BGSU Department of Physics and Astronomy Newsletter - Spring 2020
Message from the Chair
As you are an important friend of the Physics and Astronomy Department at BGSU, I wanted to let you know about some of the goings-on in our corner of the world. I hope to make this newsletter a habit by sharing updates twice a year. I look forward to remaining in contact with you as the years pass and more students arrive to learn and explore in our department.
– Andy Layden, Chair
Familiar Faces
At the end of June, Dr. John Laird stepped down as the long-standing Chair of our department, and began a well-earned retirement. For now, he plans on staying in the Bowling Green area while taking more time to visit his children and their children across the country.
In 2018, John received the Leadership as a Chair/School Director Award from the BGSU Faculty Senate. He also was granted emeritus status from the BGSU Board of Trustees in May of 2019.
John aims to return to doing research on the astrophysics of stellar atmospheres, using his original software to determine temperatures, compositions, and other physical properties of the gas in the outer layers of selected stars. He is setting up a computing system at home, though we hope to see him in his new office among the other emeritus professors: Drs. Bob Boughton, Jary Crandall, Comer Duncan, Charlie Shirkey, Ed Singleton, and Ron Stoner.
New Faces
Dr. Joe Whitehead
In January of 2019, the Physics and Astronomy Department received a new, unexpected yet very welcome faculty member in the form of Dr. Joe Whitehead, the new provost of BGSU. Joe moved to BGSU from the University of North Carolina system where he was senior adviser for research managing a large portfolio of research initiatives. Before that, he was provost at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, dean of the College of Science and Technology at the University of Southern Mississippi, and a physics professor at USM specializing in liquid crystal and polymer materials. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Kent State University in Ohio. His extensive experience with grants and research operations is certain to enhance BGSU’s effectiveness and success in research.
Dr. Andy Layden
On July 1, Dr. Andy Layden assumed the role of department Chair. Andy has been a member of the Department since 1998, and has taught a variety of courses in both astronomy and physics, though perhaps his favorite is ASTR 3090 Observational Astronomy, in which students learn how to observe the sky with their unaided eyes, small manual telescopes, and our automated 20-inch reflector. Last year, Andy led the design of a new introductory lab course, ASTR 1010 Experimental Astronomy, with support from a National Science Foundation grant. In this course, general education students do a variety of experiments and activities that gives them a more hands-on understanding of the logical and creative modes of scientific inquiry. Andy recently published a paper with colleagues here at BGSU and at Dartmouth College on the brightness of a class of stars called RR Lyrae variables, which serve as important “standard candles” used to measure distances throughout the Milky Way galaxy and to nearby galaxies. The work utilizes the latest results from the Gaia space interferometry satellite and can be found on the arXiv website.
Research Excellence
Dr. Liangfeng Sun recently received a large grant from the National Science Foundation titled "Exciton Dynamics in Colloidal Lead Sulfide (PbS) Nanosheets" that will energize his group’s work on materials science.
Dr. Farida Selim won a very large grant from the Department of Energy titled “Fundamental Understanding of Transport Under Reactor Extremes” that will lead to the development of a novel positron-ion beam-line at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Dr. Marco Nardone, a BGSU M.S. graduate, recently returned to the department as a faculty member. He is enjoying the support of several grants that power his computational research into the performance and reliability of solar photovoltaic cells.
As always, you can learn more about these and other research projects taking place in the Physics and Astronomy Department by visiting our research web page. You can also find us on Facebook.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Dr. Lewis Fulcher was honored with the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award from the BGSU Faculty Senate.
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Outstanding Early Career Award
Dr. Farida Selim earned the 2019 Outstanding Early Career Award.
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Professor of Research Excellence
Dr. Mikhail Zamkov received BGSU’s 2019 Professor of Research Excellence.
Read MoreStudent Success
Last, and perhaps most importantly, our students continue to learn and thrive. Two of our undergraduate students presented talks about their research during a department seminar at the end of the 2019 Spring term. Jordan Fox spoke about his work in Dr. Liangfeng Sun's lab in a talk titled "Tuning the Lateral Size of Colloidal PbS Nanosheets," while Tyler Ruck's presentation titled "Computational Study of the Primary Photoisomerization in the Vision of Ancestral Archosaurs" reflected work in photochemistry that earned him a share of the James Robert and Gretchen Overman Award.
Jordan Fox, the 2019 recipient of the Bowman Family Undergraduate Research Award, presented his research on nanosheets.
Master’s student Amanda Nemeth earned a summer research experience in New Mexico at the Computational Physics Student Summer Workshop, sponsored by the Los Alamos National Laboratory Advanced Scientific Computing (ASC) Program.
Updated: 03/30/2020 10:30AM