The computational physics team in 2019.
Example Summer Research Projects
Paul Bonvallet
Cody Leary
- Entangled spin-orbit photon modes
- Quantum "memory" in photons
- Unified dynamics of electrons and photons
- Optical "tractor beam"
Susan Lehman
John Lindner
- Gravitational Interaction of Rotating & Revolving Rods
- Building a Strange Nonchaotic Pendulum
- GPU Accelerated Granular Flow Simulation
- Sliding on a Spinning Asteroid
- Visualizing Rotating Spacetime
- Solar Escape as a 3-Body Problem
- One-Way Coupling
Niklas Manz
- Fire fronts in a matchstick forest
- Creating propagating standing waves
- Manipulating reaction-diffusion waves with light
- Creating a black hole horizon analogue on a lab table
Microscope image of Osorb, impregnated with the fluorescent compound anthracene.
Discussing results at the 2019 poster session that caps off the summer.
Past Summer Research Projects
These are our recent undergraduate research assistants and their projects.
2019 Projects
- Bennett Anderson, Wooster '22, Conical Bead Pile: Feel the Pressure
- Jayne Blinkhorn, Wooster '21, Encapsulation of Benzoic Acid Inside SOMS
- Samuel (Bo) Cavender, Georgia College '20, On the Horizon
- Maria Cook, Lorain County Community College '20, Studying the Bulges of Distant Galaxies
- Brian Corbin, Hiram '20, SOMS Force Generation: Force Analysis of Swelled Osorb
- Chase Fuller, Wooster ’19, Let's GP-Do It! GPU Acceleration
- William (Christian) Julius, Wooster '20, It's strange ... Non Chaotic Motion
- Andrew Kunkel, Wooster '22, Spiral Structure of the Milky Way According to Density Wave Theory
- Margaret McGuire, Wooster '20, What a Mouthful: Geographic Tongue as a Reaction-Diffusion System
- Emmanuel Ogundipe, Grinnell College '21, Video Processing & Analysis of a Conical Pile
- Dustin Savelli, Lorain County Community College '21, The Transfer of Linear and Angular Momentum Between the Evanescent Electromagnetic Fields of a Nanofiber and Matter or ... TRACTOR BEAMS!
- Melita Wiles, Georgia Tech '22, Celestial Mechanics: Stability of Gravitationally Interacting Rods
- Xinchen (Ariel) Xie, Wooster '21, Optomechanical Spin-Orbit Coupling
- Yang (Fish) Yu, Wooster '21, Reaction-Diffusion Wavefronts Interacting with Spirals & Fractals
Interesting conversations at the 2019 poster session.
2018 Projects
- Joshua Ballard-Myer, Georgia College ’20, Analysis of an Experimental Setup for BZ Waves in a Quasi 1-D RDA System
- Daniel Blaikie, Wooster '19, Propagating Excitation Waves Over an Illuminated Two Dimensional System
- Duncan Crow, Wooster '19, Force Exertion and Spectroscopic Properties of Swellable Organically Modified Silica
- Tanaka Chingonzo, Wooster ’21, Digitizing the History of the BZ Reaction in HTML, CSS, JavaScript and LaTeX
- Montana Ferita, Westminster '21, Characterizing System Spanning and Non-system Spanning Avalanches
- Rebecca Glaser, SUNY Geneseo ’19, Simulation of Reaction-Diffusion Waves Interacting with Convex Obstacles
- Ben Hessman, Wooster ’20, Sliding on a Spinning Asteroid
- Carlos Owusu-Ansah, Wooster ’21, Spectral Stability of Slash-Slash Equilibrium
- Kimberly Patterson, Agnes Scott ’20, Sliding on a Rotating Cuboid
- Ryan Reffner, Lorain County Community College ’19, Force Generation and Encapsulation of Fluorophores in Swellable Organically Modified Silica
- Katie Shideler, Wooster ’21, New Ways of Analyzing Pressure Sensor Data
