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  1. <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:blogger='http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005" xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655</id><updated>2024-03-13T05:20:07.442-04:00</updated><category term="Astronomy"/><category term="Senior Spotlight Series"/><category term="outreach"/><category term="Anca Constantin"/><category term="space shuttle"/><category term="saturday morning physics"/><category term="Space exploration"/><category term="student recruiting"/><category term="Demystifying the Expert"/><category term="JMU Physics"/><category term="Undergraduate Research"/><category term="picnic"/><category term="planetarium"/><category term="fun"/><category term="physics careers"/><category term="whisnant"/><category term="AGN"/><category term="JMU High School Physics Teacher of the Year"/><category term="NCUR"/><category term="Public Observing"/><category term="STEM Sell"/><category term="Scarel"/><category term="department growth"/><category term="holiday party"/><category term="learning"/><category term="materials"/><category term="reason to study physics"/><category term="2010 graduation"/><category term="Active Galactic Nuclei"/><category term="Department size"/><category term="Dunlap"/><category term="Giovanna Scarel"/><category term="Goldwater Scholarship"/><category term="HST"/><category term="JMU astronomy learning"/><category term="Jamey Szalay"/><category term="Patrick Hansen"/><category term="Simone"/><category term="White"/><category term="bad science night"/><category term="blog"/><category term="distillery"/><category term="elkton"/><category term="gas chromatography"/><category term="hydrogen"/><category term="liquid hydrogen"/><category term="lucatorto"/><category term="physics symposium 2009"/><category term="research"/><category term="2009 graduation"/><category term="2010 symposium awards"/><category term="2011 symposium"/><category term="APS"/><category term="APS/AAPT"/><category term="Alumni"/><category term="Bob Gordon"/><category term="Caputo"/><category term="Chris Carlson"/><category term="December graduation 2009"/><category term="Duke"/><category term="Giovanetti"/><category term="HD"/><category term="Hubble"/><category term="Hughes"/><category term="LSAT"/><category term="Laurence Lewis"/><category term="Lawrence Lewis"/><category term="MCAT Physics degrees"/><category term="March Meeting"/><category term="Milky Way"/><category term="NASA"/><category term="Paulson"/><category term="Physics department in trouble"/><category term="Pittsburgh"/><category term="Retirement"/><category term="Rube Goldberg"/><category term="SPIN-UP"/><category term="Sean Scully"/><category term="Thank you"/><category term="Travis Kelly"/><category term="Utter"/><category term="alexander"/><category term="alkali metals"/><category term="angular momentum"/><category term="applied physics"/><category term="bridges"/><category term="celestial equation"/><category term="construction"/><category term="department logo"/><category term="department photo"/><category term="doomsday"/><category term="ecliptic"/><category term="equinox"/><category term="fall 2009 photo"/><category term="fall semester"/><category term="freshmen"/><category term="graduation"/><category term="hiring"/><category term="honors night"/><category term="lunar eclipse"/><category term="magnetic fields"/><category term="mathematics"/><category term="national meetings"/><category term="northern lights"/><category term="particle physics"/><category term="photonuclear"/><category term="physics education research"/><category term="physics enrollment"/><category term="physics news"/><category term="podcasts"/><category term="reference frame"/><category term="silly doctors"/><category term="spring semester"/><category term="student papers"/><category term="summer students"/><category term="super moon"/><category term="superluminal neutrinos"/><category term="telescopes"/><category term="thanksgiving break"/><category term="the blog"/><category term="video contest"/><category term="yo-yo"/><title type='text'>JMU Physics &amp;amp; Astro Blog</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default?alt=atom'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><link rel='next' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default?alt=atom&amp;start-index=26&amp;max-results=25'/><author><name>Unknown</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>398</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-7681794073037717770</id><published>2019-12-11T11:59:00.004-05:00</published><updated>2019-12-11T12:17:39.784-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Senior Spotlight Series"/><title type='text'>Senior spotlight: Kate Holwick</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; 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  2. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Kate Holwick is a senior at JMU completing a BS degree in Physics as well as minors in both Math and Astronomy. She is from Virginia Beach, VA and graduated from Frank W. Cox High School in 2016. She is currently doing research with Dr. Scully in high energy astrophysics and hopes to find a career in the field of cosmology or theoretical physics. She was interviewed by&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple;&quot;&gt;Piper Smith&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;, another JMU senior physics major.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  5. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL2nIPyU2GJK58DI6rWBfbleJ7AUtv8ruBd6YJ6XLYs-qJC2KPZwMfBQXH0xNew76b-eCvzMw5b1luzDfUo6WMNE0e9FWkhvKPA9kCdmxwpRod-7vCt6yllfJRMLLhTkFu66YAog/s1600/kate.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;516&quot; data-original-width=&quot;406&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL2nIPyU2GJK58DI6rWBfbleJ7AUtv8ruBd6YJ6XLYs-qJC2KPZwMfBQXH0xNew76b-eCvzMw5b1luzDfUo6WMNE0e9FWkhvKPA9kCdmxwpRod-7vCt6yllfJRMLLhTkFu66YAog/s320/kate.jpg&quot; width=&quot;251&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  6. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Smiles from Kate during the final exam in the &lt;br /&gt;Thermodynamics &amp;amp; Statistical Mechanics class.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
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  10. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple;&quot;&gt;PS: What motivated you to become a physics major at JMU?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  14. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;KH: I always knew that I would pursue a career in STEM but I first knew that I wanted to do something with physics when my sister mentioned that she thought she wanted to study astronomy. I thought that the idea sounded very interesting and soon I signed up to take a physics class in high school. I realized then that I liked physics so much more than biology and chemistry, because it could help explain a much larger and more fundamental range of the universe than biology or chemistry could do. I was specifically motivated to study physics at JMU, because of how much the department prioritized undergraduate research, which would give me an edge when applying to graduate schools.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  18. &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;PS: What are some of your favorite classes you’ve taken thus far at JMU?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  22. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;KH: One of my favorite physics classes that I’ve taken as a undergraduate is ASTR221: General Astronomy II- Star Systems, the Interstellar Medium, and Cosmology. This class was a big contributor to me still pursuing a career that deals with space. Before taking this class I questioned studying space, because I was bored of stars and black holes, and up to that point that seemed to be the majority of what astronomers or other related people studied. This class introduced me to more fundamental things such as the early universe, the structure of the universe, and Grand Unified Theories (or GUTs), which intrigued me much more than stars and planets.&amp;nbsp;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  24. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Another one of the classes that I’ve enjoyed most at JMU is PHIL 311: Metaphysics. This course covered topics like universals and particulars, the nature of time, and properties. This course was fascinating because it discussed some scientific topics and challenges, but tackled them from not only a scientific standpoint, but also from a logical standpoint.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  28. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple;&quot;&gt;PS: What are you most proud of?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  32. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;KH: I am very proud of still being a physics major. There have been a lot of challenging classes that I didn’t think that I could pass and a lot that weren’t my favorite, so I am impressed that I wasn’t discouraged from continuing the major. &amp;nbsp;I am also proud that I am continuing to take more math classes than needed for my degree, such as MATH 245 or MATH 341, simply because I want to be better at math and taking them will obviously help me with my career in physics.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  36. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;PS: What about research most excites you?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  40. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;KH: In general, one of the most exciting things about conducting research is getting to tackle a big problem over the course of a few months. The satisfaction of getting some information about the answer to your question is worth it. Another one of the most exciting, cool things pertaining to research is that depending on what is discovered, physics as we know it can completely change.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;calibri&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  41. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/7681794073037717770'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/7681794073037717770'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/12/senior-spotlight-kate-holwick.html' title='Senior spotlight: Kate Holwick'/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL2nIPyU2GJK58DI6rWBfbleJ7AUtv8ruBd6YJ6XLYs-qJC2KPZwMfBQXH0xNew76b-eCvzMw5b1luzDfUo6WMNE0e9FWkhvKPA9kCdmxwpRod-7vCt6yllfJRMLLhTkFu66YAog/s72-c/kate.jpg" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-3454481798973491156</id><published>2019-12-11T11:33:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2019-12-11T12:27:03.653-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Senior Spotlight Series"/><title type='text'>Senior spotlight: Piper Smith</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  42. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  44. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-family: calibri, sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Piper Smith is a senior physics major, with minors in Math and Secondary Education. She is from Norfolk, Va, and graduated from Maury High School in 2016. &amp;nbsp;Currently, Piper is doing research with Dr. Ilarion Melnikov in the field of dynamics on asymptotically conical geometries. &amp;nbsp;Piper was interviewed here by &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #bf9000;&quot;&gt;Kate Holwick&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;, another JMU senior physics major.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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  49. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaeFnQxq7xsoASN0xXCgOS0aq2cw9GZyigNNucYVNcLKUWwkS9D84poDkmj_22N4LDQCzZ7O4FeZc-VkJUSsTSv04QlrANAzNmUGffvtu8dqRcpGKImvW7gXPhGYJbS4lh2TK04w/s1600/Piper.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;716&quot; data-original-width=&quot;537&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaeFnQxq7xsoASN0xXCgOS0aq2cw9GZyigNNucYVNcLKUWwkS9D84poDkmj_22N4LDQCzZ7O4FeZc-VkJUSsTSv04QlrANAzNmUGffvtu8dqRcpGKImvW7gXPhGYJbS4lh2TK04w/s320/Piper.png&quot; width=&quot;239&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  51. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 1pt none; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #bf9000; font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;KH: What led to chose your major and what do you like about it?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  55. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 1pt none; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;PS: Since second grade, I’ve known that I wanted to be a teacher. And so, I spent the next years of my academic career searching for what exactly I wanted to teach, thinking that it was going to be math. When I found physics in my junior year of high school, I KNEW. It was a mathematically driven science with explanations for the world around me that made sense in my brain, and I was hooked. It was not always easy, in fact physics is college is the most daunting task I have ever tackled, but the awesome feeling of figuring out a particular equation or writing a lab report of an experiment that you are really proud of is an amazing feeling.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  57. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 1pt none; font-family: inherit; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  59. &lt;span style=&quot;color: #bf9000; font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 1pt none; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;KH:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 1pt none; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;What values, experiences, and/or perspectives do you feel you&#39;ll bring to the next stage in your life?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  63. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 1pt none; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;PS: College has taught me so many important lessons. The importance of time management is a lesson that, 3.5 years of college later, I am still learning and implementing in every area of my life. I have also learned that the single narrative of the world that I possess is not a complete picture of how life is for everyone else. Most times, you have to step out of yourself and your perspective in order to effectively help others and meet them where they are at. Also, I will never forget that self-worth lies in so much more than quantifiable achievements; it can lie in how good of a friend you are to others or the multitude of intangible ways in which you make the world a better place.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  65. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 1pt none; font-family: inherit; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  67. &lt;span style=&quot;color: #bf9000; font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 1pt none; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;KH:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 1pt none; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;Where would you like to take your passion for physics? Where would you like your career to go?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  71. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 1pt none; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;PS: I want to spread my passion for physics through teaching! High school is a critical time for students looking to find what they would like to do in the future, and many turn themselves off to science and math because they truly believe that they are no good at it and will never understand it, but I know that that is wrong. Everyone has a physicist inside of them, and I would absolutely love to be a part of uncovering that. I believe that my excitement will carry over into the classroom in a productive way; students who know that their teacher loves the subject will be more inclined to also throw themselves into the lessons. Eventually, after getting many and many years of experience in a few different subject areas and several different student populations, I want to transition into educational advocacy, pushing for all students to have equal opportunity for success.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  75. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #bf9000;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 1pt none; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;KH:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 1pt none; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;What are you most proud of?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  77. &lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 1pt none; font-family: inherit; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  79. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 1pt none; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;PS: I am such a proud brother of Alpha Phi Omega, a national co-ed community service fraternity. Since the second half of my sophomore year, I have had the amazing opportunity of serving the Harrisonburg community through this organization. Not only that, I have been completely changed by APO, gained some amazing friends and new perspectives on life. Throughout my time in APO, I have served in a couple different executive positions, such as Vice President of Membership, and gained leadership skills that I didn’t know I could. Going out into the real world, I am so motivated to continue to find many ways to serve and get to know those around me.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  81. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  82. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/3454481798973491156'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/3454481798973491156'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/12/senior-spotlight-piper-smith.html' title='Senior spotlight: Piper Smith'/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaeFnQxq7xsoASN0xXCgOS0aq2cw9GZyigNNucYVNcLKUWwkS9D84poDkmj_22N4LDQCzZ7O4FeZc-VkJUSsTSv04QlrANAzNmUGffvtu8dqRcpGKImvW7gXPhGYJbS4lh2TK04w/s72-c/Piper.png" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-2879471025973003937</id><published>2019-12-06T12:52:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2019-12-06T12:52:34.974-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Senior Spotlight Series"/><title type='text'>Senior Spotlight: Matthew Almond</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  83. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;Matthew Almond is a senior physics major with minors in secondary education and mathematics. He came to JMU after attending Tuscarora High School in his hometown of Leesburg, Virginia. Here, Matthew is interviewed by &lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #741b47;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Sean Christian&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, a fellow senior physics major with desires to become a planetary geophysicist and dog owner.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  84. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  85. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV0sS3ynBEyHVNZqjdtS4KRTrAwH1F1oUknlNNoZxpRd_n1ltfzIOrjZUY-3D30zNFoVtD8M8tUB15zPXyfLcSAGAgpnX-VrjguVAFly7-jrLOho-F5GO531H1KnVTw09oU25uyw/s1600/mathew.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1300&quot; data-original-width=&quot;974&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV0sS3ynBEyHVNZqjdtS4KRTrAwH1F1oUknlNNoZxpRd_n1ltfzIOrjZUY-3D30zNFoVtD8M8tUB15zPXyfLcSAGAgpnX-VrjguVAFly7-jrLOho-F5GO531H1KnVTw09oU25uyw/s320/mathew.png&quot; width=&quot;239&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  87. &lt;i style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #741b47;&quot;&gt;SC: What led you to choose physics? What do you like about it? &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  88. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  89. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;MA: Since I was very young, I wanted to be a teacher. For the longest time, I struggled to settle on a subject I wanted to teach. In high school, I developed a passion for both math and science. Physics seemed to be a natural intersection of the two.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  90. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  91. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #741b47;&quot;&gt;SC:&amp;nbsp;What does it mean to you to be a scientist?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  92. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  93. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;MA: Science is a way of thinking about the world. In my opinion, you don’t really need a science degree to be a scientist, as long as you have the right mindset.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  94. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  95. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #741b47;&quot;&gt;SC:&amp;nbsp;What excites you about science?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  96. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  97. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;MA: I love discovery. It fascinates me that we can use tools like mathematics to explain our world to such a degree of accuracy. Human curiosity about our world is seemingly endless, and it excites me to be a part of human discovery.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  98. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  99. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #741b47;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;SC:&amp;nbsp;What are you most proud of?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  100. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  101. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;MA: I am most proud of the development of my teaching skills. Understanding a complicated subject is important, but being able to communicate that knowledge to others is equally important, if not more so.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  102. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/2879471025973003937'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/2879471025973003937'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/12/senior-spotlight-matthew-almond.html' title='Senior Spotlight: Matthew Almond'/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV0sS3ynBEyHVNZqjdtS4KRTrAwH1F1oUknlNNoZxpRd_n1ltfzIOrjZUY-3D30zNFoVtD8M8tUB15zPXyfLcSAGAgpnX-VrjguVAFly7-jrLOho-F5GO531H1KnVTw09oU25uyw/s72-c/mathew.png" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-3640280086785575715</id><published>2019-12-06T12:44:00.002-05:00</published><updated>2019-12-08T21:43:26.291-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Senior Spotlight Series"/><title type='text'>Senior Spotlight: Alex Federick</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;&quot;&gt;
  103. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Alexandria Ebyni-Danyale Federick is a senior physics from Herndon VA, coming from Westfield High School in Chantilly. &amp;nbsp;She does research with Dr. Scarel on how radio waves effect the nervous system. &amp;nbsp;Alex is Air Force ROTC and will be commissioning as a 2nd Lieutenant in May 2020. &amp;nbsp;This interview has been prepared by our senior&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;physics major&amp;nbsp;&lt;b style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Piper Smith&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  105. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  107. &lt;i&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ElxNyTZRtnKwpCE6SLIYQf2SR3Pwhlrdq_qok4ymJ4v2jEUnllcgKG4zAGpiss2-ciSpZod7pHDazSw77sSWEQPeLZaRecJj0np0bVnjdM0wetfWMZLOvl8YOIJoNvzXutoirg/s1600/alex2.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;958&quot; data-original-width=&quot;959&quot; height=&quot;319&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ElxNyTZRtnKwpCE6SLIYQf2SR3Pwhlrdq_qok4ymJ4v2jEUnllcgKG4zAGpiss2-ciSpZod7pHDazSw77sSWEQPeLZaRecJj0np0bVnjdM0wetfWMZLOvl8YOIJoNvzXutoirg/s320/alex2.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  109. &lt;div style=&quot;font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;&quot;&gt;
  110. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;PS: Where would you like to take your passion for physics? Where would you&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  111. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;like your career to go?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  112. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;AEF: I would like to take my passion for physics to meteorology, that has always been my career goal. While studying physics, and participating in the Air Force ROTC, I came to learn how interesting studying atmospheric physics&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;would&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;be now, in the space age and sounding rocket era. I hope to get my masters in atmospheric physics while continuing my active duty in the military.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  113. &lt;br /&gt;
