy of 1/4 of the class being female. This is a strong showing and is just a bit on the high side of the national norm.

Since Phys 105 meets on a Tuesday in a 75 minute time slot, we are going to start taking full advantage of this and schedule two faculty presentations in most class meetings. Thus, instead of a 50 minute presentation on one topic, we'll get two 35-minute discussions by two different people. This way, the entire faculty fits into the semester with room left over for pizza and demos.

Looking forward to the beginning of an exciting new year.

JMU Researchers Get Gold to Stick to Plastic

2011-08-03T16:10:00.001-04:00

Getting gold film to adhere to plastics is a tricky task. Finding a sure-fire, low-cost way to accomplish it would be a real breakthrough for a number of industries from biomedicine to computer chip manufacturers. Professors Brian Augustine (JMU Chemistry) and Chris Hughes (PandA), along with students they advised, are on to something. Check out their story in the latest issue of Madison Scholar.

Another way to look at things...

2011-08-03T10:43:00.001-04:00

Information is routinely posted here about the size of our major as measured by the number of students. Today we look at the number of faculty. Consider the chart above. This shows the average size of physics departments in the US sorted by the highest degree granted. A data point has been added to show the current size of our department at 21. While individual departments vary in size and finding a few much larger than the average is possible, we are larger than the average size of both BS and MS granting departments by a lot.

For every MS granting department our size, there must be, on average, two with 7 or 8 faculty. It gets hard to imagine a successful MS program with a faculty this small. For every BS granting department our size there must be 7 with, on average, 4 faculty. Departments this size certainly do exist and are quite common.

This puts us in rare company, indeed.

Now for some good news!

2011-07-28T17:59:00.006-04:00

Since I fear that the last post left everyone feeling kinda down about the whole business of studying physics and having a rewarding career, consider this from Payscale.com.

Best Undergrad College Degrees By Salary

Methodology

Annual pay for Bachelors graduates without higher degrees. Typical starting graduates have 2 years of experience; mid-career have 15 years. See full methodology for more.

In case you were worried about studying physics at JMU, fret no more. Nearly everyone of the career paths opened by these degrees is available to a physics grad. And even physics is doing pretty good. Except for petroleum engineering, the mid career salaries are all with errors. Who wants to crawl about on an oil rig any way!?

This kind of plot sorts many things into one pile. The 'physics' category must include all us academic types who don't really get paid $100,000/year. (We wish!) That means there must be lots of jobs out there with even better paying jobs.

Buck up campers! The world is a good place for physicists.

Just so you don't feel that I've shorted the other sciences, here they are

Degree	Starting Median Pay	Mid-Career Median Pay

Physics	$49,800	$101,000

Applied Mathematics	$52,600	$98,600

Mathematics	$47,000	$89,900

Geology	$45,300	$83,300

Chemistry	$42,000	$80,900

Biology	$37,900	$71,900

Microbiology	$38,500	$70,100

With these options, what will you choose?

Hard Times for Physics Departments

2011-07-25T10:09:00.000-04:00

In these uncertain economic times, physics departments are among the first places states and universities look for budget savings. Enrollment is typically low and laboratory based programs are expensive. Here at JMU we are fortunate to be a large department that is thriving in spite of the troubles. However, we have neighbors that are struggling to survive.

The July issue of the American Journal of Physics has an editorial in which the authors, Anura Goonewardene, Marian Tzolov, Indrajith Senevirathne and Donald Woodhouse, describe a new nanotechnology minor and applied physics track in the major at Lock Haven University. With this addition, they are finding success in growing their program and staying alive.

Although their success is to be applauded, the background against which this effort is undertaken is scary.
In Pennsylvania, according to this article, there are 14 universities. Of these, one does not have a physics major and one of the remaining 13 is closing in 2012. The article states that the state of Pennsylvania says,

Programs that averaged less than 6 students per year for the past 5 years are deemed “low enrolled” and are subject to review.

Of the 12 currently continuing departments, 9 are in danger. The authors note

The remaining programs are scrambling to develop strategies for survival, including collaboration with other schools and online delivery of low-enrolled upper division courses to reduce costs. If fewer than 6 graduates per year becomes the criterion for a low-enrolled program, 73% of the 505 bachelor’s-only degree granting institutions in the U.S. is “under enrolled.” Some, if not many, of these programs might be eliminated or significantly scaled back to the status of a “service” discipline unless they take active steps to increase enrollment. In these times the benefits to students of a thriving physics program are often secondary to the bottom line.

This is a terrifying prospect for physics in this country.

Although we graduated only 13 this year, we have been averaging 18-20 in recent years and there's reason to believe that the 2012 graduating class will be of a size more typical for us. Nevertheless, being among the top ten largest undergraduate departments in the nation with graduating classes still in the teens is worrisome.

Physics programs are always small. It is not a topic for everyone -- we understand that. Let's just hope that legislatures realize before it is too late that even graduating small numbers, physics departments make a significant impact on our increasingly high-tech economy. If success is only measured by dollars spent and seats filled in a classroom, we are all in trouble.

Tantalizing Possibilities at CERN

2011-07-23T17:25:00.000-04:00

ATLAS and CMS at CERN are reporting:

Scientists may have caught their first glimpse of the elusive Higgs boson, which is thought to give mass to the basic building blocks of nature.
Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider at Cern, the European particlephysics lab near Geneva, announced the findings at a conference on Friday.

Perhaps this time it will persist in the data and will be the real thing.

A Blog Addition

2011-07-23T11:17:00.001-04:00

A new feature has been added to the blog - Apture. This is a web site enhancement app that makes it possible to explore topics more easily. Now, if you highlight a word or phrase, you will see a "Learn More" button. If you click (or even hover over) the button, you'll get a new window with the results of a search on that topic. It will also search the blog to show (possibly) relevant information. If a word or phrase is selected often enough, it will automatically be given an underline and be turned into a link for everyone.

Fun for everyone! Those who know what the phrase means already can laugh at the stupid web answer and those who don't get to learn something. Great fun for all.

Enjoy.

Save Your (and My) Telescope!!!

2011-07-08T20:15:00.002-04:00

So yesterday was the last shuttle launch. To the crew of STS-135: the last safe travels!

You know what else happened in the past day or so? The House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee has recommended: “$4.5 billion for NASA Science programs, which is $431 million below last year’s level." The bill also terminates funding for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This is not the end of JWST, but it is no good news.

While it is undeniable that the project has had large cost overruns and is behind schedule, it is also very clear that the project, once complete, will be a tool of enormous worth to the (world-wise, not only the U.S.) scientific community — and, through them, to the general population.

In case you wondered (from www.stsci.edu):

JWST is recognized as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope and will ensure US leadership in space astronomy for the next decade. The telescope is the cornerstone of future space astronomy and is the foundation upon which the 2010 Astronomy Decadal Survey, "New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics", was built.

JWST will see the first stars and galaxies, and follow the Universe's ionization history.

JWST will study the assembly and evolution of galaxies and their dark matter, stars, and metals.

JWST will find liquid water on planets around other stars.

JWST will reveal the births of stars and planetary systems.

JWST is the “Hubble” for the next generation of young scientists and engineers. Its research accomplishments and images will be equally profound and the discoveries will be just as unimaginable. JWST will explore the Universe beyond what Hubble could see. Much like it happened with the Hubble Space Telescope when it was designed and lunched, many things JWST will find are so revolutionary they’re simply beyond our ability to predict.

There are so so so many reasons for which it would be senseless to throw away the $3 billion already spent on JWST and to forego discoveries we can only imagine right now. To see just a few (in plain English):

Here's a list of members for the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee who recommended that the JWST be stripped of funding:http://1.usa.gov/q7VYYr.

And here's how to contact each member: http://1.usa.gov/4yLnaI.

Every email, call, and letter counts!

fyi: here is The American Astronomical Society (AAS) response to the possible cancellation of the JWST:

http://aas.org/node/4483

Atlantis is Away!

2011-07-08T11:54:00.001-04:00

STS-135 is underway...Atlantis is in orbit.

You can follow the mission at NASA.

Hope to have a video of the launch to post later.

UPDATE: Here's the promised video.