- Charles Walker, Haverford ’20, GPU Accelerated Granular Flow Simulation
2017 Projects
- Norah Ali, Hiram ‘19, Experimental Realization of the Hannay Hoop-and-Bead Anholonomy
- Abigail Ambrose, Wooster '20, Forest Fire Propagation Along a Slope
- Daniel Blaikie, Wooster ‘19, Spectroscopic and Optical Investigation of Organic Solutes in a Solid Matrix
- Gabe Dale Gau, Wooster ‘18, A Device to Measure the Area of Avalanches on a Conical Bead Pile
- Haidar Esseili, Wooster ‘19, Bead Pile: Particle Image Velocimetry
- Chase Fuller, Wooster ‘19, Effects of Advection on the Belousov-Zhabotinsky Reaction: Standing Excitaiton Waves in a Quasi-1D Reaction-Diffusion-Advection System
- Ian George, Kenyon ‘18, Pancharatnam Phase of Non-separable Modes
- Vincent Hui, Wooster ‘19, Modelling of Reaction-Diffusion Waves with Various Boundaries
- Benjamin Jenkins Wooster ‘19, Optical Fibers and Superpositions of E-Fields
- Polly Michel, Ohio State ‘20, Living with a Binary: A Study of Pluto's Moons
- Mijiti Mierkamili, Wooster ‘19, Creating a Timeline for the Belousov-Zhabotinsky History Website
- Hannah Peltz Smalley, Wellesley ‘18, Chaos of a Slider on a Spinning Ellipsoid
- Anna Tomkins, Agnes Scott ‘18, Gravitational Equilibria of Rotating and Revolving Rods
- Hyuga Uchida, Wooster ‘19, Investigation of Polymer Synthesis in SOMS Nanoreactors
2016 Projects
- Hwan (Michelle) Bae, Wooster ‘19, Geometric Phases and Anholonomy: Things That Don’t Return after 360° Rotations
- Angelica Berner, Arizona State ’19, Creating Strange, Non-chaotic Behavior
- Tyler Branscum, Lorain Community College, Ohio University ‘18, Synthesis and Analysis of High-Swell, Silica-based Gels
- Jordan Dennis, Wooster ‘19, Blowing Bubbles: The Route to Chaos
- Haidar Esseili, Wooster ’19, Bead Pile Video Analysis: Tracking a Needle in a Needle Stack
- Alex Gould, Wooster ‘17, Simulating Reaction-Diffusion Waves around Obstacles
- Nate Moore, Wooster ‘18, Sliding on a Tumbling Asteroid: Geodesics on a Rotating Ellipsoid
- Sam Nash, Wooster ’19, Waiting for the Big One: Inter-event Time
- Jersson Pachar, Wittenberg ‘18, Reaction-Diffusion-Advection Systems
- Jacob Paul, Ursinus College ‘17, Alignment of a Down Conversion System for Coupled Photon Experiments
- Preston Pozderac, Wooster ’17, Radial Solutions of the Finite Spherical Well for Electrons and Photons
- Alishan Premani, Wooster ‘18, The Expressions of Light: Simulating Modes in a Circular Dielectric Wave Guide
- Tessa Rosenberger, University of Dallas ’19, Aeromechanical One-Way Array
- Zane Thornburg, Wooster ‘18, Bond, Si-O-Si Bond: Characterizing the Swelling of Osorb Using Computational Chemistry and Spectroscopy
2015 Projects
- Avi Vajpeyi, Wooster '18 Improving Detection of Avalanches on a Conical Bead Pile
- Justine Walker, Wooster '18 Changes in the Distributions of Avalanches on a Conical Bead Pile with Cohesion
2014 Projects
- Michael Bush, Wooster '16 Impact of geometry on Newtonian gravity of point particles
- Nathan Johnson, Wooster '16 Scaling the Pile: the effect of cohesion on slip-avalanche statistics
- Andrew King-Smith, Wooster '16 Single photon counting using spontaneous parametric down conversion
- Maggie Lankford, Wooster '16 Lasers, photons, interference, and our magic box
- Yash Lohia Wooster '16 Stochastic resonance in a mechanical bi-stable system