  114. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  115. &lt;b&gt;PS:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;What are some of your interests outside of school and physics? &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  116. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;AEF:&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;I am in Air Force ROTC and I also love color guard, I was in the JMU Color guard my freshmen year. Color guard in high school was an outlet for me to express my emotions and a stress relief for school. I am also involved in JMU Fitness Club, Arnold Air Society, and I work on campus at Madison Union as a building manager. &amp;nbsp;I love to stay active within the community and being apart of these organizations has allowed me to do that by volunteering.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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  118. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9lByAFskk1Mm5we7pSHta5T4rU9-Yko8ae2I07fwqYfDmpwnpbpSV5hA6vgIDx0qbeAAuOlvtadzK5By7vhsncair9yrBh8DgIsjRmEUaY9hQiIKZr0KAdJkpuEG6V2K-E2npgA/s1600/alex1.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;720&quot; data-original-width=&quot;960&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9lByAFskk1Mm5we7pSHta5T4rU9-Yko8ae2I07fwqYfDmpwnpbpSV5hA6vgIDx0qbeAAuOlvtadzK5By7vhsncair9yrBh8DgIsjRmEUaY9hQiIKZr0KAdJkpuEG6V2K-E2npgA/s320/alex1.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  119. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;b&gt;PS:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;What are your longer term career goals? Where do you see yourself in 5&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit;&quot;&gt;-10 years?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  120. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;AEF:&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;My longer term career goal is to be a meteorologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration while also being a reservist in the Air Force. I want to be able to participate in scientific discovery but also continue fighting for our country. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  121. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;b&gt;PS:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;What are you most proud of?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  122. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;AEF:&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;I am most proud of my ability to stay in physics and in ROTC. The two are very much time and energy demanding in their own way and most people find it very difficult to juggle the two, and sometimes one alone. &amp;nbsp;Although my performance was probably not at the highest level, I was able to make it to my senior year without dropping one of them. &amp;nbsp;Through all the obstacles that came through my four years at JMU I persevered and now I am very close (one more semester! and the hardest classes are now behind me!) to graduating with a&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;bachelor of science in&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;physics. &amp;nbsp;This was not an easy journey,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;and&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;it has also taught me a lot about myself. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/3640280086785575715'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/3640280086785575715'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/12/senior-spotlight-alex-federick.html' title='Senior Spotlight: Alex Federick'/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ElxNyTZRtnKwpCE6SLIYQf2SR3Pwhlrdq_qok4ymJ4v2jEUnllcgKG4zAGpiss2-ciSpZod7pHDazSw77sSWEQPeLZaRecJj0np0bVnjdM0wetfWMZLOvl8YOIJoNvzXutoirg/s72-c/alex2.jpg" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-683919003317790778</id><published>2019-11-24T20:04:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2019-11-24T20:05:14.199-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Senior Spotlight Series"/><title type='text'>Senior Spotlight: Matthew Baka</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  123. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Matthew Baka is a senior physics major at James Madison University.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Matthew is from Richmond, VA, and along with pursuing a degree in physics he is minoring in mathematics as well.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Matthew was a member of the Marching Royal Dukes for three years at JMU where he played in the Saxophone-Tenor section.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;He has previously done research with Dr. Melnikov in classical mechanics.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Aside from physics and marching band Matthew enjoys playing the piano, and practicing his cup stacking skills. Matthew is being interviewed by &lt;b&gt;Daniel Hirt&lt;/b&gt;, a Junior Physics major at JMU.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  126. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHLGL9DJh76BAgUqGgk-J5w1qO72lWryJ920z3isaus9-syN69cDywZePfDdPbEzsJhZ9N6nFH3f9wcOYwBauAMnqa9A_ctL8J_nRl6170Sbp8jKthZQ3pnMJ8uuqcnRySrRuZGg/s1600/matthew.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;927&quot; data-original-width=&quot;741&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHLGL9DJh76BAgUqGgk-J5w1qO72lWryJ920z3isaus9-syN69cDywZePfDdPbEzsJhZ9N6nFH3f9wcOYwBauAMnqa9A_ctL8J_nRl6170Sbp8jKthZQ3pnMJ8uuqcnRySrRuZGg/s320/matthew.png&quot; width=&quot;255&quot; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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  128. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  129. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;What are your interests outside of school and physics?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  130. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  131. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Matthew enjoys speed running video games (specifically Portal 2) and playing the piano in his free time.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;In addition to this, Matthew enjoys tackling coding projects in his free time, specifically in JavaScript.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Matthew’s coding projects have ranged from doing his own version of games such as Flappy Bird, Fruit Ninja, Pong, and Tetris, to creating code to answer a wide variety of questions he’s asked himself, such as a prime number finder, and an evolution simulation.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  132. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  133. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;What are your long-term career goals?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  134. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  135. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Matthew hopes for his future job to be something related to programming, although he hasn’t dismissed the idea of attending graduate school for physics.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;In addition to his proficiency in JavaScript Matthew also is proficient in HTML and CSS in which he helped design the webpage for Adoption-Share over a summer long internship. (&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.adoption-share.com/default.aspx&quot; style=&quot;color: #954f72;&quot;&gt;https://www.adoption-share.com/default.aspx&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  136. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  137. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;line-height: 14.266666412353516px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;What led you to choose your major and what do you like about it?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  138. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  139. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Matthew chose a major in Physics because of its ability to explain what’s going on around us in the universe.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Matthew particularly enjoys the challenge physics presents with its difficult problems, and the process of solving these problems.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  140. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  141. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;What are you most proud of?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  142. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  143. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Matthew is most proud of his ability to solve abstract math questions which he has encountered spontaneously going through his life.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;These questions range from solving for the amount of raindrops hitting the windshield as a function of time and velocity to, calculating how much weight is on any given person in a human pyramid.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Matthew is also very proud of the coding projects he’s completed, whether they be games, applets, or webpages.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  144. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  145. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  146. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/683919003317790778'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/683919003317790778'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/11/senior-spotlight-matthew-baka.html' title='Senior Spotlight: Matthew Baka'/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHLGL9DJh76BAgUqGgk-J5w1qO72lWryJ920z3isaus9-syN69cDywZePfDdPbEzsJhZ9N6nFH3f9wcOYwBauAMnqa9A_ctL8J_nRl6170Sbp8jKthZQ3pnMJ8uuqcnRySrRuZGg/s72-c/matthew.png" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-123631681170215287</id><published>2019-11-22T15:32:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2019-12-08T21:44:44.599-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Senior Spotlight Series"/><title type='text'>Senior Spotlight: Teddy Chu</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  147. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Theodore Ming-Rei (Teddy) Chu is a Physics and Mathematics major, with a research focus in nuclear physics, working with Dr. Banu. &amp;nbsp;Teddy is from Ashburn, Virginia, attended Broad Run High School where he was member of the school chamber orchestra, the debate team, and the Latin club. &amp;nbsp;Also, he has studied abroad in Scotland at U. Edinburgh for Scottish literature and U. Saint Andrews for geology. &amp;nbsp; Teddy has been interviewed by his fellow senior physics major &lt;span style=&quot;color: #990000;&quot;&gt;Alexandria Ebyni-Danyale Federick&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  148. &lt;div style=&quot;font-size: 15px; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  149. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  150. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  151. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8KKzx_zFSdBkwK48ZtyJRyTqeEbF06o_M1ubhLxzO6Id_umdeXWkm5b2S0IRL4WFX7zliaDBhP2TlH5ZiRP8wsQGNdsA7G6awLJhzs-SvgUTlT5YfkxpNd54ZnIQZjrRTJ8z8wQ/s1600/teddy.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1200&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1600&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8KKzx_zFSdBkwK48ZtyJRyTqeEbF06o_M1ubhLxzO6Id_umdeXWkm5b2S0IRL4WFX7zliaDBhP2TlH5ZiRP8wsQGNdsA7G6awLJhzs-SvgUTlT5YfkxpNd54ZnIQZjrRTJ8z8wQ/s320/teddy.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  152. &lt;div style=&quot;font-size: 15px; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  153. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #990000; font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;AF:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #990000; font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #990000; font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Why physics?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  154. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  155. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  156. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  157. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;TC: I&#39;ve always loved science and had an idea that I wanted to pursue it when I was in grade school.&amp;nbsp; When I was in high school, I was pretty certain I wanted to go for chemistry until I actually took physics.&amp;nbsp; What really got me hooked with it was the idea that physics questions and explores the fundamental underpinnings of our existence, and it does so in a way that not many other fields do.&amp;nbsp; The unit on forces is probably where I started to better understand how physics defined the rules for the world in this beautiful mathematical structure, and it&#39;s been quite a ride ever since.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  158. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  159. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  160. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  161. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;For my actual research focus in nuclear, my curiosity had been piqued by how vaguely it was described in grade school.&amp;nbsp; The idea of everything built on these fundamental blocks yet producing infinitely many wild forms and characteristics was fun to explore, and I wanted to know more.&amp;nbsp; After doing some reading at home and learning more about how complex the nuclear world was, I knew that I wanted to pursue it further in college.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  162. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  163. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  164. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  165. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;As far as math goes, it&#39;s beautiful in a way different from physics.&amp;nbsp; When I&#39;m able to take some principles in mathematics and use them or see how they can give rise to particular phenomena in physics, that&#39;s when I more fully appreciate both these fields.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  166. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  167. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  168. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  169. &lt;span style=&quot;color: #990000; font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;AF: What are you doing after graduation?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  170. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  171. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  172. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  173. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;TC: I&#39;d definitely like to pursue a doctoral program after college, but I want to wait a little beforehand.&amp;nbsp; I have an internship with the Naval Research Laboratory in the area of optical sensing lined up for when I graduate, which is a pretty big shift from what I&#39;ve done in the past.&amp;nbsp; But, I&#39;m very excited about the work they&#39;re doing, so we&#39;ll see in the future if I end up pursuing nuclear or optical physics for my doctorate.&amp;nbsp; Who knows though?&amp;nbsp; Maybe I&#39;ll be working in something radically different!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  174. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  175. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  176. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  177. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;After graduating I definitely want to travel a bit more, especially around Canada and Western America.&amp;nbsp; Internationally, exploring Europe and Southeast Asia would be pretty rad.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  178. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  179. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  180. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  181. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;In the grand scheme of things, I&#39;m really just hoping I can work on being happy in the future.&amp;nbsp; I&#39;ve had a lot of that up till now and I&#39;m trying to keep the streak going, you know?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  182. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  183. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  184. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  185. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;caret-color: rgb(153, 0, 0); color: #990000;&quot;&gt;AF:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;caret-color: rgb(153, 0, 0); color: #990000;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #990000;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;What is your greatest achievement thus far?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  186. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  187. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  188. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  189. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;TC: I&#39;m really proud that I have a year-long internship coming up with the Naval Research Laboratory.&amp;nbsp; I was always worried that my outlook after undergrad was working in a place where I either wouldn&#39;t be able to continue pursuing the experimental aspect of science or not utilizing the skills I gained in my time at JMU.&amp;nbsp; Having this opportunity is something that I had always hoped for but never imagined I&#39;d be able to pursue for this length of time this soon after my undergraduate career.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  190. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  191. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  192. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  193. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;caret-color: rgb(153, 0, 0); color: #990000;&quot;&gt;AF:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;caret-color: rgb(153, 0, 0); color: #990000;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #990000;&quot;&gt;Any fun fact abut yourself?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  194. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  195. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  196. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  197. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;TC: I really like the culinary arts as well!&amp;nbsp; I&#39;ve made quite a few pies and sourdough rolls (with starter from JMU Chemistry&#39;s own Dr. Reisner!) among other things, and I love playing around with different ingredients.&amp;nbsp; Admittedly, I do tend to cook and bake more under stress, but it helps further develop my skill in each and take my mind off of things for a bit so it&#39;s kind of nice.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  198. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  199. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  200. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  201. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Favourite thing I&#39;ve made so far?&amp;nbsp; Blueberry-basil pie.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  202. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  203. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  204. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  205. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Also, I&#39;ve worked at a coffee shop since my junior year of high school, and was a competitive barista as well.&amp;nbsp; It involved a lot of attention to technique and learning about coffee and tea, and especially a lot of late night coffee tastings.&amp;nbsp; And yes, I can do the fancy latte art things!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  206. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  207. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  208. &lt;div style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  209. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  210. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;
  211. &lt;/div&gt;
  212. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/123631681170215287'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/123631681170215287'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/11/senior-spotlight-teddy-chu.html' title='Senior Spotlight: Teddy Chu'/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8KKzx_zFSdBkwK48ZtyJRyTqeEbF06o_M1ubhLxzO6Id_umdeXWkm5b2S0IRL4WFX7zliaDBhP2TlH5ZiRP8wsQGNdsA7G6awLJhzs-SvgUTlT5YfkxpNd54ZnIQZjrRTJ8z8wQ/s72-c/teddy.jpg" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-8796555703926345047</id><published>2019-11-14T11:55:00.004-05:00</published><updated>2019-11-14T13:18:48.591-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="JMU High School Physics Teacher of the Year"/><title type='text'>The 2019 JMU High School Physics Teacher of the Year, Mr. Christopher Foust</title><content type='html'>&lt;div dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot; trbidi=&quot;on&quot;&gt;
  213. &lt;br /&gt;
  214. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  215. &lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
  216. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKdQ_5oczV_ePINtyI5pf0w80TNFF5pvp-Wd2odnr2tFuMVhAjz53FMyLzZjwE0rGJf2KqWipojkKP-rw5l-GATZMjuXhHYD7pOE-PSTWsgrC_CstkHy4pr7GR-UClYB2voOUg/s1600/IMG_0343.JPG&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1024&quot; data-original-width=&quot;765&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKdQ_5oczV_ePINtyI5pf0w80TNFF5pvp-Wd2odnr2tFuMVhAjz53FMyLzZjwE0rGJf2KqWipojkKP-rw5l-GATZMjuXhHYD7pOE-PSTWsgrC_CstkHy4pr7GR-UClYB2voOUg/s320/IMG_0343.JPG&quot; width=&quot;239&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  217. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Mr. Christopher Foust with freshman Devin Stipe&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  218. &lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
  219. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;On
  220. November 5, 2019, we had the honor of hosting the 2019 JMU High School Physics
  221. Teacher of the Year, Mr. Christopher Foust, nominated by freshman physics major
  222. Devin Stipe, for a day to tour our department and talk about his experience as
  223. a physics educator with faculty, students, and even alumni!&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This is the fourth year that the program has
  224. run, and articles for the previous winners can be found &lt;a href=&quot;https://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/search/label/JMU%20High%20School%20Physics%20Teacher%20of%20the%20Year&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  225. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  226. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  227. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  228. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;Mr. Foust graduated from Virginia
  229. Commonwealth University with a MS in biology, where he focused on biodegradable
  230. plastics.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;It was here where he first
  231. entered the education field by working as a graduate lab instructor for biology.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;After graduating, he then worked with Capital
  232. One in their adult education department, teaching ethics and customer
  233. service.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;Through these experiences, he
  234. developed a love for teaching and subsequently participated in the Virginia
  235. Department of Education’s Career Switcher Alternative Route to Licensure
  236. Program at the University of Virginia to gain teaching licensure in biology and
  237. physics.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;In 2003, he was hired by
  238. Henrico and was posted at Hermitage High School, where he has remained ever
  239. since.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  240. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  241. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  242. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  243. &lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: right; text-align: right;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
  244. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyIywmt_D9glR_l4lXX6zi9lXDJDMUSfzSljIVT3ZSmrpiHaVt9wtJTJGut-QIFarDHOZk8zY_jCdEguOyS50isV01tVsATooB1ivr8lB2v5JPGyX9PfLImZFud-YzkoKETxyG/s1600/IMG_0317.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1200&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1600&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyIywmt_D9glR_l4lXX6zi9lXDJDMUSfzSljIVT3ZSmrpiHaVt9wtJTJGut-QIFarDHOZk8zY_jCdEguOyS50isV01tVsATooB1ivr8lB2v5JPGyX9PfLImZFud-YzkoKETxyG/s320/IMG_0317.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  245. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Receiving the JMU HSPToY Award from Dr. Christopher Hughes&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  246. &lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
  247. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;Mr. Foust talked with us about some
  248. of what he’s learned as an educator, from how he tries to get his students
  249. excited about learning physics, the largest struggles he has as an educator,
  250. and where he sees potential for growth both in his own classroom and in physics
  251. instruction in general.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  252. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  253. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  254. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  255. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;As an educator, Mr. Foust’s greatest
  256. struggle lies not in the teaching or in interacting with students, but more
  257. with administrative tasks he may have to do.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;
  258. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;His advice for getting through this work is to attack the most
  259. unpleasant or arduous tasks upfront and toughing them out.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;While they’re far from the most fun, once
  260. they’re done, Mr. Foust notes that you’re free to do whatever you like
  261. after.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;And if what you like is making
  262. physics classes enjoyable and getting people excited about learning the content,
  263. Mr. Foust has a great approach!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  264. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  265. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  266. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  267. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;When
  268. it comes to getting students curious and driven to learn about physics Mr. Foust
  269. states that one of his best assets is in showmanship.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;He has a “demo-a-day” approach where every
  270. day a new concept is introduced with a small but strange phenomenon and later
  271. explored in more detail.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;An example
  272. would be the classic tablecloth yanking party trick to introduce friction.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;It serves as something students may have
  273. already seen, is easily scalable for classrooms, and is novel but simple to get
  274. students trying to figure out what exactly is going on.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;Another example of a demo would be hitting a
  275. textbook on his hand with a hammer to introduce the concept of pressure.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;These demonstrations serve to make physics
  276. more accessible and more engaging to students, easing them into the subject
  277. while still teaching them the underlying concepts.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  278. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  279. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  280. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  281. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfDB9Ef6PegcNbAXaDKJ1zdVDZsUTTss-ZO9yESObn4vmDFKQYDpqc1OwhA-dhfVmo7tf_2_EPDcsxSHSqnPumdGRmGL_8qn9y0hj4ql9mYNbN7odZUA4Ajc7KSEw46zHDYAQQ/s1600/IMG_0320.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1200&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1600&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfDB9Ef6PegcNbAXaDKJ1zdVDZsUTTss-ZO9yESObn4vmDFKQYDpqc1OwhA-dhfVmo7tf_2_EPDcsxSHSqnPumdGRmGL_8qn9y0hj4ql9mYNbN7odZUA4Ajc7KSEw46zHDYAQQ/s320/IMG_0320.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;With technology becoming a much more
  282. integral part of the public education system, Mr. Foust sees much potential for
  283. growth in using these new tools in and out of the classroom.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He often uses the University of Colorado,
  284. Boulder’s PhET Lab simulations as a pre-lab activity for students, and there are
  285. many more tools that he hasn’t yet explored.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;
  286. &lt;/span&gt;Another place for growth is in student-led instruction and flipped
  287. classroom methods, where Mr. Foust notes that some of the most meaningful
  288. learning occurs when one student explains a concept to another.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  289. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  290. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  291. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  292. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;We also got to hear a bit about Mr.
