Session B2: Undergraduate Research/SPS I

Thinking Outside the Lab

As an undergraduate physics major who spent 2015 deep in a quantum optics lab at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, I knew my 2016 experience with the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee would be a completely new challenge. I have long had a passion for the bridge of communication between the technical and non-technical worlds but it was only through my AIP Mather internship this summer that I was able to see that passion come to life in the realm of science policy. Suddenly, I went from squeezing political philosophy classes into my packed schedule to witnessing the political process first-hand. I was thrilled to find that the skills of critical thinking and communicating complex issues I have developed throughout my training as a physicist were directly applicable to my work in Congress. Overall, my experience this summer has given me insight into the inner workings of the federal policy process, deepened my appreciation for the work of government employees to keep Congressional members informed on the pressing current issues, and exposed me to a whole range of alternative careers within science.   

The Development and Assessment of Particle Physics Summer Program for High School Students

A four week immersive summer program for high school students was developed and implemented to promote awareness of university level research. The program was completely directed by an undergraduate physics major and included a hands-on and student-led capstone project for the high school students. The goal was to create an adaptive and shareable curriculum in order to influence high school students' views of university level research and what it means to be a scientist. The program was assessed through various methods including a survey developed for this program, a scientific attitudes survey, weekly blog posts, and an oral exit interview. The curriculum included visits to local laboratories, an introduction to particle physics and the IceCube collaboration, an introduction to electronics and computer programming, and their capstone project: planning and building a scale model of the IceCube detector. At the conclusion of the program, the students participated an informal outreach event for the general public and gave an oral presentation to the Department of Physics at Drexel University. Assessment results and details concerning the curriculum and its development will be discussed.   

Ultrafast single-shot imaging of laser-produced plasmas via spatial division and routing

We have developed a single-shot imaging camera, which can capture ultrafast events occurring on femtosecond and picosecond time scales. The working principle of this camera relies on spatial division and routing of femtosecond laser pulses. Here we have employed simple optics such as mirrors to produce multiple, time-delayed laser pulses and to project time-evolving images onto separate standard cameras. This spatial division and routing method has been tested with a femtosecond amplified laser in visualizing the evolution of laser-induced ionization in air and ablation in solids in single-shots. The number of frames is currently limited to 4 but can be increased further to N x N by using 3D printed optics for spatial division and routing.   

Dust Quantization and Effects on Agriculture Over Uttar Pradesh, India

Dust plays a very important role in the atmosphere and the biosphere. In this communication, the effect of atmospheric dust on the yields of certain crops grown in Uttar Pradesh, India is assessed. Coherent physical and thermodynamic fingerprints of dust parameters such as from Satellite data- KALPANA-1, MODIS, OMI, CALIPSO; Model data- DREAM, HYSPLIT, ECMWF; have been considered to run the APSIM model to derive the impacts. This paper assesses dust as a physical atmospheric phenomenon including its Long Range Transport (LRT) and dispersion along with considerable variations of Aerosol Optical Depths (AODs) over the subcontinent of India. While AODs significantly increase by more dust concentration, the local dispersion of pollutants is a major concern with deposition of atmospheric dust such as sulphates and other chemical constituents that affect agricultural land. An approach in atmospheric physics is also taken to parameterize the model outputs. This communication indicates dust to be a positive factor for the cultivation of certain crops such as wheat, maize in the experimental location. Initial results suggest that LRT dust is a viable counterpart to decrease the concentration of soil acidity and related parameters thus enhancing the vitality of crops.