OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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The Physics department offers two ways to fulfill the writing-intensive curriculum (WIC) requirement in the major.
PH317 - Experimental Physics:
PH317 offers an in-depth experience with a few experiments, coupled strongly to the writing experience, just like the thesis option. PH317 is currently offered in Winter term and enrollment is limited to 12 students. More information about PH317 is available at https://physics.oregonstate.edu/ph317-experimental-physics-w2022.
PH403 - Thesis
Possible Thesis Projects for 2022/2023 & PH317 preference are at this link.
PowerPoint slides from the WIC presentation on 18 November 2021.
| Overview of the thesis: Many Physics majors complete a senior thesis. The thesis can be based on experimental work in a laboratory, computational work using workstations or supercomputers, or theoretical work with paper and pencil. The ability to conduct research and to disseminate the results is the hallmark of a scientist. Research results need validation, so they are shared with the community to be examined, verified, and expanded upon. The written form is important because it is a permanent record, and allows other researchers to carefully critique the details of the work. We therefore connect the senior research project and thesis with the University’s WIC requirement. Each year, a WIC Culture of Writing award is made. Students participate in a departmental mini-conference at the end of spring term to give oral presentations of their work. The senior thesis also fulfills the Honors College thesis requirement, and the "Undergraduate Research Fellow" transcript notation. |  |
 Thesis presentations, June 2016 |
 Presentation on June 12, 2008 |
Timeline:
First year, sophomore year: Look for research opportunities, begin research if possible; attend informational presentation in junior class in mid-late Fall term (watch calendar for details), attend senior presentations at the mini-conference in finals week of Spring term Junior year: Research projects underway, attend informational presentation in junior class in mid-late Fall term (watch calendar for details), attend senior presentations at the mini-conference in finals week of Spring term. Senior year (or final year of 5-year program): Continue research, enroll in PH403 for 1 unit in each of Fall, Winter, Spring. Complete thesis, give oral presentation in finals week of spring term. |
Research: Research projects are usually under the supervision of a Physics Department faculty member, but physics-related research projects with faculty supervisors from other departments are common. In either case, register for PH401 (Research). Off-campus internships or REU projects (Research Experience for Undergraduates) are excellent avenues for conducting research. If you exercise this option to fulfill the research/thesis requirement, you must discuss it with the PH403 instructor before you go. It is important that the off-campus mentor agrees ahead of time that the project is of appropriate scope and is willing to keep in contact through the year. You must also arrange to have an OSU faculty member be a local mentor.
Students should begin their research early, using freshman and sophomore years to explore research opportunities. Visit faculty members in their offices, browse their websites, talk to other students in the department, look at lists of former projects, attend presentations in the department to find out what type of research would be interesting to you. Find out about internships and summer research opportunities on and off campus. Organize meetings through SPS to educate yourselves about possibilities, invite faculty to speak about their work. You will gain the most from your research experience if it is sustained over a longer period, but you should plan to be working on a project no later than the spring of your junior year.
The physics major requires 3 units of PH401 (Research). There are separate sections for each research advisor. A typical timeline for PH401 research is 1 unit in the Spring of the Junior year and 1 unit in each of Fall and Winter of the Senior year. If you do research off-campus, the PH401 requirement may be replaced with other physics courses; discuss with the undergraduate advisor.
Previous senior thesis projects are listed below
OSU thesis WIC guidelines
NSF REU sites
SULI internships (Department of Energy)
NASA Internships (Fall, Spring, Summer and academic year deadlines)
OSU Undergraduate Research: Research opportunities, funding, events
College of Science SURE-Science awards (summer research $$)
Thesis: PH403 (Thesis) concerns the writing aspect of the research, and students enroll in 1 unit of PH403 in each of Fall, Winter and Spring of the senior year. You will need permission from the Physics office to register. These three total credits satisfy the OSU Writing Intensive Course (WIC) requirement of the OSU Baccalaureate Core requirement. Students meet weekly as a group to write a thesis proposal and to critique and revise their writing. They also discuss and write about issues relating to ethics, types of science writing, and logical presentation of ideas. In Winter and Spring, activities focus on the thesis itself, including significant time devoted to the writing and revision of the thesis. Steady progress and continual peer and advisor review are expected throughout. A typical thesis is about fifteen to twenty pages, or about 3,000 to 5,000 words. The goal is to have the thesis ready by week 6 of Spring term. This means that research should be substantially complete by the end of Winter term of the senior year.
Mini-Conference: After the written thesis is complete, class time is devoted to preparing 10-minute oral presentations, the standard at physics conferences. In the final week of Spring term, there is a mini-conference where students give oral presentations on their projects to the department.
Questions? Talk to the PH403 instructor or head advisor. Scroll to the end of the page for answers to common questions about the WIC and the senior thesis. For thesis advisors from outside departments, detailed information about the advisor's role is available.
| Participants in the Thesis Course in Fall 2021, Winter and Spring 2022 | ||
| Mini-conference schedule, abstracts and biographies | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
|---|---|---|
| Georgia Carroll (Honors College) | Estimating Basal Conditions of Hiawatha Glacier Using Reflector Slopes | Pettit (CEOAS) |
| Cameron Clonch (Honors College; WIC awardee) | Measuring Bubble Pressure in Glacier Ice | Pettit (CEOAS) |
| Dominic Daprano | Clustering of Ensemble Localization-Delocalization Matrices with Application to Drug Discovery | Cheong (CH) |
| Jaden Downing (Honors College; WIC honorable mention) | Analysis of Radio Signals for New Pulsar Detection | X. Siemens |
| Emily Eagen (Honors College) | Regulation of Microtubule Dynamics by Engineered Kinesin-14 Motors | Qiu |
| Christopher Gamboa | Fermi Estimates: Identifying the Connections Between Counting Units and Deriving Quick Formulas | Gire |
| Abbie Glickman (Honors College) | Interannual variability of oceanographic conditions on the continental shelf outside of Sermilik Fjord | Straneo (Scripps) |