  293. Foust’s philosophy as an educator, and a bit of where it comes from.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Mr. Foust never took physics in high school
  294. himself, and he knows how large of a roadblock physics’s notoriety as a
  295. difficult subject can be to students taking and enjoying his class.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;To this end, he believes in reassuring his
  296. students that the class isn’t going to be a straight lecture, using humor,
  297. experiments, and physics magic to get students to relax and engage with the
  298. subject.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He also believes deeply in
  299. letting students work together.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He
  300. structures many of his labs with more open-ended procedures, trying to get
  301. students to work together to figure out how they can achieve the goals for the
  302. lab that Mr. Foust sets.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He doesn’t believe
  303. that you need to be the greatest mathematician entering the class, nor in
  304. leaving it, but what matters the most is in understanding the concepts
  305. presented by physics, and their implications in the world.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;For example, he often makes connections to physics
  306. with the physiology and anatomy class he teaches, harkening back to his
  307. experience with biology and also relating the material to a class that many of
  308. his students are concurrently taking.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  309. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  310. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  311. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  312. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  313. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6fCmoC5Nmvw6ymAxbpkMbCpuqqK9Q_NKjPASSzba-XaCgagmyjVO3jPz7Ua9Ho8Bn4rBvWUOy7PW0u1fWRxGfgZzQalQP_vuLDXqBZq7e7itY080oEM54aUuCPLnRVGvDEyst/s1600/IMG_0324.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1200&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1600&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6fCmoC5Nmvw6ymAxbpkMbCpuqqK9Q_NKjPASSzba-XaCgagmyjVO3jPz7Ua9Ho8Bn4rBvWUOy7PW0u1fWRxGfgZzQalQP_vuLDXqBZq7e7itY080oEM54aUuCPLnRVGvDEyst/s320/IMG_0324.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  314. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;Mr. Foust’s greatest source of pride
  315. in his career hasn’t been a fancy award or title.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;It’s been in what he sees in the students.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;When he’s able to inspire a student to pursue
  316. physics, or when a student finally gets just why physics is cool, Mr. Foust
  317. notes it’s one of the most satisfying feelings as a teacher.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;He notes one of the most amazing moments as
  318. being when you have students during a more idle period, either in-between
  319. classes or at lunch for example, where they could talk about anything in the
  320. world, and yet they are arguing about what happens in physics or why something
  321. in the world happens because of physics. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;Mr. Foust’s greatest joy in teaching has
  322. really been in learning from the students, letting the students explore and
  323. discover how to approach concepts in ways that he wouldn’t have thought of
  324. before.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  325. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  326. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  327. &lt;br /&gt;
  328. &lt;br /&gt;
  329. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  330. &lt;/div&gt;
  331. &lt;br /&gt;
  332. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  333. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcEAG9-M3txQptkOu88jgu9E497jqQelrOLHBA6VEEzHkR-mHDE_gqNOBIIgD1YzedGfOmYxa5Rzw_G7DiR6D6MvYx_Hw9BkNdpNvmpunPULqWUAEOl5uYSJYaZyqzIwFDz8Oh/s1600/IMG_0344.JPG&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1024&quot; data-original-width=&quot;765&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcEAG9-M3txQptkOu88jgu9E497jqQelrOLHBA6VEEzHkR-mHDE_gqNOBIIgD1YzedGfOmYxa5Rzw_G7DiR6D6MvYx_Hw9BkNdpNvmpunPULqWUAEOl5uYSJYaZyqzIwFDz8Oh/s320/IMG_0344.JPG&quot; width=&quot;239&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  334. &lt;br /&gt;
  335. &lt;br /&gt;
  336. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  337. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;Thank you again to Mr. Foust for
  338. visiting the JMU Department of Physics and Astronomy, and especially for being
  339. a fantastic educator.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;We certainly don’t
  340. present the High School Physics Teacher of the Year Award lightly, and it’s
  341. always wonderful to get to know and share the impact that a great teacher has
  342. on our students.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;Another thank you as
  343. well to Devin Stipe for nominating Mr. Foust, and we hope to see more fantastic
  344. physics educators in the future!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  345. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  346. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/8796555703926345047'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/8796555703926345047'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/11/draft-2019-jmu-high-school-physics.html' title='The 2019 JMU High School Physics Teacher of the Year, Mr. Christopher Foust'/><author><name>Theodore Chu</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14923865283892931119</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKdQ_5oczV_ePINtyI5pf0w80TNFF5pvp-Wd2odnr2tFuMVhAjz53FMyLzZjwE0rGJf2KqWipojkKP-rw5l-GATZMjuXhHYD7pOE-PSTWsgrC_CstkHy4pr7GR-UClYB2voOUg/s72-c/IMG_0343.JPG" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-8763984952248412144</id><published>2019-11-13T10:39:00.001-05:00</published><updated>2019-11-15T10:32:51.595-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Senior Spotlight Series"/><title type='text'>Senior Spotlight: Nicole Voce</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  347. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;A new interview with&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;another&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;one of our awesome and fearsome seniors, by&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Maeven Ludke:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  348. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  349. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  350. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizkqnKB4p9_F7jJV6dWcA2Q252Cfnwh6md7E2o1fAtm-q7YYyHQGS14VvqNXiDs90O8NlyPKhY2qHgmvFPADxjA84PKYuoVRBS5Wp8HcFg3y7M56asQIAvG4qoBHbJxHOYqptrMA/s1600/nicole.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1439&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1600&quot; height=&quot;287&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizkqnKB4p9_F7jJV6dWcA2Q252Cfnwh6md7E2o1fAtm-q7YYyHQGS14VvqNXiDs90O8NlyPKhY2qHgmvFPADxjA84PKYuoVRBS5Wp8HcFg3y7M56asQIAvG4qoBHbJxHOYqptrMA/s320/nicole.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  351. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  352. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Name:&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #134f5c;&quot;&gt; Nicole Voce&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  353. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  354. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Year: Senior&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  355. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  356. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Majors/Minors: Physics &amp;amp; Math majors&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  357. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  358. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Hometown: Great Falls, VA&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  359. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  360. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;High School: Paul VI Catholic High School&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  361. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  362. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  363. &lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  364. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;ML: What are some of your interests outside of school and physics?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  365. &lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  366. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #134f5c;&quot;&gt;NV: I really enjoy being active and I especially like being outdoors. I grew up spending summers and winters in upstate NY, so I’ve been hiking and skiing since I was a baby. I also enjoy camping and traveling, both in the US and abroad.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  367. &lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  368. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;ML:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;What challenges and obstacles have you faced in your career&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  369. &lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  370. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #134f5c;&quot;&gt;NV: I’ve faced the standard sexism that most females in Physics deal with. Alongside of that, when I was growing up, I was told by my female teachers that women should pursue subjects like English or History or “softer” sciences, like Psychology and Biology. Not only was I discouraged from seriously studying Math and Physics, my teachers also reinforced the idea that I, as a female, would never understand Math or Physics as well as my male classmates. I went to high school with my brother who is a year older than me. I would always have the same STEM teachers that he had and every single one would compare our performances. I cannot count the amount of times a teacher expected me to understand a concept just because my brother effortlessly understood the material. Most of the time, they implied that I wasn’t as good as my brother in these STEM fields because I was a female. All of this has led me to having a bad case of imposter syndrome.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  371. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  372. &lt;i style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  373. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  374. &lt;i style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;ML:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;What values, experiences, and/or perspectives do you feel you&#39;ll bring to the next stage in your life?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  375. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  376. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  377. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  378. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #134f5c;&quot;&gt;NV: I decided to double major in Physics and Math to prove to myself that I could do something difficult and succeed. During my time at JMU, my definition of “success” has changed from having good grades to learning as much as I can as well as I can. I still care about grades (only because I want to go to graduate school), but my focus has shifted from doing anything to get an A to actually absorbing and understanding the material presented to me. One of my main takeaways from college is that success is relative, and it doesn’t matter if other people consider you successful as long as you are confident that you’ve done the best you can do.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  379. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  380. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  381. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  382. &lt;i style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;ML:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;What are you most proud of?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  383. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  384. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  385. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  386. &lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #134f5c; font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;NV: I’m most proud of the fact that I was able to balance school, work, research, and life fairly well for my four years here. Academic wise, I’m most proud of my research and all of the work I’ve put into it. My project is my baby.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  387. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  388. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  389. &lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  390. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  391. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/8763984952248412144'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/8763984952248412144'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/11/senior-spotlight-nicole-voce.html' title='Senior Spotlight: Nicole Voce'/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizkqnKB4p9_F7jJV6dWcA2Q252Cfnwh6md7E2o1fAtm-q7YYyHQGS14VvqNXiDs90O8NlyPKhY2qHgmvFPADxjA84PKYuoVRBS5Wp8HcFg3y7M56asQIAvG4qoBHbJxHOYqptrMA/s72-c/nicole.jpg" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-7911296410360311501</id><published>2019-11-13T10:29:00.002-05:00</published><updated>2019-11-15T10:32:51.586-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Senior Spotlight Series"/><title type='text'>Senior Spotlight: Maeven Luedke </title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  392. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Maeven Luedke is a 4&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt;&amp;nbsp;year senior at JMU. She’s majoring in Physics and has minors in Mathematics and Theatre. Maeven is from Hamilton, VA and attended Loudoun Valley High School. She is extremely involved in Forbes Theatre here at JMU and hopes to find a career in acoustical engineering after graduation. Maeven is being interviewed by &lt;span style=&quot;color: #134f5c;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Nicole Voce&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, another senior Physics major.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  393. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  394. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  396. &lt;/div&gt;
  397. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2iuewn9sIHPV2BJrjnaglc1sxdtckO52gzAMJVHgcd4N4zBJvTQ0Y8L7AZZ-a1HGCLxdThShiXfyorkmCskrcmnfuzUOGrwxoIELhETcNPPn2Sli2z1JKLR8PO4eQAFReFY6Qxg/s1600/maeven.JPG&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;960&quot; data-original-width=&quot;720&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2iuewn9sIHPV2BJrjnaglc1sxdtckO52gzAMJVHgcd4N4zBJvTQ0Y8L7AZZ-a1HGCLxdThShiXfyorkmCskrcmnfuzUOGrwxoIELhETcNPPn2Sli2z1JKLR8PO4eQAFReFY6Qxg/s320/maeven.JPG&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  398.  
  399.  
  400. &lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  401. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #134f5c;&quot;&gt;NV: What advice would you give to high school or early undergraduate students who are interested in the science career path?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  402. &lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  403. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;ML: My advice is to always find the time for outside hobbies—you will need breaks from science. My other advice is do not dismiss artistic classes or skills as being invaluable to your science career. Many famous scientists are also artists; this list includes Samuel Morse, the inventor of Morse Code as well as being the&amp;nbsp;co-founder of the&amp;nbsp;National Academy of Design in Manhattan,&amp;nbsp;after training at the&amp;nbsp;London’s Royal Academy of Arts.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  404. &lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  405. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #134f5c;&quot;&gt;NV: What are some of your interests outside of school and physics?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  406. &lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  407. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;ML: I am very involved in the theatre here at JMU. I had the opportunity to be a part of five shows freshman year, which I largely contribute to making Forbes my second home here at JMU.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;I am also involved in the orchestra club here with a few other physics majors as well.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  408. &lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  409. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #134f5c;&quot;&gt;NV: What experience has contributed most to your learning?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  410. &lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  411. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;ML: I have learned the most from being able to learn through both the creative side and the mathematical side of acoustics. I can spend hours learning in the theatre through setting up a complex sound configuration and then being able to use this in my math and psychology classes. Using the equations and relationships I learn in math, I can then apply them to different acoustical designs in the theatre and hear how these equations actually sound and what they do.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  412. &lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  413. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #134f5c;&quot;&gt;NV: What challenges and obstacles have you faced in your career?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  414. &lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  415. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;ML: So far, the biggest challenge I’ve faced has been finding classes that interest what I want to do with my life currently. Through theatre, I’ve always had an interest in acoustics. Physics does not have classes really dedicated to acoustics; which has given me the ability to branch out into other departments to find these classes. I have been able to take a physics of waves class, a physics digital lab, two acoustical psychology classes, including one of them being an independent study, three semesters of psychology acoustics research, a math research acoustics class in which I did a joint project with Tom Carr, the acoustic engineer for Forbes, and a math class on waves. I am grateful to have been able to work with physics, theatre, psychology, math departments to take as many acoustics classes as I can, however, coordinating classes, time, and four departments has been one of the biggest challenges so far.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  416. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/7911296410360311501'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/7911296410360311501'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/11/senior-spotlight-maeven-luedke.html' title='Senior Spotlight: Maeven Luedke '/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2iuewn9sIHPV2BJrjnaglc1sxdtckO52gzAMJVHgcd4N4zBJvTQ0Y8L7AZZ-a1HGCLxdThShiXfyorkmCskrcmnfuzUOGrwxoIELhETcNPPn2Sli2z1JKLR8PO4eQAFReFY6Qxg/s72-c/maeven.JPG" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-2754690526525200879</id><published>2019-11-08T14:07:00.002-05:00</published><updated>2019-11-08T14:08:46.613-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Senior Spotlight Series"/><title type='text'>Senior Spotlight: Jorge Peña </title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  417. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: medium;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Jorge Peña is a senior Physics major, Math and Robotics minor at James Madison University and currently does research in Nuclear Physics. &amp;nbsp;He is from Fairfax, Virginia where, while in high school, he ran track, cross country, and volunteered at a hospital for most of his high school career. Jorge initially&amp;nbsp;didn&#39;t think he would go into Physics as he came into College as Pre-Med, but this shifted as he took courses at JMU. &amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0b5394;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Nikolas Roeske&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, another senior physics major, conducted this interview.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: times new roman, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  418. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  419. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyRmhW0JS8LIQ5DV7w6epkKqBFxLPLIJKMRpUbdSLFbtXy2fkMn4EV0cNCHkPUlWT0BpEBQaaF-KATuq4Y7p3OXyj_caZSQKr93jPBKIbLhvxFz5XtspEqmzBV9Uw0L8xgaZYOWQ/s1600/jorge.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;983&quot; data-original-width=&quot;566&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyRmhW0JS8LIQ5DV7w6epkKqBFxLPLIJKMRpUbdSLFbtXy2fkMn4EV0cNCHkPUlWT0BpEBQaaF-KATuq4Y7p3OXyj_caZSQKr93jPBKIbLhvxFz5XtspEqmzBV9Uw0L8xgaZYOWQ/s320/jorge.png&quot; width=&quot;184&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  420. &lt;div style=&quot;margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  421. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: medium;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  422. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  423. &lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 13.5pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0b5394;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;NR: What most excites you about doing research?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  424. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  425. &lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 13.5pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  426. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  427. &lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 13.5pt;&quot;&gt;JP: The most exciting/interesting thing about research is not knowing what you are going to learn next. When it came to my research, we did a lot of prototyping and this is meant that with every new iteration we would usually come across a new problem and this allowed us to just learn more and more about the topic as we worked on it. Ultimately seeing the final product work and seeing the results is always satisfying as well.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  428. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  429. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  430. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  431. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 19.260000228881836px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0b5394;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;NR: What lead you to this major?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  432. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  433. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 19.260000228881836px;&quot;&gt;JP: I was an engineering major, however I strongly disliked the classes and did not like the lack of choices in the field.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;This caused me to switch to physics and I do not regret it.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  434. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  435. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 19.260000228881836px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  436. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  437. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 19.260000228881836px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0b5394;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;NR: What are you most proud of?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  438. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  439. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 19.260000228881836px;&quot;&gt;JP: I am most proud of the fact that I am a role model for my younger brother. Who is in high school and I want him to see what he can accomplish by watching me.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  440. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  441. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 19.260000228881836px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  442. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  443. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 19.260000228881836px;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0b5394;&quot;&gt;NR: What do you like to do outside of classes?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  444. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  445. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 19.260000228881836px;&quot;&gt;JP: Some of my interest outside of the classroom include practicing the guitar and spending time with my little brother. Also I enjoy spending time with friends when I get the chance.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  446. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/2754690526525200879'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/2754690526525200879'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/11/jorge-pena-is-senior-physics-major-math.html' title='Senior Spotlight: Jorge Peña '/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyRmhW0JS8LIQ5DV7w6epkKqBFxLPLIJKMRpUbdSLFbtXy2fkMn4EV0cNCHkPUlWT0BpEBQaaF-KATuq4Y7p3OXyj_caZSQKr93jPBKIbLhvxFz5XtspEqmzBV9Uw0L8xgaZYOWQ/s72-c/jorge.png" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-6362076970700895560</id><published>2019-11-08T13:55:00.003-05:00</published><updated>2019-12-19T12:25:17.513-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Senior Spotlight Series"/><title type='text'>Senior Spotlight: Nikolas Roeske</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  447. Nikolas Roeske is a senior physics student at James Madison University&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;with a minor in mathematics and a concentration in material&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;physics. He attended Patriot High School in Bristow, Virginia. &amp;nbsp;While&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;there, he was an active member of the schools marching band. &amp;nbsp;Nik was&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;not always interested in physics, at a young age he had a strong&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;interest in history and desired to be an archeologist. &amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #741b47;&quot;&gt;Jorge Pena&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;another senior physics major conducted this interview.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  448. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  449. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLubVyoq7V_3Ar_-msHQeNNOc_B3IGAxKexBd1E_-vUIq9ImDQxWnetmMp8nFfS5PCe6piRtreNf2Fm4nvJjuGcr46J7lBGE3NjxdQ6u_K2DK9SqorcvFBAMddRWH8Kk0Eep7znQ/s1600/nick_roeske.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;581&quot; data-original-width=&quot;375&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLubVyoq7V_3Ar_-msHQeNNOc_B3IGAxKexBd1E_-vUIq9ImDQxWnetmMp8nFfS5PCe6piRtreNf2Fm4nvJjuGcr46J7lBGE3NjxdQ6u_K2DK9SqorcvFBAMddRWH8Kk0Eep7znQ/s320/nick_roeske.png&quot; width=&quot;206&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  450. &lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #741b47;&quot;&gt;
  451. JP: What most excites you about doing research?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  452. &lt;i style=&quot;background-color: #741b47;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
  453. NR: The most exciting part about research is the satisfaction you get&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;when you solve a problem that you have been working on for months. The&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;whole time you have a professor with you who guides you through the&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;process and teaches you.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  454. &lt;br /&gt;
  455. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #741b47;&quot;&gt;JP: What led to choose your major and what do you like?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  456. &lt;br /&gt;
  457. NR: I took engineering classes in high school. I enjoyed them very&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;much. I took a physics class in college and thought it more&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;interesting/insightful and so I decided to pursue it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  458. &lt;br /&gt;
  459. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #741b47;&quot;&gt;JP: What are some of your interests outside of school and physics?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  460. &lt;br /&gt;
  461. NR: Even though I haven’t done it lately, I do enjoy the sport of&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;fencing. I used to spend a good amount of time pursuing that. &amp;nbsp;Other&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;than that, I enjoy spending time with friends outside of class and&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;playing video games.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  462. &lt;br /&gt;