Job Search Now Open

2011-07-04T10:30:00.001-04:00

A search is now underway for a position that combines two critical components of our departments activities. The successful candidate will be responsible moving us forward with our astronomy outreach programs and for orchestrating our annual recruiting efforts. The review date is set for September 10 and, with any luck, we will have a new person in place by January. Just in time to learn the recruiting ropes from Jon Staib.

If you happen to be interested, applications are submitted online.

Freshman Class

2011-07-03T10:45:00.000-04:00

According to the June 28 numbers from the folks in Freshman Orientation, we have 28 freshman majors coming this fall. Another good class coming in.

2011-07-02T15:45:00.003-04:00

It seems that there is a movement in the math world that is slowing gaining some attention. The idea is that , the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, should be replaced by , the ratio of the circumference to the radius. This replacement, argued by Bob Palais, is much more natural and leads to frequent simplification in many cases. For example, 1/4 of a circle is radians not . Using , the fractions always match making it easier to remember and avoid mistakes. There are also many math and physics equations where appears (for example: ) that are simpler to write and read with this substitution. Euler's equation, , becomes , a much nicer thing to write.

OK. So you are not convinced. Consider this: With this substitution, we have day instead of (in addition to?) day. this moves the celebration to June 28th. March is cold and we're all in school. June is warm and we're all on the beach (mentally at least) and it is clearly a much better day to be celebrating.

If you are still not convinced, give this a look. This is a video of  being set to music. It is really quite nice.

Fine. So we we won't be switching to  any time soon. But it is good to know that the mathematicians are thinking about such things and preparing the world for ever more rational thought.

I wonder if we can find a way to set Newton's laws or Maxwell's equations to music? The lagrangian for Quantum Chromodynamics (that describes the strong interaction) might just be a delight to hear.

And, lest you think that you'd have to go relearn  in place of  and are worried since you've got  to 20 or 30 digits, consider the plight of this young woman...

2011-07-02T10:32:00.001-04:00

Atlantis lifts off on July 8.

Last time.

Last one.

Ever.

New Possibilities on the Horizon

2011-06-19T21:14:00.002-04:00

On Friday Giovanna Scarel and Steve Whisnant attended a meeting in Newport News at Jefferson Lab to learn about current facilities and new ideas for light sources. JLab currently has a free-electron laser (FEL) that can produce light in the wavelength range from microns to about about 300 nm. In addition to this facility, there is a plan developing to build a new, so-called, Next Generation Light Source (NGLS) that can provide light (not coherent in this case) up into the soft x-ray region. This facility will provide unprecedented brightness and luminosity.

What is really interesting about this idea is that it would put a world-class light source a short drive from JMU. This will make it possible to expand the horizons of our faculty and students to explore the world in new ways. We are at the beginning of the process. Much work to do to make this happen.

And now for a change of reference frame...

2011-06-08T09:19:00.002-04:00

This video of a camera attached to a hula-hoop gives a nice perspective of how the world looks from a different reference frame. Think of this as the person in the middle representing the sun and the spot on the hula-hoop representing the earth. From the perspective of the person in the middle, the motion is fairly simple and easy to understand. From the perspective of the camera, life is quite different.

Of course, with multiple planets all moving at different speeds around the sun, the motion of the solar system appears to be much more complicated from the earth. We see planets that appear to move sometimes faster, sometimes slower, and sometimes even in reverse. Add to this the motion of the moons around the planets and the solar system is an apparently complicated place indeed.

However, if you put the camera in the right place it all gets easy to understand.

The passing of Maurice Goldhaber...

2011-06-02T21:09:00.000-04:00

From the LA Times...

Maurice Goldhaber, one of the pioneers of modern physics whose experiments helped create the current understanding of how the world works, died May 11 at his home on Long Island, N.Y., after a short illness. He had celebrated his 100th birthday less than a month earlier.

Goldhaber was "one of the world's most distinguished nuclear and particle physicists," the U.S. government said in 1998 when it presented him the prestigious Enrico Fermi Award. His innovative and thought-provoking experiments provided much of the foundation for the standard model of physics that now paints our view of the universe, and his leadership and vision as head of the Brookhaven National Laboratory during the 1960s led to three Nobel Prizes in Physics for the Long Island institution.

Endeavour is Home

2011-06-01T10:22:00.000-04:00

Endeavour safely home while Atlantis is being moved to the launch pad. One step closer to the end.

Summer has begun!

2011-05-31T23:12:00.000-04:00

Well, OK, not by the calendar, officially. However, the students appeared today to start the REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) season and the rest of the faculty funded separately from this materials science program are also up to full speed.

Goodbye Spirit

2011-05-25T15:44:00.001-04:00

More signs of the changes in the wind...

Spirit, the scrappy robot geologist that captivated the world with its antics on Mars before getting stuck in a sand trap, is about to meet its end after six productive years.

Spirit has been incommunicado for more than a year despite daily calls by NASA. The cause of Spirit's silence may never be known, but it's likely the bitter Martian winter damaged its electronics, preventing the six-wheel rover from waking up.

See the full story at the NYT.

Endeavour Docks at the Space Station

2011-05-18T11:00:00.000-04:00

Its a good mission. All is going well.

Last Launch of Endeavour

2011-05-16T19:23:00.000-04:00

Today the Space Shuttle Endeavour lifted gracefully into space for the last time. A beautiful and impressive event.

From the NASA web site:

The crew members for space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission are Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori.

During the 16-day mission, Endeavour and its crew will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) and spare parts including two S-band communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank and additional spare parts for Dextre.

The final flight honors go to Atlantis on STS-135. The target date for the launch is June 28.

A Better Way To Teach Physics?

2011-05-13T14:02:00.002-04:00

Tell someone that you're an 'astrophysicist' and the reaction that I typically get is "physics?! You must be so smart to spend your life studying that subject. I hated physics in school.” Of course, momentary ego-boost aside, what you're really being told is that these otherwise intelligent folks had a frustrating, intimidating experience with a subject I love. So how best to teach physics?

Usually faculty teach physics the way they were taught. Hey, if it was good enough for them, it's good enough for you too! But this traditional "teaching-by-telling" or "sage-at-the-stage" approach just doesn't work! Over the past several years, much research has been done to determine how students learn and how best to teach them (much of it lead by physicists!). The model that has emerged is one in which students are engaged and are active participants in the classroom rather than passive note-takers. One popular method used here at JMU and other institutions is via "clickers" (remote polling devices) to gauge student understanding and to identify misconceptions immediately. The idea is to confront students head-on with their misconceptions so that you can replace the incorrect model they have in their mind with the correct one. Many studies have shown this "intense engagement" to better performance as measured on tests, and one would hope, better understanding. However, as you might imagine, there are many questions that arise in determining whether this active method is truly better than the lecture method.

In a research article published in today's Science, a group of investigators purport to provide a "clean comparison" between the active, student-centered approach versus the traditional, teacher-led approach. The research was conducted by a team at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and is led by physics Nobelist Carl Wieman. Wieman has devoted the past decade to improving undergraduate science instruction, using methods that draw upon the latest research in cognitive science, neuroscience, and learning theory. What they did was take two large first-year introductory engineering physics classes (one class had 267 students while the other had 271) and teach one section using this "deliberative practice" approach (really just means clickers plus group tasks) while the other section was taught by a "motivated faculty member with high student evaluations" using the standard lecture format. Before the experiment, the instructors for both sections agreed to cover the same unit on electromagnetic waves and on what learning objectives would be covered. A typical 50-min class in the experimental section consisted of a clicker question, instructor feedback, another clicker question, more feedback from the instructor but students can then discuss and change their vote. This was followed by a group task with a demonstration and another clicker question. After 1 week (3 1-hour classes), both sections were given the same 12-question multiple choice test. The students in the "active" section scored more than twice as well as those in the "passive" control section. Just as importantly, 90% of the respondents in the "active" classroom agreed with the statement "I really enjoyed the interactive teaching techniques during the three lectures on E&M waves". So how physics is taught does make a difference!

This is an interesting result and clearly more work is left to be done! To read more about this work, check out this article from Science Now which summarizes the work and its impact. The New York Times presents a more critical review of the work.