| Leah Holmes | TBA | Roundy |
| Thomas Knudson | Cartographer: Using Python to Animate the Motion of Low-Mass Objects about a Schwarzschild Black hole | Hadley |
| Magnus L'Argent | Hyperspectral Imaging of Atomically Thin Materials | Graham |
| Ryan Leopold | Discovering New Pulsars to Detect Gravitational Waves | X. Siemens |
| Adam Levenburg | Pulsar Noise Analyses | X. Siemens |
| Christopher Magone | A Division Algebra Description of (part of) the Standard Model | Manogue/Dray |
| Jose Medina Hernandez | The Periodic Signature of Planetary Masses Around Pulsars | X. Siemens |
| Tyler Norgren | A Deep Dive into an Introductory Physics Course Curriculum | Walsh |
| Tucker Rhead | Varying Star-to-Disk Mass Ratio in Protostellar Systems Including Computationally Resolved Stars | Hadley |
| Jared Smith | Using Sentiment Analysis to Predict Transformative Experience in Physics Education Research | Walsh |
| Henry Spruiell | The Two Wells System: A Benchmark for Monte Carlo Methods in Statistical Mechanics | Roundy |
| Ethan Steele | Simulating the Pulsar Array Detection Method for Gravitational Waves | X. Siemens |
| Alexa Zaback | Electron Temperature in a LED Quantum Well Below Turn-On Voltage | Graham |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in Fall 2020, Winter and Spring 2021 | ||
| Mini-conference schedule, abstracts and biographies | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Derrick Bailey | TBA | Advisor |
| Michael Boss | Solving the Cartpole Problem with REINFORCE | Schneider |
| Genevieve Connolly (Honors College) | Searching for Pulsars for Use in Gravitational Wave Detection | X. Siemens |
| Ian Diaz | Locating and Observing Pulsars for Use in Gravitational Wave Detection | X. Siemens |
| Benjamin Hanson | A Generalized Scheme for Creating Regge Calculus Models of General Relativity | Craig |
| Michelle Jeliazkova | Investigating Carrier Temperature in LED Quantum Well Driven Below the Turn-On Voltage | Graham |
| Rohal Kakepoto | Scattering Mechanisms and Transport Properties of Semiconductors at Low Temperatures | Tate |
| Jin Kiatvongcharoen | Simulating the Dynein Motor Protein: A Monte Carlo Approach to Achieve Coordinated Stepping | Roundy |
| Hunter Nelson | Calculating characteristic timescales for environmental decoherence in the presence of thermal gravitons | Craig |
| Cooper Nicolayson | Effect of Solar System Models on Pulsar Timing Experiments | X. Siemens |
| Brandon Nye | Detecting Nanohertz Gravitational Waves by Searching for and Timing Millisecond Pulsars | X. Siemens |
| Cade Perrizo | Analyzing Nonaxisymmetric Instabilities in the Formation of Star-Disk Systems | Hadley |
| Richard Puro (WIC awardee) | Photodimerization of Organic Semiconductors in the Strong Coupling Regime | Ostroverkhova |
| Trevor Reid (Honors College) | Twist in a Torus: Minimization of Nematic Configurations with Discontinuous Director Fields in Toroidal Coordinates | Kornilovich |
| Joshua Ripp | Molecular Motors: Modelling Electrostatics Between Kinesin and Tubulin | Qiu |
| Tyler Schimleck | The Geometry of Symmetry: An Application of Symplectic Geometry in Understanding Noether’s Theorem | Craig |
| Zachary Scroggy | Simulating Brownian Motion Experiments to Replicate Data from Optical Trap Laboratories | McIntyre |
| Justin Sheetz | Directing Cell Migration via Environmental Anisotropy | Sun |
| Milo Sprague | Application of Coupled Oscillator Model to Terahertz and Optical Control of Plasmon Induced Opacity in Coupled Metamaterials | Lee |
| YiPeng Teo (Honors College) | Isolating Non-Blackbody Radiation Spectra from Low-Bandgap LEDs near Zero Bias | Graham |
| Dylan Walker | Investigating gamma ray bursts using tracer particles | Lazzati |
| Jessica Waymire | Illuminating amorphous oxides: Defect states and carrier recombination characterized by photoluminescence | Graham |
| Elena Wennstrom | Development of a Brownian Motion Experiment for an Undergraduate Laboratory Course | Tate |
| Rosemary Williams (Honors College) | E+A galaxy and spiral E+A galaxy candidates in the Hercules supercluster | Liu (CSI) |
| Ryan Wong (Honors College) | Cancer Cell Detection with Mask R-CNN | Sun |
| Julian Wulf | Optical Modeling of Thin Films: Applying Effective Medium Theory to Mixtures of TiO2 and SnO2 | Tate |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in Fall 2019, Winter and Spring 2020 | ||
| Mini-conference schedule, abstracts and biographies | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Benjamin Bauml (Honors College) | Consistent Histories Formulation of the Double-Slit Experiment | Craig |
| Jonathan Carney | Practical Mechanically Interlocked Molecules: A Model of Gas Adsorption in Metal Organic Frameworks Harboring Rotaxane Molecular Shuttles | Simons/Roundy |
| Reid Center | The interaction of bulk heterojunction donor/acceptor blends with polaritonic state creation in organic crystalline films | Ostroverkhova |
| Hao-Tung Chuang | Behind The Veil: Numerical Solution to Finding The Initial Conditions of Gamma-Ray Bursts using Fireball Model | Lazzati |
| Zachary Colbert | Development of a visible-light photoluminescence photospectrometer | Graham |
| Ross Dewberry | Gravitational Buoyancy Effects on Plasma Plume Formation | Ostroverkhova |
| Alexander Eisenhauer | A Solution to the Incompressible Navier-Stokes Equation in R3 | H. Kim (Math) |
| Clark Embleton | Towards Molybdenum Disulfide Exciton-Polaritons in Metallic Microcavities | Minot |
| Kaylin Gopal | TBA | Woods (NE) |
| Randall (Hank) Greenburg | Modeling Biodegradation of Crude Oil Spills on Sea Water Using Partial Differential Equations | Higdon (Math) |
| Hanna Hansen | Development of Micro-Electrode Array Sensors for Electrochemical Detection of Dissolved Oxygen | Minot |
| Jiadi (Jed) He | Dissecting the directionality mechanism of Kinesin-5/Cut7 by using computational approaches | Qiu |
| Garrett Jepson | Standard methods in general relativity and their underlying geometric structure | Craig |
| Isabella Johnson | Describing Particles with Lie and Clifford Algebras | Dray |
| Joseph Kreb | Spectroscopic Ellipsometry on Thin Films of TiO2: Comparing CompleteEASE Cauchy and Cody-Lorentz Models | Tate |
| Alex Kuepper | Rossby Wave Instabilities in Hydrodynamic Simulations of 3D Protoplanetary Accretion Disks | Hadley |
| Sara Leathers | Designing and Building a Radio Direction Finder for an Autonomous Vehicle | Mulder/Minot |
| Michael Maurer | Using a machine learning algorithm to alert instructors that early intervention is needed | Walsh |
| Kira McCoy | Shrinking Stars: Protostellar Disks of Keplarian Rotation Approaching a Point Star | Hadley |
| McKenzie Meyer (Honors College; WIC honorable mention) | Examination of the Impact of One-Dimensional Crustal Structures on Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake Locations | Trehu (CEOAS) |
| Austin Mullins (Honors College) | Corrugation Instabilities Across Shock Fronts in Magnetohydrodynamical Astrophysical Systems | Hadley |
| Steven Neiman | Effects of independent group work on learning outcomes | Walsh |
| Duy Nguyen | Towards an electrically driven quantum single-photon source at room temperature | Minot |
