Turquoise lasers crisscross the black fabric workspace as Mark Kuzyk busies himself among cramped research benches. If you could see his thoughts, they might look like a blackboard full of equations — each one coming alive as explosions, flying rockets, supercomputers, or … light-powered “smart material.” (Catch a glimpse into the mind of Kuzyk, […]
A professor of agronomy at Kansas State University, Dr. Jay Ham, will visit WSU on Oct. 29 and present a seminar on instrumentation developed by his research team to study surface-atmosphere exchange from animal feeding operations and native ecosystems. The seminar, titled Micrometeorological Techniques for Addressing Challenging Problems in Air Quality Research, will take place […]
PULLMAN — A team of physicists from WSU has successfully completed the first experiments using the nation’s premiere synchrotron X-ray facility to detect shock wave-induced changes in a crystalline material. The Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory, near Chicago, provided the most detailed view yet of what happens to a crystal lattice that […]
PULLMAN – Sometimes all an overworked molecule needs is a good night’s rest. According to a study by physicist Mark Kuzyk and colleagues at Washington State University, a molecule that loses its ability to fluoresce when struck by a laser beam regains that ability if it’s allowed to ‘rest’ in the dark. Recovery begins within […]
J. Thomas Dickinson, Regents Professor, Department of Physics, has been named the winner of the annual Eminent Faculty Award, the highest honor the university bestows on a faculty member. Nominees must have changed the thinking in their respective fields by making lasting contributions through teaching, research, creative scholarship and service. They must also make notable […]
(Physicist Peter Engels and student in lab) PULLMAN — Dozens of lenses, mirrors, lasers and vacuum chambers sprawl across two large tables, linked by electrical cables, optical fibers and water lines. Physicist Peter Engels flips switches and adjusts dials. The machine clicks through its procedure, and a minute later a computer screen flares with a […]
For 10 years he worked in construction, operating his own business for three of those years. That is, until knee surgery left few options other than going back to school. Tom Johnson, scientific instructional technician supervisor for the Department of Physics and Astronomy, landed his dream job through a simple twist of a knee.After earning […]
Some professors teach with overheads or PowerPoint. Some teach by lecture. Tom Dickinson teaches by demonstration. Hands-on demonstrations and in-class puzzlers (questions and problems) are essential to his course.“He rarely lectures but instead focuses on furthering our deeper understanding in what I now can see are the basics of physics,” said Christopher Bates, undergraduate physics […]
WSU physics and astronomy clubs dropped pumpkins and other objects from a 12th-floor window of Webster Physical Sciences Building on Nov. 5 to enact Galileo’s historical experiment, proving his Law of Falling Bodies. The Law of Falling Bodies states that all objects, regardless of their masses, fall toward the earth at the same rate. Drops […]
Washington State University physicist J. Thomas Dickinson was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science this week.A member of the AAAS physics section, Dickinson was cited for “fundamental contributions to understanding the underlying mechanisms involved in fracture, tribology and laser interactions with materials.”Dickinson was the first director of the WSU […]