Physics students (and students from other majors) have the opportunity to do research with St. Vincent College faculty during the summer months. The Interdisciplinary Research program has been studying sedimentation rates in the wetlands adjacent to St. Vincent College. Two physics students studied the sedimentation rate by measuring the radioactivity of sediments from strata at different depths.
In addition, all physics majors complete PH 381, an independent research project supervised by St. Vincent faculty. Titles of recent research projects include:
- Induced Currents in the Human Body Due to Electromagnetic Radiation
- Tracking the Motion of our Sun in the Milky Way
- The Physics of Tennis
- Effect of Solid Grain Fuel on Combustion Reactions in Hybrid Rocket Engines
- Geomagnetic Dynamo and Possible Earth-Sun Connections
- The Chances of Mass Extinction Due to Cosmic Radiation
- Photonuclear Physics
- Accumulation of Static Charge on Model Rockets
- The Physics of Frisbee Flight
- Electric Motor Analysis: The Servomotor vs. the Stepper Motor
- Looking Through Spiral Galaxies
- A Study in Mathematical Physics
- Spiral Sling-a-tron
- Modern Electronic Techniques with 1950's Technology: The construction of modern tube amplification
- The Periodicity of Mass Extinction Events
- A CCD Color Magnitude Diagram of M44
The faculty of the physics department at St. Vincent College consider research an important aspect of the responsabilities of a professional educator and are involved in research in a number of areas. Dr. Maize is currently involved in a project in theoretical nuclear physics. Dr. Smetanka is heavily involved with research in methods of teaching as well as observational astronomy. Dr. Grumbine is currently working in condensed matter physics and high performance computing.
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