- Ziyi Sang, Wooster '17 /// Gravitational interaction of three massive rods
- Catherine Tieman, Wooster '16 Shaping up and scaling the bead pile: geometry analysis and interevent time scaling
2013 Projects
- Carlos Gonzalez-Mendoza, Wooster '16 Pattern Formation in Liquid Crystals: Experiment and Simulation
- Nicolae Istrate, Wooster '15 Creating an artificial gravity field using U-I junction conditions
- Andrew King-Smith, Wooster '16 Enhancing the Optical Tweezers Experiment in Preparation for the Addition of an Optical Spanner
- Matthew King-Smith, Wooster '16 Building an Array of One-way Coupled Oscillators
- Maggie Lankford, Wooster '16 // The Gravitational Interaction of Two Line Segments
- Brian Maddock, Wooster '15 Classical Entanglement: From Spheres to Rods to Staples
- Nate Mathewson Wooster '16 Stochastic Resonance in a Mechanical Bi-stable System
- Paroma Palchoudhuri Wooster '16 Effect of Drop Height and Cohesion on Avalanches in a Conical Bead Pile
2012 Projects
- Brian Maddock, Wooster '15 The Journey Around the Sphere: The Creation of an Optical Rotator
- Duncan Price, Wooster '13 The Ultimate Shield: Perturbing Spacetime
- Jairaj Ranchod, Wooster '15, Astrophotography, Image Processing, and the College Observatory
- Prakrit Shrestha, Wooster '14, Aero-mechanical Array of One-Way Coupled Oscillators
- Amanda Steinhebel, Wooster '15 1-Dimensional Photonic Parity Sorter Through Interacting Interferometers
- Deepika Sundarraman, Wooster '14, The Magic 'U' box: Bimodal Hong-Ou-Mandel Interference in an Interferometric Optical System
- Elliot Wainwright, Wooster '15, Stochastic Resonance in a Mechanical System
- Phil Wales, Wooster '13, ξ. Body Problem
2011 Projects
- Theresa Albon, Wooster '13, Expansion Forces Produced by Swelling SOMS
- Tom Gilliss, Wooster '13, Cohesion Forces in a Bead Pile
- Vanessa Logan, Wooster '14, Active Galactic Nuclei in the Optical Spectrum
- Matt Schmitthenner, Wooster '13, // Body Problem
- Karl Smith, Wooster '13, String Theory (Knot Really)
- Ian Wilson, Wooster '14, Stochastic Resonance in a Mechanical System
2010 Projects
- Andrew Blaikie, Wooster '13, Simulating Electroweak Baryogenesis in the Standard Model
- Lily Christman, Wooster '13, The Physics of Swellable Organically Modified Silica
- Alexander Chartrand, Mount Union College '11, Relativistic Hotspots in Double-Lobed Radio Sources
- Lorenzo Dumancas, Wooster '13, The Heat Capacity and Self-Aggregating Behavior of the Triblock Copolymer 17R4 in H2O
- Gerhardt Funk, Centenary College '13, Numerical Analysis of the Oblique Parameters in the Two Higgs Doublet Model
- Alyse Marquinez, Wooster '13, Self-Organized Criticality: A Magnetized Bead Pile
- Colin McGuire, High Point University '12, Effects of Temperature and pH on the Fluorescence of 4-amino Benzoic Acid and its Derivatives
- Hosanna Odhner, Bryn Mawr '13, The Coexisting Phases of Poly(Propylene Oxide)-Poly(Ethylene Oxide)-Poly(Propylene Oxide) in D2O
- Tyler Rhoades, Wooster '13, Electrical Percolation in Conductive and Non-conductive Beads
- Michael-Erik Ronlund, Wooster '13, Mass Transfer in Algol Binaries
- Christine Welling, Dickinson College '12, Broad Absorption Line Variability in Radio Loud Quasars
2009 Projects
- Alison Huff, Wooster '10, Examing 17R4 in Water: Refractive Indices and DLS
- Erin Ford, Kenyon '11, Validating Old Wives' Tales: The Mpemba Effect
- Amanda Logue Wooster '11, /.