Unbelievable View of Our Galaxy

2011-05-12T14:50:00.000-04:00

What would you see if you could see at levels thousands of times more faint than the dimmest star? That's the question that astrophotographer Nick Risinger set to answer. The result, after stitching together nearly 37,500 exposures, is a 5,000 megapixel photograph of the entire sky. What dominates is our beautiful, Milky Way Galaxy, home to our Sun and our solar system.

What an incredible mosaic! Check it out: http://media.skysurvey.org/interactive360/index.html

Posters in California

2011-05-12T08:57:00.000-04:00

On May 2, James Hauver and William Henderson presented posters on their work from the summer of 2010 on photoneutron production with polarized gamma rays. Linearly polarized gamma rays provide a new window into these reactions and are particularly interesting for the student of fissile nuclides.

The targets Jimmy and William studied are Ta and Sn. The interesting observable is the ratio of the neutron yield in the plane of polarization divided by the yield at right angles to the beam polarization direction. This ratio, R, is a function of photon and neutron energy and provides a characteristic response for nuclei that is often enough different from other nuclei that some identification of the target can be made. This is particularly true for fissile material.

More targets will be studied this summer including La, Ce, Dy, and Hg.

2011 Graduation

2011-05-07T17:01:00.001-04:00

Graduation went off without a hitch. we had fine weather and a great group of students to launch into the world. You'll notice many Sigma Pi Sigma sashes in the photo. This is great class and we are mighty proud of them. See the rest of the photos here.

This means that spring semester is (nearly) done. All grades are due in a day or two. Folks are ramping up for the summer research experience.

As we add new faculty, we have the experience of a young faculty member having their first experience in a graduation ceremony from the faculty perspective. This year it is Giovanna Scarel's turn.

She certainly enjoys the experience.

Stay tuned for the summer of physics and astronomy.

Classes have ended

2011-04-30T08:41:00.001-04:00

Every one close your eyes and take a deep breath. This moment of silence won't last. Next week are final exams.

Yet another reason to take physics

2011-04-23T09:39:00.001-04:00

Consider Mr. Will Foreman in Prince George County, VA.

Five times and counting before three different judges, the Prince George’s County business owner has used a computer and a calculation to cast reasonable doubt on the reliability of the soulless traffic enforcers.

It seems this fellow is successfully challenging the speeding tickets he's collected by using the traffic photos to make his case. When the automatic speeding/photo machine reacts, it take two photos. So,

For each ticket, Mr. Foreman digitally superimposed the two photos - taken 0.363 seconds apart from a stationary point, according to an Optotraffic time stamp - creating a single photo with two images of the vehicle.

Using the vehicle’s length as a frame of reference, Mr. Foreman then measured its distance traveled in the elapsed time, allowing him to calculate the vehicle’s speed. In every case, he said, the vehicle was not traveling fast enough to get a ticket.

See! Physics is good for something useful in the real world.

Spring Picnic

2011-04-16T18:13:00.000-04:00

Imagine a mouth watering burger with all the fixin's.

Well, if you were at the department spring picnic, you could remember rather than imagine. We had a good turn out on a very cold and cloudy day. Costel Constantin and Gabriel Niculescu did an outstanding job of planning and cooking to make the day a good one.

A full collection of photos are here.

Honors NIght

2011-04-16T17:35:00.000-04:00

On April 6, we hosted the annual honor banquet to celebrate the outstanding students in our program and induct a new class of students into Sigma Pi Sigma. We had a special guest this year, Dr. Gary White, the national Director of SPS/Sigma Pi Sigma.

The honors presented this year are:

Symposium Presentation Honors
Place	Student
1^st	Matthew Chamberlin
2^st	Nathan DiDomenico
3^st	Cathrine Nisson & Matthew Burton

Scholarship Awardees
Scholarship	Student	Faculty Presentor
John R. Gordon	Nora Swisher	Brian Utter
John R. Gordon	William Henderson	Steve Whisnant
Alumni/faculty	Micheal Stickney	Gabriel Niculescu
Henry W. Leap	Anthony Saikin	Harold Butner
Henry W. Leap	Adam Wermus	Sean Scully
Serway	Anthony Chieco	Klebert Feitosa
Serway	James Corcoran	Gabriel Niculescu

Students Recognized with Departmental Honors
Honor	Student
Service Award	Anita Jo Vincent-Johnson
Teaching	Collin Wilson
Research	Nicholas Herge
Outstanding Junior	William Henderson
Outstanding Senior	Alex Burant

Students Inducted into Sigma Pi Sigma
Jason Brown
Anthony Chieco
Chris Durcan
Randall Emmett
William Henderson
Nicholas Herge
Catherine Nisson
Nora Swisher
Anita Jo Vincent-Johnson
Collin Wilson
Benjamin Folz

A complete collection of photos are found here.

The first look at the Sun

2011-04-15T09:35:00.005-04:00

The Sun has been doing what it is doing now (fusing Hydrogen in its core) for about 5 billion years (and will continue his endeavors for another 5 billion years). We are all witnessing this activity, and are able to go on with our lives mainly as a consequence of what the Sun does and has to offer, and still... some of us took a good look at our star only yesterday...

Students enrolled in one section of the Introductory Astronomy (Astr121) class got the chance to see the Sun through a Coronado solar telescope and monitor its motion in the sky with Sunspotters. The solar observing session was only possible because the students enrolled in the General Astronomy II class volunteered (their astro class time) with setting up the telescope together with the necessary arsenal (counterweights, lenses of various resolving power, etc.). You might be pleasantly surprised to hear what those students had to say about this event (long time sought after; it rained a lot lately here):

First off, I would just like to say thank you for giving us the chance to look through the “Coronado” like that, because it was such an incredible and enlightening experience. I’ll be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect or what the sun would look like through the filter on the telescope. While I certainly expect it to look like a blood-red disc, I also was not prepared for just how much detail is still visible through the telescope. When I first looked through the telescope, the sun was moving pretty quickly and almost disappeared from view; but, in that small portion, I was able to see the surface turbulence swirling about in constant motion, as well as several sunspots which, surprisingly, appeared slightly brighter than the rest of the surface. After the line went through and several of my other classmates returned for a second look, I joined them; the students helming the telescope kept changing eyepieces, so I wondered if that would give me a different view. When I looked through the “Coronado” for a second time, I was treated to an even larger vision of our star and that allowed me to see even more. Once again, I saw the constant turbulence upon the surface, as well as sunspots, but this time I was able to see a solar flare. It exploded out of the edge of the sun like a fountain of red wisps; my words can’t do it justice, but it was just so incredible to see. I mean, it’s one thing to see the picture in the book, but it’s another thing entirely to actually see it with my own eyes. (Madeleine Cassier; Media Arts and Design; Digital Video and Cinema; Proud member of the Marching Royal Dukes)

Viewing our sun through a telescope in class was a fascinating experience!
At 8:45 A.M. this morning, our class was treated with the privilege of interacting with sunspotters as well as one of the astronomy department's telescopes, set up by several advanced astronomy students. A sunspotter is a wooden device which reflects an image of the sun onto a sheet of paper through the use of a lens and mirrors. This tool is one way we can view the sun without damaging our eyes from the sun's damaging UV rays. Another function of a sunspotter is to allow us to track the rotation of the earth as the image of the sun moves across the paper sheet over the course of a day. A sunspotter also allows us to see sunspots on the sun's surface, the photosphere, which we could not otherwise see with our bare eyes. Through the three sunspotters available for us along the sidewalk, we could see the reflected image of our sun as a palm-sized white circle with many small speckles (the sunspots).

The view from the Coronado telescope was quite unique, at least in comparison with my amateur experiences with telescopes from childhood. With the initial positioning, the advanced astronomy students had us looking at the sun as a deep fluorescent red circle which filled the field of view on the telescope. The red color is not the color of the sun as we would recognize and label it. Rather, it is the result of the coloring of the filter on the lens. Amidst this redness, we could see sunspots. With a few minor adjustments to the telescope's position by the advanced astronomy students, we were able to see swirling movement of the gases on the photosphere, in addition to the sunspots we had seen previously.
Thank you for the delightful morning! (
Caity Wilkinson;
Psychology/Pre-Law/Women's and Gender Studies

)

Had a lot of fun looking at the sunspotters and through the telescope this morning! The sun moved pretty fast and the first few times I looked at it with the telescope, there wasn't much to see beside the surface. Eventually I got to look right after it had been readjusted and it was a really beautiful sight seeing the edge of the sun against a dark background! I wish that I had more time to play around with the sunspotters, but unfortunately my next class is back to back with astronomy. (James Cole; computer science major)

Today in class we looked at the sun (not directly) through the telescope. The first time I looked was right after a classmate who was just in awe of how wonderful it was. I looked and all I saw was a mass of red. I was kind of confused because it didn't seem very glorious to me. A little while later I tried again, but this time a friend told me to try without my glasses because it worked for him. It looked a lot better surprisingly. My glasses are for distances, so when something is that close to my eye it is a lot clearer. It definitely looked way cooler. I could see more details of the surface, it was moving slightly and I also saw a spot that was kind of swirly almost. It looked like when you put oil into water, and it sits at the top and swirls around a bit. It was really pretty and interesting to look at.