  463. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #741b47;&quot;&gt;JP: What are you most proud of?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  464. &lt;br /&gt;
  465. I am most proud of my three older brothers, each of whom are currently&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;successful in their own career paths. One of them is a nuclear&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;physicist who is currently an officer in the Navy, while the others&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;are in the Army and Marines.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  466. &lt;div&gt;
  467. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  468. &lt;br /&gt;
  469. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  470. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJiWIKCW2w-2uztB3a0DcPHKhlO36-KXuEi7IRITSioIroO0R__WigXYvDrA-gLHdkhyphenhyphenj8H4tEqATfXCBC03ZJOpkmDWeOUtIAQXi99QnqW5LUtio9AQ-5sL5m5dr6ApsVpUTkUw/s1600/nick_roeske.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/6362076970700895560'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/6362076970700895560'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/11/senior-spotlight-nikolas-roeske.html' title='Senior Spotlight: Nikolas Roeske'/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLubVyoq7V_3Ar_-msHQeNNOc_B3IGAxKexBd1E_-vUIq9ImDQxWnetmMp8nFfS5PCe6piRtreNf2Fm4nvJjuGcr46J7lBGE3NjxdQ6u_K2DK9SqorcvFBAMddRWH8Kk0Eep7znQ/s72-c/nick_roeske.png" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-9176282038987944151</id><published>2019-11-04T08:00:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2019-11-04T08:08:28.468-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Senior Spotlight Series"/><title type='text'>Senior Spotlight:  Inteha Hassan</title><content type='html'>&lt;div dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot; trbidi=&quot;on&quot;&gt;
  471. &lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
  472. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1iKNNoFbF_h1XchKphJyX_FEGrKhLUtJtUAyqhV50mMfIp-hgw1wcJHwcc_cN-sCf0jGJ_ULqDRi-dhGShaLUQ7Ccs2mww5y6x2ZrmjI3XEzOyG8Vgnym3H4rYSEBpkNroSHK/s1600/IMG_0305.JPG&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;266&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1iKNNoFbF_h1XchKphJyX_FEGrKhLUtJtUAyqhV50mMfIp-hgw1wcJHwcc_cN-sCf0jGJ_ULqDRi-dhGShaLUQ7Ccs2mww5y6x2ZrmjI3XEzOyG8Vgnym3H4rYSEBpkNroSHK/s400/IMG_0305.JPG&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  473. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Inteha at Woodward Camp in Pennsylvania&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  474. &lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
  475. &lt;br /&gt;
  476. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpFirst&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  477. &lt;span style=&quot;border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;Up next in our Senior Spotlight
  478. series is Inteha Hassan!&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Inteha is from
  479. Herndon, Virginia, where she graduated from Herndon High School in 2016, but
  480. she also spent a year of her high school career living in Texas.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;She is a physics major pursuing the
  481. geophysics multidisciplinary track, and has minors in geophysics, geology, and
  482. mathematics.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Inteha currently does
  483. research with Dr. McGary from the JMU Geology Department.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Her love of nature extends beyond simply the
  484. Earth, and she loves caring for her cat, Mochi, and her many houseplants.&amp;nbsp; Inteha is also very involved with helping the broader JMU community better understand physics, being both a learning assistant for the introductory physics classes and recently named Tutor of the Week for her work at the JMU Science and Math Learning Center.&amp;nbsp; Fellow senior
  485. Teddy Chu had the privilege of interviewing her.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  486. &lt;br /&gt;
  487. &lt;br /&gt;
  488. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpFirst&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  489. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;When most people think of geology, we tend to think it just studies
  490. rocks.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;What can you tell us about the
  491. work you do in geophysics, and how you got into the work you’re currently
  492. doing?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  493. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  494. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  495. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  496. &lt;span style=&quot;border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;Geophysics is more than just
  497. rocks!&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;I am currently working on imaging
  498. the substructure of western Virginia by measuring fluctuations in the earth&#39;s
  499. electric and magnetic field and developing the substructure&#39;s resistivity
  500. distribution. With this information, I want to assess whether western Virginia
  501. is viable for enhanced geothermal systems. I decided to pursue geophysics, and
  502. more specifically geothermal energy, because I was initially interested in the
  503. oil and gas sector of geophysics, but I came to the realization that I didn&#39;t
  504. want to contribute to climate change; renewable energy is actually really cool!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  505. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  506. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  507. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  508. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;What has your favorite class
  509. been at JMU?&amp;nbsp; What about it made it your favorite?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  510. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  511. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  512. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  513. &lt;span style=&quot;border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;Since I&#39;m a hybrid of two
  514. departments, I have two favorite classes at JMU. The first class was my Global
  515. Geophysics class, GEOL 440.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Global
  516. Geophysics shed a different light on physics as a whole for me and it was
  517. incredibly refreshing to finally apply all the concepts I had learned from my
  518. previous classes. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  519. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  520. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  521. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  522. &lt;span style=&quot;border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;The second is University
  523. Physics III, PHYS 260. It&#39;s one of my favorites because it inspired my interest
  524. in my research project (shout-out to Maxwell&#39;s equations) and I had a fantastic
  525. professor who made the class really enjoyable!&amp;nbsp;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  526. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  527. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  528. &lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
  529. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdz50sK_7BXqukkmoice1nF7NtmNX68OEI94-hoYwKCsGIWzciWqSOELlqqCofB-gmUWnTxhllJJeRGm1jKmZ_eC6HbBaSvV6-HNY6HfCiHl9liRYU1vs1OERFih9OgnfGPOnv/s1600/IMG_6222.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;200&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdz50sK_7BXqukkmoice1nF7NtmNX68OEI94-hoYwKCsGIWzciWqSOELlqqCofB-gmUWnTxhllJJeRGm1jKmZ_eC6HbBaSvV6-HNY6HfCiHl9liRYU1vs1OERFih9OgnfGPOnv/s200/IMG_6222.jpg&quot; width=&quot;199&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  530. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Her Meowjesty, Miss Mochi&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  531. &lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
  532. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  533. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background: white; border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;What are some of your interests outside of school
  534. and physics?&amp;nbsp; What are your hobbies?&amp;nbsp; How do you like your eggs in
  535. the morning?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  536. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  537. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  538. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  539. &lt;span style=&quot;border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;Some of my interests are my cat
  540. (her name is Mochi, she&#39;s super cute), cheerleading (fun fact: I was a JMU
  541. Varsity cheerleader for 3 years), and I love going to music festivals!&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;I like all types of music festivals, and the
  542. last one I went to was Moonrise back in August.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;
  543. &lt;/span&gt;I hope to go to SXSW or Lollapalooza sometime in the future! &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  544. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  545. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  546. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  547. &lt;span style=&quot;border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;I also like my eggs fried, with
  548. a soft yolk, on avocado toast.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  549. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  550. &lt;span style=&quot;border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  551. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  552. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background: white; border: none 1.0pt; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;What are you most proud of?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  553. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  554. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  555. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  556. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;I am most proud of my job as a
  557. tumbling instructor at a summer sports camp called Woodward. When it comes to
  558. tumbling, kids must overcome several obstacles, mainly their own fear and lack
  559. of self-confidence. Being able to help children achieve new skills, giving them
  560. the confidence they need, and providing them with an experience that they&#39;ll
  561. always remember is so incredibly rewarding. &lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Positively impacting the youth is such a
  562. crucial factor in building a progressive future, and I will always be proud to
  563. contributing to that!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  564. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  565. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  566. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;Thank you so much for your time Inteha!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;Good luck with the rest of the year!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  567. &lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
  568. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXhgJ6YijegsoGOm7XHTpUQzBbsQNhfCZeU-wUaDxzkEi-9CBrcbMkZS7SKspFltb5J3SEu_jwctcKYhB4nWOOiYxl5BBYrb_L7yM9KS8Q2tXJ8oNOj-KR4BkdOAH32KB5X1Cp/s1600/IMG_0246_2.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXhgJ6YijegsoGOm7XHTpUQzBbsQNhfCZeU-wUaDxzkEi-9CBrcbMkZS7SKspFltb5J3SEu_jwctcKYhB4nWOOiYxl5BBYrb_L7yM9KS8Q2tXJ8oNOj-KR4BkdOAH32KB5X1Cp/s400/IMG_0246_2.jpg&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  569. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Presenting some nifty thermodynamics&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  570. &lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
  571. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormalCxSpMiddle&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  572. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  573. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  574. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/9176282038987944151'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/9176282038987944151'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/11/senior-spotlight-inteha-hassan.html' title='Senior Spotlight:  Inteha Hassan'/><author><name>Theodore Chu</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14923865283892931119</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1iKNNoFbF_h1XchKphJyX_FEGrKhLUtJtUAyqhV50mMfIp-hgw1wcJHwcc_cN-sCf0jGJ_ULqDRi-dhGShaLUQ7Ccs2mww5y6x2ZrmjI3XEzOyG8Vgnym3H4rYSEBpkNroSHK/s72-c/IMG_0305.JPG" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-5595572960463066915</id><published>2019-10-29T12:33:00.001-04:00</published><updated>2019-11-04T14:37:15.523-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Senior Spotlight Series"/><title type='text'>Senior Spotlight: Tyler Hain </title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;
  575. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  576. &lt;i style=&quot;font-family: helvetica;&quot;&gt;Tyler Hain is a senior in the JMU physics department and transferred here two years ago from Blue Ridge Community College. He is a Physics and Math double major and is from Staunton, Virginia. Tyler is currently doing research with Dr. Melnikov and hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in theoretical physics after he has completed his undergraduate degree here at JMU. When he’s not solving complex physics problems, Tyler likes to play the guitar and bass in his free time. Tyler is interviewed here by a fellow senior physics major, &lt;span style=&quot;color: #674ea7;&quot;&gt;Inteha Hassan&lt;/span&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  577. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  578. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  579. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  580. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8T4_LtupBZvGH_3C-4qd_6rwJ2sz0t5joZnvuyu7GUNmhqXzCzGeJcGVa7OKdm6Tx-3luIL4XDmDL3yEII5fg3y-f7xK-PQ2CSUnSTTXJO-Pflm7H9SfckxpnziUF53YFKICGZQ/s1600/tyler_hain.JPG&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1600&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1200&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8T4_LtupBZvGH_3C-4qd_6rwJ2sz0t5joZnvuyu7GUNmhqXzCzGeJcGVa7OKdm6Tx-3luIL4XDmDL3yEII5fg3y-f7xK-PQ2CSUnSTTXJO-Pflm7H9SfckxpnziUF53YFKICGZQ/s320/tyler_hain.JPG&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;border: 1pt none; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  581. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;&quot;&gt;
  582. &lt;b&gt;IH:&lt;/b&gt; &lt;i&gt;What led you to choose your major and what do you like about it?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  583. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;
  584. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  585. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;&quot;&gt;
  586. &lt;b&gt;TH: &lt;/b&gt;I liked my intro physics class that I took at community college because it helped me understand my math classes better. That hasn&#39;t changed at JMU; I still like physics because I get to use lots of cool math. For example, in my particle physics class we learned about how fundamental aspects of nature arise from symmetries. To describe this mathematically, you must use a branch of math called abstract algebra; which, as its name implies, is the study of general algebraic structures. One wouldn&#39;t necessarily expect to use such abstract math in physics, but groups (one of the main types of algebraic structures) are the basis for much of the Standard Model of particle physics.&lt;/div&gt;
  587. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;
  588. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  589. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;&quot;&gt;
  590. &lt;b&gt;IH:&lt;/b&gt; &lt;i&gt;Who have been some inspiring mentors/role models in your life?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  591. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;
  592. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  593. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;&quot;&gt;
  594. &lt;b&gt;TH:&lt;/b&gt; Dr. Ilarion Melnikov has actually been a great mentor for me. He&#39;s helped me figure out what I want to do academically ever since I took his class on wave mechanics. I added the math major, which led to me learn a lot pure math. This in turn inspired me to pursue grad school in theoretical physics, and I am currently doing research with Dr. Melnikov on supersymmetric quantum field theories.&lt;/div&gt;
  595. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;
  596. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  597. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;&quot;&gt;
  598. &lt;b&gt;IH: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;i&gt;What advice would you give to high school or early undergraduate students who are interested in the science career path?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  599. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;
  600. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  601. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;&quot;&gt;
  602. &lt;b&gt;TH: &lt;/b&gt;Learn LaTeX! Being able to write up lab reports, papers, or presentations in a neat, professional way is invaluable, and LaTeX is the best and most efficient way to do it.&lt;/div&gt;
  603. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;
  604. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  605. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;&quot;&gt;
  606. &lt;b&gt;IH:&lt;/b&gt; &lt;i&gt;What are you most proud of?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  607. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;&quot;&gt;
  608. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  609. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  610. &lt;/div&gt;
  611. &lt;div style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;&quot;&gt;
  612. &lt;b&gt;TH:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt; I am very proud of my grades. Obviously grades don&#39;t mean everything, but I&#39;m definitely proud to have kept a high GPA through college &lt;span style=&quot;color: #674ea7;&quot;&gt;[Editor&#39;s note: that is a 4.0, for the record]&lt;/span&gt;. I had to work hard in order to understand all the material in my classes, since I am double majoring in 2 STEM fields.&lt;/div&gt;
  613. &lt;div&gt;
  614. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  615. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  616. &lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;border: 1pt none; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  617. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  618. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  619. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  620. &lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; border: 1pt none; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; padding: 0in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  621. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/5595572960463066915'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/5595572960463066915'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/10/senior-spotlight-tyler-hain.html' title='Senior Spotlight: Tyler Hain '/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8T4_LtupBZvGH_3C-4qd_6rwJ2sz0t5joZnvuyu7GUNmhqXzCzGeJcGVa7OKdm6Tx-3luIL4XDmDL3yEII5fg3y-f7xK-PQ2CSUnSTTXJO-Pflm7H9SfckxpnziUF53YFKICGZQ/s72-c/tyler_hain.JPG" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-681602212609469504</id><published>2019-10-24T22:22:00.001-04:00</published><updated>2019-11-04T14:37:29.002-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Anca Constantin"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Senior Spotlight Series"/><title type='text'>Senior Spotlight: Sloane McNeill</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.199999809265137px; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  622. &lt;i style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;We&amp;nbsp;thought you must all wonder about who our&amp;nbsp;students are, about what they do,&amp;nbsp;whether in our classrooms, or outside, about&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 14.666666984558105px;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;what&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 14.666666984558105px;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;their dreams are like&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;. &amp;nbsp;So we have started a Senior Spotlight series, where one could get a (tiny) glimpse of their awesomeness. &amp;nbsp;We continue here with a spotlight on Sloane McNeill, from Avondale Pennsylvania (Avon Grove High School&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;),&amp;nbsp;who has been&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;font-size: 14.666666984558105px;&quot;&gt;interviewed by &lt;a href=&quot;http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/10/senior-spotlight-logan-zentz-we-you.html&quot;&gt;Logan Zentz&lt;/a&gt;, another JMU senior&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 14.666666984558105px;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;physics&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;font-size: 14.666666984558105px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;major.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  623. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  624. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  625. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  626. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiImflgFmMHiROy6ePDd3MTJkiNFdpPg9jQFAl_OFRTBAK5ELftOzD0858RDExoUPMQ77rdQfNlt7_Lku9vSkp09gy3eDCsdAhJ5G1-27oqoiRoSN9TZ-t8q325_FH30CkN0XPnxA/s1600/sloane.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;600&quot; data-original-width=&quot;689&quot; height=&quot;278&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiImflgFmMHiROy6ePDd3MTJkiNFdpPg9jQFAl_OFRTBAK5ELftOzD0858RDExoUPMQ77rdQfNlt7_Lku9vSkp09gy3eDCsdAhJ5G1-27oqoiRoSN9TZ-t8q325_FH30CkN0XPnxA/s320/sloane.png&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;LZ: What motivated you to become a physics major at JMU? &amp;nbsp;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  627. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  628. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  629. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  630. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;SM: I was always very interested in my science classes in high school, especially when I took physics. I found it to be very challenging and could tell that there was much more to learn about than what the school year had time for. Once I realized I could combine my passions of astronomy and physics together, I knew I wanted to major in physics.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  631. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  632. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;When looking at programs at other schools, I found JMU to be the most appealing. Since JMU does not have a graduate school, all of the research opportunities are given to undergraduates. I was excited that I could start exploring different aspects of astrophysics as early as my first year.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  633. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  634. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  635. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  636. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;LZ:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;What were some of your favorite classes you have taken physics or otherwise?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  637. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  638. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  639. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  640. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;SM:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;One of my favorite classes so far has been Physics 270: Modern Physics. This class was the first time in my physics education where we were taught about material I had never been exposed to previously. The course is designed to introduce the ideas of quantum physics, specifically how they relate to atomic structure and nuclear physics. Our professor, Dr. Hughes, was able to introduce all of these ideas with us, while at the same time relating it back to familiar ideas in order for us to understand easier. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;I also really enjoyed the material taught in Astronomy 221: Star Systems, the Interstellar Medium, and Cosmology taught by Dr. Sean Scully. Dr. Scully always encouraged questions and was available during office hours. I had a great time learning more about cosmology as well as being introduced to my later research project: masers.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  642. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  643. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  644. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  645. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  646. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;LZ:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;What do you do for your research and why were you attracted to that area of study?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  647. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  648. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  649. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;
  650. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;SM:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;For the past two years, I have been working with Dr. Anca Constantin on better understanding some of the mid-infrared properties that are associated with galaxies that host megamasers in a disk-like configuration. Though they are extremely rare, these types of emissions give us direct distances to the galaxies, as well as the most accurate measurement of the supermassive black hole mass at their center. I initially approached Dr. Constantin after hearing about her research because I found very limited material on the subject and wanted to learn more.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  652. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  654. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;LZ:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;What are you most proud of?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  655. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  656. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;SM:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;I am most proud of my ability to share my interests with others who have a wide range of experience with physics. I find it beneficial to be able to discuss material I have learned from classes or even my own research with some of my friends who may have never even taken a physics class before. I am proud that I have been able to share some of the things that I am passionate about with others.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  657. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/681602212609469504'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/681602212609469504'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/10/senior-spotlight-sloane-mcneill.html' title='Senior Spotlight: Sloane McNeill'/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiImflgFmMHiROy6ePDd3MTJkiNFdpPg9jQFAl_OFRTBAK5ELftOzD0858RDExoUPMQ77rdQfNlt7_Lku9vSkp09gy3eDCsdAhJ5G1-27oqoiRoSN9TZ-t8q325_FH30CkN0XPnxA/s72-c/sloane.png" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-3808882669152911947</id><published>2019-10-21T13:23:00.002-04:00</published><updated>2019-11-04T14:37:15.511-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Senior Spotlight Series"/><title type='text'>Senior Spotlight: Sean Christian</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  658. Sean Christian is a 4&lt;sup&gt;th&amp;nbsp;&lt;/sup&gt;year senior here at JMU.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;He is double majoring in Physics and Geology, with minors in Mathematics, Geophysics, and Astronomy, and concentrating in geophysics.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;He does research with Dr. Butner.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Sean is from Springfield, VA and attended West Springfield High School.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;He is a proud member of the Marching Royal Dukes (MRD) here at JMU.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;After college, Sean hopes to find a career in the field of planetary science. Sean is being interviewed by &lt;span style=&quot;color: purple;&quot;&gt;Matthew Almond&lt;/span&gt;, another Senior physics major.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  659. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