| Cyrus Oliver | Keeping the Lights On: Measuring the non-blackbody emissions of LEDs under varying conditions at zero bias | Graham |
| Acacia Patterson | Variable Temperature Transport Measurements and Conduction Mechanisms of Crystalline and Amorphous Titanium Dioxide Thin Films | Tate |
| Mai Sakuragi (Honorable mention) | Analysis of semiconductor microcavity exciton-polaritons with coupled harmonic oscillators | Lee |
| Yuantao Shen | The Polar Energy Distribution of Short Gamma-Ray Burst Outflows from Binary Neutron Star Mergers | Lazzati |
| Robert (Jasper) Spafford | Fungal Photonics | Ostroverkhova |
| Cameron Stewart | Optical properties comparison between similar thickness TiO2 polymorphs | Tate |
| Jacob Taylor | The Stochastic Background of Gravitational Waves with Pulsar Timing Arrays: Evidence for the Background in Individual Pulsars | X. Siemens |
| Ryan Tollefsen (Honors College; Honorable mention) | Improving the Photostability and Recoveryof Organic SemiconductorsA Study on Controlling the Photo-Degradation of FunctionalizedPentacene Derivatives | Ostroverkhova |
| Dustin Treece | Developing a Learning Progression on Units and Dimensions | Gire |
| Jacob Van de Lindt (Honors College; WIC awardee) | Modeling the Fusion Reaction in an Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Reactor with the Particle- in-Cell Method | Woods (NE) |
| Jacob Vande Griend | Simulating Fluids: Testing a New Grand Canonical Histogram Method on the Square-Well Fluid | Roundy |
| Elena Wennstrom | 2021 | Tate |
| Cameron Wiesner | Optoelectronic Properties of a Novel Fungi-derived Pigment | Ostroverkhova |
| Ian Wilson | The Consistent Histories Approach to the Stern-Gerlach Experiment | Craig |
| Pu Yang | Single-molecule studies of kinesin-5/Cut7 motility | Qiu |
| Kaseylin Yoke | Optical Analysis of IBF Polished Silicon Wafers for Purpose in Direct Imaging of Exoplanets | Schellman |
| Fangyi Zhu | A lower Limit for the Mass of Stellar Gamma-Ray Burst Progenitors | Lazzati |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in Fall 2018, Winter and Spring 2019 | ||
| Mini-conference schedule, abstracts and biographies | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Patrick Berry | Characterizing Optical Signatures of TiO2 Amorphous Precursors | Tate |
| Victor Brequigny | Terahertz field enhancement in nanoantennas on gallium arsenide | Lee |
| Kelda Diffendaffer | Oxygen’s Effect on Electrical Measurements of TiO2 Polymorphs | Tate |
| Brennan Douglas (WIC awardee) | Chiral Topological Defects in Nematic Liquid Crystals and Classical Field Theories | Pavel Kornilovich, HP |
| Mateo Estrada Jorge | Contact resistance: the return of the Cox and Strack method for heterojunction solar cells | Zachary Holman (ASU), Ethan Minot, (OSU) |
| Nicholas Gilmore | Fabrication and Characterization of Graphene Electrolytic Supercapacitors | Minot |
| Alex Gonzalez | Data analysis on the Swellex-96 experiment: Source localization and tracking by matched-field-processing | William Hodgkins (Scripps) & Bo Sun (OSU) |
| Aaron Goschie | Exploiting Diffraction Orders from a Phase LimitedSLM to Remove and Model Zernike Aberrations | McIntyre |
| Nikita Grigorian | A Convolutional Neural Network For Cell Classification | Schneider |
| David Haas | Detection of exciton polaritons in organic thin film TES-ADT | Ostroverkhova |
| Calvin Henry | Improving the Gradient Effects of Plasma on a Triple Langmuir Probe | Brian Woods, Nuclear Eng. |
| Travis Herring | How physics students use evaluative sensemaking strategies when prompted to reflect in an introductory calculus-based physics course | Gire |
| Abigail Kimbrough (WIC honorable mention) | Teaching Gravitational Potential Energy: Student Interaction with Surface Manipulatives | Gire |
| Noah Langlie | Traveling wave analysis of non-linear maxwell models with applications to non-linear optics | Vrushali Bokil, Math |
| Sean McDonough | Calculating Lift and Drag Forces on Surfboards using a Navier-Stokes solver and Momentum Conservation | Roundy |
| Joseph Meyers | Plasmon Induced Transparency in Terahertz Metamaterial | Lee |
| John Micallef | Deriving relationships between number of observed short gamma ray bursts and viewing angle | Lazzati |
| Dublin Nichols | Fabrication and low-temperature measurement of quantum devices | Minot |
| Joshua Ramm | Anti-Reflective Films: Spectroscopy and Ellipsometry of Porous Films | McIntyre |
| Jacob Rogers | Examining Particulate Size Distributions of Alternative Jet Fuels Under Turbulent Flame Conditions | David Blunck, Engineering |
| Reese Siegel | Understanding Change: Surface manipulative-activities as a tool for addressing student difficulties in Thermodynamics | Gire |
| Cade Trotter | Multi-Grand, Multi-Canonical, Flat Histogram, Monte Carlo Simulations for the Square Well Fluid | Roundy |
| Michael Trumbull | Reasoning with multiple representations: A parallel plate capacitor | Gire |
| Troy Tyma | Riesz Transforms on a Sphere | HoeWoon Kim, Math |
| John Waczak (WIC honorable mention) | Drunken Walking: A Novel Brownian Dynamics Simulation for the Mechanochemical Cycle of the Dynein Motor Protein | Roundy |
| Jesse Weller | Beyond Scattering: Identifying the Boundaries of Light Control Through Opaque Materials with a Genetic Wavefront Optimization Algorithm | Schneider |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in Fall 2017, Winter and Spring 2018 | ||
| Mini-conference schedule, abstracts and biographies | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Yousif Almulla (Honors College) |
Computing Wavefunctions of Silicon Donor Qubits with Density Functional Theory |
Jakowski, ORNL / Roundy |
| Hassan Alnatah |
Theoretical and Experimental Analysis of the Length of Actin Filaments in Cancer Cells |
Sun |
| Matthew Ball (Honors College) |
Analysis of Upper Ocean Surface Wave Structure in the Bay of Bengal using χSOLO Floats |
Shroyer, CEOAS |
| Ryan Ball |
Correlating Boxsand.org Web Engagement with Increased Student Performance |
Walsh |
| Jake Bigelow | Walsh | |
| Sean Bullis |
Using an Optical Trap to Measure Brownian Motion on 3 μm Polystyrene Microspheres |
McIntyre |
| Joel Chantland |
Econophysics: Evolving Boltzmann-Gibbs Income Distributions |
Roundy |
| Katelyn Chase |
Synchronized Cellular Mechanosensing due to External Periodic Driving |
Sun |
| Aaron Dethlefs |
The Effect of Annealing Parameters on the Electrical Properties of Fluorine Doped Tin Oxide |
Tate |
| Lahiru Fernando |
Econophysics: Lagrangian Mechanics Description of an Economic System |
Roundy |
| Patrick Flynn (Honors College) |
Localized structures in a diffusive run and tumble model for M. xanthus |
Scheel, Minnesota / Sun |
| Darlene Focht |
Stellar Disks with Keplarian Rotation and Star-Disk Coupling |
Hadley |
| Aaron Goschie |
2019 |
McIntyre |
| Nikita Grigorian |
2019 |
Schneider |
| Cassandra Hatcher |
Predicting Gamma and X-Ray Polarization from Supernova Remnants |
Lazzati |
| Andrew Lam | Spectral Analysis of Anthradithiophene Derivatives with Polarization Dependence | Graham |
| Ryan Lance |
Optical Analysis of Titania: Band Gaps of Brookite, Rutile and Anatase |
Tate |
| Christopher May (WIC awardee) | Freezing a Softly Repulsive Fluid: Monte Carlo Methods and the Weeks-Chandler-Andersen Potential | Roundy |