- Katsuo Maxted, Wooster '12, Computational and Experimental One-way Coupling
- Larry Markley, Wooster '12, Self-organized Criticality: Energy Dissipation vs Ballistic Model and Coefficients of Friction
- Heather Moore, Wooster '10, Electrical Percolation Through One-Millimeter Insulating and Conducting Spheres
- Conrad Moore, Bucknell University '10, Warp Drive, Time Machines and the Einstein Tensor
- Margaret Raabe, Wooster '12, Escape from the 3 and 4-body Problems
- David Simpson, Wooster '12, Cp of Poly(Propylene Oxide)-Poly(Ethylene Oxide)-Poly(Propylene Oxide) Triblock Copolymer in H2O
- Mitchell Thayer, Ohio Northern '12, Structural and Environmental Effects on Intramolecular Charge Transfer
- Henry Timmers, Wooster '09, The Construction of a Continuous-Wave Cavity Ringdown Spectrometer
2008 Projects
- Alison Huff, Wooster '10, A Charged Pendulum in an Electric Field
- Thomas Linz, Kenyon '09, Perturbing Spacetime
- Jacob Lynn, New York University '09, Order and Chaos in the 2.5-Body Problem
- Patrick Odenthal, University of Portland '09, Experimental Observation of Soliton Annihilation in a Hydro-Mechanical Array of One-Way Coupled Oscillators
- Richard Sampson, Columbia University '10, Electrical Characterization of Quantum Dots Using Ballistic Electron Emission Microscopy
- Ingrid Thvedt, Wooster '11, It's getting hot in here - or is it? An Investigation into Mpemba Effect
- Mike Winters, Wooster '10, Self-Organized Criticality: Bead Pile Dynamics Across Bead Types
- Mark Zimmerman, Wooster '09, Percolating Electrons Through Steel Shot and Glass Beads
2007 Projects
- COREY ATWOOD-STONE, Wooster '10, Celestial Clock: Tracking the Sun, the Moon, the Center of the Milky Way and the Earth's Velocity Vector with Respect to the CMB
- JAMES DANIELS, Wooster '10, A Closer Look at Multiple Time Scales in Transistor Amplifiers
- JAMES GALLAGHER, Ohio Northern University '10, Constructing an Array of One-Way Coupled Bistable Oscillators
- MATTHEW GORSKI, Wooster '09, Top-down Causation and Cellular Automata
- ERIC HARDIN, SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY '08, Investigating the Inner Structure of Non-radial β-lactoglobilin Spherulites
- KASEY KELLY, Kenyon College '10, Visualizing Curved Spacetime: Light Geodesics in Kerr-Newman Spacetime
- FRANK KING, Wooster '09, Charged Spherical Pendulum in Electric and Magnetic Fields
- DANIEL SHAI, Wooster '07, Construction of a Ballistic Electron Emission Microscope
- IAN STEWARD, John Carroll University '08, Measuring Reflectivity with a Ring-Down Cavity
- JEREMIAH ZBLEWSKI, University of Wisconsin Stevens Point '07, Spectral and Computation Studies of Hydrogen Bonding of Uracil and Cytosine with Methanol
2006 Projects
- EVAN HEIDTMANN, Wooster '09, The Escape Set: Chaos in the Restricted Three-Body Problem
- ANDREW HERSHBERGER, Case Western Reserve University '09, Modeling Stochastic Resonance in Hair Cells of the Inner Ear
- KEVIN HOYLE, Ohio Northern University '09, Dynamics of Noisy One-Way Coupled Oscillators
- MARY MILLS, Agnes Scott College '09, Self-Organized Criticality in a Zirconium Bead Pile
- MARTHA ROSEBERRY, Wooster '09, Precession & Chaos in a Spherical Universe
- HENRY TIMMERS, Wooster '09, Finding the Turbidity of 8-Arm Star Polystyrene in Methylcyclohexane
- NATHAN UTT, Wooster '07, Heat Capacity of a Triethylamine-Water Mixture
- MIKE ZAPPITELLO, Wooster '09, Measuring the Coexistence Curve of an 8-Arm Star Polystyrene in Methylcyclohexane
2005 Projects
