Randy Mehlenbacher Wins Stoddard Prize at Undergraduate Senior Symposium

May 30, 2010

MehlenbacherRandy Mehlenbacher received the annual Stoddard Prize for Best Senior Thesis in Physics at the Undergraduate Senior Symposium held on May 11, 2010. Theoretical Analysis of Anharmonic Coupling and Cascading Raman Signals Observed with Femtosecond Stimulated Raman Spectroscopy, the result of his work with Assistant Professor of Chemistry David W. McCamant, was one of five theses presented at the Symposium.

The other four theses were:

--Laura Arnold, Insights into Protoplanetary Disk Evolution from a Spitzer IRS Survey of NGC1333
Advisor: Prof. Dan Watson

--Adi Robinson, Analyzing Ge Detector Pulses Using a Moving Window Deconvolution Algorithm
Advisor: Prof. Frank Wolfs

--Valerie Rapson, A Spitzer View of NGC 2264
Advisor: Prof. Judith Pipher

--John Golden, A Brief History of Solitons with Applications
Advisor: Prof. Nicholas Bigelow

Stoddard group

Photo, left to right: Laura Arnold, Adi Robins, Randy Mehlenbacher, John Golden, Valerie Rapson

The annual Stoddard Prize is awarded for the best senior thesis by a graduating senior in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. All senior thesis projects are included in the competition. This prize is awarded by the Undergraduate Advisors and the Undergraduate Awards Committee consisting of Prof. Frank Wolfs, Prof. Douglas Cline and Prof. Mamajek. The prize includes a monetary award of $1350.

Mehlenbacher ranked second out of 28 undergraduates in the Physics Class of 2010, with a BS in Physics and a BS in Chemistry.