The Physics Department currently has about 30 physics majors and, on average, graduates about 4-8 students per year.  The advanced physics classes generally have between 5-10 students while the general physics classes are restricted to 25 students.  The small class sizes allow students and faculty to develop closer relationships in class that is conducive to better learning.

Members of the McDaniel College Society of Physics Students (SPS) are firing their rockets during our annual ROCKET LAUNCH COMPETITION.

SPS members at a recent departmental pizza-lemonade party. 

        
Society of Physics Students

In 1994, the American Institute of Physics granted the establishment of a chapter of The Society of Physics Students (SPS) at McDaniel College.  The physics honor society, Sigma Pi Sigma (SPS), was formed the following year.  The physics majors are involved in SPS and many are members of SPS.

Some of the current SPS activities include:

•               Physics is fun day at Hershey Park- An annual Tradition!
•               SPS visit to the research labs at the University of Maryland
•               Designing and printing the COOLEST T-shirts on campus!
•               Physics is Phun Day with the University of Maryland
•               SPS meeting of all chapters in the Maryland area
•               Local high school outreach programs
•               Invited speakers in physics and astronomy
•               End of the semester pizza and bowling party!

      A triumphant group of Physics students at the end-of the year paintball/picnic extravaganza!

 

         Can you guess whose team won the annual Physics Department soccer match?

 

              

Student Research
All physics majors are encouraged to participate in directed physics projects.  Some of the majors play an active role in the research programs of faculty.  The collaboration of faculty and students results in student presentation of papers at local and national meetings, and in co-authored publications.  Below, are some physics majors who have participated in or are currently involved in faculty research or directed physics projects.

         

A happy group of Physics majors of the class of 2007, after the end of their senior capstone presentation. From left to right: Rob Jones, Jim Petrillo, Kate Chapman, Frank Ingellis, Keith Greenway and Nick Mancuso

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HERE ARE SOME OF OUR STUDENTS
AND THEIR RESEARCH PROJECTS

Kate Chapman, Class of 2007
Kate did summer research in photonics with Dr. Mian, as well as Thermoluminescence Research with Dr. Pagonis. She studied the optical properties of binary lead silicate glasses of different concentrations, to determine possible correlations between different types of optical and thermal properties. She spent the summer of 2006 doing research at the University of New Mexico on fuel cell catalysts. Her research on thermoluminescence is currently being submitted for publication as "Thermoluminescence properties of binary silicate glasses" to the of Journal Radiation Measurements.

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Rob Jones, Class of 2007
Rob worked with Dr. Marx and studied the efficiency of corked and uncorked baseball bats.His experimental setup contained 3 lasers placed before, during and after the collision of the ball with the baseball bat.He also developed the mathematical model to describe the efficicency of the bats.

     

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Jim Petrillo, Class of 2007
Jim worked with Dr. Marx and studied the Physics of the "perfect lacross throw". He developed a mathematical description of the Physics of lacross throwing, and collected and analyzed experimental data on underhand, overhand and sidearm lacross throws.

 

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Frank Ingellis, Class of 2007.
Frank studied the "Dangers of celebratory gunfire" with Dr. Marx. He developed a mathematical model of the factors influencing the speed, projectile motion and collision impact for a bullet using the program Mathematica.
                

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Selected Publications of Student/Faculty Research

The following are papers co-authored by physics students and faculty at McDaniel College.        

• C. Soares, C. Drupieski, B.Wingert, G. Pritchett, V. Pagonis, M. O’Brien, A. Sliski, P.Bilski and P. Olko, Absorbed dose measurements of a handheld 50 kVp X-ray source in water with Thermoluminesccence dosemeters, Radiation Protection Dosimetry (2006), Vol. 120, No. 1–4, pp. 78–82.
• V. Pagonis and H. Carty, "Simulation of the experimental pre-dose technique for retrospective dosimetry in quartz" Radiation Protection Dosimetry 109, (2004) p. 225-234.
• G. Kitis, V. Pagonis, H. Carty, and E. Tatsis, "Detailed kinetic study of the thermoluminescence glow-curve of synthetic quartz", Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 100, pp.225-228 (2002).
• V. Pagonis, E. Tatsis, G. Kitis, and C. Drupieski, "Search for common characteristics in the glow-curves of quartz of various origins", Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 100 , 373-376 (2002).
• V. Pagonis and C. Shannon, "An improved experimental procedure of separating a composite thermoluminescence glow curve into its components", Radiation Measurements, 32, 805-812 (2000).
• V. Pagonis, R. Drake, M. A. Morgan, T. Peters, C. Riddle, and K. Rollins, "Modeling forces on the human body", Physics Teacher, 37, 469-474 (1999).
• D. Guerra, M. A. Morgan, and D. B. Coyle, "An introduction to laser modeling studies with a nitrogem-pumped dye laser", American Journal of Physics, 67, 803-809 (1999).
• V. Pagonis, D. Guerra, S. Chauduri, B. Hornbecker, and N. Smith, "Effects of air resistance", Physics Teacher, 35, 364-368 (1997).
• V. Pagonis, E. Allman, and A. Wooten, "Thermoluminescence from a distribution of trapping levels in uv irradiated calcite", Radiation Measurements, 26, 265-280 (1996).