I went over and checked out the sunspotters right after, and I thought they were wicked cool. How interesting is it to be able to see the sunspots that easily? I thought these were awesome inventions and I was glad to learn about them. One of the science students helping us was saying that we could even see the atmosphere. If you watched it, it flickered slightly and was kind of moving, and that was apparently the atmosphere. I haven't told my Mom much about in the classroom things, but this is something I want to tell her about. Thank you for this experience! It was a really cool thing to do! ~Megan Kelleher (music major) :)

After learning in the classroom, we took our activity outside to check out that familiar star known as the sun. We learned how to use a few different instruments. First of all, there was the sun-spotter, which is the safest way to observe the sun. With this, we were able to see the entire sun, as well as sun spots. It works with the use of several mirrors that reflect the sun onto sheets of paper. The sun ends up moving on the sheet of paper due to Earth’s rotation. We were also able to look through a telescope with light filtering so we were not blinded by the sun’s rays. The sun was a reddish color, due to this filtering, and if you looked at the edges of the sun, you could see the solar flares. (Jarrett Apicella-freshman)

Though the SunSpotter doesn't magnify our sun, it was amazing to see the actually sun spots and their current location on our star. When looking through the solar telescope with the hydrogen alpha filter the sun appeared red. When you took your time to look through the telescope and it was actually focused on the sun you could see solar flares from different locations on the sun. It's one thing to see flares in pictures, but when you actually see them for yourself through a telescope, they're that much more impressive. (Matt Zurlo; Justice Studies/Military Leadership)

Through the telescope the sun looked very red and the surface seemed very textured. After someone told me to direct my attention to the top of the sun i noticed an area that looked like a solar flare. Until today i didn't know that you could observe the sun through a telescope and it was a very interesting thing to see. -Kenneth Huffman (music major)

I could see the surface of the sun. It looked like molten lava. The sunspots showed up as brighter spots because of the Wavelength (that's what one of the helper students said). I could also see small flares off the edge. With the simple sunspotter, I could see sunspots as shadows. One of the other helper students explained that it works the same as a telescope and projects the sun onto the paper. I was really surprised you could see the sunspots that way. I've been looking forward to using the telescopes all semester and I'm really glad we finally got to go out and use them!

With the sunspotter, we looked close at the projection of the sun, where we were actually able to see sunspots; we also marked the positions of the sun over a short period of time to see the path of the sun. I was surprised to see the speed at which the sun was moving. We also viewed the sun through a telescope that gave us a more detailed image of the sun providing color and better resolution. The sun was showed as a deep red color due to the Halpha filter and you were able to see darker spots, which were sunspots, along with solar flares coming off the edges of the sun. (Andrew Sengstacken; Computer Science)

Thank you so much for the experience of letting us see the sun in such a new way. I loved the “sun spotters” as they were simple yet an effective way of viewing the sun. I could see the tiny black spots, which I assume were sunspots, as they moved around the sun. Also with both the telescope and the sun spotters I could actually see the sun moving. I know that the sun moves across the sky, but seeing it move so quickly was amazing. The best part was seeing the sun through the solar filter telescope. At first all I could see was a red disc slowly moving up but the there was a quick burst of gas from the bottom, which was solar wind. It was so amazing I went back for a second look. During that look I noticed the visible surface of the sun was also moving. It was an amazing experience, thank you very much! (Megan Tuskey; communication studies)

JMU students head to Dallas for APS March Meeting

2011-04-14T15:55:00.005-04:00

From March 21-26, JMU physics students Nora Swisher, Ben Foltz, and Alex Burant, along with physics faculty member Brian Utter, headed to Dallas, Texas to attend the American Physical Society's annual March Meeting.

Nora Swisher presented a poster titled "Particle trajectories in 2D granular avalanches with imposed vibrations," which focused on particle tracking measurements in the avalanching flow of granular materials. This non-linear, complex system exhibits unpredictable behavior, such as avalanching and jamming, which requires statistical approaches to develop general equations of flow for these materials. Nora's work was completed through the Materials Science REU last summer in the lab of Dr. Brian Utter.

Ben Foltz's poster, "Submerged granular flow of hydrophobic and hydrophilic sand," described experiments on shearing and avalanching in granular flows of hydrophilic and hydrophobic grains submerged in fluid. Surface chemistry can be important in both soils and industrial processes, leading to aggregation and changes in shear strength as the chemical properties of the grains in the slurry are changed. Ben's work was also completed through the Materials Science REU last summer in the lab of Dr. Brian Utter and represents preliminary data that contributed to an NSF-funded grant.

Alex Burant presented a poster on "Fabrication and Characterization of High Aspect Ratio Membranes and Microporous Filters made from PMMA." In this work, he described experiments which show a new way to create high aspect ratio membranes and microporous filters by curing a liquid monomer, methyl methacrylate (MMA), into poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) structures. Alex's work was done through the REU under the supervision of Dr. Chris Hughes and Dr. Brian Augustine (JMU Chemistry).

Dr. Utter presented a talk at the conference on "Shear strength of vibrated granular/granular-fluid mixtures."

In addition, to presenting their own research, the JMU contingent saw a variety of talks, including one by Konstantin Novoselov, co-winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in physics, a talk on the efficiency of M&M packings, and the newest results on the granular robot gripper. Oh, that and lots of good food, 80-degree weather, and a legitimate excuse to miss classes for a week!

The Small Matter of Big Science

2011-04-13T15:24:00.003-04:00

You may enjoy taking a few minutes to watch this short video!

One of Our JMU Undergrad Astronomers at NCUR 2011

2011-04-10T23:47:00.010-04:00

At this year's National Conference for Undergraduate Research (NCUR), JMU's Physics and Astronomy research was represented by Nathan DiDomenico (a sophomore!), who presented his work on "The Spectral Properties of Galaxies with Water Maser Emission." In Nathan's own words, here are some thoughts about this event:

Last week I was in Ithaca New York for the National Conference for Undergraduate Research (NCUR) held at Ithaca College. The conference was fun and interesting. Being able to get out of class for a few days and getting to know other students who are doing research at JMU was definitely a plus. NCUR is a conference for students involved in all areas of research so I was able to see thought provoking presentations from many different fields. We left JMU Wednesday in the early morning and 8 hours later we were in Ithaca New York.

There were really two parts to the conference, the oral presentations that were held in several of the university’s lecture halls, and the poster presentations held in the school’s gym.

Both types of presentations were interesting to go to. At the poster sessions I was able to browse through a number of interesting presentations and discuss them with the student conducting that research; discussions were informal and thus provided good opportunities to get exposed to a broad sample of research conducted by students all around the nation. The oral presentations consisted in fifteen minutes talks plus five minutes after the talk set aside for questions; I think many of them were very well prepared.

I personally presented a poster, my first on the work I conducted so far on the properties of galaxies that host megamasers. Megamasers in disk configurations (in active galactic nuclei) give us the vital ability to get accurate distance measurements to very distant galaxies. Because of this, it is essential that we locate a much larger sample of these megamaser disks to constrain the Hubble constant; knowing the host properties of the galaxies that have masers is key to finding more of these megamasers disks. I have compiled optical data for the largest sample of galaxies hosting masers and classified them via their optical emission lines. I was able to present my research to a number of interested students as well as scientists who had come to the conference.

