Recent Research Students of D.S. Armstrong

One of the best aspects of teaching at William & Mary is the opportunity to mentor some truly exceptional students. Here are some that have done research in collaboration with me (with links to .PDF or .PS versions of their theses in many cases):

PhD Students

• Sarah K. Phillips

  ``Measurement of the Strange Quark Contribution to the Vector Structure of the Proton''
  (October 2007)

  Sarah is now a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of New Hampshire.
  

• Stephanie L. Bailey

  ``Parity Violation in Elastic Electron Scattering: A First Measurement of the Parity-Violating Asymmetry at Q² = 0.631 GeV/c² at Backward Angle''
  (January 2007)

  After a few years as postdoctoral research fellow in Advanced Techniques for Cancer Imaging in the Department of Radiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stephanie is now Postoctoral Fellow in Cancer Disparities at The Comprehensive San Diego State/University of California San Diego Cancer Center Partnership.
  

• Bryan J. Moffit

  ``Elastic Scattering of Longitudinally Polarized Electrons from ⁴He: A Measurement of G^s_E at Q²= 0.1 GeV²''
  (October 2006)

  After taking a position as a postdoctoral fellow at MIT, doing experiments at Jefferson Lab, Bryan is now a research scientist in the Data Acquisition group at Jefferson Lab.
  

• Jessica H.D. Clark

  ``The Ortho-Para Transition in Muonic Molecular Hydrogen''
  (October 2002)

  Jessica spent several years as the Head of Public Outreach at the APS (American Physical Society), where she created the ``Physics Central'' WWW site. She is now research fellow in the Radiology and Radiation Therapy departments at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
  

• Gary A. Rutledge

      (co-supervised with J.M. Finn)

  ``Measurement of the Strange Sea of the Proton''
  (December 2000)

  After a stint as a post-doctoral researcher with U. Manitoba and TRIUMF, based at Jefferson Lab, Gary is now a Research Scientist with SAIC in San Diego.

Senior Undergraduate Students

• Douglas C Dean III

  `` Construction, Testing, and Characterization of Vertical Drift Chambers for Qweak '' (honors thesis - Awarded Alumini Prize for Research in Physics) (May 2009)

  Doug has been admitted to the PhD program in Engineering at Brown University

• Brian P. Walsh

  `` Development of a Flatness Scanner and Simulation for Qweak Wire Chambers '' (senior thesis) (May 2007)

  Brian has applied to enter the Catholic seminary of the Diocese of Richmond.

• Anela O. Rayfield

  `` Cryostat Exit Detectors for G⁰'' (senior thesis) (May 2005)

  Anela is taking a year off before going on to graduate work in physics.

• Aimee C.E. Slaughter

  `` Parity Violation in High-Energy Electron Scattering: Data Analysis for the G⁰ Experiment'' (honors thesis) (May 2004)

  Aimee is pursuing a Ph.D. in physics at U. Rochester.

• Erin Epperson

  `` Software and Simulation for Qweak'' (senior thesis) (May 2004)

  After a year off working in the 'real world', Erin will be working towards an MA in the Philosophy of Religion at the U. of Chicago Divinity School.

• Stephanie-Louise Bailey

  `` Performance Analysis of the G⁰ Scintillation Detectors'' (honors thesis) (May 2002)

  Stephanie received her Ph.D. in nuclear physics here at W&M (see above)

• Eric J. Koskinen

  ``Software Correction to Account for Dead Blocks in a Lead Glass Calorimeter'' (senior thesis) (April 2001)

  Eric founded of an internet software firm, and worked for several years with various firms; he then returned to the academic world and is pursuing a doctorate in computer science at Brown University. He was recently awarded the prestigious Gates Cambridge scholarship to allow him to study at Cambridge.

• Lisa J. Kaufman

  ``Recoil Proton Detection for the Radiative Decays of the Phi Meson'' (honors thesis - high honors) (April 2000)

  Lisa obtained her Ph.D. in physics at U. Massachusets in 2006. She is now a postdoctoral fellow at U. Maryland working on the EXO double beta-decay experiment.

• Adam P. Gurson

  `` Radiative-Phi Experiment Software'' (senior thesis) (April 2000)

  Adam is a computer consultant with Integrity Applications Inc.