Selected Presentations of Student/Faculty Research

• C. J. Todd, R. T. May, S. M. Mian, and E. Van Keuran, "Thermooptic properties of polymer thin films using the Z-scan technique". Annual Meeting of the Optical Society of America, Orlando, FL, 2002.
• A. M. Austin, K. P. Hildebrand, S. M. Mian, A. Y. Hamad, and J. P . Wicksted, "Self-lensing effects in Eu-doped silicate glasses under resonant excitation". Annual Meeting of the Optical Society of America, Long Beach, CA, 2001.
• S. M. Mian and M. A. Morgan II, "Characteristics of thermal lensing Z-scans with large nonlinearity". Annual Meeting of the Optical Society of America , Providence. RI, 2000.
• M. A. Morgan, V. Pagonis, S. M. Mian, J. G. Smith, and T. N. Good, "Computational and Experimental Studies of Thermal Lensing Z-scan Experiments". Annual Meeting of The American Physical Society, Minneapolis, MN, 2000.
• V. Pagonis and C. Shannon, "An improved experimental procedure of separating a composite thermoluminescence glow curve into its components". Thermoluminescence Conference, Rome, Italy, 1999.

Here is what some of the physics alumni did after graduation:         

• 2006/ David Long/ Engineering Employment/Maryland
• 2006/ Laura Baggaley/ Graduate School, Medical Physics/ Univ. of Kentucky
• 2006/ Megan Mattson/ High School Teaching/ Maryland
• 2006/ Matt Polhaus/ Private Employment/ Maryland
• 2006/ Danielle Keresztenyi/ Civil Enbgineering Employment/ Maryland
• 2006/ Rebecca Ward/ High School Teaching/ Tennessee
• 2006/ Tyler Drake/ Graduate School, Medical Physics/ Duke University
• 2005/ Chris Todd / Graduate School, Optics / University of Rochester
• 2005/Randy May / Graduate School, Acoustics / Pennsylvania State University
• 2005 / Jodi Foss / Law School / Virginia Beach
• 2005/ Joe Geiman / Graduate School, Oceanic Studies / University of Delaware
• 2005/ Bill Knouse / Graduate School, Physics / Georgia Tech
• 2005/ Matt Polhaus / Private Employment
• 2005/ Matt Blumenthal / Private Employment
• 2005/ Natasha Borjemskaia / Graduate School, Optics/ Georgetown University
• 2004/Ted Stephen/High School Teacher/Catonsville,MD
• 2004/Brian Wingert/Graduate School Astronomy/Univ. Maryland, Baltimore Cty
• 2004/Chris Drupieski/Graduate School Mathematics/Univ. of Virginia
• 2004/Jason Cashen/Private Industry, Employment/Westminster, MD
• 2004/James Lipchock/Yale University/New Haven, CT
• 2004/Garey Pritchard/National Institute of Technology/Gaithersburg, MD
• 2003 / Justin Prazner / Graduate Engineering School / Univ. of Maryland, College Park
• 2003 / Hezekiah Carty / Teledyne Corp. / Maryland
• 2003 / Kyle Hildebrand / Graduate Education / McDaniel College
• 2003 / Scott Zentz / NASA Langley / Virginia
• 2003 / Dan Philips / Private Employment / Maryland
• 2002 / Adam Austin / High School Teaching / Frederick,MD
• 2002 / Mark Pry / Accounting Co / Vienna,Va
• 2002 / Lenn Bernard / Private Employment / Maryland
• 2002 / Jeremy Keil / Private Employment / Libertarian Party
• 2002 / Brian Jones/ Private Employment / Maryland
• 2002 / Kelly Ward / Private Employment / Frederick,MD
• 2002 / Misty LaVigne / Graduate school-Astronomy / Univ. of Maryland-College Park
• 2001 / Kang-Yi Tan / Graduate school / Texas University
• 2001 / Michael Wolfe / Private Employment / Lockheed
• 2001 / Aaron Bartolain / Employment-Exercise Science / McDaniel College
• 2001 /Jeff Groff / Graduate school-Physics / College of William and Mary
• 2000 / Mike Morgan / Software Company / McLain - Virginia
• 2000 / Colleen Shannon/ Graduate School / Mechanical Engineering / Virginia Tech
• 2000 / John Seiders / Graduate School / Chemistry / University of Pittsburgh
• 1998 / Sean Chauduri / Software Company / Bombay - India
• 1998 / Chris Kulp / Graduate School / Physics / College of William and Mary
• 1998 / Nathan Smith / Teacher / Carroll County, Maryland
• 1997 / Albert Wooten / Graduate School / Physics / University of Maryland
• 1997 / Mark Newman / Christian Fellowship Mission / Poland
• 1996 / Melanie Phipps / Graduate School / Environmental Resources / Univ. of Maryland
• 1996 / Tony Becker / 3-2 Engineering / University of Maryland
• 1995 / Eric Allman / Graduate School / Physics / College of William and Mary
• 1995 / Asanga Costa / 3-2 Engineering Program / University of Arkansas
• 1994 / Sin Wu / Graduate School / Engineering Management / Purdue University
• 1994 / Tony Cleveland / Computer Software / Washington, DC
• 1993 / Min Tan / Graduate School / Computer Science / Purdue University
• 1993 / Fei Zhou / Engineering / Rennsellaer Institute of Technology
• 1992 / Denise Vause / Technical Personnel / Johns Hopkins University
• 1992 / Richard Rippeon / Engineering Company / Baltimore, Maryland
• 1992 / Christine Piper / Graduate School / Chemical Physics / University of Pennsylvania
• 1991 / Andy Brown / Technical Personnel / Washington, DC
• 1991 / Allison Coffey / Graduate School / Education / University of Maryland
• 1990 / Scott Aaron / Graduate School / Astrophysics / Brandeis University
• 1990 / Jon Marsh / Graduate School / Physics / Washington University
• 1990 / Debbie Camara / Computer Software / Washington, DC
• 1990 / Michael Kunzer / Technical Personnel / US Army
• 1990 / Robert Dixon / Technical Personnel / US Army