| Collin Muñiz |
Synthesis and Characterization of New Rare Earth Niobates |
Nyman, Chemistry |
| Joshua Randolph |
Accretion Disk Formation in Newly Formed Binary Black Hole Systems |
Lazzati |
| Jesse Rodriguez (Honors College) |
Radial Velocity Profiles and Magnetic Field Probes for Hypervelocity Plasma Deflagration Jets |
Cappelli, Stanford / Tate |
| Nikita Rozanov |
Molecular Dynamics Simulations on Fluorescent Proteins |
Fang, Chemistry |
| Tanner Simpson (Honors College) |
Broad Histogram Algorithm Comparison for the Square Well Fluid |
Roundy |
| Daniel Still |
Measurement of Double Layer Capacitance of Single Layer Graphene |
Minot |
| Kyle Tafoya |
Modifications to Student Laboratories for Oregon State University’s Waves & Oscillations Physics Course |
Graham |
| Abraham Teklu (Honors College) | Moyer, UCSD / Schellman | |
| Attila Varga | Hadley | |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in Fall 2016, Winter and Spring 2017 | ||
| Mini-conference schedule, abstracts and biographies | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Aneeq Ahmed |
Modelling Gravitationally Coupled Modes of Protstellar Star-Disk Systems |
Hadley |
| Ryan Bailey-Crandell |
ISFET Characterization and Assessment of Thermal Instability |
Minot |
| Andrew Baldwin |
Spatial and temporal damping of fluid perturbation at a distance |
Cozzi, Math |
| Hazel Betz | Chiang, REU UC Davis / Tate | |
| Cody Bibler |
Biodegradation of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine via anaerobic & aerobic bacteria isolates |
Craig, Vet. Med. |
| Mirek Brandt | Graham | |
| Keenan Cabrera |
Charge-asymmetry dependence of kaon elliptic flow in Au+Au collisions at √sNN = 27 GeV from STAR |
REU UCLA / Schellman |
| Elliot Capek | Roundy | |
| Jared Cayton |
Developing a Mouse EEG (Electroencephalograph) Signal Simulator and a Preamplifier to Reduce Noise during Sleep EEG Data Acquisition |
Lim, REU OHSU |
| Karan Cheema | Shell, CEOAS | |
| Zackery Dempsey | McIntyre | |
| Brian Devlin |
TBA |
Krane |
| Matthew Dickie |
Conductivity Mapping of Graphene using Terahertz Spectroscopy |
Lee |
| Michael Forkner |
Thermoelectric properties of the heterostructural alloy Sn1-xCaxSe |
Tate |
| Graham Founds |
A Study of Charging Behaviors in Organic Semiconductors using Optical Trapping |
Ostroverkhova |
| Ian Founds | Manogue | |
| Kaylen Groberg |
TBA |
Schneider |
| Jesse Hanson (Honors College) |
Stability of accretion disks in binary black hole systems and their effects on merger parameters |
Lazzati |
| Isaac Hodges (Honors College) |
Off Axis Gamma Ray Burst Contribution the Cosmic Microwave Background in the 100-600keV Range |
Lazzati |
| Alexander Jacoby |
Qualitative Comparison of Algorithms for Tracking Cell Trajectories |
Sun |
| Tallon Korn |
Project BoxSand:Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining |
Walsh |
| Noah Langlie (Honors College) |
(See 2018/19) |
Dascaliuc, Math |
| Tymothy Mangan (Honors College) | Danielson, REU LANL / Schellman | |
| James May |
Optical Characterization of Heterostructural Alloys Sn1-xCax[S,Se] |
Tate |
| Zachary McKay | Minot | |
| Ikaika Mckeague-Mcfadden (2018) |
Reducing Particle Contamination Between Stacked Interfaces of Heterostructure Devices |
Graham |
| Jeremy Meinke (WIC Culture of Writing in Physics Award) | Qiu | |
| Gabriel Nowack | Wojtsekhowski, REU JLAB / Schellman | |
| Allyson Peterson |
Student Interaction with Online Pre-Lecture Videos and how it Influences Grades |
Walsh |
| Garrett Plunkett | Graham | |
| Alexander Quinn (2018) |
Exploring the Optical and Electronic Properties of Xylindein, a Fungus-Derived Pigment, as a Sustainable Organic Semiconductor |
Ostroverkhova |
| Willis Rogers |
Gravitational Coupling of Uniformly Rotating Computationally Resolved Stars in Protostellar Star-Disk Systems |
Hadley |
| Anton Schuster |
Solar Induced Fluorescence: A More Affordable and More Accurate Proxy for Plant Stress |
Higgins, CBEE |
| Jeffrey Shuford |
Monte Carlo: Triga Nuclear Reactor |
Giebultowicz |
| Richard Wallace |
Study of Organic Semiconductors Using Time-Resolved Charge Measurements at the Microscale |
Ostroverkhova |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in Fall 2015, Winter and Spring 2016 | ||
| Mini-conference schedule, abstracts and biographies | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Griffin Alberti |
Exploring Frequency Responses of Custom Spider Web Geometries using Physical and Computational Models |
Hatton, MIME |
| Katie Banowetz (WIC Culture of Writing in Physics honorable mention) | Quantifying the effects of acoustic coupling on Advanced LIGO | Schofield, REU U. Oregon |
| Connor Bice | Simulating Synchrotron Optical Flashes in the Reverse Shock of a Gamma Ray Burst | Lazzati |
| Bret Brandner | Implementation of a comparative method for measuring fluorescence quantum yield of novel compounds in solution | Graham |
| James Compeau | High-field Terahertz Spectroscopy of Optically Excited Gallium Arsenside | Lee |
| Rafid Chowdhury | Light scattering and opacity simulation | Jansen |
| Michael Goldtrap | Mapping Mathematical Tools to Physical Models: An Evaluation of the ACER Framework | Manogue |
| Samuel Grimm | Crystal morphology and dimensionality determine the electronic response in novel semiconducting materials | Graham |
| Nicholas Groves | Look Ma, no beads: Analyzing traction force characteristics of migratory adenocarcinoma in heterogeneous type 1 collagen through bead-free confocal microscopy | Sun |
| Job Guidos | 3D Soft-Body Collisions in a Gravitational Field | Lazzati |
| Scott Kelley (2018) | A Simple Leapfrog Integration Scheme to Find Optimal Interplanetary Trajectories | Giebultowicz |
| Sam Kowash (Honors College; WIC Culture of Writing in Physics Award) | The lag–luminosity correlation in time-resolved episodes of long gamma-ray bursts | Lazzati |
| Evan Peters (Honors College; WIC Culture of Writing in Physics honorable mention) | Data driven study of neutron response in MINERvA using quasielastic neutrino scattering | Schellman |
| Alexander Peterson | The thermal conductivity and diffusivity of thin films using time domain thermoreflectance experiments | Graham |
| Jeremy Rath | Organic semiconductors: incorporating xylindein into (opto)electronic devices | Ostroverkhova |
| Christopher Rosenow (Fall 2016) | Computational Modeling of Magnetic Materials in 3-Dimensions | Jansen |
| Joshua Stahly | Electrical Transport Measurements on the Alloy Sn1-xCaxSe | Tate |
| Gregg Stevens | Characterizing a coupled photodiode-led system for neuro-sensing applications | Minot |
| Brenden Vischer | Free Energy Decomposition of the Critical Square-Well Liquid Using a Renormalization Group Method | Roundy |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in Fall 2014, Winter and Spring 2015 | ||
| Mini-conference schedule, abstracts and biographies | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| L Roy Bonner (Honors College) | A magnetotelluric investigation of shallow conductivity sources beneath the Cascadia Volcanic Arc | Schultz, CEOAS |
| Jacob Busche (Honors College) | Optical Tweezers-Based Probe of Charge Transfer in Organic Semiconductors at Microscopic Scales | Ostroverkhova |
| Lisa Fletcher | Nucleation of Iron Dust from Type II Supernovae | Lazzati |
