Physics Department Fall 2023 Newsletter
Letter from the Chair
Over the last few years, the physics department has undergone many changes, the most notable of which is to become the department of physics and engineering. This comes with the addition of a new engineering major and three new engineering faculty members (Dan Jensen, Doug Fontes, and soon Adam Goodworth)! In addition, three long-serving faculty, Ken Kihlstrom, Michael Sommermann, and Tom Whittemore have retired. Three new physicists have been hired: Ben Carlson, Jen Ito, and me (Bob Haring-Kaye).
Cont...
With the addition of engineering and new faculty, our department has many exciting opportunities for students. In particular, we are in an invigorating phase of seeking to focus on the core of the physics major to prepare students for stellar careers in academia and industry. Some of our recent and completed initiatives involve updates to the physics major curriculum and some modifications to the engineering physics degree to incorporate new classes offered in engineering.
Mentoring student research has been a priority in our department. Over the last three years, Westmont physics faculty have supervised 15 summer research internships, and numerous research projects during the academic year.
Our department has also focused on themes of hope (Romans 15:13) and unity (Ephesians 4:2-3) the past two academic years as we seek the Lord's guidance in our work and in our relationships. As part of this initiative, we now host monthly "Physics and Engineering Phellowship" (PEP) rallies where faculty and students gather for lunch, games, and casual conversation.
We hope and pray that you and your families are encouraged by Christ's activity in whatever season of life you are in. May you all have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year!
- Bob Haring-Kaye
Faculty Highlights
Bob Haring-Kaye, PhD Florida State, 1998. Smashes atoms together at large-scale particle accelerator laboratories to investigate the structure of atomic nuclei.
Ben Carlson, PhD Carnegie Mellon, 2015. Searches for new fundamental particles at the Large Hadron Collider.
Jen Ito, PhD UCSD, 2022. Explores the very early Universe using the Simons Array, a set of millimeter-wavelength telescopes in the Atacama Desert in Chile.
Research Highlights
We value research in our department. Our research opportunities connect Westmont students with world-class experiments, under the mentorship and support of the physics faculty.
Experimental Particle Physics
Dr. Ben Carlson
I bring students to work at the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland. The main research questions involve searching for exotic decays of the Higgs boson – including possible dark matter scenarios. The group also works on the trigger system for ATLAS experiment, which decides in a fraction of a second which data to save. Past students have performed studies of dark matter triggers and played key roles in operations of the experiment at CERN to ensure high quality data are saved.
Since coming to Westmont, I have continued to have a robust research program on the ATLAS experiment, and supporting work for ATLAS. My work is primarily funded by a $200k NSF grant. I have submitted several articles for publication, including the paper: “Nanosecond machine learning regression with deep boosted decision trees in FPGA for high energy physics,” Journal of Instrumentation 17 P09039 (2022). arXiv: 2207.05602.
During the summer of 2023 – I supervised 5 students. I brought 4 students to work on the ATLAS experiment at CERN. Students worked on operations for the experiment, and performed analysis of the data. In addition, one student was based at LBNL / Westmont SF to work on an upgrade for the experiment using high speed electronics and machine learning. This work was supported by an external award from the US ATLAS SUPER program.
Experimental Nuclear Physics
Dr. Bob Haring-Kaye
I travel to particle accelerator facilities with students to study the structure of atomic nuclei using the methods of gamma-ray spectroscopy.
Through this research, the decay patterns of nuclei are discovered as a nucleus relaxes from a state of high energy and angular momentum to the lowest one. The decays form a unique “fingerprint” for a given isotope, from which a set of excited states can be inferred. These states are then used to determine the degree to which nucleons interact independently or coherently within the nucleus and are compared with the predictions of contemporary theoretical calculations to help improve our understanding of the strong nuclear force.
In 2022, I published a paper with Westmont graduate Faith Palombi, titled “Onset of band structure in 70Ga” Phys. Rev. C 105, 054307 (2022). This work indicated, for the first time, that this isotope of gallium likely becomes more deformed (less spherical) as its angular momentum increases.
In addition, I have worked with five other Westmont students (Daniel Staples ‘21, Danny Rubin ‘23, Kirsten Potts ’24, Natalie Fogg ‘24, and Reese Toepfer ‘26) on various projects in experimental nuclear structure physics. My current research students, Natalie and Reese, presented their research on the exploration of exotic “pear-like” shapes in the Ga-71 and Ge-71 nuclear isotopes, respectively, at an international conference of nuclear physicists held in Hawaii last month (see details below). I also presented a contributed talk at this conference on the shape and structural properties of Ga-70 and hope to receive external funding from the National Science Foundation to continue a systematic study of rare gallium isotopes.
The picture above shows Natalie Fogg ‘24, Dr. Haring-Kaye, and Reese Toepfer ‘26 (pictured from left to right) at the Joint Meeting of the Nuclear Physics Divisions of the American and Japanese Physical Societies on the Big Island of Hawaii in November 2023.
Cosmology and Observational Astronomy
Dr. Jen Ito
I am part of an international collaboration that is searching for proof of an event known as inflation in the very early universe. This research involves using the Simons Array, a set of millimeter-wavelength telescopes in the Atacama Desert in Chile, to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background. Currently, Simons Array has one telescope performing science operations and one telescope in its calibration phase. In summer 2023, I took two students (Jacob Nelson ‘24 and Michael Lew ‘24) to Chile in order to perform maintenance on the telescopes and assemble some weather proofing infrastructure around one of the telescope cameras. Read more here!