I would suggest that any wise college student adheres to the fooling creed: “work hard play hard”. The group of 11 JMU students (as well as the faculty chaperones) I went to NCUR with was no exception. When we were not presenting our research or learning of about others’ research we wasted no time in goofing around. The first night we were there we conquered the pizzas from “Northeast Pizza and Beer” (that place gives new meaning the words “large pizza”), and then to our delight discovered that it was karaoke night. We couldn’t deny the crowd the sound of our voices, so we sang a few classics (I think we had a pretty sizeable fan base before we left). In the evenings we typically agreed on a place to eat and joked with each other into the night. The group was able to bond quickly and overall everyone seemed to enjoy each other’s company; this made the trip just as entertaining as it was educational.

My bottom line: undergraduates involved in research should try not to miss the opportunity to participate to an NCUR.

-Nathan DiDomenico

Here is Nathan enthusiastically explaining his findings to a good crowd of undergraduate science sponges.... aaah, students.

In case you need more reasons to be jealous of the good time NCUR students could generally have, added here is also a little (rather poorly in quality) movie caught by one of the two faculty chaperones during one of the impressively well organized lunches.

Bad Science Movie Night Was A Success!!

2011-04-10T13:34:00.009-04:00

This past Thursday evening (April 7), approximately 40 JMU students came out to the Planetarium in Miller Hall to watch "The Core"! The event was clearly popular and a resounding success!! Given that this was the first time such an event was held at the Planetarium, and students really didn't know what to expect, the fact that the Planetarium was effectively at capacity in terms of good seats to watch the movie on the big dome means that students are interested in science and how it is presented in pop culture.

And they didn't leave disappointed. There were no technical glitches with playing the movie, although I had minor issues at the end of the night in getting my powerpoint presentation to display on the dome. :) Nearly half of the audience remained afterwards as we debunked some of the really bad science presented. Every movie requires some suspension of disbelief, and they did get some of the science right, but seriously, where did all the rotational energy of the Core go when it stopped rotating?!?

The night was such a success that we will definitely make this a regular event in the Fall! If you have movie suggestions that you would like to see on the Dome, please email me!

A big thank you to the Dept. of Physics & Astronomy for providing funding for pizza and drinks, and in particular, to Kim Emerson for looking after all the details! The students really appreciated it!

Shanil Virani

Truly Amazing Northern Lights Video!

2011-04-03T00:51:00.007-04:00

This Thursday, April 7, the John C. Wells Planetarium will be hosting its first "bad science" movie night when we will show "The Core" on the big dome! The movie speculates what might happen if the Earth loses its magnetic field. One of the amazing consequences of our planet's magnetic fields, are the "Northern Lights" (and the "Southern Lights"!).

We are treated to these visual displays because of charged particles (electrons, protons) that are ejected from the Sun and make their way to Earth as the solar wind. These charged particles follow the Earth's magnetic fields (think of a bar magnet!) and enter near the poles. The Sun has an activity cycle, ie times when it is more active -- more sunspots -- which can trigger larger eruptions called coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These CMEs, which can wreak havoc on our electrical grid, can sometimes produce auroral activity as far south as Louisiana but this is rare. Living in Canada, I was fortunate to witness many auroral displays.

If you've ever seen the Northern Lights, and especially if you have not, you must check out this video constructed from time-lapse photography! Ole Christian Salomonsen has spent the last 6 months, snapping nearly 50,000 photos, chasing these beautiful displays near his hometown of Tromso, Norway. Imagine seeing this on the big dome in high resolution!

Shanil Virani

In The Land Of The Northern Lights from Ole Christian Salomonsen

Bad Science Night at JMU's Planetarium!

2011-03-31T21:42:00.007-04:00

“The only way to save Earth from catastrophe is to drill down to the core and set it spinning again.”

The science in this "so bad it's kind of cool" movie speculates what might happen to us if the Earth lost its magnetic field. It turns out that the magnetic field of the Earth is changing, and the Earth’s magnetic field does protect us from charged particles in the solar wind, but the movie is not scientifically accurate.

We’ll enjoy some snacks and drinks, watch the movie on the big dome in 5.1 surround sound, make fun of the bad Hollywood science, and then talk about what really happens when the Earth’s magnetic field flips over every few million years.

Interested? RSVP: jmu.planetarium@gmail.com

Thursday, April 7 @ 7pm, Miller Hall

Our Blog Activity is Growing

2011-03-31T17:55:00.001-04:00

With our busy and productive semester and the activity on the blog, our hits have reached new heights! Eleven more views before midnight and we'll break 1000 for the month of March. This may not seem like a lot but it is a milestone for us.

Thanks for your support. We are working to bring more information about PandA and our students. Stay tuned.

NanoDays/Making Stuff Event Was A Success!

2011-03-27T21:59:00.016-04:00

Despite the snowy weather, NanoDays/Making Stuff event was a success! More than 240 visitors came today to Please Explore More Museum (downtown Harrisonburg) to enjoy our science show. The people who made this possible were: Dr. Costel Constantin, Dr. Brian Augustine, Dr. Chris Hughes, Dr. Scott Paulson, and students Chris Durcan, Richard Knoche, Jake Carrey, James Hauver, Anthony Speziale, John Birdstrup, Anita Vincent-Johnson, Benjamin Foltz, Kyle Vasquez, Victoria Brown, Bojan Ljubovic, Collin Wilson, and Denise Mackenzie.

PandA Symposium 2011

2011-03-26T13:54:00.002-04:00

On Saturday, March 19, PandA hosted the annual department symposium at which our students present their research from the past year. This year was another excellent year. In addition to a fine collection of student researchers, we were honored by a visit from Dr. Michael Vogeley, the director of the physics graduate program at Drexel University. He presented the seminar on Friday afternoon entitled ''Neighborhoods in the Universe'' that focused on results from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).

The best of the best are selected by the faculty and recognized at the annual honors banquet, this year to be on April 6. The 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place winners this year are:

Matthew Chamberlin
Zn and ZnO Nanowires Grown on PEDOT-PSS Thin Films Conductive Polymers by Physical Vapor Deposition
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Costel Constantin
Nathan DiDomenico
The Spectral Properties of Galaxies with H20 Maser Emission
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Anca Constantin
Catherine Nisson and Matthew Burton
PMT and Scintillator Testing for the Super High Momentum Spectrometer at Jefferson Lab
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Gabriel Niculescu

Photos of the event make clear that we had a strong collection of presentations and a good time was had by all.

JMU Teacher Nano Working Group and Explore More Discovery Museum Team Up for NanoDays 2011 on Sunday, March 27.

2011-03-24T10:34:00.006-04:00

Local high school educators, JMU Nanotechnology faculty, and the Explore More Discovery Museum are partnering for the first annual NanoDays Celebration on Sunday, March 27 from 1 - 4 pm at the Explore More Discovery Museum in downtown Harrisonburg.

NanoDays is an annual event developed by science museums around the country through the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Network). The first NanoDays events were started in 2008 to enhance public awareness of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

NanoDays celebrations will combine simple hands-on activities for children with events exploring current research for adults. NanoDays activities demonstrate different, unexpected properties of materials at the nanoscale -- sand that won’t get wet even under water, water that won’t spill from a teacup, and colors that depend upon particle size.

Faculty and students from JMU will be on hand to answer questions about nanomaterials, nanotechnology and current research in nanoscience.

High school faculty are also going to host NanoDays Celebrations during the first week of April at their respective schools.

A nice way to visualize a chain reaction

2011-03-23T20:03:00.000-04:00

Introducing the JMU Physics Podcasts!

2011-03-22T10:08:00.007-04:00

Are you teaching a non-calculus freshman physics class or even AP Physics at a High School? Or perhaps you are a student taking the traditional 2-semester survey course in physics and you are looking for help on how to solve a homework problem. For example, perhaps you have struggled with mastering the "right hand rule" to find the magnetic force or still find it difficult to apply Kirchoff's rules to a closed circuit to find the current through a given device. If so, our new JMU Physics Podcasts are just the thing for you!

JMU Physics alumnus Robert Turner (and current Science and Math Learning Center Physics tutor) and I are pleased to introduce a new set of short (~5-10 min) video podcasts covering some of the introductory material found in the 2nd semester of such a course (ie, Physics 150 here at JMU which covers electricity, magnetism, optics, etc). As the semester continues, we will add to this growing library. Our intent is to model for our viewers problem solving techniques that a student can then apply on their own to solve their homework problems. For instructors, these podcasts provide your students with the opportunity to see how they can apply the theoretical material they have learned in class to real physics problems.