| David Delaney | A study of the graphite-diamond energy ground states and the phase transition pressure using density functional theory | Roundy |
| Mitchel Elliott (2016) | Solving for the ground state energy of a noninteracting electron gas using the density operator | Jansen |
| Scott Hutchings | Observation of the Third Harmonic Sinusoidal Voltage Response of a Small Incandescent Lightbulb | Tate |
| David Konyndyk | Design of an Optical Medium for the Simulation of Neutron Transport in Reactor Component Materials | Klein, Nuc. Engr. |
| Patrick Kreitzberg | Monte Carlo Simulations for a Soft Sphere Fluid | Roundy |
| Daniel Tzu-Yang Lin | A Novel Method of Detecting Lines on a Noisy Image | Sun |
| Dalton McCuen | Complex Index of Refraction of Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes in Strong Terahertz Fields | Lee |
| Samuel McLain | Leapfrog Integration as an Accurate and Uncomplicated Alternative for N-Body Simulations in Computational Astronomy | Giebultowicz |
| Abigail Merkel | Designing and Implementing a Portable Interface System for Field-Effect Transistor Biosensors | Minot |
| Joshua Montegna | Determining the Effective Entropy of a Visual Hash System | Roundy |
| Joshua Mutch | Temperature Dependence of Cu3-x(Sb1-yMy)S4 (M = Sn,Ge) Resistivity and Thermopower | Tate |
| Bao Nguyen | Computational Modeling of Photon Scattering In Gamma Ray Bursts Using Monte Carlo Techniques | Lazzati |
| Rachael Nolan (2016) | TBA | Brook |
| Blythe Nourie | Computational Analysis of Spin Systems in Lattice Using the Heisenberg Model | Jansen |
| Seamus O'Callaghan | Single Molecule Studies of the Bidirectional Movement of Yeast Kinesin-5/Cin8 | Qiu |
| Connor O'Driscoll | Hyperspectral Fluorescence and 2-Photon Surface Imaging of “Graphene-like” Dichalcogenides | Graham |
| Michael Perlin (Honors College; WIC Culture of Writing in Physics Award) | Optimizing Monte Carlo simulation of the square-well fluid | Roundy |
| Alexander Poff | Hall Effect in Semiconducting Thin Films | Tate |
| Mitchell Senger | Framework for Computational Modeling of Cellular Diffusion Systems | Sun |
| Samuel Stephenson | Hyperspectral Absorption and Fluorescence Surface Imaging Microscope | Graham |
| Jayde Templin (2016) | Experimental Apparatus for Measuring Heat Memory of Drosophila Melanogaster Utilizing Thermal Electric Devices | Giebultowicz |
| Cameron Thayer-Freeman | Comparison of a Persistent Random Walk to MDA-MB-231 Cancer Cell Chemo taxis through a 2.5D Collagen Matrix | Sun |
| Austin Valeske (Honors College) | Determining Free Energies of Hard Sphere Fluids via Monte Carlo Simulation | Roundy |
| Blake Wells | Bandgap measurements of nonspecular materials using a bifurcated fiber optic method of diffuse reflectance | McIntyre |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in Fall 2013, Winter and Spring 2014 | ||
| Mini-conference schedule, abstracts and biographies | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Daniel Gluck | High-Resolution Spectroscopy and Abundance Analysis of Very Metal Poor Red-Giant Stars | Rhee |
| Michael Goldtrap (Spring 2016) | Mapping Mathematical Tools to Physical Models: An Evaluation of the ACER Framework | Manogue |
| Patrick Gollmann | Fouling Prevention by Electrically Charged Thin Film Composite Forward Osmotic Membranes; | Farr/Sun |
| Bradley Hermens | Adaptive Choronagraphy Using a Digital Micromirror Array | Hetherington |
| Arlyn Hodson | TBA | van Zee |
| Alec Holmes | First principles study of finite temperature phase stability in (Cu,Ag,Au)In2 and Al2Cu alloys | Schneider |
| Aaron Kratzer | A Comparison of Material Characterization Techniques: Spectroscopic Ellipsometry and Reflection Spectroscopy on Zinc Sulfide | Tate/McIntyre |
| MacKenzie Lenz | Nonlinear Terahertz Spectroscopy of Vanadium Oxide | Lee |
| Samuel Loomis | TBA | Roundy |
| Paho Lurie-Gregg | The contact value approximation to the pair distribution function for an inhomogeneous hard sphere fluid | Roundy |
| Cord Meados | Force Measurements measured from Reflection in an Optical Tweezer | McIntyre |
| Abigail Merkel (S15) | Designing and Implementing a portable interface system for field-effect transistor biosensors | Minot |
| Jordan Pommerenck | Characterization of super-low frequency electromagnetic fields produced by an undersea transmission cable in a homogeneous fluid | Yokochi, CBEE |
| Christoffer Poulsen | TBA | Hetherington |
| Cole Schoonmaker | TBA | Schneider |
| Grant Sherer (Honors College) | Examining Upper-Division Thermodynamics Using the Actor Oriented Transfer Framework | Manogue |
| Harsukh Singh | The Effect of Inhomogenous Surface Temperature Distribution on Collagen Growth | Sun |
| Rodney Snyder (Honors College) | Electrical and Thermal Properties of Silicon and Tetrahedrite | Tate |
| Daniel Speer (2016) | Room temperature Seebeck measurements of silicon wafers and thin-film tetrahedrite derivatives Cu10-xAgxZn2Sb3S13 on silicon substrates | Tate |
| Dustin Swanson | Effects of impurities and contact resistance in graphene field effect transistors | Minot |
| Mattson Thieme | Low temperature microscopy of organic optoelectronic materials | Ostroverkhova |
| Kyle Thomas | Fibroblast Morphology During Trypsinization | Sun |
| Heather Wilson (WIC Culture of Writing in Physics Award) | Real-time monitoring of chemical reactions with carbon nanotube field-effect transistors | Minot |
| Rene Zeto | Testing the model for Min D protein oscillations in Escherichia coli | Roundy |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in Fall 2012, Winter and Spring 2013 | ||
| Mini-conference schedule, abstracts and biographies | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Alex Abelson | I-V characteristics of micron-scale plasma devices | Northrup-Grummin REU |
| Maxwell Atkins (S14) | Radio Telescope Resonator Design for Observation of the 21 cm Line | Hetherington |
| Novela Auparay | Room-temperature Seebeck coefficients of metals and semiconductors | Tate |
| William Bramblett | Solar Radiation in the 70-cm band measured through a Yagi-Uda Antenna | Hetherington |
| Morgan Brethower | Implementing the Autocorrelation Transform for Nanosecond-Scale Optical Pulse Resolution | Hetherington |
| Chaelim Reed Coffman | Reflection from Graphene | Minot |
| Nicholas Coyle | Raman spectroscopy of graphene | Minot |
| John Elliot | Design and Implemenation of Next Generation Digital Scientific Instrumentation | Hetherington |
| Thomas Ferron | Measuring Low Intensity Light Reflections of High Temperature CO2 Adsorbed on SiO2 Near Brewster's Angle | Hetherington |
| David Froman (S14) | Analysis of Nullification Methods of Hysteresis in Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistors | Roundy |
| Ky Hale | Solar Radiation in the 70-cm band measured through a Yagi-Uda Antenna | Hetherington |
| Louise Henderson (S14) | Calculating Crystal Properties of Bismuth Telluride Using Wien 2k | Tate |
| Casey Hines | Practical Implementation of a Physical Vapor Deposition System in a Research Environment | Tate |
| Benjamin Howorth | Detecting ZnS films on Si substrates using X-ray diffraction | Tate |
| Caleb Joiner (S18) | Analysis of Single Enzyme Activity measured by a Nanoelectronic Sensor | Minot |
