Department of Physics and Astronomy

University of Rochester, 

Rochester, New York 14627-0171



ROCHESTER SYMPOSIUM FOR PHYSICS (ASTRONOMY & OPTICS) STUDENTS

SPS Zone 2 Regional Meeting
World Year of Physics 2005


April 9, 2005


PROGRAM





7:45-8:15
RSPS Registration: Bausch and Lomb Lobby
          Option - tour sign up for the Laboratory of Laseer Energetics
          Coffee in Room 208


8:15-8:30 Room 109:  Welcome,  Prof. Dan Watson, Assistant Chair, RSPS XXIV


8:30-9:45
Room 109:  Astrophysics

          Session Chair:  Prof. William Forrest, University of Rochester

          
8:30 Coronal Mass Ejections and Forbush Decrease Recovery
     Robert Penna, Prof. Alice Quillen, University of Rochester
8:45
Emission Line Gas in Radio Galaxies
     George Privon, Prof. Christopher O'Dea, Rochester Institute of Technology
9:00
Silicate Emission Features of Class II Young Stellar Objects
     Jarron Leisenring, Prof. Dan Watson, University of Rochester
9:15
Accretion Region Variability Mechanisms in Low Luminosity AGN
     Grant Tremblay, Prof. Adam Frank, University of Rochester
9:30
A Spitzer Survey of NGC 2024 and Surrounding Region
     Kevin Flaherty, Prof. Judy Pipher, and Robert Gutermuth,
     University of Rochester and Prof. S. Thomas Megeath,
     Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics


8:30-9:45
Room 106:  Particles and Nuclei Physics

           Session Chair:  Prof. Mark Yuly, Houghton College

        
8:30 The Liftime of Orthopositronium
      Blake Winter, Prof. Mark Yuly, Houghton College
8:45 Neutron-deuteron Scattering as a Probe of the Three-Nucleon Force
     Christopher Wells, Prof. Mark Yuly, Houghton College  
9:00 Band Crossing in Shape Transition Nuclei 111,109Ru
     Daniel Riley, State University of New York at Geneseo,
     Prof. Douglass Cline, University of Rochester
9:15 Aqueous Scintillation Development and Testing     
     David Martell, Prof. Kevin McFarland, University of Rochester
9:30 Calculating the Magnetic Moment of Cosmic-Ray Muons
     Ian Kleckner, Prof. Kevin McFarland, University of Rochester


9:45-10:30 Room 109:  Earth and Planetary Physics

          Session Chair:  Prof. David Douglass, University of Rochester

           
9:45 Is the Arctic Melting?
     Matthew MacWilliams, St. John Fisher College, and
     Prof. David Douglass, University of Rochester
10:00
Seismic Waveform Modeling: Analysis of the Velocity Structure of the Outer Core
     Lindsey Goodman, Binghamton University, Prof. Lianxing Wen,
     State University of New York at Stony Brook
10:15
Studies of Terrestrial and Planetary Rado Emissions
     Justin Waterman, Prof. Allan T. Weatherwax, Siena College, Prof. James LaBelle,
     Dartmouth College


9:45-10:30 Room 106: Atoms and Molecules

          Session Chair:  Prof. John Howell, University of Rochester

         
9:45 Lowdin Population Analysis and Rotational Invariance
     George Bruhn, University of Rochester, Prof. Aurora Clark, Los Alamos
     National Laboratory
10:00
Coating of Stainless Steel Cells in an Attempt to Prolong the Polarization of Optically
Pumped Rubidium
     Sean Gill, Michael Wickham, and Prof. Mark Rosenberry, Siena College
10:15
Absorption Imaging of Ultracold Cesium in a Magneto-Optical Trap
     Brian Anderson, Michael Holmes and Prof. Nicholas Bigelow,
     University of Rochester


10:30-11:00
Room 208:  Poster Session and Break

Capturing Air Flows with Low-cost Schlieren Video
     Matthew Waters, Timothy Brackbill, and Prof. Scott Franklin,
     Rochester Institute of Technology


