final-program-12-23-14-3

program began in the fall of 2014. We will share our progress to date
and welcome ideas for the future.
*The OK PhysTEC program is funded by a PhysTEC Recruitment Grant.
Other
PST2E01: 8:30-9:15 p.m. Identity Development for Undergraduate
Female Physics Majors
Poster – Mary Elizabeth Mills, Indiana University, 1231 Basswood Circle,
Bloomington, IN 47403; millsme@indiana.edu
Gayle A. Buck, Indiana University
Research has shown that identity formation during college shapes
vocational decision-making. In this mixed methods study, we assessed
the physics identify formation of 1249 undergraduate female physics
students. The results from this study formed a set of characteristics
that these undergraduate women believe define a “physicist” and fell
into three categories—skills, attitudes, and experiences. Additionally,
three predictors for whether a student would call herself a physicist
were identified—satisfaction with her institution’s physics department,
belief in her future in physics, and the amount and type of negative
feedback she has received from others. This project has led to the
need and desire for a deeper examination of these students’ identity
formation, specifically how a student’s experiences in the physics community
affects her identity development, how a physics identity plays
a role in career choice, and whether developing a physics identity can
help retain women in physics.
PST2E02: 9:15-10 p.m. Student Response to “Equality Through
Awareness” Club at CSM
Poster – Libby K. Booton, Colorado School of Mines, Department of
Physics; 1523 Illinois St., Golden, CO 80401-1843; lbooton@mymail.
mines.edu
Kristine E. Callan, Alex Flournoy, Colorado School of Mines
The physics student-run club Equality Through Awareness (ETA)
is entering its second year of existence at Colorado School of Mines
(CSM). The club aims to promote equality in STEM by spreading
awareness about the issues faced by underrepresented groups. One of
the club’s three main components is a weekly, student-only discussion
group, where students discuss articles they’ve read about various
topics related to underrepresented groups in STEM. This poster will
describe the topics discussed, and the results from an anonymous
survey of students’ reactions to this discussion group.
PST2E03: 8:30-9:15 p.m. Dealing with Still More Climate Myths
Poster – Gordon J. Aubrecht, Ohio State University at Marion, 1465 Mt.
Vernon Ave., Marion, OH 43302-5695; aubrecht.1@osu.edu
Many scientists understand that climate change has a sociopolitical
aspect, but some scientists are unwilling to address the issue lest they
be perceived as political themselves. Nevertheless, when we scientists
find climate myths, I think it is our duty as scientists to be willing
to debunk them. Posters at Orlando and Minneapolis on this topic
were well received. This poster exhibits some more climate myths and
contrasts them with the science.
PST2E04: 9:15-10 p.m. Interdisciplinary Nanomaterials Research
for Undergraduate Students
Poster – Michelle Chen, Point Loma Nazarene University, 3900 Lomaland
Dr., San Diego, CA 92106-2899; michellechen@pointloma.edu
With this poster I will share my experience involving undergraduate
students of all levels on interdisciplinary nanomaterials research at a
primarily undergraduate institution. I will present projects on carbon
nanotube / graphene synthesis and their interactions with biological
cells that were carried out by both lower- and upper-level undergraduate
researchers. Collaborations with major research institutions that
were instrumental for our research will also be discussed.
January 3–6, 2015
PST2E05:
8:30-9:15 p.m. Anomalous Effects in Crookes’
Radiometer
Poster –Timothy A. Heumier, Azusa Pacific University, PO Box 7000,
Azusa, CA 91702; theumier@apu.edu
Landon Block, Devon Fischer, Azusa Pacific University
When the vanes of a Crookes’ radiometer are subjected to constant illumination
(thereby differentially heating the black and white sides of
the vanes), they begin to spin, reaching an equilibrium rotation rate.
Upon removal of the light source, the vanes coast to a stop, sometimes
reversing direction briefly. In contrast, if the vanes are caused to rotate
without illumination (e.g., by shaking in a swirling motion), they
take longer to coast to a stop from the same initial rotation rate, with
no reversal. This suggests that there is a reverse force acting on the
vanes after the illumination is removed, and possibly even during the
forward motion. We show the experimental configuration and display
data illustrating this effect. We also discuss the ongoing attempts to
extract the temporal behavior of the thermal forces from the vane
position data.
PST2E06:
9:15-10 p.m. Different Faces of Crackpottery
Poster – Sadri Hassani, Illinois State University, Physics Department,
Normal, IL 61790-4560; hassani@phy.ilstu.edu
Traditionally, crackpot science was the prerogative of people whose
most advanced scientific knowledge came from watching programs
on the Discovery Channel and Nova or reading articles in Reader’s
Digest and Popular Mechanics. Recently, however, more and more
professionals have been attracted to crackpottery. This poster shows
some examples of crackpottery in physics and points out some of
its main characteristics. Among the people with tendencies toward
crackpot ideas are some well known physicists, whose strange ideas
are discussed in the poster.
PST2E07:
8:30-9:15 p.m. Using the Peer Review to Help Students
Understand their Physics Laboratory
Poster – Mark F. Masters, IPFW, 2101 Coliseum Blvd., E Fort Wayne, IN
46805; masters@ipfw.edu
Students often fail to understand their physics laboratory. This is in
part because, like “All the king’s horses and all the king’s men” the
students fail to put together the humpty dumpty of physics involved
in their laboratory investigation. When students write a laboratory
paper they direct the paper to the Instructor who will fill in all the
gaps. This inhibits student sense making of their laboratory investigations.
To correct this we created JAUPLI; the Journal of the Advanced
Undergraduate Physics Laboratory Investigation. In this journal the
students write for peers at other universities, perform peer review on
the student manuscripts with complete anonymity. We present our
results from our most recent experiences with this process.
PST2E08: 9:15-10 p.m. Clouds From Other Worlds: Example –
Titan Methane Cloud Droplet Microphysics*
Poster – Tersi Arias-Young, University of California, Los
Angeles, 134 N Clark Dr. #202, West Hollywood, CA 90048;
tersiarias@ucla.edu
One of the most interesting aspects of Titan having an atmosphere
is the formation of clouds. On Earth, the atmosphere contains
significant concentrations of particles – aerosols – of micron and
sub-micron size which have an affinity for water and serve as centers
for droplet condensation or cloud condensation nuclei. On Titan, the
atmosphere contains a large amount of the so called tholins—a photochemical
byproduct of nitrogen and methane—which are believed
to serve as cloud droplet nuclei. Like for water droplets on Earth,
methane droplets on Titan will need to be formed by heterogeneous
nucleation for the liquid phase. We approximate a value for the supersaturation
needed for pure methane droplets to form and confirm
that homogeneous nucleation is most likely not found in Titan’s
atmosphere and, we present the microphysics needed for insoluble
heterogeneous nucleation —known as Fletcher theory—of methane
cloud droplets with tholins as nuclei.
*This research project is supported by the NASA - Outer Planets Research
Program for Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science – 2012
(ROSES-2012).
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Monday afternoon