Student Research
Physics majors obtaining the B.S. degree complete an undergraduate research project
and thesis, and they give a talk or poster at a professional meeting. Many of our
students have external research opportunities, but others are interested in working
with UD professors in areas of astronomy/astrophysics, cosmology, or nuclear physics.
Below are examples of locations where students have completed their research. Abstracts
for their presentations at professional meetings are provided as links.
2020
- S. Garza - Harvard & Smithsonian | Center for Astrophysics, Dr. Matthew Ashby "GMC
Dust Masses and CO-to-Dust Conversion Factors in the Whirlpool Galaxy"
- P. Niles - Cerium Labs, Dr. Flanagan
- S. Evans - University of Dallas, Dr. Moldenhauaer
- L. Velasco - Jefferson Lab
- C. Hassan - University of Dallas, Dr. Olenick
- E. Engelthaler - University of Dallas, Dr. Moldenhauer
- P. Hedlesky - Cerium Labs, Dr. Flanagan
2019 (Abstracts are at links provided, as they are posted by conferences.)
2018 (Abstracts are at links provided, as they are posted by conferences)
2017 (Abstracts are at links provided, as they are posted by conferences.)
2016
Joseph Archer, senior physics major from St. Louis, Missouri
Joseph Archer, completed an REU at the University of Notre Dame and conducted neutron
scattering measurements at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Institute Laue-Langevin
in Grenoble, France to study superconductors and condensed matter phenomena.
MacKenzie Warrens, senior physics major from Parkville, Missouri
MacKenzie Warrens, completed an REU in atomic physics research at UCLA where she worked
with two other undergraduates to build a linear ex vacuo Paul trap to study quantum
phenomena.
Matt Fournier, senior physics major from Scottsdale, Arizona
Matt Fournier, calibrated a Piezoelectric Dust Detector (PDD), which is a sensor that
will be used to detect hypervelocity dust particles orbiting the Earth as part of
his REU completed at the Baylor University Research & Innovation Collaborative Laboratory
in Waco, Texas.
Mark Rodriguez, senior physics major from Richardson, Texas
Mark Rodriguez, used a telescope at the University of North Texas remote observation
center to measure the light intensity of stars looking for exoplanets under the guidance
of Mr. Arthur Sweeney and Dr. Richard Olenick.
Blake Palmer is a senior physics major from Coppell, TX
Blake Palmer, completed cosmology research using Java coding to represent graphically
aspects of gravity models alongside Alvaro Hu and under the mentorship of Dr. Jacob
Moldenhauer at the University of Dallas.
Alvaro Hu, senior physics major from Hayward, California
Alvaro Hu, used data recorded from several research teams and ran different combinations
of the data through the TACC supercomputer cluster to obtain better constraints on
several cosmological parameters at the University of Dallas under Dr. Jacob Moldenhauer
and in collaboration with Blake Palmer.
Tommy Byrd, senior physics major from Grand Prairie, TX
Tommy Byrd, measured 12C neutron scattering cross sections at the University of Kentucky
accelerator laboratory with Dr. Sally Hicks in an DOE-NNSA supported research program.
Steven Block, junior physics major from Manassas, Virginia
Steven Block, studied the stability of neutron scintillation detectors with Dr. Sally
Hicks in a DOE-NNSA supported research program.
Tessa Rosenberger, sophomore physics major from Lakewood, Ohio
Tessa Rosenberger, completed an REU program studying an aeromechanical one-way array
at The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio under the supervision of Dr. John Lindner.
Ted Morin, sophomore physics and mathematics major from Irving, TX
Ted Morin, built a database of 50 functions to calculate patients' medical risks at
Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, North Carolina.
James Frisby, a sophomore physics majors from Lebanon, Indiana
James Frisby, completed research with Dr. Jacob Moldenhauer and biologist Dr. Slaughter
investigating the physics of concussions, specifically measuring differences in acceleration
between the inside and outside of the head.