11:00-12:00
Room 109:  Complex Systems I

          Session Chair:  Prof. Scott Franklin, Rochester Institute of Technology

          
11:00
Connected Networks, Jammed States, and Force Fluctuations in Prolate Granular
Materials
     Kenneth Desmond, Prof. Scott Franklin, Rochester Institute of Technology
11:15
Superconductor Degradation Studies
     Amber Beckley, Binghamton University, Prof. Xiaoxing Xi,
     A.V. Pogrebnyakov, Pennsylvania State University, and
     Prof. R. Donovan, Reed College
11:30
Twinning in Metallic Alloys
     Richard Bell, Prof. Eric Cotts, Binghamton University
11:45
The Effect of Annealing on Magnetic Measurements of Granular Thin Films
of Cu80Co20
     Fionnbarr O'Grady, Nam Kim, Jordan Peck, and Prof. Jian Wang,
     Binghamton Universtiy


11:00-12:00
Room 106:  Particle Physics and Detectors

          Session Chair:  Dr. David Rainwater, University of  Rochester

         
11:00
The Effect of Tower Threshold on Jet Response, Efficiency and Fate Rate at
Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS)
    James Dolen, Christopher Justus, and Prof. Regina Demina, University of Rochester
11:15
The Effects of Production-Level Radiation on Top Quark Mass Calculation
     George Bruhn, Prof. Lynne Orr, University of Rochester
11:30
Simulation of Top Quark Pair Production as Background for Higgs Events at
the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS)
     Christopher Justus, James Dolen, and Prof. Regina Demina, University of Rochester
11:45
Radiation Damage Caused by 4He Charged Ions from Radioisotopes in CR-39
Plastic Detector
     Robert Poltis, Jeffry Walker, Prof. Gurmukh Singh, and Prof. James Lauffenburger,
     Canisius College


12:00-1:00
Lunch - The Meliora, Salon D


1:00-2:00 EVERYONE Room 109: World Year Physics 2005 - Special Guest Speaker

          Introduction:  Prof. Arie Bodek, University of Rochester       

Why Einstein? Why 2005?
     Dr. Gary White, Director of the Society of Physics Students,
     American Institute of Physics

     
2:00-3:15 Room 109:  Complex Systems II and Science Education

          Session Chair:  Prof. Richard Mancuso, State University of New York
          at Brockport


       
2:00 Chaos in Resistor-Inductor-Diode Circuit
     Joseph Murphy, Prof. Richard Mancuso, and Prof. Mohammed Tahar,
     State University of New York at Brockport
2:15 Avalanches in Granular Materials:  A Review of the Literature
     Scott Barker, Prof. Scott Franklin, Rochester Institute of Technology
2:30 3D Avalanching of Rod-like Granular Materials
     Walter Hopkins, Prof. Scott Franklin, Rochester Institute of Technology
2:45
Investigating Student Writing in Physics Classes
     Lars Schweidenback, Prof. Scott Franklin, Rochester Institute of Technology
3:00
Y12.00007: Search for Strange-Charmed Pentaquark States in the 1.96 TeV ppbar Collison
     Scott Field, Prof. Arie Bodek, University of Rochester
2:00-3:00 Room 106:  Optics and Fields

          Session Chair:  Prof. Miguel Alonso, University of Rochester

         
2:00 Viewing Atmospheric Disturbances Using Speckle
     Cadet Venkat Motupalli, Cadet David Farrar, and Major Louis Florence,
     United States Military Academy, West Point
2:15 Resolving the Phase Ambiguity in Continuous-Wave Sonar
     Devin Grady, Prof. Michael O'Grady, State University of New York at Fredonia
2:30
Frequency Dependent Dielectrics and the Casimir Effect     
     Cadet Jennifer Sabino, Dr. Mitch Pfenning, United States Military Academy,
     West Point
2:45
Adaptive Integration of Highly Oscillatory Functions
     Samuel Wadsworth, Prof. Miguel Alonso, University of Rochester


3:00 - 3:15 Refreshment to Go, Bausch and Lomb Hall Lobby



Option- Tour of the Laboratory of Laser Energetics (signup requested at arrival)


3:00 - 3:15
Cars should leave for Laboratory for Laser Energetics