- JOHN GAMBLE, Wooster '08, Dielectric Permittivity in Binary Nematic Mixtures
- KIRSTEN LARSON, Wooster '08, The Search for Microquasars in High Galactic Latitudes
- MEGAN MILLER, Wells College '06, Self-Organized Criticality and the Energy Dissipation Model as Observed in a Bead Pile
- CHRISTINE O'BRIEN, College of Dupage '07, Modeling Magnetic Confinement of a Relativistic Particle
- KELLY PATTON, Wooster '08, A Study of Quantum Dots through Atomic Force Microscopy
- RUTH SHEWMON, MIT '08, Using Heat Capacity to Observe Non-critical Phase Transitions of the Binary Fluid Mixture Triethylamine-Water
- SARAH SUDDENDORF, Wooster '07, The Turbidity and Correlation Length Amplitude of 8-Arm Star Polystyrene in Methylcyclohexane Near the Critical Point
- DANNY TREMBLAY, Wooster '07, Measuring Ultra High Reflectivities Using Light Intensity Cavity Ring-down
- LISA MAY WALKER, Dickinson College '07, Searching for Microquasars using the INTEGRAL Satellite
- MARK WELLONS, Wooster '08, Measuring the Coexistence Curve of an 8-Arm Star Polystyrene in Methylcyclohexane
2004 Projects
- JOSEPH DARTEZ, University of Dallas '06, Chaos and Fractal Structure in Solar Escape: A Restricted Three-Body Problem
- ANNIE ERBSEN, Guilford College '06, Characterization and Imaging of Self Assembled InAs Quantum Dots by Atomic Force Microscopy
- JEREMY HOHERTZ, Wooster '06, Jet Emission Models for Microquasars
- MARK LIGHTFOOT, Wooster '05, Measuring the Coexistence Curve of an 8-Arm Star Polystyrene in Methylcyclohexane
- TUAN NGUYEN, University of Oklahoma '06, Self-Organized Criticality: Deviations from Pure SOC Power Law
- KINGA PARTYKA, Rutgers University '07, A Computational Study of CO Oxidation on Pt(111) and Ru(0001) Surfaces
- STEPHEN POPROCKI, Wooster '07, Accurate Measurement of Quantum Dots by Atomic Force Microscopy
- JON ROSCH, Wooster '07, Analysis of X-Ray Emissions from Microquasars
- DANNY SHAI, Wooster '07, A Reduced Mass Variation of the Newtonian Two-Body Problem on the 2-Sphere
- ANGIE TRIPLETT, Wooster '06, Finding the Turbidity of an 8-Arm Star Polystyrene in Methylcyclohexane
- BRYAN WHITING Wooster '06, Alloy Chemisorption of Carbon Monoxide
2003 Projects
- ELIZABETH BAKER, Bucknell University '06, Self-Organized Criticality: Cliff Phenomena
- ANDY BRINCK, Wooster '05, The Turbidity and Correlation Length of 8-Arm Polystyrene in Methylcyclohexane
- ADAM COHEN, Bucknell University '06, The Automated Measurement of the Coexistence Curve of 8-Arm Star Polystyrene in Methylcyclohexane
- GREG DALLINGER, Wooster '05, Computational Study of the Oxidation of CO on the Pt(111) Surface
- SETH HOPPER, Earlham College '04, Vector and Parallel Processing in Computational Physics
- KATHLEEN McCREARY, Wooster '06, Dielectric Properties of a Nematic Binary Mixture
- KATHERINE OLAKSEN, Wooster '06, Chaotic Sphere: Two Particles Interacting on a 2D Spherical Universe
- JOE VANFOSSEN, Baldwin-Wallace College '04, Self-Erasing Perturbations: BTW Scalar Sandpiles and Superpiles
2002 Projects
- AUSTIN CARTER, Wooster '05, Testing Yang-Yang Theory Using the Heat Capacity of Triethylamine and Water
- HANNEKE HOEKMAN, Wooster '05, Dielectric Properties of a Nematic Binary Mixture
- CHRISTINE LEIDEL, Ohio Northern '05, Optimal Exit: Solar Escape as a 3-Body Problem
- PATRICK MACDONALD, Notre Dame '04, Invariant Seeds on a Cellular Automaton Sandpile
- DAVID MERRIMAN, Wooster '04, Investigating the Elastic Properties of a Liquid Crystal: the Χa of N4
- MICHELLE SESTAK, Baldwin Wallace '04, Methanol Maser Search of Star Forming Region S 235 A/B
