Spring 2024 Lucy Engel Undergraduate Research Symposium
May 6, 2024
Image
On May 2nd, physics undergraduates had the opportunity to present their research at the Lucy Engel Undergraduate Research Symposium. Presentations covered an impressive array of subjects in physics, including the Hubble constant, black holes, ATLAS, ARPES, quantum dots/nanophotonics, and introductory physics teaching. The symposium included a presentation session and a poster session. Faculty judges choose a winner from each session, winners were announced on May 10th during The Department of Physics graduation ceremony. This year's Engel Symposium Best Presentation Awardee is Andrew Land. The Engel Symposium Best Poster Award was presented to Suhani Surana.
Thank you to the symposium organizers, David Smith and Katie Butcher, for all their hard work.
And a special thank you to our benefactor, John Engel, who participated in the symposium and enjoyed the talks, posters, and conversations with our students. Thank you, John, for your continuous support to UA Physics Department! This symposium is in memory of Lucy Engel. Lucy was born in Peru, Kansas, and grew up during the Great Depression. Although she was never able to obtain a four-year college degree herself, she made sure that all of her children did. Two of her children obtained advanced degrees, one becoming a medical doctor and the other receiving a doctorate in physics — that’s John! Lucy always extolled the importance of college education and financially helped several young people – non-family, as well as family members – attend college. Her bequest to the University of Arizona for the Physics Undergraduate Research Symposium, as well as bequests to several other colleges, exemplifies her life as a caregiver and a proponent of education.
And finally, thank you to all the undergraduate presenters:
Nikhil Garuda,
Measuring the Hubble Constant with Supernova SN H0pe
Casey Timms,
Optical Characterization of Gallium Arsenide Quantum Dots
I-Tzu Huang,
Using Deep Neural Networks to Distinguish Hard Collisions from Pileup at the ATLAS Calorimeter
Hongji Wei,
Decoherence from Horizons Rotating Black Holes, External Limits, and Meissner Effect
Andrew Land,
Sub-ppm Nanomechanical Absorption Spectroscopy of Silicon Nitride
Alex Macintyre,
Machine Learning in ARPES Systems
Zac Carducci,
AI-assisted Problem-solving in Introductory Physics Classes
And poster presenters:
Namit Chandak
Double Lognormal Model to Model dark Matter
Pranav Chiploonkar
Principle Component Analysis of Baryonic Power Spectrum
Isabella Olin
Algorithms on the Geometric Position of the Aspera Smallsat
Sarah Stamer
Analyzing Student Reasoning in Astrobiology MOOC Writing
Suhani Surana
Finding a Focus of a Radio Telescope (Offset Fed Parabolic Antennas)