2015 (links to student APS meeting abstracts are provided)
2014 (links to student APS meeting abstracts are provided)
2013
2012
- A. Collard conducted research in nano and electrical engineering at the University
of Massachusetts, Lowell. His research group made two dimensional carbon nitride
"melon", a potential semiconductor.
- J. Schniederjan, James Meier, and Matt Heuser did astronomy measurements in Colorado
with Dr. Olenick
- J. Girgis conducted research at Texas Christian University
- L. Downes completed a summer REU research project in biophysics at Southwestern University.
- T. Howard completed an REU in Chemical Engineering at Tulane University and studied
carbon nanotubes.
- B. Combs and Leslie Sidwell conducted NEUP funded research at the University Kentucky with Dr. Hicks. They measured
neutron scattering cross sections for Na-23.
2011
- J. Rovny conducted research at Lawrence Livermore National Lab.
- A. Bechter, E. Bechter, and B. Dufrain looked for binary stars with Dr. Olenick in
Colorado.
- L. Downes, J. Schniederjan, and J. Girgis studied neutron scattering with Dr. Hicks
at UK
2010
- M. Catalano conducted research at the University of Maryland.
- A. Miller conducted research at Notre Dame University.
- Z. Kaminski and N. Weisse conducted research at the University of Minnesota.
- C. Racciato conducted research at the South Dakota School of Mines
- A. Sigillito conducted research at Virgina Tech.
- P. Stauduhar completed a project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
- J. Rovny and K. Meziere worked on an astronomy project in the Crimea with Dr. Olenick.
- L. Kersting and C. Lueck did neutron scattering measurements at the University of
Kentucky with Dr. Hicks.
- L. Downes completed an REU at Boston College.
2009
- M. Lacy completed an REU program at CERN where she programmed with LABVIEW and worked
with electronics to enhance the positron accumulation technique at ATRAP.
- P. McDonough worked at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, TX with the
iridium satellite network.
- C. Lueck completed his research in an REU program at the University of Oklahoma where
he worked on a theoretical project doing Born Oppenheimer calculations.
2008
- A. Borchard conducted research at Penn State University where she studied the potential
for sub-glacial water based on temperature modeling of East Antarctic ice sheets.
- B. Cole completed an REU program at Montana State University where he investigated
the use of Langmuir probes in the study of the ionosphere.
- J. Gilpin studied the influence of magnetic molecules on electron spin scattering
in InAs at Virginia Tech. University.
2007
- N. Cornell investigated the effect of plasma discharge on simple bacteria. His work
was done at the University of Dallas.
- G. Knutsen conducted research at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and studied
the structure of the metal transporter Tp34 and its affinity for divalent metal ions.
- J. Meier conducted research at Bucknell University's REU program and studied magnetic
resonance study of the interaction between water and polyethylene glycol dimetharcrylate
hydrogels using T1 relaxation times.
- P. Norton conducted research at the University of Dallas and studied optical flatness.
- D. Solis studied the effect of a nematic liquid crystal environment on the alignment
of the conductive polymer MEH-PPV as a function of polymer chain length at Rice University.
- W. Spearman conducted research at CERN studying edgeless silicon detectors.
2006
- D. Malutich spent four weeks in Russia and Crimea taking data on V795 Her. He worked
with Dr. Irina Voloshina of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute of Moscow State University
and Dr. Olenick. He took data at the Crimean Observatory.
- B. McEwen attended summer research program Penn State University and studied using
seismology to map and characterize the glacial bed in the onset region of ice stream
D, West Antarctica.
- E. Pepin completed a 10-week REU program at Michigan State University were he investigated
interaural coherence and localization.
- G. Knutsen and David Solis spent five weeks in Colorado taking data on the intermediate
polar CV V426 Aql.
2005
- K. Michels studied the 27Al(p,)28Si reaction at Notre Dame University.
