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Students present research at the Georgia Academy of Science
May 5, 2005
CARROLLTON, GA - University of West Georgia students Heidi Lesser of Griffin and Elizabeth Nelson of Solon, Ohio, each received a Best Student Paper Award in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science and Technology at the annual meeting of the Georgia Academy of Science.
The two were among eight UWG students who presented their research at the meeting in collaboration with faculty members from the Department of Physics.
Lesser won her award for her presentation “Using Matlab to Simulate the Dynamics of a Three Body Problem,” on which she was advised by Dr. Javier Hasbun, professor of physics and chair of the Physics Department.
Nelson was recognized for “Acoustic Fire Control in Microgravity.” She was advised by Dr. James Espinosa, assistant professor of physics.
The other students who presented research were Andrew Block of Lilburn, Zade Coley of Carrollton, Clayton Huff of Lawrenceville, Gary Hunter of Thomaston, Max Perkins of Dacula and Dmitriy Plaks of Powder Springs.
Block, Huff and Perkins were advised by Hasbun. Block presented “Simplified Water Balloon Launcher”; Huff presented “Computerized Underdamped Harmonic Oscillator Experiment”; and Perkins presented “Simulation of m Electrons Interacting with n Impurities in an External Electric Field in Nano-Devices.”
Advised by Espinosa and Dr. George Keller, associate professor of physics, Coley presented “Systematic Errors in the Experimental Measurement of the Charge to Mass Ratio of the Electron,” and Hunter presented “Experimental Verification of the De Broglie Hypothesis.” Hunter also presented “A Retarded Correction to Newton’s Law of Gravity,” for which he was advised by Espinosa and Dr. Julie Talbot, assistant professor of physics.
Plaks presented “A Comparison of the Electric Breakdown Processes in Water and Heavy Water,” for which he was advised by Espinosa.
Presentations were also given by the faculty. In collaboration with Espinosa, Talbot presented “Realtime Elvis in the Classroom Using Labview in the Introductory Physics Laboratory.” Hasbun presented “A Convenient General Angle Formula for the Period of a Pendulum.” Also attending the conference was Dr. Bob Powell, professor of physics and director of the UWG Observatory.
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