Student-Faculty Research Opportunities
Student research opportunities are central to our mission. Student-faculty collaborations are supported in several different ways: Student-Faculty Summer Research Fellowships, Wheaton Research Partnerships, Wheaton Foundation Grants, Rhode Island Space Grant Fellowships, work-study funding, Wheaton faculty scholarship grants, Filene Center travel support, and external research grants to faculty. A number of our students are Wheaton Scholars, Presidential Scholars, and Community Scholars who receive funding to support projects in the summer after their sophomore year. In addition, a number of students participate in Research Experiences for Undergraduates at other institutions. Many of the projects listed below have been presented at the spring Wheaton Academic Festival and at local and national conferences, and a number have also appeared in professional publications.
Here is a sampling of student research from the last six years:
Recent Student Theses
- Jessica Tolson '07 "Energy Transfer Processes in Pr-doped Yttrium Silicate"
- Nick apRoberts-Warren '07 "Group Theoretical Techniques for Analyzing Vibronic Spectra from Doped Crystals"
- Nick Meek '06 "Do Planets in the Outer Parts of Star Systems of Low Mass Stars Stay in the Habitable Zone Long Enough to Develop Life?"
- Jon McBee '04 "Modeling of Delta Scuti Variable Stars"
- Ken Bycenski '01 "Power and Temperature Dependence of Non-Radiative Decay in Er:Glass"
- Scott Hesser '01 "Dissecting the Universe: Astronomical Spectrometry"
Recent Student-Faculty Research Collaborations
Timothy Barker
- Emily Martin '06 and Reed Tinsely '06: Searching for supernovae in nearby galaxies
- Louie Michaud '08 and Sara Stephens '08: Searching for asteroids
- Jon Kay '08 and Alex Shvonski '08: Extra-solar planet transits
- Nate Toothaker '08 and Anthony Balzebre '08 High-resolution planetary imaging
- Nate Toothaker '08 and Sara Stephens '08: Automated Asteroid and Supernovae search programs
Xuesheng Chen
- Andrew Durocher '09: Temperature Dependence of Optical Properties of New Ceramic Laser Materials.
- Naota Nakayama '05 and Leanne Lortie '06: Upcoversion Luminescence of New ceramic Laser Materials.
- Nicholas apRoberts-Warren '07: Optical Studies of Newly-developed Nd Doped Ceramic Laser Materials.
- Jessica Tolson '07: Transmission and Absorption of Optical Filters
- Leanne Lortie '06: Upconversion and Down Conversion Luminescence in the Novel Er-doped Ceramic Material.
- Charlotte H. Wong '04: Photoluminescence Studies on a New Type of Transparent Electro-Optic Ceramic Materials.
- Nicholas apRoberts-Warren '07: Absorption Properties of New Rare-Earth Ion Doped Optical Ceramics.
- Leanne Lortie '06: Absorption Studies of the Er Ion Doped PLMNT and PLZT.
- Charlotte Wong '04: Concentration Dependence of Transmission of Rare Earth Ion Doped Laser Crystals.
- Jim Neilsen '03: Optical Studies of Laser Crystals and some Chemical Solutions
- Carol McGeoch '01: Absorption Studies on the Erbium-doped Laser Crystal Er:Gd3Ga5O12.
- Liberty Gunter '00, Kenneth Bycenski '01: Spectroscopic Studies on the Erbium-doped Laser Material YSGG:Er at Different Temperatures.
- Liberty Gunter '00, Kenneth Bycenski '01, and Laurel Hentshel '01: Down Conversion Luminescence of GGG:Er3+ at Different Erbium Concentrations.
Geoffrey Collins
- Louie Michaud '08: Strain measurements from fault geometry on Ganymede
- Jonathan Kay '08: Finalization of crater database for the global geological map of Ganymede
- Emily Martin '06: Classification of grooved terrain on Ganymede and testing new methods for time-sequence sorting
- Jennifer Savage '06: Geological mapping of Ganymede
- Rachel Fontaine '04: Reconstructing the geometry of ancient impact basins on Ganymede and Callisto
- Jon McBee '04 and Dan Hartmann '04: New techniques for measuring strain across ridges on Europa
- Dan Hartmann '04 and Matt Blake '04: Morphology and mapping of chaotic terrain on Europa
- Jon McBee '04: Time sequence analysis of groove formation in Sippar Sulcus and the leading hemisphere of Ganymede
- Karrie-Sue Farrar '03: GIS database of craters and impact basins on Ganymede
John Collins
- Jeremy Tudisco (Fall 2005) Graphical and Statistical Modeling of a Doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet ( Y3Al2(AlO4)3 ) Crystal
- Jon Kay (Spring 2006) Construction of a Crystal Growth Apparatus: Testing and Implementation of a Vacuum System
- Matt Berg (Spring 2006) Conversion of a Gas-Powered Vehicle to Electric Power
- Morgan Jennings (Spring 2006) Optimization of A Nd:YAG Laser for Spectroscopic Measurements
- Jessica Tolson (Summer 2004) Development of a Data Acquisition System using LabVIEW
- Jessica Tolson (Summer 2005) Construction of a Crystal Growth Apparatus: Calibration and Design
- Keith McGinley (Summer 2004, Mars) Mathematical Modeling and Construction of a Nd:YAG Laser
- Jon McBee (2004) Modeling of Delta Scudi Pulsating Stars
- Patrick Thomas (2004) Construction of a Frequency Doubled Nd:YAG Pumped Ti:Sapphire Laser
- Bailey McAllister (Summer 2003) Spectroscopic Investigations of Pr-doped Crystals
- Trevor Agnitti (2002) Investigations of Energy Transfer Paths among Rare Earth Ions in Solids
A sea on a moon of Saturn?
Associate Professor of Geology Geoffrey Collins and co-investigator Jason Goodman suggests there may be a sea of water trapped beneath the icy surface of Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons.
Ceramic Materials research group secures two grants
Physics Professor Xuesheng Chen's optical laser ceramic materials research secured two recent grants: $240,000 from the Department of Energy and $150,000 from the National Science Foundation.
Science literacy in the twenty-first century
Science is too important to be left to the scientists," says professor of astronomy Tim Barker without a hint of irony ...