2006–2007 - Florida Institute of Technology

interactions using data from LEP, the world’s highest energy
electron-positron accelerator. The CMS experiment will operate
at CERN’s large hadron collider, which will provide the world’s
highest energy proton-proton collisions, beginning 2007. We
have taken responsibilities in the laser calibration system for the
forward hadron calorimeter and the alignment of the forward
muon system, including design, building, testing, integration,
commissioning, operations, software and data analysis.
With the D-zero experiment at the Fermi National Accelerator
Laboratory (Chicago, Ill.), we are investigating perturbative QCD
by confronting its predictions with measurements of b-quark
cross section using dimuon events produced in proton-antiproton
collisions.
At the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island, N.Y., we
are a member of the PHENIX collaboration investigating interactions
at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), providing
the highest accelerator energies for nuclei. The most exciting goal
of RHIC is the discovery of the quark-gluon plasma, a state of
matter, which is hypothesized to have existed in the early phase
of the universe.
Detector research and development is presently focused on the
application of the gas electron multiplier (GEM) technique to
particle physics, medicine, and other areas such as security. The
High-Energy Physics Laboratory is also a host to the “Florida
Tech Grid Initiative” to participate in the development and use
of the emerging worldwide computing grids. Due to the technical
nature of our research, the High-Energy Physics Laboratory is
well suited for participation of students from other majors, such
as computer science and engineering, including undergraduates.
Maglev Laboratory: The primary goal of this laboratory is
the development of a new space launch system for manned and
unmanned missions based on electromagnetic acceleration
and levitation, in cooperation with NASA, the Florida Space
Institutes, and the Advanced Magnet Laboratory, a high-tech
industry partner. It houses a 43-foot magnetic levitation and propulsion
demonstration track, one of a handful of such devices in
the country, and the only one at an academic institution. Physics,
space science and engineering students and faculty, together with
researchers from the other institutions, are performing investigations
in topics such as controls, aerodynamics, mechanical stability,
superconducting technology and electromagnetic acceleration
and levitation, to study the feasibility of maglev launch assist for
rockets and future spacecraft. Some of the work is also related to
maglev based transportation systems. The laboratory also houses
a 20-foot maglev track model built by Florida Tech students.
Scanning Probe Microscopy Laboratory: This facility
provides researchers with the ability to image the surface structure
of a solid, and to probe the electronic surface properties of
a material down to the atomic scale, using a scanning tunneling
microscope (STM). This laboratory also investigates novel
applications of the STM (e.g., in the field of electrochemistry)
and is interested in the development of other types of scanning
probe microscopes.
Computational Facilities
The department’s facilities include a network of Linux and
Windows workstations. The university also has available a 48node
Beowulf cluster running Linux/MPI.
Interdisciplinary Research
in Physics and Space Sciences
Terrestrial geomagnetic research is aimed at extracting long-term
periodicities in changes in Earth’s magnetic field and correlation
between secular changes in the geomagnetic field and fluctuations
in the length of the day.
Auroral and magnetospheric research is being done using data
from polar orbiting satellites. Current work concentrates on auroral
electron and proton precipitating particle energies, intensities
and distribution in latitude, with relation to magnetic substorms
in the magnetosphere. Space-based energetic particle observations
are aimed at understanding acceleration and propagation of
particles in the heliosphere.
In addition, the department’s space science laboratories are
used by physics students from time to time. See the “Research
Facilities” listing under Space Sciences.
Teaching and Research Assistantships
The department offers a number of teaching and research assistantships
each year. Teaching assistants participate in laboratory
instruction or in the preparation of teaching materials. Research
assistants work on research projects that are often related to their
own master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation investigations. Both
types of assistantships are awarded on a competitive basis, and
provide graduate course fee remission and a stipend for living
expenses. To increase the probability of receiving an assistantship,
applicants are advised to apply as early as possible in the
academic year prior to requested admission.
Science Education
DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
D.E. Cook, Ph.D., Head
Bachelor of Science
Options in:
Biology
Chemistry
Earth and Space Sciences
General Science
Physics
Master of Science
Concentrations in:
Biology
Chemistry
Environmental Science
General Science
Oceanography/Earth Science
Physics
Option in:
Informal Science Education
Specialist in Education
Doctor of Education
Doctor of Philosophy
Major Technical Areas in:
Aeronautics
Biology
Chemistry
College of Science–Physics, Science Education 141