| Maia Manock (S15) | How to Model Spin Waves in a One-Dimensional Solid | Jansen |
| Bethany Matthews (Honors College) | Building a basic computational model of impurity and surface states in a 1-dimensional solid | Jansen |
| Afina Neunzert | Exploration of charge-transfer exciton formation in organic semiconductors through transient photoconductivity measurements | Ostroverkhova |
| Benjamin Norford | Acoustic Backscatter Surveys over Methane Vents along the Cascadia Continental Margin | Trehu, CEOS |
| Kyle Peters | Optical Tweezer Trapping of Colloidal Polystyrene and Silica Microspheres | Ostroverkhova |
| Justin Schepige (Honors College) | A weathering balloon program at Western Oregon University | Schoenfeld, WOU |
| Kathleen Stevens Prudell (2014) | Determining Thickness of Zinc Sulfide Thin Films Through Optical Spectroscopy | McIntyre |
| Eric Stringer | A weathering balloon program at Western Oregon University | Schoenfeld, WOU |
| Andy Svesko (Honors College) | A Detailed Introduction to String Theory | Stetz |
| Sean van Hatten | Calibrating an aerolab 375 sting balance for wind tunnel testing | Albertani, MIME |
| Jenna Wardini | A Guide to Graphene Growth and Characterization | Minot |
| Joshua White | TBA | Roundy |
| River Wiedle (Honors College) | Thermal conductivity measurements via the 3ω method | Tate |
| Thomas Windom | SPR: Surface Polarization Reflection of Few-Monolayer Adsorbates on SiO2 | Hetherington |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in Fall 2011, Winter and Spring 2012 | ||
| Mini-conference schedule, abstracts and biographies | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Marcus Cappiello | Effects on the Corpus Callosum of Ferrets Due to Restriction of Visual Input During the Prenatal Stage and Optimization of Diffusion Tensor Imaging Protocol | Kroenke, OHSU |
| Brian Devlin | TBA | Krane |
| Billy Geerhart | Melting Curve of a Lennard-Jones 12-6 System Determined by Coexistence Point Simulations | Schneider |
| Shawn Gilliam | Use of a Digital Micromirror Array as a Configurable Mask in Optical Astronomy | Hetherington |
| Jacob Goodwin | The Pressure Transmission Through an Air-filled Rubber Shell | Bay, MIME |
| Jonathan Greene | Effects of van der Waals interactions on surface polarization reflection | Hetherington |
| Christopher Jones | Discrete time quantum walk with two-step memory | Kovchegov / Dimcovic |
| Mason Keck (Honors College) | X-ray Spectroscopy in Astrophysics and Neutron Capture Cross Section Measurements | Krane |
| Timothy Mathews | Temperature effects on Fowler-Nordheim tunneling regime in a 2N7000 (n-channel enhanced MOSFET) | Hetherington |
| Teal Pershing | Solar granulation imaging techniques using optical Fourier analysis | Hetherington |
| James Montgomery | Radiotelescope at OSU | Hetherington |
| Nicholas Petersen | Measuring neutron absorption cross sections and epithermal resonance integrals of natural platinum via neutron activation analysis | Krane |
| Samuel Settelmeyer (Honors college) | Student motivation, introductory calculus-based physics (PH 211) and project based learning, Oh my! | Demaree |
| Tyler Turner | Developing techniques to measure single molecule conductance: Design considerations, complications, and instrumentation | Hetherington |
| Jaryd Ulbricht | Design and implementation of apparatus to create calibration curves for use in laser induced fluorescence experiments | Narayanan, MIME |
| Murray Wade | Creating a Thermodynamics simulation using the Ising model: A microcanonical Monte Carlo approach | Roundy |
| Colby Whitaker | Noise reduction of OSU's radio telescope | Hetherington |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in Fall 2010, Winter and Spring 2011 | ||
| Mini-conference schedule, abstracts and biographies | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Sean Caudle | Simulated radial compression of carbon nanotubes | Schneider |
| Lee Collins (Honors College) | Monte Carlo simulations of structure and melting transitions of small Ag clusters | Schneider |
| Howard Dearmon (2018) | Neutron capture cross sections of selenium isotopes | Krane |
| Alison Gicking | Neutron capture cross sections of cadmium | Krane |
| Jessica Gifford (Honors College) | Gravitational wave detection with the laser interferometer space antenna and Optical trapping and fluorescence spectroscopy of nanoparticle sensors in microfluidic devices |
UW REU Ostroverkhova |
| David Mack | Optical and electrical properties of thin film BaSnO3 | Tate |
| Kris Paul | Propagation of error in estimating redshift from photometric data | NASA Ames internship / Hetherington |
| Rachel Waite | Seebeck effect in chalcogenides | Tate |
| Jesse Weller (S19) | 2019 | Schneider |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in Winter and Spring 2010 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Pat Bice | Magnetic treatment device for stimulating magnetoreceptors in Chinook salmon | Bellinger / Giebultowicz |
| Steven Brinkley | Measuring acoustic response functions with white noise | Roundy |
| Steven Bussell | A dual polarized waveguide for observations at 4 GHz | Hetherington |
| Chris Carlsen | Persistent interlayer coupling by an antiferromagnetic spacer above its Néel temperature (a Monte Carlo study) | Giebultowicz |
| Matthew Cibula | Generation of high-energy terahertz radiation through optical rectification using tilted pulse fronts in LiNbO3 | Lee |
| Alex Dauenauer | Neutron capture cross sections, resonance integrals and half-lives of barium isotopes | Krane |
| Daniel Gruss (Honors College) | Applied computing techniques for holographic optical tweezers | McIntyre |
| Tom Hathaway | Winter 2011 | Ostroverkhova |
| Jeff Holmes | Digital signal processing enhancement to the OSU single-dish radio telescope network (Spring 2011) | Hetherington |
| Shaun Kibby | Three-meter dish radio telescope service life extension program (SLEP)(Spring 2011) | Hetherington |
| Howard Hui | Instrument design for measuring the polarization of the cosmic microwave background | Internship JPL |
| Michael Nielsen | Measuring acoustic response functions with white noise | Roundy |
| Cory Pollard | OSU MASLWR Secondary Systems Control Algorithm (Winter 2011) | Nuclear Rad Center / Jansen |
| Keith Schaefer | Winter 2011 | Ostroverkhova |
| Colin Shear (Honors College) | Thin Film Bi-based Perovskites for High Energy Density Capacitor Applications | Gibbons, Mat. Sci. |
| Andrew Stickel | Interactions of narrow band multi-cycle THz pulse with microcavity quantum well | Lee |
| Sol Torrel | Neutron Capture Cross Sections and Half-lives of Cerium Isotopes | Krane |
| Kyle Williams | Winter 2011 | Ostroverkhova |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in Winter and Spring 2009 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Troy Ansell | Observations at 1.4205 GHz | Hetherington |
| Alex Brummer | 3x3 Octonionic Hermitian Matrices with Non-Real Eigenvalues | Dray, Mathematics |
| Abel Condrea | GPS Autonomous Precision Aerial Delivery System | |
| Evan deBlander (Honors College) | Characterization of BaCuSF Thin Films Grown in Excess Copper by Pulsed Laser Deposition | Tate |
| John Hart | A Further Investigation of 1,4-cyclohexanedione via Gas Phase Electron Diffraction | |