• Sandy Sligh

  ``Testing of a Prototype G0 Detector Assembly'' (honors thesis) (April 1999)

  Sandy is pursuing a Ph.D. in physics at U. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

• Jennifer L. Thompson

  ``Focal-Plane Detectors for a Parity Violation Experiment'' (honors thesis - high honours) (April 1998)

  Jennifer is pursuing a Ph.D. in physics at U. Pennsylvania.

• Bao Nguyen

  ``Single Bubble Sonoluminescence'' (April 1998)

  Bao is now an engineer with Sprint.

• Alex Dubanowitz

  ``The Upstream Charged Particle Veto for Rare Radiative Decays of the Phi Meson '' (April 1998)

  Alex did an MSc in earth resources engineering at Columbia U., and is now a Civil Engineering consultant with CSL Consulting.

• Jin Yamamoto

  ``Single Bubble Sonoluminescence (SBSL)'' (honors thesis - high honours) (April 1997)

  Jin is defended his Ph.D. in physics at U. Michigan (Ann Arbor) in 2002, did a postdoc in the radiation oncology department at the Univ. of Michigan hospital, and is now a data analyst for the Microsoft Web Search team..

• Nancy M. Bent

  ``Computerizing Undergraduate Physics Laboratories'' (senior thesis) (April 1997)

  Nancy is now a High School Physics Teacher in Fairfax County Virginia.

• Tom O'Connor

  ``Off-line Data Analysis Software for TJNAF E94-016'' (senior thesis) (April 1997)

  Tom is now working for Surety.com, a software firm here in Virginia.

• Jessica H.D. Clark

  ``The Calibration of Hall Probes: Field Mapping for CLAS'' (honors thesis^*: high honours) (April 1995)

  Jessica completed her Ph.D. in physics here at William and Mary, and is now Public Outreach Specialist for the APS.

• Glenn T. Nofsinger

  ``CLAS Toroidal Field Mapping: Data Acquisition with LabVIEW'' (senior thesis^*) (April 1995)

  Glenn worked for several years as a Laser Development engineer for a firm in San Diego, California, then obtained a PhD in engineering at Dartmouth College in 2006, and is now an engineer working for BAE Systems.

• Shannon R. Davis

  ``Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy of Muon Capture on Silicon (²⁸Si)'' (senior thesis) (April 1995)

  Shannon has completed an M.A. in History at Miami University (Ohio), and is planning on working towards a Ph.D. in geophysics/atmospheric physics.

Summer Students

• L. Joseph Snow (NSF REU student - Summer 2009)

  "Some Analysis of Vertical Drift Chamber Data Using ROOT "

• Ryan Zielinski (NSF REU student - Summer 2009)

  "Testing QWeak's Multiplexing Electronics"

• Lindsay Glesener (NSF REU student - Summer 2005)

  "Target Density Fluctuation Monitoring in the HAPPEX Helium Parity Violation Experiment"

• Nathan Baillie (NSF REU student - Summer 2001)

  "Using Timing Data to Measure Signal Attenuation in the G0 Scintillators"

• Eric Koskinen - (Summer 2000)

  "Radiative Phi Data-Taking and Analysis"

• Lisa Kaufman - (NSF REU student - Summer 1999)

  "Measurement of Recoil Proton Properties for Rare Decays of the phi Meson"

• Will Pluim - (NSF REU student - Summer 1999)

  "Laser Scanning the Surface of Polished Scintillators "

• Sandy Sligh - (Summer 1998)

  "Radiative Phi Event Display software"

• Jennifer Knowles - (Summer 1998)

  "Radiative Phi Event Display software"

• Belinda Kong (Wilson Cross-Disciplinary Student - Summer 1996)

  "The Philosophical Implications of Quantum Mechanics"

• Scott Sweeney (Chappel Summer Research Student - Summer 1995)

  "Nuclear Data Analysis on the SGI"

• Shannon Davis (NSF REU student - Summer 1994)

  "Muon Capture on Silicon"

• Bess Dawson (NSF REU student - Summer 1994)

  "Monte Carlo Simulation using GEANT: Rare Radiative Decays of the Phi Meson"