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  661. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  662. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgnoIsWA-mcO7k8j_whZv0auCERPkzrs07NlnmiWG92v6hKXrsAb-sspnb6Cpo4lu8F80ENSqoEhADTyAKou9gE_yat10bWKhr6CcYdwLSvgKqwwAnDtvF1qrQ1rvrKRZr_Ai3nw/s1600/sean_christian.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1600&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1200&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgnoIsWA-mcO7k8j_whZv0auCERPkzrs07NlnmiWG92v6hKXrsAb-sspnb6Cpo4lu8F80ENSqoEhADTyAKou9gE_yat10bWKhr6CcYdwLSvgKqwwAnDtvF1qrQ1rvrKRZr_Ai3nw/s320/sean_christian.jpg&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple;&quot;&gt;MA: What led you to Physics as a degree?&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;What about your concentration?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  663. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
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  665. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  666. SC: When I first took Physics in high school, I seemed to have both a bit of a natural ability and a passion for the subject.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;I took the advanced physics course in my senior year of high school and that class helped me to realize that Physics is something I could see myself doing for a career.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;When I arrived at JMU, I got interested in planetary science as well as sub-surface physical properties.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;I found out that we had a geophysics track here.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;So, it seemed like a natural decision to concentrate in geophysics.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  669. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  670. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple;&quot;&gt;MA: What are your interests outside of school?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  674. SC: One of my biggest passions outside of Physics is music.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;I actually almost decided to become a music major here.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;So, a large part of my time is spent being a member of the Marching Royal Dukes here on campus.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  678. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple;&quot;&gt;MA: What pushed you to choose Physics over Music?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  682. SC: I would say that physics provides a greater breadth of career opportunities than Music.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  686. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple;&quot;&gt;MA: What are your long-term career goals?&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  687. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
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  689. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  690. SC: My career goal is to end up studying the geophysical properties of planets outside of our solar system.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;I see myself moving directly into industry out of undergrad and if my employer will sponsor it, potentially going back to school to get a masters or PhD in planetary science.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  694. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple;&quot;&gt;MA: What are you most proud of, considering your time at JMU?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  697. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  698. SC: Within the physics major, I am most proud of all of the knowledge I’ve gained throughout my studies.&amp;nbsp;Outside of physics, I am most proud of participating in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade with the MRD’s.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  699. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/3808882669152911947'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/3808882669152911947'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/10/senior-spotlight-sean-christian.html' title='Senior Spotlight: Sean Christian'/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgnoIsWA-mcO7k8j_whZv0auCERPkzrs07NlnmiWG92v6hKXrsAb-sspnb6Cpo4lu8F80ENSqoEhADTyAKou9gE_yat10bWKhr6CcYdwLSvgKqwwAnDtvF1qrQ1rvrKRZr_Ai3nw/s72-c/sean_christian.jpg" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-9175854861837052444</id><published>2019-10-19T22:33:00.003-04:00</published><updated>2019-11-04T14:37:15.543-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Senior Spotlight Series"/><title type='text'>Senior Spotlight: Ryan Ferell</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  700. &lt;i style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;We&amp;nbsp;thought you must all wonder about who our&amp;nbsp;students are, about what they do,&amp;nbsp;whether in our classrooms, or outside, about&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 13.199999809265137px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 14.666666984558105px;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;what&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 13.199999809265137px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 14.666666984558105px;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;their dreams are like&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;. &amp;nbsp;So we have started a Senior Spotlight series, where one could get a (tiny) glimpse of their awesomeness. &amp;nbsp;We continue here with a spotlight on Ryan Ferell, from Woodbridge, VA, who has been&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;caret-color: rgb(128, 0, 128); font-size: 14.666666984558105px;&quot;&gt;interviewed by Jack Tressler, a junior&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 14.666666984558105px;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;physics&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;caret-color: rgb(128, 0, 128); font-size: 14.666666984558105px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;major. &amp;nbsp;In Jack&#39;s words:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  702. &lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanpsmt&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  704. &lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanpsmt&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;College is a great time of fun, exploration and change, and for many students, this exploration helps lead them to what they want to do in life and specifically, what sort of career path they want to follow. Personally, I found myself changing a lot through my first year in college, and even more so my sophomore year. As a Physics and Math double major I thought I knew what I wanted to do, and for a time I struggled with, if it really was what I wanted to pursue, and through struggle and self reflection this changed. Now, more than ever, I am more certain on what I want in life, but less so when it comes to what I desire as a career. Alternatively, here at JMU, we have plenty of talented students ready to display their passion for what they do, and are ready to impress, this can be seen by looking at the majority of the Physics Department as well! Ryan Ferell, a senior Physics Major with two minors in Russian and Astronomy has quite the idea of what he strives to be one day; today I got the privilege to interview him and learn a little more about what he anticipates in his future.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  705. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
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  710. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanps&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  711. &lt;b style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1600&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1202&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRJeXTX86gx8uHP9lp_6d-i9oXl44nzVpVCMAzTfKdTgAKiTQdtkQJd3FrF64A6Ex4tew2-p_E6bpT1PzKXFJ0MflJWEVOtxxdXY9tjhZEZ-eRW5E5C2CRAqsa78azRbxSAKFuMw/s320/ryan.jpeg&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanps&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;b&gt;
  712. What made you choose this major? &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  713. &lt;br /&gt;
  714. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanps&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  715. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanpsmt&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;Ryan talked very adamantly about Space, and how much it intrigued him, he told me as a kid he used some paint, string, and other assorted crafts to make a room-sized solar system model on the ceiling of his room! So it’s quite evident, he loved Astronomy, but as he explained, as he got older he realized a career in Astronomy was not very realistic so he decided to major in Physics, as it’s the closest thing that will allow him to understand and study the stars and everything encompassing them.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  716. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanpsmt&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  717. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanps&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700;&quot;&gt;What does it mean to you to be a scientist?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  718. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanps&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  719. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanpsmt&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;To Mr. Ferell, the importance of being a scientist goes beyond lab safety and procedures, and he believes in the discovery of the truth to be the penultimate goal of what scientists do, not just to know, but to use this evidence based observations to shape the way we think and act about real world issues such as what goes on in politics. More succinctly, Ryan believes that science should be a major moving force in Humanity.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  720. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanpsmt&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  721. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanps&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700;&quot;&gt;What are you most proud of?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  722. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanps&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  723. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanpsmt&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;When talking to Ryan about this, it was apparent it was less about a specific thing that he has achieved that he is proud of, but more so that he is proud of his progress as an undergraduate at JMU, and how much his work ethic has improved. He has said that he is proud at how far he has come in the major, despite his shallow math background when he started, and the fact that he has turned low grades at first, into very strong grades by the end of the semester. He is proud of his ability to persevere despite failures and even prove those failures wrong with each success as he grows to soon be a graduate.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  724. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanpsmt&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  725. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanps&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700;&quot;&gt;Where do you see yourself in 10 years? What are your long term goals?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  726. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanps&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  727. &lt;/div&gt;
  728. &lt;/div&gt;
  729. &lt;/div&gt;
  730. &lt;div class=&quot;page&quot; style=&quot;font-family: -webkit-standard;&quot; title=&quot;Page 2&quot;&gt;
  731. &lt;div class=&quot;section&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;
  732. &lt;div class=&quot;layoutArea&quot;&gt;
  733. &lt;div class=&quot;column&quot;&gt;
  734. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanpsmt&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;Now when it comes to long term goals, Ryan has some big goals and he plans on achieving them! He has explained that he has solid plans to get his PhD/Masters in Physics, doing research into Deep Space. &amp;nbsp;Specifically, he has a high interest in finding the Hubble Constant, or he would like to explain the discrepancy in theoretical values of what speed galaxies spin at, versus the actual values we observe. He also explained that if he doesn’t do that, he will join the Air Force, become a pilot, so that when he retires he can become a test pilot for NASA!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  735. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanpsmt&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  736. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;timesnewromanpsmt&amp;quot;; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  737. &lt;/div&gt;
  738. &lt;/div&gt;
  739. &lt;/div&gt;
  740. &lt;/div&gt;
  741. &lt;/div&gt;
  742. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/9175854861837052444'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/9175854861837052444'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/10/senior-spotlight-ryan-ferell.html' title='Senior Spotlight: Ryan Ferell'/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRJeXTX86gx8uHP9lp_6d-i9oXl44nzVpVCMAzTfKdTgAKiTQdtkQJd3FrF64A6Ex4tew2-p_E6bpT1PzKXFJ0MflJWEVOtxxdXY9tjhZEZ-eRW5E5C2CRAqsa78azRbxSAKFuMw/s72-c/ryan.jpeg" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-1968403754806144018</id><published>2019-10-10T12:26:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2019-11-04T14:37:15.477-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Senior Spotlight Series"/><title type='text'>Senior Spotlight: Logan Zentz </title><content type='html'>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  743. &lt;i style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;We&amp;nbsp;thought you must all wonder about who our&amp;nbsp;students are, about what they do,&amp;nbsp;whether in our classrooms, or outside, about&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 14.666666984558105px;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;what&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 14.666666984558105px;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;their dreams are like&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;color: purple; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;. &amp;nbsp;So we have started a Senior Spotlight series, where one could get a (tiny) glimpse of their awesomeness. &amp;nbsp;Here it is the first, in not particular order:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  744. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  745. &lt;span style=&quot;color: purple;&quot;&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  746. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  747. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;Logan Zentz is a senior physics major at James Madison University with minors in mathematics and astronomy. &amp;nbsp;He attended Stuart Hall High School in Staunton, Virginia and loves to play chess and other video games, like Space Engineers. He has always been interested in science and mathematics and has enjoyed being able to implement them in the physics department at JMU. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://csma31.csm.jmu.edu/physics/constaax/res_group.html&quot; style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;Sloane McNeill&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;, a senior physics major (to be featured shortly by Logan) interviewed him:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  748. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  749. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLhUj8KRRY3KDLoJQMOk3ue_3WtABhR4hLpNKsohrvN1S7Mwj7C2V2QXwSi6luIxRthNYPuDC_ieYLhJhhGiS-L5ryUMqPFTpLEZ-HdycWjGupvg0td09BCVTU3d7401ZJ31kHcQ/s1600/logan.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;456&quot; data-original-width=&quot;416&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLhUj8KRRY3KDLoJQMOk3ue_3WtABhR4hLpNKsohrvN1S7Mwj7C2V2QXwSi6luIxRthNYPuDC_ieYLhJhhGiS-L5ryUMqPFTpLEZ-HdycWjGupvg0td09BCVTU3d7401ZJ31kHcQ/s320/logan.png&quot; width=&quot;291&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  750. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  751. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  752. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  753. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;SM: What made you decide to major in physics?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  754. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  755. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;LZ: I started off in the engineering department, however, I was really enjoying my introductory physics classes, so I decided to switch my major to physics. Physics seemed to apply the mathematics that I had enjoyed learning in previous classes.&amp;nbsp;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  756. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  757. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  758. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  759. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;SM:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;What are some of the opportunities you have had to practice physics?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  760. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  761. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;LZ: I had the opportunity to do an internship at the Applied Physics Laboratory for the past two summers. While there, I was able to learn more about computer programming, specifically three-dimensional modeling.&amp;nbsp;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  762. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  763. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;Also, I am working on a planetary geology research project in collaboration with Dr. Shane McGary, to model dwarf planet series to evaluate the initial conditions that lead to this evolution. This came to be because I expressed interest in his previous projects about modeling Venus’s surface with asteroid impact craters to then determine the age of Venus. I noticed a lot of the material used in this project was implemented from my advanced mechanics course (Physics 340) which I loved learning.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  764. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  765. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  766. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  767. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.666666984558105px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;SM:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;font-size: 11pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;What is your favorite class you have taken at JMU so far?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  768. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  769. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;LZ: My favorite class so far has been Physics 341: Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos, where I got to explore systems in a more qualitative way and combine my interests of physics and mathematics. This class was taught by Dr. Illarion Melnikov, who taught us how certain examples that are familiar from other introductory classes can become chaotic and very complex when certain parameters or initial conditions are varied.&amp;nbsp;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  770. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  771. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  772. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  773. &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;SM:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;What are you most proud of?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  774. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.693333625793457px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;&quot;&gt;
  775. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;&quot;&gt;LZ: I am most proud of my younger brother because I have been able to help him learn things like chess and soccer. I have also started to teach him some interesting things that I have learned about physics. I am proud that he has learned these things from me and is excelling in them. Experience explaining things to him has helped me when tutoring students as well as with assisting them in the classroom as a learning assistant.&amp;nbsp;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  776. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/1968403754806144018'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/1968403754806144018'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/10/senior-spotlight-logan-zentz-we-you.html' title='Senior Spotlight: Logan Zentz '/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLhUj8KRRY3KDLoJQMOk3ue_3WtABhR4hLpNKsohrvN1S7Mwj7C2V2QXwSi6luIxRthNYPuDC_ieYLhJhhGiS-L5ryUMqPFTpLEZ-HdycWjGupvg0td09BCVTU3d7401ZJ31kHcQ/s72-c/logan.png" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-8540998353906679419</id><published>2019-10-02T15:30:00.001-04:00</published><updated>2020-01-13T11:23:54.739-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Active Galactic Nuclei"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="AGN"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Anca Constantin"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Astronomy"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="HST"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="reason to study physics"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="research"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Undergraduate Research"/><title type='text'>Found by JMU physics major: A triple Supermassive Black Hole system</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ_4MSZCaMGwlm8mc8H282QIOdpl6J8nslHA6lGmeh2UxIarqcSmdjI5Majf1IMDjuyveK1-Vr8SX-e7RTWeXt1t77qNxnqdaE1V_Ts1SpB3nDpLg4afavi5xjQzuqVy8z6rIJQw/s1600/Jenna.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;500&quot; data-original-width=&quot;500&quot; height=&quot;200&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ_4MSZCaMGwlm8mc8H282QIOdpl6J8nslHA6lGmeh2UxIarqcSmdjI5Majf1IMDjuyveK1-Vr8SX-e7RTWeXt1t77qNxnqdaE1V_Ts1SpB3nDpLg4afavi5xjQzuqVy8z6rIJQw/s200/Jenna.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Congratulations: Our own junior physics major Jenna Harvey co-authored a paper describing the fantastic discovery of a system of three supermassive black holes on a close collision course!&lt;br /&gt;
  777. &lt;br /&gt;
  778. This work, which &lt;a href=&quot;https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ab3a9b&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;just appeared in the Astrophysical Journal&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;was led by graduate student &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-pfeifle-374503a1/&quot;&gt;Ryan Pfeifle&lt;/a&gt;, under the advising of &lt;a href=&quot;https://bgc.physics.gmu.edu/&quot;&gt;Prof. Shobita Satyapal&lt;/a&gt; of George Mason University, and involves a team of scientists who put together observations and measurements from quite a variety of telescopes, both ground and space based.&lt;br /&gt;
  779. &lt;br /&gt;
  780. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSFioxh0tU6kLkFi0_NmncuLiVx6KGJEe5SNaVgIYFWqPfwYDW0xQDVsLdroqNgvMdUAAhUNQRnHH0zPmRMwqajL13N_M70TWlmKhUgJwjw4IkpXhaYSdNbeVEZfb8ZS9K5G50Kg/s1600/3blackholes.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1041&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1041&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSFioxh0tU6kLkFi0_NmncuLiVx6KGJEe5SNaVgIYFWqPfwYDW0xQDVsLdroqNgvMdUAAhUNQRnHH0zPmRMwqajL13N_M70TWlmKhUgJwjw4IkpXhaYSdNbeVEZfb8ZS9K5G50Kg/s320/3blackholes.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  781. &lt;br /&gt;
  782. &lt;br /&gt;
  783. The massive crash of three galaxies at the center of which this triple accreting supermassive black hole system has been discovered was found thanks to new techniques that exploited the power of infrared light to peer through cosmic dust that usually enshrouds, and thus hides, newly activated black holes that just started sucking matter onto them. &lt;br /&gt;
  784. &lt;br /&gt;
  785. The paper that describes this discovery, which Jenna co-authored, provides one of the strongest observational evidence to date for such a triple interacting galaxy system, which has eluded us until now.&lt;br /&gt;
  786. &lt;br /&gt;
  787. Jenna&#39;s contribution to this work, under the advice of professor &lt;a href=&quot;http://csma31.csm.jmu.edu/physics/constaax/?_ga=2.16204726.164873350.1569855544-1939524800.1566844672&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Anca Constantin&lt;/a&gt;, entailed analysis of observations from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lbto.org/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Large Binocular Telescope&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lbto.org/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Observatory&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;(LBT). &amp;nbsp;Jenna worked on the LBT data the collaboration has for a sample of fifteen interacting galaxy pairs, and found that in one of these systems, that showed an unusual ensemble of three X-ray nuclear sources, gas is swirling at speeds of thousands of km/s (which is just a fraction of the speed of light), proving that it is through galaxy collisions events like this one that black holes begin to actively snack and therefore grow, maybe before they merge onto a larger one. &lt;br /&gt;
  788. &lt;br /&gt;
  789. An overview of Jenna&#39;s work on the whole sample of interacting galaxies that hosted this unusual discovery can be seen in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://csma31.csm.jmu.edu/physics/constaax/jenna_poster_summer2019.pdf&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;poster that she presented at the end of summer 2019 at the Undergraduate Research Symposium&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
  790. &lt;br /&gt;
  791. This discovery has gotten a lot of press already, check them all out: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/images/found-three-black-holes-on-collision-course.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;NASA press release&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/25/world/three-colliding-black-holes-scn/index.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;CNN&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.space.com/three-supermassive-black-holes-collision-discovery-photo-video.html&quot;&gt;Space.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span id=&quot;goog_1925348187&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span id=&quot;goog_1925348188&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.blogger.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/09/26/triple_supermassive_black_holes/&quot;&gt;The Register (UK)&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43k459/three-supermassive-black-holes-are-on-a-crash-course-nasa-says&quot;&gt;VICE&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.fr.de/wissen/forscher-entdecken-drei-schwarze-loecher-kollisionskurs-zr-13042772.html&quot;&gt;a German newspaper&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://lbtonews.blogspot.com/2019/09/found-three-black-holes-on-collision.html&quot;&gt;the LBT site&lt;/a&gt;, and you might even have heard about it already from Fox and MSN.&lt;br /&gt;
  792. &lt;br /&gt;
  793. Way to go Jenna!&lt;br /&gt;
  794. &lt;br /&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/8540998353906679419'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/8540998353906679419'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/10/found-by-jmu-physics-major-triple.html' title='Found by JMU physics major: A triple Supermassive Black Hole system'/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ_4MSZCaMGwlm8mc8H282QIOdpl6J8nslHA6lGmeh2UxIarqcSmdjI5Majf1IMDjuyveK1-Vr8SX-e7RTWeXt1t77qNxnqdaE1V_Ts1SpB3nDpLg4afavi5xjQzuqVy8z6rIJQw/s72-c/Jenna.jpg" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-8219637441148817120</id><published>2019-04-09T18:02:00.001-04:00</published><updated>2019-11-04T14:41:52.198-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Anca Constantin"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Astronomy"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="fun"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="JMU astronomy learning"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="reason to study physics"/><title type='text'>Our Students Visit and Observe at the Green Bank Observatory</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA5cwtXbJlpcd6ZMGryZ1FDbW8vqSG08Kmkh9FivBSttSoEHVH82oFfY33sy5TieDrzr3xLyJ5otnVi8KeUvrOlAi6OB1HPSXy4r6o4PvPUo3V-JUIuxCBjS82IB9T9ElxrgXaMw/s1600/my_gbt.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;640&quot; data-original-width=&quot;480&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA5cwtXbJlpcd6ZMGryZ1FDbW8vqSG08Kmkh9FivBSttSoEHVH82oFfY33sy5TieDrzr3xLyJ5otnVi8KeUvrOlAi6OB1HPSXy4r6o4PvPUo3V-JUIuxCBjS82IB9T9ElxrgXaMw/s320/my_gbt.jpg&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Being able to breathe a few steps away from the largest steerable thing on the surface of Earth is something an astronomy minor would not say no to, especially if that thing is a telescope which has the power to answer mankind&#39;s biggest questions. &lt;br /&gt;