| Ramsi Hawkins | Utilizing the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) Model to Develop an Undergraduate Laboratory Exploring Bulk and Quantum Resistivity | Minot / Demaree |
| Chris HomesParker (Honors College) | A Search for Low Temperature Thermoelectric Materials | Hetherington |
| Jonathan Hunt | Simulated Radial Compression of Carbon Nanotubes | Schneider |
| Jeff Macklem | The Art of LABView: Running a Spectrometer for Thin Films and Powders | McIntyre |
| Scott Marler | Analysis of an Electrostatics Activity for Introductory Calculus-Based Physics | Demaree |
| Sean McDonough | 2019 | |
| Michael Paul | Reflection Imaging of Carbon Nanotube Transistor Chips | Minot |
| Colin Podelnyk | Validation by Single Molecule Fluorescent Resonant Energy Transfer | Minot |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in Winter and Spring 2008 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Patrick Bice | Spring 2010 | Bellinger /Giebultowicz |
| Doug Francisco | TBA | Hetherington |
| Scott Griffiths (Honors College) | Seasonal and Solar Cycle Variations in High Probability Reconnection Regions on the Dayside Magnetopause | Jansen |
| Daniel Harada | Noise mechanisms in carbon nanotube biosensors | Minot |
| David Hasenjaeger | Random Anisotropy model of a lattice structure | |
| Caleb Joiner (2013) | TBA | |
| Alden Jurling | Impedance Spectroscopy of Thin Film Dielectric Materials | Tate |
| Henry Priest | Empirical Annotation of the Brachypodium Transcriptome | |
| Daniel Schwartz | Optimum Feed Design for a 1.4 GHz Radio Telescope | Hetherington |
| Ken Takahashi | Neutron Capture Cross Sections and Resonance Integrals of Cadmium Isotopes | Krane |
| Drew Watson (Honors College) | The Impact of Guiding Questions and Rubrics in the Scientific Writing of Middle-Division Physics Students | Manogue |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in Winter and Spring 2007 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Tyler Backman | Thermodynamic Analysis of the Biodiesel Cycle | |
| Scott Clark | Protein Statistics | Landau |
| Zachary Haines | Light Propagation in a Photonic Crystal | |
| Doug Jacobson | Domain Structures and Hysteresis Curves of Ferromagnetic Systems | Landau / Giebultowicz |
| Kim Johnson (Honors College) | The Effects of air mass origin on cumulus clouds in the Caribbean | Twohy, COAS |
| Joseph Kinney | Room Temperature Excitons in BaCuChF | Tate |
| Nicholas Kuhta | Electrodynamics of the Planar Negative Index Lens | Podolskiy |
| Ken Lett | Modeling the anisotropic superlens | Podolskiy |
| David Mack | Fall 2011 | Tate |
| William Martin | Simulating the reaction-diffusion equation in space and time | |
| Nick Meredith | Computing Occupation Times with Integral Equations | |
| Gabriel Mitchell | Light scattering from large particles | Landau |
| Rozy Nystrom | Radio Telescope II | Hetherington |
| Joshua Russell | Radio Telescope I | Hetherington |
| Ken Takahashi | TBA | |
| Curtis Taylor | Transverse Flux Permanent Magnet Linear Generator | |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in 2006 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Timothy Anna | Nuclear Spin Relaxation Rate Study of P-Type Transparent conductive Oxide CuSc02:Mg | Warren |
| Connelly Barnes (Honors College) | ThermoSolver: An Integrated Educational Thermodynamics Software Program | Landau |
| Mark Blanding | Optical Tweezers | McIntyre |
| Phil Carter | Parallel Computing on the physics Beowulf cluster | Landau |
| Matthew Christensen | Seminar in COAS | |
| Micah Eastman | Neutron Capture Cross Sections of Tellurium Isotopes | Krane |
| Doug Fettig (Honors College) | The Effect of Transverse Shifts in the LIGO Interferometer | McIntyre |
| Nathan Paul | Inductively Coupled Plasma | |
| Joe Peterson | Autocorrelation | Ostroverkhova |
| Zack Peterson | Optical and electrical behavior of 200-nm diameter Au particles deposited on polythiophene and undoped polythiophene thin films | Ostroverkhova |
| Christopher Somes | Instabilities of the Thermolhaline Ocean Circulation and its Effect on the Pacific Ocean Oxygen Minimum Zone | |
| Joshua Stager | Creating the Paradigm Portfolio | Manogue |
| JC Sanders (Honors College) | Near Earth Object Collisional Mitigation Via Intense Neutron and Photon Sources: a Study in Asteroid Interdiction and Energy Coupling | Jansen |
| Chris Smith (Honors College) | Experiments into Plasma Physics | Jansen |
| Brent Valle | Measurements of autocorrelation for femtosecond pulses | Lee |
| Ben Weston | Simulating Optical Interfaces | Podolskiy |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in 2005 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Jason Gieske | Design Optimization and Theoretical Analysis of a Linear Reluctance Mass Accelerator | |
| Susan Guyler | Optical Measurements of P-Type Thin Film Semiconductors | Tate |
| Ae Kim | THz wave propagation in one-dimensional photonic crystals | Lee |
| Adam Rand | Frequency Modulation Spectroscopy: Fast measurement of resonance and linewidth | McIntyre |
| Gary Schwab | Dynamics of Absorption Using the Techniques of Surface Polarization Reflectance | Hetherington |
| Jeremy Sylvester | Neutron Activation Analysis of Sn Isotopes | Krane |
| Juan Vanegas | Scientific Visualization with OpenDx: Uses and Applications in Physics | Landau |
| Andrew Walker | Surface Absorption Studies of Benzene Via SPR | Hetherington |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in 2004 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Robert Casperson | Measuring the Neutron Capture Cross Section of 148Gd | Krane |
| Werner Hager (Honors College) | Using Angular Correlation to Determine Decay Behavior in Nuclei through the Analysis of Coincidence Sum Peaks | Krane |
| Briony Horgan | Investigating grain boundaries in BaCuS1xSexF Using Impedance Spectroscopy | Tate |
| Abraham Korn (Honors College) | Time Periodic Sand Ripples at the Oregon Coast | P. Siemens |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in 2003 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Dara Easley (Honors College) | Room Temperature Seebeck Measurements on CuSc1-x Mgx02+y Transparent Conductive Thin Films | Tate |
| Modesto Godinez | Photonic crystals for broadband signal from 0.5 THz to 2.5 THz | Lee |
| Levi Kilcher | Optical Spectroscopy of Transparent Conducting Oxides from the UV to near-IR and a Method for Determining the Refractive Index of Transparent Thin Films | McIntyre / Tate |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in 2002 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Scott Bain (Honors College) | Wavelength Dependence of the Scattering of Small Particles by Sunlight | Griffiths |
| Rachel Bartlett | Neutron Activation Analysis of 195mPt and 117mSn | Krane |
| Martin Held | Fractography of a Nd:YAG single crystal | UW REU / Tate |
| Michael Joyer (Honors College) | Deformation Reduction in Intermetallic NiAl Microlaminations | Warnes, Mat. Sci. |
| Derek Tucker (Honors College) | Optical Characterization of Transparent Conductive Thin Films | McIntyre / Tate |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in 2001 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Ross Brody | Band Gap of Analysis of Doped and Undoped CuCrO2 Thin Films | Tate |