Feel free to link to these videos on your blackboard or course website if you are an instructor! And by all means, please email us suggestions if there is particular content that you would like us to cover in a subsequent podcast! Our current library of podcasts (as well as links to them on JMUtube) are listed below.

Shanil Virani

JMU Physics Podcast #1: Current & Circuits

JMU Physics Podcast #2: Simplifying Resistor Circuits

JJMU Physics Podcast #3: Capacitors & Simple Circuits

JMU Physics Podcast #4: Kirchoff Circuit Analysis

JMU Physics Podcast #5: Magnetic Force

Happy Vernal Equinox Day!!

2011-03-20T17:29:00.003-04:00

Otherwise known as the start of Spring.

Today at 7:21pm EDT will officially mark the end of Winter and the start of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, the opposite is true: today marks the end of their summer and the start of their fall.

Astronomically, what does this mean?? The Earth's rotational axis is tilted by ~23.5 degrees with respect to the plane of the "ecliptic" (the apparent path the Sun takes across the sky over a year as seen from Earth). BTW it is precisely this tilt which is the cause of the seasons (NOT due to changes in distance)!! If we now imagine extending the Earth's equator out onto the night sky (the "celestial sphere"), and call this the "celestial equator", the equinoxes mark the 2 times in the year that the ecliptic and the celestial equator intersect. In March, we call this the vernal equinox, and in the fall, we call it the autumnal equinox. The consequences of this intersection are:

1) Today we will have approximately equal hours of daylight and darkness. As we get closer to summer, our hours of sunlight increases until we reach the Summer Solstice (the highest point the Sun will reach in our sky; see diagram). This pattern is symmetrical in that we will again have equal hours of daylight/darkness at the autumnal equinox.

2) On this day, the Sun rises due East and sets due West. Various cultures built structures to keep track of the Sun's motion -- really a calendar! Indeed, one of theories that attempt to explain what Stonehenge is has to do with its ability to predict the equinoxes and the solstices.

For us Northerners, the start of Spring is welcomed as it marks the beginning of warm, sunny weather full of colors as flowers blossom and trees bloom. It also tells us we survived the end of an another cold, snowy winter. For me, it reminds me of the start of the major league baseball season (Go Blue Jays!) and that beach weather is right around the corner!

To learn more, consider attending one of our public star talks at JMU's John C. Wells Planetarium! We have exciting dome shows every Saturday at 2:30 and 3:30, followed by star talks, during the school year.

Shanil Virani

Messenger Satellite Reaches Mercury!

2011-03-19T00:56:00.003-04:00

MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging), a NASA satellite launched in August 2004 has finally reached its destination: Mercury, the innermost planet in our solar system. This is only the second spacecraft in our history to reach Mercury! Mariner 10 in 1974-1975 flew past the planet; MESSENGER will actually orbit Mercury to carry out its scientific mission.

MESSENGER reached its intended orbit earlier this week, on March 17, and engineers will take the next few weeks to check out all 8 instruments and spacecraft systems. On April 4, the mission's scientific phase will begin. Exciting times for planetary science!

The spacecraft's arrival at Mercury is fortuitously timed with our ability to see the planet in the twilight sky! As the Sun sets, look west. The bright "star" that will catch your eye is actually Jupiter, but just near it lies Mercury which is a little dimmer than Jupiter (see this link for more info on where to look).

Viewing Mercury with the naked eye is a rare treat for even the seasoned amateur astronomer so don't miss this opportunity! And as you look at the planet, just imagine a human-made spacecraft orbiting that planet for the first time getting a slightly better view of our innermost planet!

Shanil Virani

Don't Miss Tomorrow's "Super Moon"!

2011-03-18T23:47:00.010-04:00

By now, you've probably heard of various media reports touting tomorrow's "Super Moon". Why all the hype? Is it even really a "super moon"?!

The orbit of the Moon around the Earth is not a perfect circle; it is slightly elongated meaning that there are times when the Moon is closer to the Earth than it is at other times in its orbit (see this diagram). Tomorrow's full moon just happens to coincide when the Moon reaches its closest point to Earth in its orbit (termed "perigee").

What effect does this have for tomorrow's full moon? Some calculations suggest that the Moon will appear 14% bigger and 30% brighter than when the Moon is at its furthest point from Earth ("apogee"). Moreover, apparently this rare alignment of a full moon coinciding at perigee only happens every ~19 years although the last such event was just 3 years ago. It's not clear how this 19 year period was calculated. A better question to ask is will you notice a larger moon tomorrow night compared to last month's full moon or next month's full moon. Here the answer is probably no. Still, if this event gets people outside to enjoy our night sky that is slowly disappearing because of light pollution, then I think that's "mission accomplished"! So if it is a clear night tomorrow, make sure you do take a moment to step outside, look up and enjoy this celestial treat!

When you do, the bright object to the lower left of the Moon is the ringed planet Saturn! And below Saturn, will be the bright star Spica!

NOTE: Be careful of the bad science reports you may have seen online suggesting this rare alignment triggers natural disasters. This is just poor reporting by people with poor critical thinking skills. Just for example, consider the fact that the two previous "super Moon's", in March '93 and Dec '08, passed without any incident whatsoever. This full moon will bring with it "perigean tides" but these extra high tides should be nothing to worry about according to NOAA. According to their reports, lunar gravity at perigee will cause the tides to be higher by an inch or so than normal. No big deal.

Shanil Virani

Optical properties discovered by non-science students

2011-03-17T19:42:00.002-04:00

During class time, students in a General Science course (GSCI-101) have performed the simulation of the interaction between infrared radiation and very thin oxide films. The students worked in pairs using up-to-date codes. Each pair worked on different systems. In one hour, the twenty pairs of students collected information that the instructor (Dr. Scarel) finds very useful for her research. It would take Dr. Scarel months to collect that information without the help of the students!

Amazing video of Saturn Fly-by

2011-03-15T20:11:00.000-04:00

5.6k Saturn Cassini Photographic Animation from stephen v2 on Vimeo.

The Cassini spacecraft reached Saturn in 2004, sending the clearest images of the most striking planet in the Solar System. Stephen Van Vuuren used those photos to create a stunning video. There is no CGI and no 3D models in these images. Just images from NASA.

Jump to 0:56 to see things put together in full color.

Almost makes you wish you were onboard for the flight!

GET INVOLVED in the AGN-LAIR: memoirs of a biology major doing astronomy research

2011-03-08T16:15:00.004-05:00

As the title has it, here are some thoughts about getting involved in research work, albeit of astrophysical nature. Need some help deciding in what kind of research you could chose for your credit, training, or spirit? Read along Greg Minutillo's little story:

Fellow science duke dogs! I wanted to talk about the amazing opportunities over on the east side of campus, and those available through Dr. Constantin in particular. I worked in her lab last year, in 2010. I was the only bio major in our lab, and at first it was quite intimidating. I was surrounded by physics majors! In fact, one of the lab members was my tutor for Physics 240. I met Dr. Constantin through him, and she said she needed help with her research. As a transfer, I had lacked research on my transcript and jumped at the chance to do it. It was a great decision. She gave me tasks within my capabilities, and I learned some physics as well. Some of the things I learned even complemented my learning in Physics 250, especially when the lab members would talk about energy emissions. These emissions revealed the type of matter rotating around black holes. It was a nice change to talk about something other than cells and bacteria.

I created a database that combined X-ray data, and optical imaging for about 600 galaxies. Both types of information are usually not compiled together, and thus astronomers have to look up the information individually. Now, there is a unique group of galaxies with both types of data available. I also had to classify each galaxy based on its morphology. This type of information is very important to astronomers. Once I learned how to do that, I was good to go! I even presented all my work at the physics symposium at the end of the year. As a bio major applying to medical school, I think it looks very unique to see research and involvement in a discipline like physics.

Not only was Dr. Constantin accommodating me when I needed help with her research tasks, but she helped me on any math/physics class I was taking at the time. I was enrolled in calculus over “Maymester” when I was continuing my research, and I was struggling to say the least. The pace was incredibly quick. I almost dropped the class and took it at a community college, but Dr. Constantin actually worked with me and found some of my problems. Keep in mind she had no obligation to do such a thing. I had a great experience in the lab, and would advise anyone in the sciences to look into joining it if they’re looking to get involved.