  795. &lt;br /&gt;
  796. We are talking here about the Robert C. Bird&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://greenbankobservatory.org/science/telescopes/gbt/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Green Bank Telescope&lt;/a&gt;, the site of which (The Green Bank Observatory, or &lt;a href=&quot;https://greenbankobservatory.org/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;GBO&lt;/a&gt;) our astronomy minors had the chance to visit and explore. &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; Eighteen of our students were accompanied by four faculty members for an overnight trip there, where they got the chance to observe with GBO&#39;s 40-foot teaching telescope and participate in quite a number of other educational programs. &lt;br /&gt;
  797. &lt;br /&gt;
  798. Overall, the experience seemed to be overwhelmingly positive: one might not get the chance to see so many smiles and hear &quot;wow&quot;s from physics, computer science, or engineering majors, all while learning about the our host galaxy, Milky Way, through their own observations of Hydrogen emission.&lt;br /&gt;
  799. &lt;br /&gt;
  800. Far away from hot O and B-type stars, the hydrogen in space is in the ground (i.e., lowest energy) state. &amp;nbsp; However, when the spin of the electron flips from being &lt;i&gt;parallel &lt;/i&gt;to &lt;i&gt;anti-parallel&lt;/i&gt; with the spin of the proton, there is a tiny energy difference that is emitted at the wavelength of 21 cm (or a frequency of 1420.4 MHz). &amp;nbsp; While a hydrogen atom can wait on average a few million years before it undergoes this transition (YES, it is this rare!), the large amount of hydrogen gas makes this particular emission one of the most prominent and easiest to detect with radio telescopes.&lt;br /&gt;
  801. &lt;br /&gt;
  802. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  803. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_tba1zN2OOy-PHQIurCmfIVcEIWlfRCoQgoenRHmIZ8pV0BLfDh-ysHkYMy_xUobw7a4MtSzcAaW8gxs1q0az15W9AWBQI3uaKAQ4-Rd7DZFEZCAGUwL9LxWayGlDqbw-Uf-tWQ/s1600/spinflip-anim.gif&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;201&quot; data-original-width=&quot;410&quot; height=&quot;156&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_tba1zN2OOy-PHQIurCmfIVcEIWlfRCoQgoenRHmIZ8pV0BLfDh-ysHkYMy_xUobw7a4MtSzcAaW8gxs1q0az15W9AWBQI3uaKAQ4-Rd7DZFEZCAGUwL9LxWayGlDqbw-Uf-tWQ/s320/spinflip-anim.gif&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  804. The 40-foot spectrometer allows us to detect radio waves from this particular transition by&lt;br /&gt;
  805. blocking (filtering) out all of the waves but the ones coming at this exact frequency. &amp;nbsp;This 21-cm line radiation provides the best way to map the structure of the Galaxy (note: for astronomers, Milky Way is the only galaxy with capital &quot;G&quot;).&lt;br /&gt;
  806. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  807. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYgS09OsB7KNsWOF5nFjVix6gzcK4-f1kvpOA_HrMoCZhp80PA-KwxyFCYw2Rr_pToz6J6Ok-8ZxmPkrWtdRzD32jhCCLp0O4vq4av4N-4e3mBmnM-GYoHK9teJr_ywvYBS0xFkg/s1600/ogborn_data.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1247&quot; data-original-width=&quot;979&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYgS09OsB7KNsWOF5nFjVix6gzcK4-f1kvpOA_HrMoCZhp80PA-KwxyFCYw2Rr_pToz6J6Ok-8ZxmPkrWtdRzD32jhCCLp0O4vq4av4N-4e3mBmnM-GYoHK9teJr_ywvYBS0xFkg/s320/ogborn_data.png&quot; width=&quot;251&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  808. &lt;br /&gt;
  809. Here is an example of detection of (the center of the) Milky Way&#39;s emission at 21 cm with the 40-foot telescope&#39;s spectrometer (&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple;&quot;&gt;sorry folks! no pic from there&lt;/span&gt;). The red line is a calibration measure, while the black line records the data, i.e., the intensity (in Jansky units) as a function of frequency. &amp;nbsp;The two &amp;nbsp;strong peaks at the left side of the spectrum show detection of HI at two different frequencies: the strongest peak is located at 1419.5 MHz, and the other at 1485 MHz, depicting two different clouds of Hydrogen emitting the 21-cm transition that is redshfited (smaller frequency, or longer wavelength), implying that the detected Hydrogen is moving away from us (while rotating in the disk of the Galaxy). &amp;nbsp; The peak at the far right depicts an artificially created signal of 500 Jy, for calibration purposes.&lt;br /&gt;
  810. &lt;br /&gt;
  811. Multiple data sets from eight groups of students, acquired during the night, were collectively analyzed the next morning. &amp;nbsp; After not much debate, there was a pretty good agreement that the data shows strong evidence that Milky Way has the shape of a flat disk, that is rotating counterclockwise.&lt;br /&gt;
  812. &lt;br /&gt;
  813. Here are some of the students&#39; thoughts about this trip, with some cool, funny, or downright amazing things they have learnt:&lt;br /&gt;
  814. &lt;br /&gt;
  815. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf0z8Kz6BELb4KrNruegWoh2SzT1ohGWeGQKQqTRINPhHQ7H9Wcxt7kWpsv1X62lRxLi_TmCPerY3JJukDbYe_Bh_s0ZdycJMemQie1xGyBWLRCxueYV4WcIF7zh4QoGS6TR76uA/s1600/girls_gbt.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1600&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1200&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf0z8Kz6BELb4KrNruegWoh2SzT1ohGWeGQKQqTRINPhHQ7H9Wcxt7kWpsv1X62lRxLi_TmCPerY3JJukDbYe_Bh_s0ZdycJMemQie1xGyBWLRCxueYV4WcIF7zh4QoGS6TR76uA/s320/girls_gbt.jpg&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;* Mary Ogborn &amp;amp; Ebony Williams (physics majors): &amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;This trip really illustrated aspects of radio astronomy that I wasn’t&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;aware of before. Although I was aware of radio interference, I was not&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;aware of how sensitive these telescopes could be to various sources [...]&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;The control room was also impressive, as it was copper-insulated, in&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;order to keep in the radio waves coming from all the computers and&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;machines. [...] it was interesting to step into the past and see how the original&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;radio astronomers operated these huge telescopes. I can’t imagine&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;having to manually dial in the declinations, change the frequency&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;every second by pushing the mark button, and having the chart reader&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;draw out the peaks without any other form of labelling. [...] I now&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;understand how observatories in the past would hire people to be&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;‘computers’ before the advent of computers.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  816. &lt;br /&gt;
  817. *Ryan Ferrell (physics major): &amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;I did not expect to be able to extract this much information from the&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;data which made me appreciate how much information can be brought out&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;of even just a little data.[...] I learned was how many common things&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;cause radio interference. I knew previously that most electronics&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;caused radio interference, however I did not know that signals from&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;modern electronics are a billion times stronger than the radio waves&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;that the GBT was measuring from the Milky Way. [...]&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;I never knew the GBT was the largest radio telescope in the world or&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;that the Drake Equation had been thought of there. [...] I was very&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;surprised to find the control center so close and surrounded in a&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;giant Faraday Box.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  818. &lt;br /&gt;
  819. &lt;br /&gt;
  820. * Tanna Walters (engineering major) &amp;amp; Brandon O&#39;Neal (physics major): &amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;This trip to Greenbank Observatory has taught us a good bit about the&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;actual ways in which the data is collected and how the hardware&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;works. &amp;nbsp;GBT actually has a clam-shaped dish and an arm that is&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;off-center that collects the radio waves. The purpose for this is to&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;allow for the collection of more radio waves as opposed to parabolic&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;telescopes that have the receiver in the middle of the dish, blocking&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;a significant portion of the incoming radio waves. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;[...] we learned just how sensitive the telescopes are to interference&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;(RFI). Even taking a picture with our phones could interfere and ruin&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;astronomers’ data all over the world.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  821. &lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
  822. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_TDjPKHdQWL9vOVc3A91Gj_g2__JQSg8OxrnmVm8YzRnkHf5Y5BeIPj5N6FOd_57tFMpknXxyW0cRQqM0OqHH3tIzNU8ayaX8bERqa4ReYWdYWVwlIbuQOqo8FxRQnXviJpTuyg/s1600/control_room.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;480&quot; data-original-width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_TDjPKHdQWL9vOVc3A91Gj_g2__JQSg8OxrnmVm8YzRnkHf5Y5BeIPj5N6FOd_57tFMpknXxyW0cRQqM0OqHH3tIzNU8ayaX8bERqa4ReYWdYWVwlIbuQOqo8FxRQnXviJpTuyg/s320/control_room.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  823. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;In the control room of the GBT&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  824. &lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
  825. &lt;br /&gt;
  826. * Tom Gagne (computer science major) &amp;amp; Kris Pickens (physics major): &amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;We learned the remarkable fact that if a cell phone were placed as far&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;away as Mars, it would still outshine the brightest distant radio&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;sources by several orders of magnitude. &amp;nbsp;So we had to turn them off&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;when out among the telescopes. We also learned that a shipbuilding&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;company built one of the telescopes and put an enormous ball-bearing&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;in it. The ball-bearing was so large that the bridges had to be&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;fortified along the path of the train that took it there.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  827. &lt;br /&gt;
  828. * Cameron Kelahan (computer science major): &amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;For the first time, I was able to operate a radio telescope and&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;perform radio astronomy. I learned how to operate a 40 foot radio&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;telescope, the equipment that goes along with it, the meaning and&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;importance behind the 21 cm line, and how the shape of the Milky Way&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;was originally discovered. I also got an idea of what it may be like&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;to work at an observatory from talking with [GBT operator]. &amp;nbsp;His job&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;seems very interesting and also challenging! 12 hour shifts are&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;something one can get used to, but there is also a lot of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;responsibility that goes into operating a MASSIVE TELESCOPE! &amp;nbsp;The&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;overall experience [...] allowed me to strengthen friendships with&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;classmates and possibly future colleagues while learning with them&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;about something we all have a passion for. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  829. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
  830. &lt;br /&gt;
  831. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  832. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxfvvWhkJZtzATXLO-dNwKRxDvnmFJZNmsc9jffaYx-Du34UcXpiscrsAWBs8tTr5CEJvDIf7mQUjnwcD_bKPw1e94Mnc2_0ch5ERr3N9PdQBf38LDN1f4EoFEoMjD38aW36y9ug/s1600/IMG_1284.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;480&quot; data-original-width=&quot;640&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxfvvWhkJZtzATXLO-dNwKRxDvnmFJZNmsc9jffaYx-Du34UcXpiscrsAWBs8tTr5CEJvDIf7mQUjnwcD_bKPw1e94Mnc2_0ch5ERr3N9PdQBf38LDN1f4EoFEoMjD38aW36y9ug/s400/IMG_1284.jpg&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  833. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
  834. &lt;br /&gt;
  835. &lt;div&gt;
  836. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  837. &lt;br /&gt;
  838. &lt;br /&gt;
  839. &lt;br /&gt;
  840. &lt;div&gt;
  841. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  842. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/8219637441148817120'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/8219637441148817120'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/04/astronomy-minors-visit-and-observe-at.html' title='Our Students Visit and Observe at the Green Bank Observatory'/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA5cwtXbJlpcd6ZMGryZ1FDbW8vqSG08Kmkh9FivBSttSoEHVH82oFfY33sy5TieDrzr3xLyJ5otnVi8KeUvrOlAi6OB1HPSXy4r6o4PvPUo3V-JUIuxCBjS82IB9T9ElxrgXaMw/s72-c/my_gbt.jpg" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-1310156560287109571</id><published>2019-04-02T21:11:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2019-11-04T05:25:33.617-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Demystifying the Expert"/><title type='text'>Demystifying the Expert:  Dr. Kendra Letchworth-Weaver</title><content type='html'>&lt;div dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot; trbidi=&quot;on&quot;&gt;
  843. &lt;br /&gt;
  844. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;&quot;&gt;
  845. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;To introduce the public to
  846. science in a combination of comedy and education, Dr. Anca Constantin and Dr.
  847. Klebert Feitosa host the event&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sites.jmu.edu/demystifying/&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #954f72; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;Demystifying the Expert&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;. The
  848. program brings together a guest speaker, who is an expert in their field of
  849. science, and comedians from JMU’s very own&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jmuimprov.weebly.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #954f72; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;New &amp;amp; Improv’d&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;, who
  850. attempt to “demystify the expert.” Questions, games, trivia and improvised
  851. skits all contribute to the fun as the audience learns about the expert’s work.
  852. Podcasts for previous Demystifying the Expert events can be found&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://soundcloud.com/demystifying&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt; on SoundCloud!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  853. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;&quot;&gt;
  854. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  855. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  856. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;
  857. Kicking off the spring Demystifying series on February 28, 2018, Drs.
  858. Constantin and Feitosa and JMU’s New &amp;amp; Improv’d hosted Dr. Kendra Letchworth-Weaver
  859. (who typically goes by Dr. Weaver) from the Department of Physics and
  860. Astronomy.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;She completed her Bachelor of
  861. Science in physics at the College of William and Mary in 2007, and went on to
  862. pursue her Doctorate in physics at Cornell University in 2015.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;After this, she worked at Argonne National
  863. Laboratory in Illinois, and is now a first year assistant professor at
  864. JMU.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  865. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  866. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  867. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;&quot;&gt;
  868. &lt;span style=&quot;background: white; color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;The members
  869. of JMU’s New and Imrpov’d who participated in the event were: Caroline
  870. Buddendorf, a sophomore theatre major whose favorite thing about theater is how
  871. active she gets to be, Ethan Shultze, a junior SMAD major who really hates &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;The Incredibles II&lt;/i&gt;, and Noah Etka, a
  872. junior ISAT major who’s really into NASA.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;
  873. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br style=&quot;mso-special-character: line-break;&quot; /&gt;
  874. &lt;!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--&gt;&lt;br style=&quot;mso-special-character: line-break;&quot; /&gt;
  875. &lt;!--[endif]--&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  876. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  877. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC5U10gNfaqRNvBd0tE6eiGB-4Bfm6h-AodSxcqJJmER0AFuUjI0Xq2poH1LEbyL8FCKRILpQMJk6w1oI7eslSgwq1OCu-BJ4Ei8k0EZi0s42dKQ5NMaGO97_A2ChY-DoIIQis/s1600/weaver_profile.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1103&quot; data-original-width=&quot;911&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC5U10gNfaqRNvBd0tE6eiGB-4Bfm6h-AodSxcqJJmER0AFuUjI0Xq2poH1LEbyL8FCKRILpQMJk6w1oI7eslSgwq1OCu-BJ4Ei8k0EZi0s42dKQ5NMaGO97_A2ChY-DoIIQis/s320/weaver_profile.jpg&quot; width=&quot;264&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The
  878. night kicked off with the twenty questions game, where each comedian took turns
  879. asking Dr. Weaver yes or no type questions to help them deduce what area of science
  880. she studies.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Our comedians went on a
  881. rocky start, but their questions were moving them towards the area of chemistry.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;However, when asked if she studied chemistry,
  882. Dr. Weaver was only able to say that she did so half-way.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;They did narrow down the field to something
  883. with materials chemistry, and in the end, our comedians deduced that Dr. Weaver
  884. worked in materials physics.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  885. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  886. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  887. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  888. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;mso-tab-count: 1;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;After carefully dancing
  889. around this field, Dr. Weaver explained to everyone just what made materials
  890. physics different from materials chemistry and its applications with her
  891. elevator pitch.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;She told us how, while
  892. some areas of both disciplines focus on characteristics of materials themselves,
  893. her work focused more on the interfaces between solids and liquids.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;In particular, what makes these interfaces interesting
  894. to her is how they play with the properties of both solids and liquids with wildly
  895. different interactions in statistical mechanics, electricity and magnetism, and
  896. quantum mechanics, all of which give a potential for many different
  897. possibilities of material property expression.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;
  898. &lt;/span&gt;And how Dr. Weaver studies these interfaces is through the use of computer
  899. simulations, where she’ll put in some descriptions of a material that she could
  900. manufacture and then have the computer then produce information that she can
  901. extrapolate to determine what qualities this new molecule will exhibit.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Her work applies to renewable energy
  902. applications, in particular like batteries, and she also explained that cell
  903. phone fires due to poor interface design.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  904. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  905. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  906. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  907. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjckoY_oHcUoqnGAHzpfjps2bEJGS0JB0U3xl9j2xdQ5-ZT18UwMMa4oLfoehEypo64ZqeJ9fesPoThgD3D4xI-WYsPipcktn2ch5Ce-tWQbZEiwf8gX7KWfqulSklqoE4E5H6g/s1600/IMG_3510.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1200&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1600&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjckoY_oHcUoqnGAHzpfjps2bEJGS0JB0U3xl9j2xdQ5-ZT18UwMMa4oLfoehEypo64ZqeJ9fesPoThgD3D4xI-WYsPipcktn2ch5Ce-tWQbZEiwf8gX7KWfqulSklqoE4E5H6g/s320/IMG_3510.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  908. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  909. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The
  910. second game was the headliner game, during which the comedians guess words that
  911. complete titles of articles that relate to Dr. Weaver’s research.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;From the get-go, our comedians were thrown a
  912. curveball, as the first word was actually cats!&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;
  913. &lt;/span&gt;From the headline provided by the Washington Post, “Cats are both solid
  914. and liquid, according to science,” for their propensity to have a defined shape
  915. when they want, but also occupy the space of containers that they were put into.
  916. &lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Dr. Weaver had a quip that showed us how
  917. these related to work, noting that since cats did this, they were very much
  918. like the nanoparticles that she works with.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;
  919. &lt;/span&gt;The second word had a more obvious link to Dr. Weaver’s work, and was
  920. water.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;As it happens, companies are working
  921. on developing materials that can act like sponges to extract water from the air
  922. and release it on demand, helping to solve a water scarcity we face.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The final word, supercomputer, gave us
  923. harrowing visions of a potential &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;Terminator&lt;/i&gt;
  924. or &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;Blade Runner &lt;/i&gt;scenario, with the
  925. headline stating that IBM’s new supercomputer is not only capable of taking orders,
  926. but also arguing against them!&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;As Dr.
  927. Weaver explained, supercomputers are being used in order to grow new knowledge
  928. out of current data and make their own decisions with neural networks, and this
  929. could be applied to materials data as well.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;
  930. &lt;/span&gt;It remains to see if we will reach the technological singularity, but as
  931. of current, we aren’t quite there yet.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  932. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  933. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  934. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;&quot;&gt;
  935. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;Next was the jargon game
  936. during which the comedians guess what certain acronyms or terms mean in the
  937. expert’s field. Here, the comedians learned about DFT, density functional
  938. theory, which is a way to approximate how packed electrons are in a certain
  939. material, and the reason for this is because if we know how packed they are, we
  940. can start to discover some more properties of how they will interact with each
  941. other and with external materials.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The
  942. second group of words showed us all how scientists have some fun in their labs,
  943. with the words being opium and pot!&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Our
  944. comedians were able to deduce after some giggles that pot meant potential, like
  945. electrical potentials, but opium was harder – Dr. Weaver explained that Opium was
  946. a name for what is called an optimized pseudopotential generating code, which
  947. creates a stand-in electrical potential based off of the electrons surrounding
  948. an atom.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  949. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;&quot;&gt;
  950. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  951. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  952. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggp8-xXCZ_e5P5AZ22jRrayq7ZdVeJkrG26fdPfJ4coWb9o-hTBsZualelXk6geLCU-zPXiB-3wHjb3FIXwVIZuTyrQ9NoyzneX6D00G8cK2-o3itGDkKJLDYkQt43hvg5bqEX/s1600/weaver_panel.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;615&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1600&quot; height=&quot;150&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggp8-xXCZ_e5P5AZ22jRrayq7ZdVeJkrG26fdPfJ4coWb9o-hTBsZualelXk6geLCU-zPXiB-3wHjb3FIXwVIZuTyrQ9NoyzneX6D00G8cK2-o3itGDkKJLDYkQt43hvg5bqEX/s400/weaver_panel.jpg&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  953. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;&quot;&gt;
  954. &lt;/div&gt;
  955. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  956. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  957. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  958. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Finally,
  959. the audience got to learn more about Dr. Weaver outside of her work as a
  960. computational materials physicist with the two truths and a lie game.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;First, we learned that not only is Dr. Weaver
  961. a talented physicist, but she also used to be very involved with the performing
  962. arts as well!&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;She participated in theatre
  963. in high school, and also did a lot of tap dance before her college years.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Not believing that Dr. Weaver could tap
  964. dance, our comedians dared her to prove it, and much to everyone’s delight, she
  965. did!&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;In the second round, we learned
  966. that Dr. Weaver’s path to being a computational physicist was lined by a broken
  967. spectrometer (a very useful and expensive tool in many science laboratories)
  968. that she had dropped, and that her old babysitter ended up becoming someone she
  969. would publish papers with!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  970. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  971. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  972. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  973. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnCpYtNQY5HcGijTrbMHQyZ1TEDLn0WwMKQoQEkt4jR1nXUOpKJNHRSCC_M88HA_GbzF9WhqxaeMgkX25hYI4gNIPOm33QNr3RsMCsz6G_1VbFdtlass0tj1By8WyRT6QXfo7O/s1600/weaver_skit.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;868&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1600&quot; height=&quot;173&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnCpYtNQY5HcGijTrbMHQyZ1TEDLn0WwMKQoQEkt4jR1nXUOpKJNHRSCC_M88HA_GbzF9WhqxaeMgkX25hYI4gNIPOm33QNr3RsMCsz6G_1VbFdtlass0tj1By8WyRT6QXfo7O/s320/weaver_skit.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  974. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  975. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The
  976. final planned event of the night was the improvised skit with physics-themed quotes
  977. from pop culture like &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;Alice and
  978. Wonderland&lt;/i&gt; and the &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;Warriors&lt;/i&gt; novel
  979. series by Erin Hunter, with a new title “The Game of the Fortune Cookie!”&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;In a first for Demystifying history, Dr.
