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The
Department of Physics and Astronomy offers three degree
programs:
- an AB with a major in Physics,
- a BS with a major in Physics
- a BS with a combined major in Physics and
Astronomy
It also offers
Physics courses for the BS in Education degree with
certification
in Physics.
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Jim Andrews (left)
and Tom Oder with the new microscope. (see more in Guilin's story on
the right)
A new
microscope that can make surface profile measurements on the
order of a billionth of a meter is now part of the Department of
Physics and Astronomy at YSU.
The $150,000 atomic force microscope, which has the
capability to image small objects down
to the size of an atom, was funded as part of a $900,000 grant from the
Ohio Research Scholarship Program. The program provides grants to
strengthen and increase the number of collaborative research clusters
across the state.
The grant will help YSU advance its research into the surface of
materials such as polymer multilayer structures being developed in
collaboration with Case Western Reserve University as part of a
National Science Foundation–supported Center for Layered Polymeric
Materials, with which YSU is affiliated.
YSU received the allocation of $900,000 as part of a $15 million
grant to the Research Cluster on Surfaces in Advanced Materials, of
which YSU is a member along with Kent State and Case Western Reserve
universities.
James Andrews, professor of Physics and
Astronomy, said the cluster was formed in response to a fall 2007 joint
request for proposals from the Ohio Department of Development and Board
of Regents under the Ohio Third Frontier Initiative.
The AFM has a tiny probe tip which scans
the surface of
a material to create a 3–D image, as opposed to using traditional
microscope techniques which utilize light to display a two–dimensional
image.
"It has become one of the fundamental tools for
looking at surface materials," Andrews said.
Andrews, along with YSU physics professor Tom Oder and research
scientist Guilin Mao, are
the only members of the faculty who have been trained to work with the
instrument so far, though they are looking forward to broadening its
use and incorporating the microscope into the classroom.
"In addition to involving YSU students in our research efforts, coursework
based on the AFM will be integrated into our upper–division courses on
condensed matter, semiconductors and advanced instrumentation," Andrews
said.
The remaining grant funds will primarily be used to purchase other
instruments, including an optical parametric oscillator (tunable laser
source), a Raman Microscope, a solar stimulator, a programmable spin coater and various related pieces for
studying surfaces.
Source: YSU's
eUpdate
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Welcome
Guilin
Guilin Mao
began working this fall as a research scientist with the Research
Cluster on Surfaces in Advanced Materials (RC-SAM).
The project,
supported by the Ohio Research Scholars Program,focuses on surface
phenomena in soft
materials, such as polymers and
liquid crystals (LCs).
To express the complexity of surfaces,
scientists often quote Wolfgang Pauli,Nobel Prize laureate in Physics,
who said, “God made solids, but
surfaces were the work of the devil.” Over the
last 50-60 years, much has been learned about surfaces in solid (hard)
matter, such as metals. During
the very same time, new materials, often called “soft matter,” such as
LCs, surfactants, and polymers, emerged and revolutionized our way of
life from how we present information (LC displays, or LCDs) to how we
manufacture practically everything.
Despite abundance of
soft materials in nature and human-controlled technologies, we still
know much less than needed about their surface properties. A
modern-day rephrasing of Pauli would be, “Liquid crystals, polymers,
and many other marvelous new materials have been made, but their
surfaces are still the work of the devil!” RC-SAM aims to make this
statement obsolete.
Guilin will be using an atomic force microscope to conduct research
into surface and interfaces in polymers and advanced materials. His
current
projects tinclude: (1) Bandedge enhancement of
Faraday rotation (experiment and theory, with Dr. Andrews and Dr.
Crescimanno) (2) imaging of surface microstructures on polymers (with
Dr. Oder) (3) surface corrosion on Fireline T-Con ceramic (with Dr.
Price).
Guilin is a native of Beijing, China. He spent five years as a post-doc
at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and also worked
several years as an optical engineer in New York. He enjoys reading and
travel, and has found Youngstown to be a quiet
place that allows time to do research and study.
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