IREU Program 2010 University of Florida

• • Although we built up gradually we now have a strong program. This year we sent fourteen students to nine international laboratories doing gravitational wave research in seven different countries.  They each worked on a specified research project while fostering international contact; part of their mandate included getting a broader view of the world and becoming acquainted with a foreign culture.  Inevitably, opportunities for personal growth and development arise.  Our students achieved high scores in every aspect of their mission. 
  • We already have hosts and projects, and are looking for students for next year.  All destination sites carry out research in gravitational wave physics.  Projects focus on some aspect of gravitational wave detection through instrumentation, data analysis and futuristic vision.  Our preferred pool of students includes under-represented minorities from small schools where research and contact is limited.  It does help, too, if students have already worked in some lab somewhere, and have a mentor who could comment on their research and academic abilities.
• 

  We were all in this together: we will never be the same again

Australia

• • Student: Kathryn Meehan
  • College: Haverford College
  • Destination: University of Adelaide
  • Mentors: Peter Veitch and Won Kim
  • Project: "Characterizing the Temperature Sensitivity of the Hartmann Sensor"
• 

  One finds unexpected company down-under

Germany

• • Student: Alexander Lombardi
  • College: UMass, Amherst
  • Destination: AEI, Hannover
  • Mentors: Bruce Allen and Jonathan Leong
  • Project: "Building a State Space Model of the GEO600 Control Architechture"

  • Student: Morgan Cheatham
  • College: Dickinson College
  • Destination: AEI, Hannover
  • Mentors: Harald Lueck and Stefan Goßler
  • Project: "Reflectance of Coated Mirrors in the 10m Prototype Interferometer"
  • Spring 2011: Has applied for a Fulbright fellowship to return to Hannover to continue research there.
• 

  Not actually where we stayed, but interesting

Holland

• • Student: Logan Richardson
  • College: University of Arizona
  • Destination: NIKHEF, Amsterdam
  • Mentors: David Rabeling and Jo van den Brand
  • Project: "Wave Front Detection for Virgo"
• 

  The Dutch are world masters of water management

Italy

• • Student: Michael W. Coughlin
  • College: Carleton College
  • Destination: EGO/Virgo site Casina (near Pisa)
  • Mentor: Irene Fiori
  • Project: "Characterization of the Virgo Seismic Environment"
  • Spring 2012: Am a senior Physics and Maths double major at Carleton and continuing to work on LIGO.
• 

  Accommodation was modest, but quite adequate

Italy

• • Student: Kane Scipioni
  • College: University of Florida
  • Destination: Università di Perugia
  • Mentors: Flavio Travasso and Luca Gammaitoni
  • Project: "Mechanical Quality Factor of Sapphire Membranes"
  • Summer 2009: In Boston College's physics department to join an experimental condensed matter research group.

  • Student: Rebecca L. Miller
  • College: Rhodes College
  • Destination: University of Perugia
  • Mentors: Helios Vocca and Luca Gammaitoni
  • Project: "Applications of Noise in Physical Systems"
  • Spring 2012: SPS club president, expecting to graduate this year with a B.S. in Physics and Biology.
• 

  This is the view from the top of nearby Assisi

Italy

• • Student: Luis Fabian Peña
  • College: Texas A&M University, Commerce
  • Destination: Università di Trento
  • Mentors: Daniele Nicolodi and Bill Weber
  • Project: "Development of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer to improve the small torsion pendulum angular readout on the 1TM pendulum"

  • Student: Matthew Schmidt
  • College: Valdosta State University
  • Destination: University of Trento
  • Mentors: Bill Weber
  • Project: "Ground Testing for LISA Test Masses with a Torsion Pendulum"
  • Summer 2009: At Duke pursuing a Master's in medical physics.
• 

  Northern Italy afforded some wonderful vistas

Japan

• • Student: Giulia DeSalvo
  • College: University of California, Berkeley
  • Destination: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo
  • Mentors: Stefan Ballmer and Dr. Seiji Kawamura
  • Project: "Measurement of Quantum Efficiency of a Photo Diode Using Radiation Pressure"
  • Spring 2012: On a Fulbright fellowship working at the University of Pisa on the Galileo Galilei project to test the Equivalence Principle.

  • Student: Lauren Wielgus
  • College: Tufts University
  • Destination: NAOJ, Tokyo
  • Mentors: Kazuhiro Agatsuma and Seiji Kawamura
  • Project: "Quality Factor of a Single Pendulum for Use in Gravitational Wave Interferometry"
  • Spring 2012: Currently in graduate school at the University of Wisconsin Madison to study particle astrophysics.
• 

  We wondered if any students had accommodation like this

Scotland

• • Student: Emma Wisniewski-Barker
  • College: Bryn Mawr College
  • Destination: University of Glasgow
  • Mentor: Dr Iain Martin
  • Project: "Loss Measurements of Waveguide Grating Cantilevers"
  • Fall 2011: Started on a PhD with the Optics group at the University of Glasgow.
• 

  You see, one can have too much respect for authority

Wales

• • Student: David Curry
  • College: University of Oregon
  • Destination: Cardiff University
  • Mentor: Patrick Sutton
  • Project: "Search for Gravitational Waves from Rotating Core Collapse Supernova using Principal Component Analysis"
  • Fall 2011: Started graduate school at the University of Florida.

  • Student: Kiersten Ruisard
  • College: Rutgers University
  • Destination: Cardiff University
  • Mentors: John Veitch
  • Project: "Development of an inspiral search pipeline using the nested sampling technique"
  • Spring 2012: Planning on a PhD in accelerator or plasma physics, or perhaps in a GW group.
• 

  Caerphilly Castle, our weekender, when away from Cardiff Castle