| Skye Dorsett | Measurement of the Thermal Neutron Absorption Cross-section of 194Hg and 194Au | Krane |
| Christopher Duncan | Measurements of Neutron Activation in Palladium Isotope 102 | Krane |
| Jeremy Wolf | Measurement of the Thermal Neutron Absorption Cross Section of 160Tb | Krane |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in 2000 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Miriam Lambert (Honors College) | The Neutron Capture Cross Section of 208Pb | Krane |
| Diedrich Schmidt | P –Type Electrical Conduction in Transparent Conducting Oxides | Tate |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in 1999 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Nathan Bezayiff | Circuit to Observe Quantum Conductance | Tate |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in 1998 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Brandon van Leer | Analysis of YBa2Cu3O7 Films by X-Ray Diffraction | Tate |
| Joseph Neal | Integrated Laboratory Experiences in Physics Education | Tate |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in 1997 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Eric Bixby (Honors College) | Light Transmittance Properties of Biological Tissues of the Red-sided Garter Snake, Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis, Between 450 and 850 Nanometers | McIntyre |
| Scott Broughton | Octonions | Manogue |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in 1996 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Brian Brisbine | Casimir Effect | Manogue |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in 1995 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Andrew Fowler | Current Dependence of Resistivity of YBaCuO in Zero Magnetic Field | Tate |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in 1994 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Milton Cornwall-Brady | Klein Paradox | Manogue |
| Amy J. Spofford | An Analysis of the Current-Voltage Characteristics of YBa2Cu3O7 in the Vortex State | Tate |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in 1993 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Jeffrey Arasmith | An Introduction to Superconductors for Undergraduate Research Assistants | Tate |
| Participants in the Thesis Course in 1992 | ||
| Name | Title of Presentation | Advisor |
| Anupama Bhat | The Temperature and Magnetic Field Dependence of the Activation Energy in YBa2Cu3O7 in the Flux Creep Region | Tate |
| Common questions about the PH403 WIC and the senior thesis | ||
| How do I find an advisor? Browse the department's research page to find out what the faculty do. Look at the current projects listed under the link at the top of this page. Look at the thesis topics of previous students. Approach professors and ask them if they have a project for you. If you are uncertain about how to do this, ask a senior student, a professor from whom you have taken a class, or the PH403 instructor. Starting in 2020, the Physics Department hosted a "WIC Fair" during which students who had not yet found an advisor met with faculty who had projects to offer. Students also learned about the PH317 course. The outcome of the fair was a match-up between student and PH317 or between student and advisor for a PH401 research project leading to PH403. We plan to hold this WIC Fair each year. |
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| When should research begin? The sooner, the better! The research for your senior thesis should begin ahead of the start of the WIC, in the spring or summer of the academic year before the WIC, and absolutely no later than the first day of the fall quarter for graduation in the spring of that year. |
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| Should research be completed before the thesis WIC? No, most students have been working for a term or two, or a summer when they start the WIC, but still have work to do to get results. If you start research in the Fall in which you begin the WIC, you will have to devote a considerable amount of time to research in that term. Some students who have participated in an REU or internship or who have been working in a lab for more than a year may have completed their research by the time they start the WIC. |
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| Do I sign up for PH401 (Research) or PH403 (Thesis)? PH403 and PH401 are different. PH403 is the writing course that is offered to the entire senior cohort for 1 unit each in Fall, Winter & Spring (1 unit each). Do not register for PH403 for any other reason. The purpose of PH403 is help write the thesis associated with the research you conduct by taking PH401 or by conducting research off-campus in an approved program. The physics major program requires of 3 units of PH401 (Research) for students entering in Spring 2017 and later. If you conduct off-campus research, you must discuss a waiver with the head advisor. If you conduct undergraduate research at OSU as an undergraduate, even for purposes other than the senior thesis, it is good practice to register for PH401 (Research). There are separate sections of PH401 that correspond to different research advisors. You will need permission to register. |
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| If I plan to stay a fifth year, when should I take the WIC? You can take the thesis WIC in the 4th or 5th year. Choose the year in which you can devote the most attention to your thesis. Your research should begin ahead of the term in which you begin the WIC. PH317 can be taken in any year, but permission is required. |
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| If I plan to graduate mid-year, when should I take the WIC? You should take the thesis WIC in the last full academic year that you are at OSU. PH317 can be taken in any year, but permission is required. |
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| If I decide to delay graduation after starting the WIC, should I continue to take the WIC? Talk to the PH403 course instructor and the research advisor about details. Most students who choose such a delay continue to take the WIC and work on research. They write a good basis for the thesis, and receive an incomplete for the course in the Spring. That "I" grade is removed when they turn in the final thesis. |
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| If I forget to take PH403 in the Fall, can I still take it in Winter and Spring and graduate in the Spring? No. |
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| Are any exceptions possible? As in most of life, exceptions may be possible if you are responsible, professional and plan ahead. You will need to present an alternative plan that will fulfill all the university requirements for the WIC. We have had very few exceptions to the rule. If there are serious unforeseen circumstances, please discuss them with us at the earliest possible opportunity. |
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| Who is "us", i.e. to whom should I talk if I have questions? The PH403 course instructors are Heidi Schellman and Janet Tate. The PH317 instructor is Janet Tate. The UG Advisor is David McIntyre. |
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