- D. Malutich and Joe Meier took data on the intermediate polar star V795 Her in Colorado.
2004
- Jamie Antonelli carried out research at Cornell University in accelerator physics.
- Maria Bellon participated in research in optics at the University of North Texas.
- Alan McLaughlin took data on cataclysmic variable stars in Colorado and the University
of Dallas.
- Adam Papania conducted research into nanovalves at Georgia Tech.
2003
- Jamie Antonelli participated in research in optics into a fiber grating stabilized
laser at the University of North Texas
- Levente Borvk investigated a digital signal processing (DSP) method for neutron/gamma
pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) at Etvs Lornd University in Hungary.
- Christian Clerc conducted research on the nova V603 Aql in Colorado and at the University
of Dallas.
- Kurt Smith researched numerical simulations of Coulomb cluster dynamics at Baylor
University.
- Danny Mehaffey looked into using a PPLN waveguide for producing blue laser light at
the University of North Texas.
- Stephanie Wissel developed Skymaps for GALPROP Simulations of VHE Gamma Rays at the
University of Chicago.
Examples of Student Research Theses
Students supervised by Dr. Richard Olenick
Dr. Olenick's research interests include cataclysmic variable research, modeling non-linear
phenomena, and physics education. He has supervised the following senior theses at
the University of Dallas :
Students supervised by Dr. Sally Hicks
Dr. Hicks conducts research investigating the structure of nuclei. She is also interested
in neutron-nucleus scattering, solar neutrinos, and nuclear astrophysics. Much of
her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department
of Energy through the NEUP program. She has supervised the following undergraduate
student theses.
Students supported by the Department of Energy are:
Student projects funded by the National Science Foundation:
- J. C. Boehringer, "Decay Properties and State Lifetimes in 128Te from Inelastic Neutron
Scattering" (2002).
- Matthew Burns, "Nuclear Structure Study of 122Te through Inelastic Neutron Scattering"
(2002).
- Meghan M. Walbran, "Low-Energy Excited Levels of 122Te through Gamma-ray Spectroscopy
Following Inelastic Neutron Scattering (1999).
- Beth Sklaney, "Electromagnetic Transition Rates and Multi-phonon Excitations Observed
in the Cerium-140 Nucleus (1999).
- Gary Alexander, "Lifetimes of 122Te Excited Levels Using the Doppler-Shift Attenuation
Method, (1998).
- Corey Collard, "Analyses of Gamma-ray Transitions from 122Te Excited Levels, (1998).
- Steve Etzkorn, "Decay Properties and Lifetimes of States in 124Te from (n,n'g) Reaction
Studies ", (1997).
- William Faulkner, "Electromagnetic Transition Rates Observed in the Stable Te Isotopes"
(1995).
- Carl Lundstedt, "Aiding in the Determining of the Excited States of 142-Ce Through
the Use of Fortran Programming", (1993).
- Christopher J. Bennett, "A Study of Calibration Techniques and the Relative Yields
of Escape Peaks in 152-Eu and 56-Co", (1992).
- Eric Meier, "Inelastic Neutron Scattering on 140-Ce and 142-Ce", (1991).
Theses supervised by Dr. Hicks, but research conducted at other universities in REU
programs.
- Michael Hoff, "Charging and Interaction of Two-Particle System within a Glass Box
Immersed in a Low-Vacuum Argon Plasma, " Research conducted through the REU program
at Baylor University (2014).
- Jack Bredemann, "Using RPC Data to Assist CSC Data when Dealing with Pt Assignment,"
Research conducted through the REU program at the University of Florida (2014).
- Elizabeth Sizemore, "Methodologies for Analyzing Motion Data in Humans," Research
with Dr. Stephen Slaughter University of Dallas (2014).
- Mary Catalano, "Identifying Inertial Modes in a Hide-Titman Flow" (2011). Research
conducted through the REU program at the University of Maryland.
