Rochester Symposium for Physics Students

SPS Zone 2 Regional Meeting

8:00 AM – 8:30 AM:  Registration AND POSTER SETUP (RB LOBBY)

8:30 AM:  WELCOME (RB 202)

Prof. Frank Wolfs, University of Rochester.

Prof. Allan Weatherwax, Dean of Science, Siena College.


8:45 am – 10:00 am:  Session IA.  ASTRONOMY I (RB 202)

Session Chair: Prof. dale zych (suny oswego)

8:45     Intergalactic MgII Absorbers in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Jacob Beyer, SUNY Brockport

9:00     Magnetic Properties of the ImilacPallasite
Robert McKinley, University of Rochester

9:15     RrLyrae Stars In The Globular Star Cluster Ic 4499
Ana Mikler, Union College

9:30     Deriving the Ages of the Oldest White Dwarfs: A Bayesian Analysis
Erin O'Malley, Siena College

9:45     The Evolving Disks of T Tauri Stars
Jeffrey VanKerkhove, University of Rochester


8:45 am – 10:15 am:  Session IB.  BIOPHYSICS (RB 226)

Session Chair:  Prof. stanley Radford (suny brockport)

8:45     Hole Transport in DNA
Alex Breindel, University of Rochester

9:00     New Simplified Model Designed to Investigate Anisotropic Coulomb Interactions between Charged Proteins: Validation by Comparison of the Electrostatic Potentials
Vladimir Lankevich, University of Rochester

9:15     Efficiency of Synchronization of Entorhinal Cortex Layer II Stellate Cells
Eric Lasker, Colgate University

9:30     pH Dependence of Bovine gB Crystallin Virial Coefficient

Kaho Long, Rochester Institute of Technology

9:45     Adding coupling to the Josephson junction neuron model
Maximilian Miller, Colgate University

10:00   Characterizing Lake Tanganyika Shell Damage Using Micro-Indentations
Amanda Zranchev, Colgate University


10:15 am – 11:00 AM:  session II.  Poster session (Lobby RB)

Real Time-3D Sound Spatialization
Alicia Alarie, University of Rochester

The AB Dor Moving Group: A Chemically Heterogeneous Kinematic Stream?
Scott A. Barenfeld, University of Rochester

A Possible 12C(n,2n)11C Total Cross Section Measurement
Andrew Evans and Keith Mann, Houghton College

Visualizing the Flute Air Jet
Karen Farbman, University of Rochester

Characterizing the Houghton College Cyclotron
Nicholas Fuller, Houghton College

Coherent Beam Stimulated Parametric Down Conversion in Quantum Interferometry
Anna Gura, Lehman College

Capture of Irregular Sattelites Via Binary Planetesimal Exchange Reactions In Migrating Planetary Systems
Imran Hasan, University of Rochester

Simulating Coulomb Interacting Dark Matter
Colin Lauer, Houghton College

Jets or Clumps in CRL 618
Bin Lin, University of Rochester

Searching for Non-Locality in Two-Mode “Arcsine” States and their Superpositions
Jesse McCaskill, Lehman College

Design and Construction of a Variable Temperature Atomic Force Microscope
Ethan Ocock, Houghton College

The Houghton College Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope
Mark Spencer, Houghton College

Star Formation in the NGC 5846 Group of Galaxies
Lucas Viani, Union College


11:00 AM – 11:45 AM:  Session IIIA.  HIGH-ENERGY AND NUCLEAR PHYSICS (RB 202)

Session Chair: PROF. JOHN CUMMINGS, SIENA COLLEGE

11:00   Optimizing Efficiency of the LUX Trigger System
Brian Degner, University of Rochester

11:15   Spin-dependent Forces in Heavy Quarkonia

LeighAnn Larkin, SUNY Brockport

11:30   Resistuino: An ultra pure water-monitoring device for the Daya Bay Core Neutrino Experiment
Kyle Turck, Siena College


11:00 AM – 12:00 PM:  Session IIIB.  CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS (RB 226)

Session Chair: PROF. Mohammed Tahar, suny brockport

11:00   Method for Building a Mutual Inductance Bridge for the Purpose Measuring Magnetic Susceptibilities
Chris Knupp, SUNY Brockport

11:15   Experimental Investigation of Silicon Powders using X-Ray Diffraction
Jordan Metz McLeod, SUNY Brockport

11:30   The Orientation Dependence of NBTI Degradation in pMOSFinFETs
James Pater, Siena College

11:45   Production and Characterization of Electrospun Nanofibers
Anna Sise, Union College


11:00 AM – 12:00 PM:  Session IIIC.  EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES (RB 238)

Session Chair: PROF. MARK yuly (houghton College)

11:00   Delay Line Detection
Ian Gilchrest, Siena College

11:15   Reducing Dose While Maintaining Image Quality for Cone Beam Computed Tomography
Peter Kroening, Houghton College

11:30   Physical Concepts of Ground Penetrating Radar
Alexandria Kuhl, SUNY Brockport

11:45   Multi-plate Chamber Construction and Operation
Jonathan Slye, Houghton College


12:00 Pm:  Lunch (WEST ROOM, SIENA DINING FACILITY)


12:45 PM:  “NEUTRINO PHYSICS EXPERIMENTS: IT'S BEEN AN EXCITING YEAR!”, PROF. J. NAPOLITANO, RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE (RB 202)


1:45 PM – 2:30 PM:  Session IVA.  ASTRONOMY II (RB 202)

Session Chair: PROF. brandon hoffman (houghton college)

1:45     Photometric Capabilities of the SUNY Brockport Observatory
Kevin Grossman, SUNY Brockport

2:00     Classifying Planetary Spectra and the Search for an Earth Analog Using Artificial Neural Networks
Nathan Levine, Siena College

2:15     Herschel spectroscopy of protostars in Orion: Far-infrared CO emissions
Vincent Yu, University of Rochester


1:45 PM – 2:45 PM:  Session IVB.  EXPERIMENTAL AND TEACHING TECHNIQUES (RB 226)

Session Chair: PROF. christopher wells (houghton college)

1:45     The Monochromator
John Gardner, SUNY Brockport

2:00     Finding Connections: Regents vs AP in the College Classroom
Stephanie Kinney, Siena College

2:15     Analysis of bifurcation trends in population models approaching chaos
Charles Schultz, United States Military Academy

2:30     A Review of Independent Component Analysis
Robert Zimmerman, Siena College


1:45 PM – 3:00 PM:  Session IVC.  QUANTUM OPTICS (RB 238)

Session Chair: PROF. mark rosenberry (siena college)

1:45     Pair-Coherent States and Quantum Optical Interferometry
Richard Birrittella, Lehman College

2:00     Quantum Optical Interferometry with Photon-Subtracted Two-Mode Squeezed Vacuum States
Raul Carranza, Lehman College

2:15     Quantum Random Walks in Photonic Waveguide Lattices
Christopher Mullarkey, Rochester Institute of Technology

2:30     Generating a Four Qubit Linear Cluster State
William Schubert, Colgate University

2:45     Quantum Properties of Light
Alex Dunn, Rochester Institute of Technology