  980. Weaver joined our comedians in the troupe, and what a skit it was!&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Our group were engaged in the office hours of
  981. Professor Ethan’s Computer Violence 101 class, and entered a theological discussion
  982. of the toxic nature of water, the Old Testament divinity of computers, and a
  983. strange venture into a live student burial to ascend to a higher plane of
  984. existence.&amp;nbsp; You can view some of this wonderful impromptu&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/dem.exp.jmu/videos/2099972676959954/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;using this link&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;to access our Facebook page!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  985. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  986. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  987. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  988. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;mso-tab-count: 1;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;We’d like to
  989. thank everyone for a great start to Demystifying the Expert’s spring run, and a
  990. very warm welcome to Dr. Weaver at James Madison University!&amp;nbsp; To hear more about future Demystifying shows and when podcasts of our previous shows are released, be sure to&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/dem.exp.jmu/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;follow our Facebook page&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; We&#39;ll see you in the fall!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  991. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  992. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  993. &lt;br /&gt;
  994. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  995. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  996. &lt;br /&gt;
  997. &lt;br /&gt;
  998. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  999. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1000. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1001. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/1310156560287109571'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/1310156560287109571'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/04/demystifying-expert-dr-kendra.html' title='Demystifying the Expert:  Dr. Kendra Letchworth-Weaver'/><author><name>Theodore Chu</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14923865283892931119</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC5U10gNfaqRNvBd0tE6eiGB-4Bfm6h-AodSxcqJJmER0AFuUjI0Xq2poH1LEbyL8FCKRILpQMJk6w1oI7eslSgwq1OCu-BJ4Ei8k0EZi0s42dKQ5NMaGO97_A2ChY-DoIIQis/s72-c/weaver_profile.jpg" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-4252704151831482151</id><published>2019-03-25T15:47:00.001-04:00</published><updated>2019-12-11T12:23:49.145-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Prof. Constantin visits Capitol Hill to advocate for &quot;Gee-Whiz&quot; Science</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbB59hCKkyggJu4Z5qL4gZCvFCqu1Ci725oTB3bQCqHe2E4uomvMpIJsCxGjaCE1nIGUj0HaCoJqdYI2cANMdkoJVSGHP2HPPSlI0z15Ccfgq9U9dvL5iGMX4bEA4xTC_pWgxgsg/s1600/aas_cvd_2019s.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;792&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1024&quot; height=&quot;247&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbB59hCKkyggJu4Z5qL4gZCvFCqu1Ci725oTB3bQCqHe2E4uomvMpIJsCxGjaCE1nIGUj0HaCoJqdYI2cANMdkoJVSGHP2HPPSlI0z15Ccfgq9U9dvL5iGMX4bEA4xTC_pWgxgsg/s320/aas_cvd_2019s.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;Last week, &lt;a href=&quot;http://csma31.csm.jmu.edu/physics/constaax/&quot;&gt;Prof. Anca Constantin&lt;/a&gt; joined 14 other astronomers from the &lt;a href=&quot;https://aas.org/&quot;&gt;American Astronomical&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://aas.org/&quot;&gt;Society&lt;/a&gt; for a crash course on science policy and meetings&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;with congressional representatives on Capitol Hill. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1002. &lt;br style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;&quot; /&gt;
  1003. &lt;span style=&quot;color: #351c75; font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Why was she there?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1004. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1005. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;By now, I have designed and implemented a variety of astronomy and&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;physics outreach events, which made me so painfully aware of how&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;poorly communicated or received are our achievements, our motivation,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;and the need(s) for continuing our work. &amp;nbsp;I wanted to be able to back up my&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;claims to my students that I do for them more than just teaching&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;science or mentoring them towards a successful career in the sciences. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;In a time when billions of voices are screaming into the void of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;social media platforms, and no one seems to listen to anyone else, it&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;felt quite momentous to sit down and have face to face conversations&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;with the congressional offices. &amp;nbsp;I want to make sure that we&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;keep inspiring people to look up.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1006. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1007. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;My studies employ multi-wavelength analyses of galaxies with actively&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;accreting supermassive black holes in their centers. &amp;nbsp;My&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;investigations are pushing back the frontier of what we know about&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;connecting the black hole accretion phenomenon to circum-nuclear star&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;formation in what appears to be the faintest actively accreting&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;galactic nuclei. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;I am currently developing a novel statistical&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;analysis of multi-wavelength properties of the galaxies that host&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;water maser emission, with the goal of significantly improving their&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;detection rate, which is crucial for an accurate determination of the&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;Hubble constant, for characterization of dark energy, and thus, for&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;constraining the fate of the universe. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;My expertise in manipulating&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;optical and infrared spectroscopic data allow me to tackle pioneering&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;identifications of black hole accretion activity in galaxy mergers,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;and thus in finding binary black hole accreting systems, which are&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;imperatively needed as a laboratory for testing the loudest&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;gravitational wave events in the Universe, and thus for testing&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;general relativity on cosmological scales. &amp;nbsp;Further success in all of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;these research aspects are intimately related to recommendations in&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;the current &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nap.edu/catalog/23560/new-worlds-new-horizons-a-midterm-assessment&quot;&gt;New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics&lt;/a&gt; for&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;augmentation of the NSF’s Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Grants,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;and for enhancements to astronomical observing facilities like &lt;a href=&quot;https://greenbankobservatory.org/&quot;&gt;GBT&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://public.nrao.edu/telescopes/alma/&quot;&gt;ALMA&lt;/a&gt;, and hopefully soon &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/&quot;&gt;JWST&lt;/a&gt;. &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1008. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1009. &lt;br /&gt;
  1010. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  1011. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDz6NSYWA7k3u8FNfQyXeS39AITOug8qCT4LZ05d72RE6klifj9XYTsJdSbTb5AXQISnHt1pDQy7rdJK-8Tt_VHCCcxwyrr62vHIF39bMKGweUdbbSaV-5JV3qb_mixsO_YJ1Mcg/s1600/AASCVD_kaine.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1080&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1080&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDz6NSYWA7k3u8FNfQyXeS39AITOug8qCT4LZ05d72RE6klifj9XYTsJdSbTb5AXQISnHt1pDQy7rdJK-8Tt_VHCCcxwyrr62vHIF39bMKGweUdbbSaV-5JV3qb_mixsO_YJ1Mcg/s320/AASCVD_kaine.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1012. &lt;span style=&quot;color: #351c75; font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;What is a Congressional Visit Day like?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1013. &lt;br style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;&quot; /&gt;
  1014. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;We started the day by stepping&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;in a congressional hearing titled&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;America in Space: Future Visions, Current Issues (in Rayburn&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;building of the House of Representatives), where one of the witnesses&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;was &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/peggy-a-whitson&quot;&gt;Peggy Whitson&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;the first female astronaut to command the&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html&quot;&gt;International Space Station&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;twice, and the record holder for the&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;longest single space flight by a woman (289 days, 5 hours and 1&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;minute). &amp;nbsp;We had only a few minutes to spare here, before we would&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br style=&quot;font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;start our marathon of nine meetings, but it was enough to&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;hear a politician say, with great conviction that: &quot;If we want America&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;to lead with a visionary and effective space program, we must be&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;willing to commit the resources and funding stability to achieve it.&quot;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;So I&#39;d say, that was a pretty good start of the day.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1015. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
  1016. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;During the day, I visited (together with my team of three other astronomers) the offices of Senator Kaine,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;Senator Warner, and Representative Cline (VA), Senator&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;Cardin, Senator Van Hollen, and Representative Hoyer (MD), Senator&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;Markey, Senator Warren, and Representative Lynch (MA). &amp;nbsp;This only entailed&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;seven miles of walking and climbing lots of stairs up and down&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;the Senate and the House of Representative buildings.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1017. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1018. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;We were warmly welcomed in each office, and the staffers were all&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;polite and professional. &amp;nbsp;Many of them had no personal experience in&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;science beyond high school and maybe a college course, but took great interest in our&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;conversations, &amp;nbsp;and it was heartening to realize (or remember?) that&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;the politicians in Washington are just people too. &amp;nbsp;Rep. Cline made a&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;special effort to meet us, in between hearings, and in the hallway, and he&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;and one of his staff members seemed eager to hear about how we use astronomy&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;here at JMU as one of the most innovative training grounds for the&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;future science and industry experts, whether for the future of our VA district, or for the rest of the world.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1019. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;
  1020. &lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;We talked with the staff of our congressional representatives about&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;federal research grants, which support many scientists, both the&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;established ones and the budding ones (our students).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;We discussed the need for adequate resources in order to retain&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;young scientists in astronomy. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Many of us science faculty, at JMU&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;or any other university, feel burned out from applying for grant after grant with&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;success rates less than 15 percent (which leaves many &quot;excellent&quot;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;rated projects unfunded), and from hearing that the (proposed) budget&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;cuts might not allow for the building of that amazing new telescope&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://wfirst.gsfc.nasa.gov/&quot;&gt;WFIRST&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;that the whole organization of astronomers envisioned&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;as the number one&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;priority, which will open the skies for us, literally with hundreds of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;times better resolution and signal than &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html&quot;&gt;Hubble SpaceTelescope&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;did for&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;us already. And that is mind-boggling. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1021. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1022. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;;&quot;&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;Whether or not we need a reminder, it remains true that we are all alone, yet together, sailing through this unique and largely unknown universe of ours, on our spaceship Earth. &amp;nbsp;I came&amp;nbsp;home more determined than ever to share&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;all I know and I want to find out about the Universe,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;with&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;whomever will listen.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1023. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1024. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1025. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1026. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot;; font-size: 12px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/4252704151831482151'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/4252704151831482151'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2019/03/prof-constantin-visits-capitol-hill-to.html' title='Prof. Constantin visits Capitol Hill to advocate for &quot;Gee-Whiz&quot; Science'/><author><name>anca</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11423048827400595026</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbB59hCKkyggJu4Z5qL4gZCvFCqu1Ci725oTB3bQCqHe2E4uomvMpIJsCxGjaCE1nIGUj0HaCoJqdYI2cANMdkoJVSGHP2HPPSlI0z15Ccfgq9U9dvL5iGMX4bEA4xTC_pWgxgsg/s72-c/aas_cvd_2019s.jpg" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-7871755692236968392</id><published>2018-12-08T23:31:00.001-05:00</published><updated>2019-11-04T05:25:33.679-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Demystifying the Expert"/><title type='text'>Demystifying the Expert:  Dr. Kevin Caran</title><content type='html'>&lt;div dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot; trbidi=&quot;on&quot;&gt;
  1027. &lt;br /&gt;
  1028. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1029. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1030. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1031. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;To introduce the public to
  1032. science in a combination of comedy and education, Dr. Anca Constantin and Dr.
  1033. Klebert Feitosa host the event&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;MsoHyperlink&quot; style=&quot;text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #954f72; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sites.jmu.edu/demystifying/&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #954f72;&quot;&gt;Demystifying
  1034. the Expert&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;. The program brings together a guest
  1035. speaker, who is an expert in their field of science, and comedians from JMU’s
  1036. very own&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;MsoHyperlink&quot; style=&quot;text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #954f72; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jmuimprov.weebly.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #954f72;&quot;&gt;New &amp;amp;
  1037. Improv’d&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;, who attempt to “demystify the expert.”
  1038. Questions, games, trivia and improvised skits all contribute to the fun as the
  1039. audience learns about the expert’s work. Podcasts for previous Demystifying the
  1040. Expert events can be found&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;MsoHyperlink&quot; style=&quot;text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://soundcloud.com/demystifying&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt; on
  1041. SoundCloud!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1042. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1043. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1044. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1045. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJcG_B1CpgOYk97MPk8L-c76qALBPgmWNGu5obYHQ2BGvx5bjV1kCwrDBOU3RnYdnxpk0Z0nauEbDT9KqVrxzTkUa35JqWdN915VMy7d-gxSM2kdm12XgXTKgazN2sux4-ZZi/s1600/235855+Demystifying+the+Expert-1036.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1367&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1367&quot; height=&quot;200&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJcG_B1CpgOYk97MPk8L-c76qALBPgmWNGu5obYHQ2BGvx5bjV1kCwrDBOU3RnYdnxpk0Z0nauEbDT9KqVrxzTkUa35JqWdN915VMy7d-gxSM2kdm12XgXTKgazN2sux4-ZZi/s200/235855+Demystifying+the+Expert-1036.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;On
  1046. November 8, 2018, Drs. Constantin and Feitosa welcomed our final guest for the 2018 term, Dr. Kevin Caran from the
  1047. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry as our guest expert for the evening.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;He received his Bachelors Degree of Science
  1048. in Chemistry from Cologne University and his doctoral degree from Emory
  1049. University.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;After a post-doctoral position
  1050. at Georgia Tech, Dr. Caran came to JMU, where he has remained since 2003.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1051. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  1052. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1053. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  1054. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;The members
  1055. of JMU’s New and Imrpov’d who participated in the event were: Abigail, a sophomore
  1056. theatre major whose fish acts like a dog, Kat, a freshman SMAD major who jumps
  1057. out of planes for fun, and Noah Etka, a junior ISAT major who spends most of
  1058. his time explaining to potential employers what ISAT is.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1059. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  1060. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1061. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;
  1062. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;The
  1063. night kicked off with the twenty questions game, where each comedian took turns
  1064. asking Dr. Caran yes or no type questions to help them deduce what area of science
  1065. she studies.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;Our comedians were
  1066. scattered in their questions, unable to deduce much from Dr. Caran beyond how
  1067. he didn’t study plants, animals, or humans.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;
  1068. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;However, near the end, our comedians were able to deduce that Dr. Caran studied
  1069. chemistry, and from there were quickly able to discover that he was an organic
  1070. chemist.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1071. &lt;br /&gt;
  1072.  
  1073.  
  1074. &lt;br /&gt;
  1075. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1076. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1077. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1078. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;As he explained
  1079. with open ended questions, there are many different fields of chemistry, from organic
  1080. to analytical to materials, and he also explained that organic chemistry
  1081. studies molecules based off of the element carbon.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;In particular, he was involved with a process
  1082. called organic synthesis, or the creation of new molecules that have never been
  1083. created before.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1084. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  1085. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1UiwFc0lJFBaFkH7YquhDKrxIKdKk9_fFz8QaAB9tCJEuuecMzCT2C8Kty_Bh1w7YPOCCEkn7Co_4-IPmD8xJC1C2oS2907bBRlCLMgoDIwEh3KmQdFwPBiNN-cCFmHhPYt9Y/s1600/235855+Demystifying+the+Expert-1012.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1067&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1600&quot; height=&quot;213&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1UiwFc0lJFBaFkH7YquhDKrxIKdKk9_fFz8QaAB9tCJEuuecMzCT2C8Kty_Bh1w7YPOCCEkn7Co_4-IPmD8xJC1C2oS2907bBRlCLMgoDIwEh3KmQdFwPBiNN-cCFmHhPYt9Y/s320/235855+Demystifying+the+Expert-1012.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1086. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1087. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1088. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1089. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;In his elevator
  1090. pitch, where he gives a brief overview of his work and how it relates to the
  1091. greater world, Dr. Caran explained that the types of molecules that he is interested
  1092. in creating are amphiphiles, which have unique antibacterial properties that
  1093. are able to kill bacteria in ways that most antibiotics currently do not.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Unlike most orally taken antibiotics, the
  1094. molecules that Dr. Caran tries to manufacture are polymers, long carbon chains that
  1095. form the basis for, in his study, plastics.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;
  1096. &lt;/span&gt;These plastics are potential key players in the fight against antibiotic
  1097. resistance, as he says that if we are able to mass produce these plastics
  1098. efficiently, we can create materials that bacteria cannot grow on at far lower
  1099. costs.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The current regime utilizes many rarer
  1100. metals like silver and costly to manufacture plastics, so if these materials
  1101. are cost effective, they may be more accessible worldwide.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1102. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1103. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1104. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1105. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;The
  1106. second game was the headliner game, during which the comedians guess words that
  1107. complete titles of articles that relate to Dr. Caran’s research.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Here, our comedians were very quick to guess
  1108. the correct words, and the articles in question mainly talked about antibacterial
  1109. properties, from the efficacy of current antibiotic medications to the
  1110. solutions through antimicrobial plastics and shapes of these molecules that give
  1111. them these resistant properties.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Dr.
  1112. Caran also mentioned that the place where cheap antimicrobial implements were
  1113. most needed was in the medical industry, where cross-contamination is a very
  1114. dangerous scenario, especially if so-called ‘super-bugs’ with antibacterial
  1115. resistances were to be spread.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1116. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1117. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1118. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1119. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIaUu2C4cYi8jf6pLzWaKMlPaZ3ev1JGtEYTqXsHHUG5zXfNs5_FnSSXC9NAfbwYBO-YA0AR191bt2RhOm69f4dCQDN474zfzU5i8Tq8tDDUSpaFqR0OyYDUap1qyJVOiWXgeM/s1600/IMG_1392.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;856&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1600&quot; height=&quot;171&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIaUu2C4cYi8jf6pLzWaKMlPaZ3ev1JGtEYTqXsHHUG5zXfNs5_FnSSXC9NAfbwYBO-YA0AR191bt2RhOm69f4dCQDN474zfzU5i8Tq8tDDUSpaFqR0OyYDUap1qyJVOiWXgeM/s320/IMG_1392.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;The comedians and
  1120. Dr. Caran briefly discussed what a day in the lab looked like, with Dr. Caran
  1121. also mentioning his collaborations with the biology and physics departments at
  1122. JMU, including with our own host, Dr. Feitosa, in the manufacturing of
  1123. molecules.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This came into play when he explained
  1124. that his work involved taking current molecules, analyzing their shapes and trying
  1125. to see how to edit them to produce different qualities that we may want,
  1126. including antimicrobial properties. &lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;With
  1127. biology, he is able to test their efficacy, and with physics, he is able to see
  1128. just how these molecules can be created more effectively.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1129. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1130. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1131. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1132. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;Next was the jargon game
  1133. during which the comedians guess what certain acronyms or terms mean in the
  1134. expert’s field. Here, the comedians learned about colloids, or systems where
  1135. different items are mixed very finely, and how it is used in Dr. Caran’s work
  1136. to see how molecules hold on to each other.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;
  1137. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;We also learned some of acronyms used, such as MIC, or the minimum
  1138. inhibition concentration, or the lowest concentration of wasted materials used
  1139. to produce Dr. Caran’s molecules, and his favorite acronym to say, SOPAR, or
  1140. the sum of pi bonds and rings in a molecule.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1141. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1142. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1143. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1144. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;Finally,
  1145. the audience got to learn more about Dr. Caran outside of his life as a chemist
  1146. with the Two Truths and a Lie game. During this game, the comedians and
  1147. audience learned that Dr. Caran’s father had a family dog, Jilli, who was able
  1148. to play poker to great effect!&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;And, we
  1149. also learned that Dr. Caran not only plays guitar, but also writes songs about chemistry
  1150. to help his students remember the material, such as his ‘Alkane Song,’ which we
  1151. got to hear in its entirety!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1152. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1153. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1154. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1155. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtvB_gvc2ym2JxnAPXCWksQJIkE6Hzauwzus_wdqbjVsgtJDA9f7R28qZz5TTtkx5SL2j_WDOnCLiHCgYh_UIm53IBvMI0ZnTYuIw3G2J47mRyMe2uW8lSzTWA3uBeo2lhFKvC/s1600/235855+Demystifying+the+Expert-1039.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1068&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1600&quot; height=&quot;213&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtvB_gvc2ym2JxnAPXCWksQJIkE6Hzauwzus_wdqbjVsgtJDA9f7R28qZz5TTtkx5SL2j_WDOnCLiHCgYh_UIm53IBvMI0ZnTYuIw3G2J47mRyMe2uW8lSzTWA3uBeo2lhFKvC/s320/235855+Demystifying+the+Expert-1039.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;The
  1156. final planned event of the night was the improvised skit with quotes from
  1157. chemistry related pop culture like &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;Back to
  1158. the Future&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;Medicine Man&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;We had the typical student-professor scenario
  1159. where students in Dr. Caran’s lab are trying to clarify some point in their
  1160. work, but eventually goes into a sing-off between the students and Dr.
  1161. Caran.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;As an unexpected encore
  1162. presentation, Dr. Caran sang his song ‘Fishy, Oh Fishy,” for us, and the
  1163. comedians and even some of the audience members joined in during the chorus!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1164. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1165. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1166. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1167. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;We’d like to
  1168. thank you all for a great fall showcase of Demystifying the Expert, and we hope
  1169. to see you at our next show in the spring on Thursday, February 7, 2019 at 7:00
  1170. PM at Taylor Down Under!&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1171. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1172. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1173. &lt;br /&gt;
  1174. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  1175. &lt;/div&gt;
  1176. &lt;br /&gt;
  1177. &lt;br /&gt;
  1178. &lt;br /&gt;
  1179. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1180. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1181. &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1182. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1183. &lt;/div&gt;
  1184. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/7871755692236968392'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/7871755692236968392'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2018/12/demystifying-expert-dr-kevin-caran.html' title='Demystifying the Expert:  Dr. Kevin Caran'/><author><name>Theodore Chu</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14923865283892931119</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJcG_B1CpgOYk97MPk8L-c76qALBPgmWNGu5obYHQ2BGvx5bjV1kCwrDBOU3RnYdnxpk0Z0nauEbDT9KqVrxzTkUa35JqWdN915VMy7d-gxSM2kdm12XgXTKgazN2sux4-ZZi/s72-c/235855+Demystifying+the+Expert-1036.jpg" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-6289620148654076152</id><published>2018-11-11T15:34:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2019-11-14T08:06:40.277-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="JMU High School Physics Teacher of the Year"/><title type='text'>The 2018 JMU High School Physics Teacher of the Year, Mr. Nicholas Leonard</title><content type='html'>&lt;div dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot; trbidi=&quot;on&quot;&gt;
  1185. &lt;br /&gt;
  1186. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;
  1187. &lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
  1188. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWzHARhfXXhvmLzn1fGULepJPVlsuMIxthkxr0RItAqb9vNff0yvTF_w7ONGMT_zZk2CQ3n3bG1plqGsnlRXStrahpbbm8_8ZYnp22epy2nE5i386_4gzDpbgChVWjjEJkUyHC/s1600/2018+hsptoty+2.jpeg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;758&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1010&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWzHARhfXXhvmLzn1fGULepJPVlsuMIxthkxr0RItAqb9vNff0yvTF_w7ONGMT_zZk2CQ3n3bG1plqGsnlRXStrahpbbm8_8ZYnp22epy2nE5i386_4gzDpbgChVWjjEJkUyHC/s320/2018+hsptoty+2.jpeg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  1189. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Mr. Nicholas Leonard (right) with Dr. Christopher Hughes&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  1190. &lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
  1191. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYS_arSk-78G44qnA7Lk8qTJIU38WkjyYRTmhcQkpSWWEE8wJBiT4rDqBQ-0dC3Z7TyJmzBlghL4PZua0Qo0uK2LDCZkpRYEyLyxFYrp5l_0dkcb1B_a17lmhXv_NfmGSLnn1O/s1600/IMG_1365.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; On November 6, 2018, we had the
  1192. honor of hosting the 2018 JMU High School Physics Teacher of the Year, Mr.