Greg has the medical profession as his carrier goal. He is currently applying to a post-bac program to strengthen himself as a candidate for medical school. He promised to keep us posted with news.

Saturday Morning Physics Lecture 6: Jamming, Avalanches, and Unpredictability: Nonlinear Dynamics and Complexity in Granular Flows

2011-03-05T17:07:00.007-05:00

As the old proverb states, all good things must come to an end. Last Saturday, Lecture 6 and the last of Saturday Morning Physics 2011, was delivered by Prof. Brian Utter. The title of his presentation was "Jamming, Avalanches, and Unpredictability: Nonlinear Dynamics and Complexity in Granular Flows". A packed auditorium came out to see his interactive talk on nonlinear dynamics. You can find the podcast of his presentation, as well as his lecture slides, on our department Outreach website!

Following Prof. Utter's presentation, Prof. Steven Whisnant -- Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy -- made a very compelling argument that no matter what your goal is after college, whether its Law School, Med School or even grad school, you are better off having physics as your major. You can find the podcast of Dr. Whisnant's presentation, "Physics and Your Future", on our Outreach website.

Lastly, as this was the last meeting of Saturday Morning Physics for this year, we had our Award Ceremony to close the program. Over 50 students and high school teachers received their certificate of participation in our inaugural program! While SMP may be over for this year, the large turnout and the strong feedback we have received from participants means there will be another SMP program next year. We will continue to use our Facebook page for news and announcements, so make sure to 'like' us!

Shanil Virani

A Solar 1st of March

2011-03-02T14:27:00.012-05:00

Yesterday, on that superbly sunny 1st of March, one of the side walksof JMU's campus got the rather rare chance to host astronomy students busy at work and eager to set up some solar observations. Although no solar storm was expected and the sunspot activity was quite mild, the excitement was high for playing with JMU's Physics and Astronomy Department Coronado solar telescope (with its sheltering H-alpha filter) and a Sunspotter (the safest solar telescope human beign ever invented). The Astr221 students saw for themselves the active Sun (sunspots and flares), and attempted to present this phenomenon to as many of their JMU colleagues as would venture on the (our!) side walk during that noon hour.

The Astr 221 classmates Thomas Redpath (senior), Kyle Eskridge (sophomore), and Andrew Rowe (sophomore) estimate that they were able to explain various things about energy production in the core of the Sun or about the origin and properties of the sunspots to at least 15 students who were brave enough to spend a few minutes with us on their way to or from their classes. Senior Collin Wilson happily joined us initially for a few minutes, but as it turned out, he found it impossible to leave us alone with the Sun.

Many thanks are due to Sean Scully for his help with finding the best spot for the observations, recalling that counterweights are needed to stabilize the telescope and for finding such weights in a fashionable time. He claims to be rewarded by the sight of his colleague(Anca Constantin; the Astr221 instructor)'s crazily enthusiastic efforts to convert every single passer-by into a scientist.

A Banner Recruiting Season

2011-02-27T18:07:00.000-05:00

As of the last update from Dr. Staib on Saturday afternoon, we have set a new record of 48 students scheduled to visit to sit for the scholarship exam. This exceeds our previous record by five, give or take.

Although there is another week of visits, it seems that our big day was Saturday (2/26) when 10 prospective students and their parents attended.

If you are one of those who wants to come and have not yet scheduled your visit, time's a'wastin'! It is much to early to know if the record turnout will lead to any increase in the freshman class of 2011. However, it is clear that we will have another strong class with many excellent students.

Two planets found sharing one orbit - New Scientist

2011-02-24T20:33:00.000-05:00

Two planets found sharing one orbit - space - 24 February 2011 - New Scientist

A summary of 132 launches

2011-02-24T20:14:00.003-05:00

Not only is the shuttle the most complicated machine every built, it has the most complicated lift-off of any rocket. As you can see in an earlier post, the main shuttle engines are not pointed straight down but rather at an angle to the thrust of the solid fuel rocket. This causes the entire shuttle to lift off at a bit of an angle.

Then there's the roll maneuver that starts just after clearing the tower. Then the jettison of the external tank and the release of the solid fuel rockets. Beautiful. Breath-taking. Awe inspiring.

Perhaps the future will bring us an even more amazing piece of technology. Don't hold your breath.

Salute the end of an era

2011-02-24T20:13:00.001-05:00

Space exploration will never be the same. Many have spent their whole lives knowing that the shuttle Discovery will fly again soon. All good things come to an end.

Saturday Morning Physics Lecture 5: Let's Get Small: Studies in Nanophysics

2011-02-22T16:23:00.009-05:00

This past Saturday, Feb 19, Profs. Chris Hughes, Scott Paulson and Costel Constantin presented the 5th lecture in our Saturday Morning Physics program. The title of their presentation was "Let's Get Small: Studies in Nanophysics". Approximately 50 students, teachers and parents learned about why nanoscience is so exciting! From hands on activities, like DNA origami which everyone loved, to having the 3 faculty members discuss their science, a great time was had by all. Slides and the video podcast of the event will be available on online at our facebook page and the department's SMP Outreach page.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to a close. This Saturday, Feb 26 at 9:30AM, Prof. Brian Utter will present the last talk entitled "Jamming, Avalanches, and Unpredictability: Nonlinear Dynamics and Complexity in Granular Flows". In the afternoon, we will have a special treat as Physics & Astronomy Chair, Prof. Steven Whisnant, will deliver the closing talk entitled "Outlook on College/Career Path in Physics". Please join us!

Saturday Morning Physics Lecture 4: Exploring Fundamental Ideas About How Our World Works: Tools and Challenges

2011-02-17T11:26:00.005-05:00

Incredibly, our inaugural Saturday Morning Physics @JMU program is quickly coming to a close! This past Saturday, we had our 4th lecture in our 6 part series. Prof. Kevin Giovanetti gave a great talk on "Exploring Fundamental Ideas About How Our World Works: Tools and Challenges" to a large room of ~50 high school students, their parents, and even a few teachers. :)

You can find a podcast of his talk (don't miss his exploding pop can demonstration!), presentation slides and photos of the event at our Physics & Astronomy SMP Outreach webpage.

This coming Saturday, our 2nd last lecture (!) of the series, will feature Prof. Chris Hughes who will talk to us about Let's Get Small: Studies in Nanophysics. Nanotechnology/Nanoscience is one of the really "hot" areas in Physics today so this promises to be a great talk! Please join us this Saturday (Miller Hall, Room 1101) at 9:30 for Prof. Hughes' talk to learn more about this exciting area of research!

From Granular Flows to X-ray Emitting Pulsars

2011-02-14T21:51:00.005-05:00

It may sound like a journey, and it may in fact be, but you are going to guess how that is done. Here, you're going to read about the astronomical end of this journey, which, may be a beginning in itself. Richard Knoche, one of our PandA seniors, sent us some notes on what he experienced while attending the 217th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the largest astronomical meeting where the science in hot, the schmoozing is essential, the students are promising. And all in spite of the fact that during the semester/class time, Richard's been concentrating on understanding various properties of the granular flow at JMU. Which only says: summers are special, and they deserve to be treated well, i.e., with some astrophysics.

Like one of those who saw the light, Richard undertook an REU appointment in astrophysics at NASA Goddard last summer. His enthusiasm and hard work won him a trip to Seattle to present his results, to meet other astronomy aficionado undergraduate and graduate students, and surprisingly even for him, to get new ideas about research he might pursue in the future:

Last summer I was lucky enough to have an internship at NASA Goddard. I worked on two projects there, one studying gamma ray bursts and the other studying x-ray emissions in pulsars, and was awarded a travel grant for my work. My research advisor and I decided it would be best to use the grant to present some of my findings at the national AAS conference in Seattle, so at the beginning of this semester I took a week off from school and flew across the country to my first big conference.

I wasn't sure what to expect before I arrived in Seattle, and was pretty nervous about how my presentation would go. Luckily, I had a day off before I presented so I had plenty of time to walk around and attend some of the talks and poster sessions. For the most part the talks covered subject matter that was a bit over my head, but it was still exciting to hear about the cutting edge research that was going on in astronomy. Even more exciting was the people I got to meet. I was able to meet plenty of other undergraduate students, current graduate students, professors, and even a Nobel Laureate; and each person I met had interesting and useful information to share about research, graduate school, or the conference itself.