- MATTHEW SIROCKY, Mount Union '03, The Basics of Astrophotometry for The College of Wooster
- BRAD THOMAS, Wooster '04, The Flux Creep Automaton
- REBECCA URBAN, Wooster '03, Self-Organzied Criticality-Looking Into Energy Dissipation
- NITHYA VENKATARAMAN, Wooster '04, The Relationship Between the Correlation Length Amplitude of a Star vs. Linear Polymer in Methylcyclohexane
2001 Projects
- DAN BRUBAKER, Wooster '03, An Investigation of OMC-2 at Microwave Wavelengths
- CLINTON BRAGANZA, Wooster '03, The Correlation Length of a Critical Mixture of Perfluoroheptane and 2,2,4-trimethylpentane
- COREY CASTO, Ohio Wesleyan '03, Spectral Variability in LMCX-4 Caused by the Hatchett-McCray Effect
- CHRISTIAN CLERC, University of Dallas '04, Observations of the 44 GHz Methanol Maser 70 61 A+ Transition in the Molecular Cloud W75N
- NICK HARMON, Wooster '04, Modeling of the Circular Planar Restricted Three-Body Problem
- RYAN HARTSCHUH, Wooster '03, The Heat Capacity of Triethylamine-Water: Testing Yang-Yang Theory
- ANNA LARUE, Smith College '04, Exploring Neutral Dielectric Anisotropy in a Binary Liquid Crystal Mixture
- AMY LYTLE, Wooster '01, Turbidity in a Binary Fluid Mixture: Measuring the Critical Exponent h
- DAVE MERRIMAN, Wooster '04, The Long and Circuitous Route to the Procurement of an Observatory for the Department of Physics: A View of Prospects in Three Space
- DAVID J. MILLER, Wooster '02, Using Cellular Automata and Differential Equations to Model Magnetic Flux Creep Through a Type II Semiconductor
- TOM SPEARS, Wooster '04, Phase Transitions, Dielectric Anisotropy and Intermolecular Interactions in Binary Mixtures of the Nematic Liquid Crystals 5CB and MBBA
2000 Projects
- CHRISTIE EGNATUK, Wooster '03, Self-organized Criticality in a Bead Pile
- SUSAN KOST, CARNEGIE MELLON ('03) and BRAD LIGNOSKI, Wooster '03, Morphology and Relative Size Distribution of PAH Molecules in S235A
- JOSHUA MARTIN, Wooster '02, Electrohydrodynamic Pattern Formation in a Nematic Liquid Crystal Mixture
- BETH MASIMORE, JUNIATA COLLEGE '02, Phase Transitions in Binary Mixtures of Nematic Liquid Crystal
- JEFF MOFFITT, Wooster '03, The Development of a Three Mass Lumped-Element Model for the Lip Reed
- ANDREW NOWICKI, Wooster '00, Heat Capacity and Turbidity Near the Critical Solution Point of the Liquid-Liquid Mixture Succinonitrile and Water
- EMILY OBY, DENISON UNIVERSITY '02, Heat Capacity of a Binary Fluid Mixture Near the Critical Point
- MICHAEL ROBERTS, MONMOUTH COLLEGE '01, Measuring Upper Lip Stiffness of Brass Instrument Players
- DEREK SOMOGY, Wooster '02, Optical Properties of Liquid Crystal DNA Lenses
1999 Projects
- LAUREN AULT, Wooster '01, Spin Expectation Values in Fermion Gases
- MATT BARTOW, BALDWIN WALLACE '01, Classical Lattice Electrodynamics
- SCOTT HUGHES, Wooster '01, Spatiotemporal Visualization
- AMY LYTLE, Wooster '01, Turbidity Near the Critical Point in a Liquid-Liquid Mixture
- JOSH MARTIN, Wooster '02, Spatiotemporal Chaos in MBBA
- ALAN MCMULLEN, RIDGEWATER '01, 3D Visualization of Hydrogenic States and Rydberg Wave Packets
- ANDY NOWICKI, Wooster '00, Heat Capacity of Succinonitrile and Water Mixture Near the Critical Temperature
- DANELL OWENS, BALDWIN WALLACE '00, Phase Transitions of the Liquid Crystal Mixtures 5CB and C7
- HANNA WAGNER, OHIO NORTHERN '00, Power Spectral Density in Avalanche Dynamics for a Model Bead Pile System
- MEGHAN WILLS, Wooster '02, Monostable Stochastic Resonance in Arrays