Summer 2009 Research Students
Katie Schuff - Katie's a rising sophomore Physics/Math double major who is working with me on the elemental composition of rainwater collected from Schenectady's Historic Stockade District and analyzed using the 1.1 MV tandem electrostatic Pelletron particle accelerator.
Colin Gleason - Colin is a rising junior Physics major working with Prof. Mike Vineyard on the elemental analysis of aerosol samples from collected from Schenectady's Historic Stockade District analyzed using the accelerator.
Chad Herrington - Chad is a rising junior Physics/Math double major working with Prof. Mike Vineyard on elemental analysis of aerosol samples from collected from Schenectady's Historic Stockade District analyzed using the accelerator.
Random pictures from the accelerator lab
Katie working hard on Facebook probably. Actually she's working on a method for preparation of the rainwater samples.
Chad, Colin, and Kaite running the accelerator.
Mike, Colin, and Chad watching the charge collection from the beam hitting the sample. Mike is too focused on data collection to notice the camera.
Colin loading another aerosol sample.
Brandon Bartell '10
Brandon's project over the summer was designed to introduce him to how a tandem electrostatic particle accelerator works as well as train him to be an operator on the accelerator. In addition, Brandon's computer programming skills proved to be invaluable. The accelerator lab recently purchased a new software analysis package, called GUPIXWIN. This analysis package had to be able to open and display our PIXE spectrum files taken from our accelerator's data acquisition system. GUPIXWIN has its own file format structure that did not match our spectrum files. Brandon wrote the necessary code in VPython to convert our data acquisition files to GUPIXWIN's format, no easy task, but he accomplished it with ease.
Steve Po-Chedley '08
Steve's senior thesis project is two-fold. First he is using PIXE to investigate the distribution of heavy metals (specifically lead, arsenic and mercury) in tree bark, tree cores, tree leaves and soil samples as a function of the downwind radial distance from a coal power plant located near Buffalo NY. The second project he is working on is the analysis of lead and arsenic contaminant uptake in tree and soil samples used for bioremediation, and these samples are acquired from New Orleans, LA. The trees were planed in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina and will take up heavy metals as part of their life cycle. Tree samples will eventually be taken and analyzed for their heavy metal concentration in order to determine if the bioremediation process is being successful. Steve is currently in Australia on a term-abroad. Have fun Steve!
At the end of the summer Brandon, Steve and I went out fishing hoping to get some samples of (contaminated) fish to run on the particle accelerator. Here's some of the pictures from the trip on the Mohawk River. Needless to say we are still looking for some fish samples to run.
Alex Krickx '07
Alex's project involves the analysis of mercury in seafood. He will be using our 1.1 million volt tandem Pelletron particle accelerator to detect and measure the concentration of mercury found in commonly available seafood, like swordfish. Alex will determine the presence of and concentration of mercury using RBS (Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy) and PIXE (Proton Induced X-ray Emission) studies.
Matt Roginski '07
Matt is currently working in the Mechanical Engineering Department under Dr. Andrew Rapoff studying the Bone Density Distribution in the Symphyseal Region of the Anthropoid Mandible Using Quantitative Micro Computed Tomography. Matt's senior thesis involves the use of x rays to generate images of the jawbone of an anthropoid and is a combination of Mechanical Engineering and Physics.
Please visit Matt's webpage on Bone Density Distribution using CT
Luther Vucic '07
Luther's project is on Sonoluminescence, or the production of light using sound waves. The first part of his project deals with the development of an experimental technique and apparatus to see a sonoluminescing bubble. In the next phase Luther will be trying to model the collapsing bubble and investigate the intensity of the light that is produced.