Summer 2010 in the Physics and Astronomy Department

During the Summer of 2010 a limited number of research positions will be available. These position will be paid the campus wide rate of $4200 for ten weeks of work.

HOW TO APPLY

Students should contact the faculty member with whom they wish to work by Monday, February 15 and set up an appointment to discuss the research project and their qualifications for the job. Invitations to join a research group will be issued in early March. Student who receive invitations to join a research group must make a commitment before leaving campus for spring break.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS

Students offered a position will be required to do a spring term Special Project with their research advisor. Some Physics & Astronomy professors require more terms of academic research before a student is hired for summer work. These professors identify their summer research student early in the academic year.

2010 Summer Positions

Cindy Blaha is looking for two summer research assistants to help analyze the evolutionary history of the nearby spiral galaxies M33 and M31. This summer the study will continue the analysis of optical observations of M31 and the dwarf galaxies and further analyze our survey results for M33.  The data consists of sets of broadband images as well as images taken through narrow interference filters centered on emission lines of ionized hydrogen, sulfur and oxygen.  these images will be used to perform a "galactic census" to identify the newly born stars (or HII regions), middle-aged stars (as planetary nebulae) and the newly deceased (in the form of supernova remnants).  This will help us piece together the galactic "life history" of these galaxies and compare star-formation rates and chemical abundance variations in different galactic environments.

Data analysis will involve use of the IRAF (Image Reduction and Analysis Facility), IDL (Interactive Data Language) and other image processing software on several operating systems. Summer work will also include conducting open houses at Goodsell Observatory as well as developing new curricular materials to be used with our CCD cameras and spectrograph. Students interested in working on this project will be asked to do a special project in the spring to get ready for summer work. Please contact Cindy for further details if you are interested in applying.

Dwight Luhman will be hiring 2 summer research assistants for summer 2010. Dwight's research involves studying the properties of two-dimensional liquid helium in disordered systems. When liquid helium is cooled to very low temperatures it exhibits a quantum mechanical property known as superfluidity. Research over the summer will study the influence of disorder on the superfluid transition in two-dimensional liquid helium. The nature of these experiments is very hands-on and includes a variety of experimental techniques such as thin film deposition, atomic force microscopy and measurements at low temperatures. Contact Dwight if you are interested in working on this project or if you would like further details about his research. Students interested in working with Dwight during the summer are strongly encouraged to prepare by  participating in a special project during the academic year .

Melissa Eblen-Zayas will be hiring two or three students to work on research projects focused on the growth and characterization of materials which show a variety of unusual magnetic and electronic properties. Among the materials that we research are rare earth intermetallic compounds and Eu-rich EuO. Eu-rich EuO provides a particularly interesting laboratory for studying questions about the nature of colossal magnetoresistance and phase inhomogeneity. Students will gain hands-on experience in low temperature experimental methods, high vacuum techniques, thin film and single crystal growth, and transport and magnetization measurements. In addition to work at Carleton, we will also occasionally travel to the University of Minnesota to use characterization facilities there.

First-years and sophomores are encouraged to apply. Being an experimentalist is, in part, about being creative, patient, detail-oriented, self-motivated, and able to solve real-life, messy (quite literally!) problems, and these characteristics are more important in the lab than the number of physics classes you have taken. Contact Melissa if you are interested in applying or want to learn more.

Nelson Christensen is hiring at least 2 students for the summer of 2010 who will work with him on the analysis of the data from the LIGO gravitational wave detectors. The work involves programing, so experience there is a preference. The immediate task will be to develop techniques whereby various environmental disturbances in the data can be identified. Students who work with Nelson during the academic year have priority in hiring.

Arjendu Pattanayak will be hiring 2-4 students for summer 2010.  Arjendu works in theoretical and computational dynamics of nonlinear (usually quantum)systems, more broadly working in the field of statistical mechanics.  Some of his projects connect to possible experimental realizations, others are more abstract, and he typically has multiple projects going.  Students are typically matched to projects based on some combination of their interest, what he is currently pushing on hardest, and collaborator interests.  He allows students to follow their own questions to some extent as well – so that it is sometimes less a target-based project and more a curiosity-driven projects.  A fair amount of prliminary reading and background work is usually necessary before students can launch into research with Arjendu.  There is rarely a tinkering project.

Students qualified to work with Arjendu have taken as much Math as possible (prferably Linear Algebra and/or Ordinary Differential Equations, although that isn't *absolutely* necessary).  Some computing experience is useful.  Much of the difference between background and these requirements can be made up by special projects and independent work during the academic year.  In some cases students work with Arjendu from Fall before the summer they work with him through the Fall of the summer after.  In other cases it is only a term before the summer.

Joel Weisberg has hired two students for summer 2010 pulsar research to study general relativity, the interstellar medium, and pulsars’ emission processes: Carleton students, colleagues elsewhere, and Joel are observing pulsars at Green Bank, WV, Arecibo, PR, and Parkes, Australia for a variety of projects. They are studying the properties of pulsars in an effort to understand the underlying emission mechanism; measuring the density, turbulence, and magnetization of the interstellar medium by watching its effects on pulsar signals; and studying Einstein's General Theory of Relativity by carefully observing the orbit and pulseshape of a binary pulsar. The projects involve the use of unix, fortran, IDL, and C programs to plan the observations and to analyze the data we collect on these objects. Astrophysics I or II is a suggested prerequisite but we can be flexible. Work will include a month in Australia and possible trips to Arecibo.

The positions are already filled however, by students who are starting the research during winter and spring terms.

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES AT CARLETON

At Carleton, hiring for 40-50 summer student-faculty research positions in the sciences is carried out at the level of the department or individual faculty member. The college-wide research stipend for students who work ten weeks full time in summer 2010 is $4,200. Visit the CISMI webpage for information on hiring in each department at Carleton.