  1193. Nicholas Leonard, for a day to tour our department and talk about his
  1194. experience as&amp;nbsp; a physics educator with faculty, students, and even alumni!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1195. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1196. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1197. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1198. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;Mr. Leonard received his
  1199. undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Virginia Commonwealth
  1200. University in 2002.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Before becoming a teacher, he worked at a semiconductor
  1201. processing facility.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;After leaving the
  1202. company, he spent about a year looking for a job before he accepted a teaching
  1203. position for chemistry at Highland Springs High School in Henrico County, Virginia.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;After a year there, he moved to Monacan High
  1204. School in Chesterfield County, where he has remained to this day.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Like at Highland Springs, he began with
  1205. chemistry and then in 2010 he began to teach physics classes as well.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;As of current, Mr. Leonard now primarily
  1206. teaches physics.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1207. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1208. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1209. &lt;br /&gt;
  1210. &lt;br /&gt;
  1211. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  1212. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9BThFhWnTrsUOhbZAKs9AWp2z1tfqExqHAIt_hnVPR-B31cShpfMkI6dpNzD_pzR4_b-AJ8zhKYfrhDBhQ6Qb-aZdfFvzQtGFGFoCJpl6OAVnEMPRUyJ4rKeR273Un8Pucft9/s1600/2018+hsptoty+1.jpeg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1200&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1600&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9BThFhWnTrsUOhbZAKs9AWp2z1tfqExqHAIt_hnVPR-B31cShpfMkI6dpNzD_pzR4_b-AJ8zhKYfrhDBhQ6Qb-aZdfFvzQtGFGFoCJpl6OAVnEMPRUyJ4rKeR273Un8Pucft9/s400/2018+hsptoty+1.jpeg&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1213. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  1214. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1215. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1216. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;Mr. Leonard talked with us about some
  1217. of what he’s learned as an educator, from how physics and chemistry education
  1218. is different to how he tries to get students to understand material and also things
  1219. that can be frustrating as a teacher.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;While
  1220. Mr. Leonard first started teaching physics out of some necessity, he cites his
  1221. primary reason for now teaching only physics classes being that it’s much easier,
  1222. and more fun, to actually demonstrate to students what he wants them to investigate.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He also mentions that, when students have
  1223. trouble understanding particular concepts, it’s useful to help them identify
  1224. relationships and patterns with what’s going on, and making use of visual aids
  1225. is often a very useful tool for these purposes.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;
  1226. &lt;/span&gt;His largest pet peeve with the job is just when students won’t ask him
  1227. questions. &lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Mr. Leonard says that questions
  1228. are helpful in identifying where he can improve as an educator, and also where he
  1229. may need to revisit a concept or slow down the pace so that everyone
  1230. understands clearly what’s going on in class.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1231. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1232. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1233. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1234. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYS_arSk-78G44qnA7Lk8qTJIU38WkjyYRTmhcQkpSWWEE8wJBiT4rDqBQ-0dC3Z7TyJmzBlghL4PZua0Qo0uK2LDCZkpRYEyLyxFYrp5l_0dkcb1B_a17lmhXv_NfmGSLnn1O/s1600/IMG_1365.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1600&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1200&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYS_arSk-78G44qnA7Lk8qTJIU38WkjyYRTmhcQkpSWWEE8wJBiT4rDqBQ-0dC3Z7TyJmzBlghL4PZua0Qo0uK2LDCZkpRYEyLyxFYrp5l_0dkcb1B_a17lmhXv_NfmGSLnn1O/s320/IMG_1365.jpg&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; We also got to hear a bit of how Mr.
  1235. Leonard tries to structure his class, and key to this is his core philosophy
  1236. behind teaching.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;As Mr. Leonard says
  1237. himself, “I want to teach so I’m having fun!” and this entails a lot of
  1238. interaction with the students, both in projects and in class structure.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;A typical class utilizes a small demo as the
  1239. beginning of discussion, and students are encouraged to discuss and ask questions
  1240. about what’s going on with the demonstration.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;
  1241. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;There may be some smaller notes
  1242. or formulae to copy down, but most of what happens is really a conversation
  1243. about the subject at hand, whether it be projectile motion or energy.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;When it comes to projects, Mr. Leonard tries
  1244. to engage students with projects that focus on applying the skills learned in
  1245. the classroom with design and construction principles in engineering.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;Whether it be designing a cart so that it
  1246. travels a certain distance or achieves a certain distance within a certain
  1247. time, to having students create towers out of popsicle sticks and marshmallow launchers
  1248. to lay siege to said towers, students are expected to work collaboratively both &lt;/span&gt;among&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;themselves and with Mr. Leonard to apply the knowledge they’ve gained
  1249. from class.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1250. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1251. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1252. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1253. &lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
  1254. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY11vsIUkFCYJM_qUp8Tn5bp9zs0b7Odmykr-qzuyoEr8GBJqAJbVgcpotYE3V0bW1gBVM8KlzG1id2J9nHjT9rtyiVethh4IRY5bsOZyeJLJpTpTUE34HFuvPBLIg6YekFlZ2/s1600/IMG_1375.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1200&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1600&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY11vsIUkFCYJM_qUp8Tn5bp9zs0b7Odmykr-qzuyoEr8GBJqAJbVgcpotYE3V0bW1gBVM8KlzG1id2J9nHjT9rtyiVethh4IRY5bsOZyeJLJpTpTUE34HFuvPBLIg6YekFlZ2/s320/IMG_1375.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  1255. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Mr. Leonard with Jack Clabough (left)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  1256. &lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
  1257. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot; , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; Thank you again to Mr. Leonard, it
  1258. was a great pleasure to have such as dedicated and engaged teacher share with
  1259. us his experiences as an educator, and a thank you as well to Jack Clabough,
  1260. the freshman physics major who nominated him!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1261. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1262. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1263. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1264. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/6289620148654076152'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/6289620148654076152'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-2018-jmu-high-school-physics.html' title='The 2018 JMU High School Physics Teacher of the Year, Mr. Nicholas Leonard'/><author><name>Theodore Chu</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14923865283892931119</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWzHARhfXXhvmLzn1fGULepJPVlsuMIxthkxr0RItAqb9vNff0yvTF_w7ONGMT_zZk2CQ3n3bG1plqGsnlRXStrahpbbm8_8ZYnp22epy2nE5i386_4gzDpbgChVWjjEJkUyHC/s72-c/2018+hsptoty+2.jpeg" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-5091936559475932766</id><published>2018-10-29T13:20:00.003-04:00</published><updated>2019-11-04T05:25:33.664-05:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Demystifying the Expert"/><title type='text'>Demystifying the Expert:  Dr. Mark Gabriele</title><content type='html'>&lt;div dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot; trbidi=&quot;on&quot;&gt;
  1265. &lt;br /&gt;
  1266. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  1267. &lt;/div&gt;
  1268. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;To introduce the public to
  1269. science in a combination of comedy and education, Dr. Anca Constantin and Dr.
  1270. Klebert Feitosa host the event&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;MsoHyperlink&quot; style=&quot;text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #954f72; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sites.jmu.edu/demystifying/&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #954f72;&quot;&gt;Demystifying
  1271. the Expert&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;. The program brings together a guest
  1272. speaker, who is an expert in their field of science, and comedians from JMU’s
  1273. very own&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;MsoHyperlink&quot; style=&quot;text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #954f72; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jmuimprov.weebly.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #954f72;&quot;&gt;New &amp;amp;
  1274. Improv’d&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;, who attempt to “demystify the expert.”
  1275. Questions, games, trivia and improvised skits all contribute to the fun as the
  1276. audience learns about the expert’s work. Podcasts for previous Demystifying the
  1277. Expert events can be found&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;MsoHyperlink&quot; style=&quot;text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://soundcloud.com/demystifying&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt; on
  1278. SoundCloud!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1279.  
  1280.  
  1281. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;
  1282. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1283. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
  1284. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsXw2SwZnvg3x98SIaoCCPfKQT0u6DOQQALfe1SAMrM7lSYz5HUCmWY9kVSQ3CuYE690iNZgqLN7XvAqdqaRkyn_9Y-L4NyaE7oKD-75mzqPg01v_LgKdV5R3GeZTS3UfGZP-6/s1600/demystifying_fa18.3.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;467&quot; data-original-width=&quot;467&quot; height=&quot;200&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsXw2SwZnvg3x98SIaoCCPfKQT0u6DOQQALfe1SAMrM7lSYz5HUCmWY9kVSQ3CuYE690iNZgqLN7XvAqdqaRkyn_9Y-L4NyaE7oKD-75mzqPg01v_LgKdV5R3GeZTS3UfGZP-6/s200/demystifying_fa18.3.jpg&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;On
  1285. October 11, 2018, the first Demystifying the Expert event for the 2018-2019
  1286. term welcomed Dr. Mark Gabriele from the Department of Biology as our guest
  1287. expert for the evening.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Dr. Gabriele has
  1288. been faculty at JMU since 2001, after research appointments and received his doctoral
  1289. degree from Wake Forest University, but he is also an alumnus from JMU! &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1290. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1291. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1292. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;&quot;&gt;
  1293. &lt;span style=&quot;background: white; color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;The members
  1294. of JMU’s New and Imrpov’d who participated in the event were: Michael Mathis
  1295. and Ethan Schultze, both junior media arts and design majors, and Caroline
  1296. Buddendorf, a sophomore theatre major.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;
  1297. &lt;/span&gt;Right before the inaugural twenty questions game, Dr. Gabriele asked
  1298. each comedian what their favorite genre of music or band was, which would later
  1299. clue in to how Dr. Gabriele entered his field and in particular what he
  1300. studies.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Michael mentioned his Spotify
  1301. recommendations being primarily hip hop, Ethan had classic rock and Queen being
  1302. his favorite band, and Caroline named Gorillaz as her current most listened to
  1303. group.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br style=&quot;mso-special-character: line-break;&quot; /&gt;
  1304. &lt;!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--&gt;&lt;br style=&quot;mso-special-character: line-break;&quot; /&gt;
  1305. &lt;!--[endif]--&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1306. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1307. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;After
  1308. Dr. Gabriele’s questions, the comedians had their turn to inquire in the twenty
  1309. questions game.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Each comedian took turns asking Dr. Gabriele yes
  1310. or no type questions to help them deduce what area of science she studies.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Our comedians started off strong in narrowing
  1311. his field down to something in biology, but then spent much of their time
  1312. trying to figure out what exactly he did related to animals.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;After twenty questions, Dr. Gabriel revealed
  1313. that he, while he does use animals in the lab in his work, is a developmental
  1314. neuroscientist with a focus in sensory integration, or the circuits within our
  1315. brain that allow us to use our senses.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1316. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1317. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1318. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  1319. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeJzNwPRZwy1vSfSw9vJ3H9iuviW0KrCU6JLWXpt1KeV8IgyBw3WLJrySfHyDBRaLohmblUjfHXtJwV4MTq2X7TclbxQWC_A5cvyUhsti6bA40obK7zlnV1zLxR_fQx3dU0snQ/s1600/demystifying_fa18.2.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1066&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1600&quot; height=&quot;213&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeJzNwPRZwy1vSfSw9vJ3H9iuviW0KrCU6JLWXpt1KeV8IgyBw3WLJrySfHyDBRaLohmblUjfHXtJwV4MTq2X7TclbxQWC_A5cvyUhsti6bA40obK7zlnV1zLxR_fQx3dU0snQ/s320/demystifying_fa18.2.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1320. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1321. &lt;/div&gt;
  1322. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1323. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1324. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1325. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;mso-tab-count: 1;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;As he explained
  1326. with open ended questions, he does much work in the studies of audition, how we
  1327. hear, and his love for music is what kept him in developmental neuroscience for
  1328. the past two decades.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He also revealed
  1329. his favorite band, The War on Drugs.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He
  1330. shared his most fascinating discovery from his work, where he had seen that the
  1331. brain had already developed the neural networks for hearing and vision before
  1332. the ears and eyes were fully formed.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1333. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1334. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1335. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1336. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;mso-tab-count: 1;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;In his elevator
  1337. pitch, where he gives a brief overview of his work and how it relates to the
  1338. greater world, he mentioned how his work applies to many different disorders, from
  1339. things as isolated in cause like tinnitus to much more complex disorders like
  1340. autism-spectrum disorder.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;And, in
  1341. addition, he talked about how his work would be able to help improve therapy
  1342. parameters for patients, but also that his work was trying to find a way to
  1343. change the neural networks in order to alleviate these disorders.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1344. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1345. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1346. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1347. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The
  1348. second game was the fill-in-the-blank game, during which the comedians guess
  1349. words that complete titles of articles that relate to Dr. Gabriele’s research.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Both related to the maps within the brain
  1350. that transmit sensory data, but while the first mentioned how some people’s
  1351. brains may have more connections between their cortices, the second article
  1352. talked about how maps that never had a need to develop (as in the case of a
  1353. person born without hands) were not only still developed, but eventually used
  1354. in the event of ‘regaining’ sensory capabilities, as with a transplant
  1355. procedure.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1356. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1357. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1358. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1359. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Next
  1360. was the jargon game during which the comedians guess what certain acronyms or
  1361. terms mean in the expert’s field. Here, the comedians learned about the
  1362. microglia, small cells in the brain that support neurons and are responsible for
  1363. pruning brain connections into the proper maps.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1364. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1365. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1366. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1367. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Finally,
  1368. the audience got to learn more about Dr. Gabriele outside of his life as a biologist
  1369. with the Two Truths and a Lie game. During this game, the comedians and
  1370. audience learned that Dr. Gabriele, during his undergraduate career at JMU, was
  1371. an Olympic-level swimmer, having his personal record for the butterfly stroke
  1372. still standing at Godwin Hall.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;In
  1373. addition, we learned that he learned to balance his busy life with meditation, with
  1374. most sessions lasting thirty minutes and the most public being in an airport.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1375. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1376. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1377. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1378. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The
  1379. final event of the night was the skit in which the comedians played out an
  1380. imagined day in the life of the office hours of Dr. Gabriele.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;With some mandatory quotes relating to biology
  1381. and neuroscience from pop culture favorites like Gattaca, our comedians came up
  1382. with a scenario where a humble student approaches Dr. Gabriele about a test
  1383. question, but quickly delving into an exploration of the deeper meanings of life,
  1384. friendship, and what is real and what is made real by the imagination.&lt;span style=&quot;mso-spacerun: yes;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;From ‘Dr. Gabriele’ hinting that he may be a
  1385. multi-dimensional being to judging a man, or imaginary man, by his outfit, it certainly
  1386. was a wild ride!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1387. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1388. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1389. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  1390. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiprVvGhAHYwOfZffuQLKz7CarKZYYtFE5jbMrEnpCYbfvZPbXdifbwHqhKp-L84Dv8Zuy_nXr8xHowB6dHTIAfFc-33GjtbUrELWldFF0PNoD4gaQn1V_If-OqmA_Fg0sPZyx-/s1600/demystifying_fa18.1.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1067&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1600&quot; height=&quot;265&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiprVvGhAHYwOfZffuQLKz7CarKZYYtFE5jbMrEnpCYbfvZPbXdifbwHqhKp-L84Dv8Zuy_nXr8xHowB6dHTIAfFc-33GjtbUrELWldFF0PNoD4gaQn1V_If-OqmA_Fg0sPZyx-/s400/demystifying_fa18.1.jpg&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1391. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1392. &lt;/div&gt;
  1393. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1394. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1395. &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;&quot;&gt;
  1396. &lt;span style=&quot;color: black; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12.0pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;mso-tab-count: 1;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;We look forward
  1397. to seeing you at the second Demystifying the Expert event for the fall semester
  1398. at 7:00 PM on Thursday, November 8, 2018, at Taylor Down Under, the first floor
  1399. of Madison Union!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1400. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1401. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/5091936559475932766'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/5091936559475932766'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2018/10/demystifying-expert-dr-mark-gabriele.html' title='Demystifying the Expert:  Dr. Mark Gabriele'/><author><name>Theodore Chu</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14923865283892931119</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsXw2SwZnvg3x98SIaoCCPfKQT0u6DOQQALfe1SAMrM7lSYz5HUCmWY9kVSQ3CuYE690iNZgqLN7XvAqdqaRkyn_9Y-L4NyaE7oKD-75mzqPg01v_LgKdV5R3GeZTS3UfGZP-6/s72-c/demystifying_fa18.3.jpg" height="72" width="72"/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26858655.post-2443448515205006172</id><published>2018-10-20T21:18:00.002-04:00</published><updated>2018-10-20T21:23:39.588-04:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;h3 class=&quot;post-title entry-title&quot; itemprop=&quot;name&quot;&gt;
  1402. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
  1403. &lt;h3 class=&quot;post-title entry-title&quot; itemprop=&quot;name&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  1404. &lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica neue&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;The 2018 WINNER of the JMU High School Physics Teacher of the Year Award&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
  1405. &lt;h3 class=&quot;post-title entry-title&quot; itemprop=&quot;name&quot;&gt;
  1406. &lt;/h3&gt;
  1407. &lt;h3 class=&quot;post-title entry-title&quot; itemprop=&quot;name&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  1408. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica neue&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: small;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: normal;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span dir=&quot;ltr&quot;&gt;We are proud to announce that&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1409. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
  1410. &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  1411. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica neue&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: small;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span dir=&quot;ltr&quot;&gt;the 2018 recipient of the JMU High School Physics Teacher of the Year Award&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1412. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica neue&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: small;&quot;&gt;
  1413. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1414. &lt;br /&gt;
  1415. &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  1416. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica neue&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: small;&quot;&gt;
  1417. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span dir=&quot;ltr&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;is&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: red;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: xx-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;span dir=&quot;ltr&quot; style=&quot;font-size: 10pt;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1418. &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  1419. &lt;h3 style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  1420. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica neue&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #dec210;&quot;&gt;Mr. Nicholas Leonard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1421. &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
  1422. &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  1423. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica neue&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Science Teacher at Monacan High School, North Chesterfield, VA&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1424. &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  1425. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica neue&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1426. &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;
  1427. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica neue&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;The student who has nominated Mr. Leonard is &lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;James Clabough&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;, &lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;currently a physics major at JMU. Here is James in his own words describing the exceptional attributes of his nominee:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1428. &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;
  1429. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica neue&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1430. &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;
  1431. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica neue&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: purple;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;“Mr.
  1432. Leonard has a wonderful way of making physics fun and entertaining,
  1433. whether that be learning the forces of projectile motion through
  1434. marshmallow catapults to learning about centripetal forces by using a
  1435. flying squealing pig. Mr. Leonard always knows how to explain things
  1436. well and relate key concepts involved around physics back to everyday
  1437. life by preforming experiments in the matter or watching relevant viral
  1438. videos to the concept he is trying to explain. All in all Mr. Leonard is
  1439. unparalleled in how he teaches the subject and would be the best
  1440. candidate for the honor of JMU High School Teacher of the Year.”&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1441. &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;
  1442. &lt;/div&gt;
  1443. &lt;/div&gt;
  1444. &lt;div class=&quot;post-title entry-title&quot; itemprop=&quot;name&quot; style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;
  1445. &lt;/div&gt;
  1446. &lt;div class=&quot;post-title entry-title&quot; itemprop=&quot;name&quot; style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;
  1447. &lt;br /&gt;
  1448. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;helvetica neue&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif; font-size: small;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: normal;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;tahoma&amp;quot;; font-size: xx-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: xx-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;Mr. Leonard will be visiting us at JMU on Tuesday, November 6th (Election &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;tahoma&amp;quot;;&quot;&gt;D&lt;/span&gt;ay) when he will &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;arial&amp;quot; , &amp;quot;helvetica&amp;quot; , sans-serif;&quot;&gt;meet&lt;/span&gt; with faculty&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;tahoma&amp;quot;;&quot;&gt; and students, see our facilities, and receive a gift in recognition of the award. Feel free to join us for the award ceremony of Mr. Leonard at 2 pm in Room 2212 (Phys. Chem. Bldg.)! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1449. </content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/2443448515205006172'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/26858655/posts/default/2443448515205006172'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://jmuphysics.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-2018-winner-of-jmu-high-school.html' title=''/><author><name>Adriana Banu</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03813921805130841356</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry></feed>

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