The next day my presentation went off without a hitch. Foot traffic in the poster area was very busy, and there were plenty of people who seemed interested in my research. I was expecting the poster session to consist of me giving a similar presentation to people all day, and not getting much out of it for myself. However, I found that the researchers at the conference were much more engaging. Although there were some tough questions asked, there were plenty of people that shared insight into what would be interested to look into next with my research.

Overall the conference was a great experience. I learned a lot about graduate school, researching in astronomy, and even what I could do next with my own research. I'd definitely recommend going to a conference like this if any students are offered the opportunity.

Here is the big smile that proves what's been said above is true:

Recruiting season begins

2011-02-13T20:30:00.001-05:00

This week begins the annual freshman recruiting season for PandA. Those of you that have been through the process will remember it well: the phone calls from Dr. Staib (still doing our recruiting after all these years!), the visit, the scholarship exam, lunch with faculty and the department tour.

Between now and the first week of March we will host perhaps 40 prospective students and their parents. Not all will choose to attend JMU. Our job is try to convince that they should be here. The range of research options and opportunities for getting involved in the freshman year is central to our pitch. We are the place to be in Virginia.

The university is continuing the Madison Achievement Awards (MAS) and the Second Century Scholarships and the department continues the Presidential and Gordon Scholarships. Altogether we have about 14 scholarships total to award! Given the size of our typical freshman class, this means that nearly 1/2 of the freshman class will be on scholarship. This is an amazing ratio.

We're looking for the best and brightest for in-state and out-of-state (the MAS are targeted to out-of-state students). The number and quality of applicants in recent years have make a clear impact on our program. These scholarships are having a clear effect. This year we will continue on this path of growth and improvement.

In the histogram at the right is distribution of the number of graduates from undergraduate only physics departments in the US for the 2009-2009 school year. This data is the most recent was collected by the American Institute of Physics. The largest department graduated 30. In 2010, we graduated 21. This growth and the steady improvement in the quality of students (both due, in part, to the number and quality of scholarships we have to award) mean we are slowly but surely on track to be one of the very larges undergraduate physics departments in the country.

Saturday Morning Physics Lecture 3: A Tale about Fundamental Ingredients of Our Universe and the Interactions Between Them

2011-02-05T21:29:00.004-05:00

We are now half way through our inaugural 6-lecture program, Saturday Morning Physics at JMU!!

This morning Prof. Niculescu of JMU Department of Physics and Astronomy talked to us about "Building Blocks for the Budding Scientist: A Tale about Fundamental Ingredients of our Universe and the Interactions Between Them".

Podcast and pictures to follow!

Why Study Physics?

2011-02-05T09:20:00.002-05:00

The American Physical Society has a very good web page that gives lots of reasons why it is to your advantage to study physics. I'll just highlight one here. The one you are thinking about. Money.

Consider this:

You will note that the starting salaries for physics majors is very competitive with all the highest starting salaries in fields like chemical and electrical engineering. Fields like chemistry and biology are distinctly lower. This makes physics an especially advantageous choice for those who are considering medical school. Even if you don't get in (and physics will improve your chances of doing this), you've have better prospects of a high paying job starting with physics.

You can learn more about what's good about a physics degree at the APS education web site.

Saturday Morning Physics Lecture 2: Unveiling Star Formation

2011-02-02T11:34:00.004-05:00

This past Saturday, Professor Harold Butner gave a fascinating talk entitled "Tracing the Invisible: Star Formation Behind Closed Curtains" as part of the inaugural Saturday Morning Physics program. Well over 50 participants and their parents attended the talk and the accompanying planetarium show "Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity". The lecture was taped and will soon be available to be streamed online at: http://csma31.csm.jmu.edu/physics/Public/saturday.html

You can also find photos from the event and Prof. Butner's slides at the same location.

This upcoming Saturday, Feb. 5, Prof. Gabriel Niculescu will deliver lecture 3 entitled "Building Blocks for the Budding Scientist: A Tale about Fundamental Ingredients of our Universe and the Interactions Between Them". You can find more details about this lecture and the remaining SMP lectures at http://csma31.csm.jmu.edu/physics/Public/saturday.html as well as via our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/SMP.JMU

Shanil Virani

The First Saturday Morning Physics

2011-01-23T15:12:00.001-05:00

On Saturday morning, we had our first installment of of the Saturday Morning Physics. Adriana Banu described nuclear physics for a full crowd of folks.

Many students were accompanied by their parents and many of the parents joined them in the lecture. We are excited to have some many people interested in seeing what we are up to in our research.

How Often Do Giant Black Holes Become Hyperactive?

2011-01-22T16:23:00.002-05:00

If you've ever wondered how often the biggest black holes have been active over the last few billion years, here are some answers.

Last December (yes, we're a bit late with these news, but they are still hot...) the (NASA) press released a story on "How Often Do Giant Black Holes Become Hyperactive?" (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/news/10-169.html)

Here you can read about how supermassive black holes grow and about possible implications for how the giant black hole at the center of the Milky Way will behave in the future. The conclusions are based on the first direct determination of the fraction of field galaxies in the local Universe that contain active supermassive black holes, which is important to know because this is directly related to how often these giant black holes flare up, since that's when they go through a major growth spurt.

Anca Constantin, one of the lively JMU's astropysicists, is a co-author on the paper presenting the science being this story. So, no wonder you are hearing about these fantastic results from this blog.

Making Stuff NOVA Show Premiers Tonight on PBS

2011-01-19T09:26:00.002-05:00

Tonight at the PBS NOVA will kicking off the Making Stuff series with the first episode: Stronger!

David Pogue takes viewers on a journey into the world of materials science. Dr. Costel Constantin of JMU was part of Material Research Society's NOVA committee which helped with scientific ideas throughout the production of the show.

Enjoy it!

Programming the “specialist-of-all-trades” in the PHYS 372 class

2011-01-17T20:10:00.005-05:00

Jack-of-all-trades would simply not work. With a single microcontroller, one can control sophisticated machines that perform highly specialized jobs. With hard work and passion, last semester students from PHYS 372 class programmed PIC 16F877 microcontrollers by using EasyPic6 development boards. This movie shows some of our students' projects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e23ySDL0_2k

Biomaterials research at JMU-Physics

2011-01-14T15:16:00.003-05:00

The Biotechnology Journal has just accepted a new paper from the NCSU-JMU collaboration working on engineering the properties of biomaterials using atomic layer depsition. The new paper is entitled "Atomic layer deposition of titania on cellulose acetate for enhanced hemostasis". The contribution from JMU comes from Dr. Scarel and her group. Dr. Scarel has performed infrared spectroscopy analysis of the samples before and after the ALD treatment.

Spring Semester is Upon Us

2011-01-09T14:27:00.000-05:00

On Monday Morning, bright and early, spring semester 2011 begins. We'll soon have snow days to make up (forecast for Tuesday, perhaps) and exams to prepare.

Another fun time of teaching and learning physics.

What happens when there are no classes

2011-01-06T14:57:00.000-05:00

Some may wonder what happens on a university campus when the students aren't around. Here's the answer to this big question. CONSTRUCTION!

Standing in Kim's office and looking out the window, this is what we see. The new Biology building is moving right along. The contractor has taken the opportunity with no students to do some underground plumbing and currently have the several trenches dug in "our front lawn". In the photo is the largest of the holes.

We're told this will all be covered by Monday morning so the buses can park and the students can get to class.

For those still visiting campus, you'll notice that the steel on the building itself has all gone up since final exams.

Lunar Eclipse

2010-12-26T17:07:00.001-05:00

According to Wikipedia (that source of all things true and correct), the eclipse on December 21, was the first total lunar eclipse to occur on the day of the Northern Winter Solstice (Southern Summer Solstice) since 1638, and only the second in the Common Era. Not sure that the timing makes it special, but it sure make it rare.

Here is a time-lapse video of the eclipse for those who could not stay awake or, like me, were in a cloudy spot.

You earn extra points for explaining the ruddy color of the moon during the totality and why it is not simply black (invisible).