My other interest revolves around using Westmont’s Keck telescope. This is a new area of research for me that I am excited to begin. It is great actually being able to see something on the other end of the telescope! I am eager to continue the work that Dr. Whittemore and Dr. Sommermann began with their observing variable stars and exoplanet transits.
Growing Experimental Facilities
In the fall of 2023, the new engineering building was opened. This transition opened up valuable space for us, in particular by moving the machine shop in the building of Winter Hall. This space has been utilized for housing a HItatchi SU-1500 scanning electron microscope! We are excited about this new equipment, which will play an integral role in the lab courses we offer, including modern physics lab, advanced lab and labs in other departments like chemistry and engineering.
Student Conferences and Presentations
Students have actively participated in several recent conferences, as well as the internal celebrations of research. In particular,
- Yearly attendance at the US ATLAS software tutorial at SLAC in Menlo Park, organized by Dr. Carlson. In 2022, Chandler Baker and Sean Ryan attended. In 2023, Michael Hemmett attended.
- Four students from the Carlson group presented at the American Physical Society Far West meeting in San Diego in October, 2023
- Two students from Dr. Haring-Kaye's research group, Natalie Fogg '24 and Reese Toepfer '26, presented their research at an undergraduate poster session during the Joint Meeting of the American and Japanese Nuclear Physics Societies in Waikoloa Village, Hawaii, in November 2023. Both students received funding from the highly-competitive Conference Experience for Undergraduates program of the National Science Foundation in support of their participation.
Student Scholarships
Our department is blessed by several endowed scholarships, which we celebrate here.
George Bate Science Scholarship EndowmentGeorge Bate, professor emeritus of physics, taught at Westmont for more than 20 years. Former students of Dr. Bate established this scholarship to encourage Christians to study and conduct research in the sciences, primarily those studying physics. Determinations are made by the physics department.
2023-2024: Ellie Ludwig
2022-2023: Berit Lunstad
2021-2022: Kirsten Potts
2020-2021: Kirsten Potts
2019-2020: Daniel Rubin
William S. Klug Scholarship Endowment for Faculty and Student ResearchEstablished in honor and memory of Dr. Bill Klug '97, the scholarship seeks to encourage a love of physics and engineering by recognizing high achieving and highly motivated students engaged in research within the physics and engineering department. Determinations are made by the physics department with consideration given to financial need.
2023-2024: Natalie Fogg, Berit Lunstad
2021-2022: Jared Lush (Engineering), Chandler Baker
2020-2021: Faith Palombi, Lexy Gillette
2019-2020: Lexy Gillette
2018-2019: Zion Shih
Celebrating of Emeritus Faculty
Ken Kihlstrom "retired" (he still serves as the campus Faculty Athletic Representative) in 2021, and Michael Sommerman "retired" (he still teaches Math Physics!) in 2023. Along with other professors hired in the 1980s and 1990s, Ken and Michael helped the college develop outstanding science departments. Both are still active in departmental events. In fact, Dr. Kihlstrom hosted another Super Bowl party at his house in 2023, the first time since Covid hit! Read more here!
Community Engagement
The department is active in many areas on the community. Dr. Carlson organizes regular events with Santa Barbara High School. Carlson gave the Westmont Phi Kappa Phi research lecture in 2022, and Ito a Westmont downtown lecture in 2023. The monthly star party at the observatory remains a pillar of community outreach for the college.
Alumni Highlights
We are immensely proud of our recent graduates. Here we highlight three recent graduates from the class of 2021, who have accomplishments we would like to celebrate.
Chisondi Warioba '21 - Chemistry, Biology and Physics has received a prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. The five-year fellowship provides three years of financial support that includes an annual stipend of $37,000. Warioba, a second-year graduate student halfway through his doctorate in medical physics at the University of Chicago, applied for the fellowship to continue research on his project, “fMRI and DTI analysis of functional connectivity loss related to cerebral arterial occlusion.” He plans to attend medical school and aspires to become a physician-scientist.
Simon Janzen '21 - Physics – High school physics teacher at San Marcos High School (Santa Barbara). He completed the physics degree with a credential program. “I really love building connections with kids from all different backgrounds and experiences, and also working with other teachers, paraeducators and administrators who provide such excellent and unique resources and perspectives. I also have really enjoyed the constant learning. I am always reading new articles, discovering new phenomena, and figuring out ways to teach and process these things.”
Lexy Gilette '22 - Physics and Chemistry – Westmont senior Lexy Gillette, was a double major in physics and chemistry. She is currently attending the University of Oxford after earning the prestigious John and Daria Barry Foundation Scholarship. Her research is in the Clarke Research Group at the University of Oxford, researching layered magnetic materials and crystallography in solid state inorganic chemistry while pursuing her DPhil in Inorganic Chemistry.
Checkout our alumni page here!
Get in touch: We would love to hear from you, and plan to include an alumni updates section to our next newsletter, so please feel free to reply to this message or email rharingkaye@westmont.