- Zofia Kaminski, "Particle Tracking of Fluorescent Microspheres" (2011). Research
conducted through the REU program at the University of Minnesota.
- Christen Racciato, "Crystallization of Germanium for Use in Solar Cells" (2011).
Research conducted at the South Dakota School of Mines.
- Anthony Sigillito, "The Design and Fabrication of Bismuth Hall Effect Biosensors"
(2011) Research conducted through the REU program at Virginia Tech.
- Natalie Weisse, "Expression and Manipulation of AquaporinZ in vitro Using the Cell
Free System" (2011). Research conducted at the REU program at the University of Minnesota.
- Monica Lacy, "Improvements in Positron Accumulation Technique at ATRAP" (2010). Research
conducted at CERN through the REU program at the University of Michigan.
- Peter McDonough, " Iridium Satellite Signal Exploitation" (2010). Research conducted
at Southwest Research Corporation in San Antonio, TX.
- Annette Borchard, "East Antarctic Ice Sheets: Potential for Sub-Glacial Water Based
on Temperature Modeling" (2009). Research conduced at Penn State University.
- Joseph Gilpin, "Influence of Magnetic Molecules on Electron Spin Scattering in InAs
as Seen in Its Low Temperature Magnetoresistance" (2009). (Research conducted at Virginia
Tech. University.)
- David E. Solis, "The Effect of a Nematic Liquid Crystal Environment on the Alignment
of the Conductive Polymer MEH-PPV as a Function of Polymer Chain Length" (2008). (Research
conducted at Rice University.)
- Gregory Robert Knutsen, "The structure of the Testing Edgeless Planar Detectors" (2008).
(Research conducted at UT Southwestern.)
- William Spearman, "Testing Edgeless Planar Detectors" (2008). (Research conducted
at CERN through the REU program at the University of Michigan.)
- Eric Pepin, "Interaural Coherence and Localization" (2007). (Research conducted at
Michigan State University.)
- Bridget McEwen, "Using Seismology to Map and Characterize the Glacial Bed in the Onset
Region of Ice Stream D, West Antarctica" (2007). (Research conducted at Penn State
University.)
- Kristi Michels, "The 27Al(p,)28Si Reaction(2006). (Research conducted at Notre Dame
University.)
- Maria Bellon, Stabilizing the Frequency of an InGaAs/AlGaAs Laser Module (2005). Research
conducted at the University of North Texas.
- Levente Borvak, "Neutron/Gamma-ray Pulse Shape Discrimination Using a PSD Circuit"
(2004). (Research conducted at Etvs Lornd University in Hungary.)
- Stephanie Wissel, Skymaps for GALPROP Simulations of VHE Gamma Rays (2004). (Research
conducted at the University of Chicago.)
- Janessa Bechtel, "Losses in SRF Cavities" (2003). (Research conducted at the University
of Notre Dame.)
- Genevieve Wing, "Diffusion in the Presence of Adsorption in Organic Aerogels" (2003).
- Claire Nerbun, "Two-Photon Fluorescence Microscopy and Deconvolution Analysis" (2002).
(Research completed at Emory University.)
- Brenda Martin, Insertion Complexes with Methyl-b-Cyclodextrin with Alkane Chains Confined
in an Isolated Droplet of Water (2001). (Research completed at Lehigh University.)
- Shelly Wark, "Sensitive Laser Detection of Environmental Pollutants" (2001). (Research
completed at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.)
- Elizabeth A. Reisinger, "Investigation of the Fundamental and Higher Order Modes of
the APS Storage Ring Single Cell Cavity",(1993). (Research completed at Argonne National
Laboratory.)
- Patricia Suzanne Maska, "Development of Elastic Surfaces for Optical Estimation of
Cell Traction Forces", (1992).
- John Bauer, "Preliminary Results from a Search for a Superdeformed State in 188-Hg",
(1990). (Research completed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.)
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