Physics Department End of the Year 2024 Newsletter
...Along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them. (Isaiah 42:16, NIV)
Greetings from Santa Barbara! We hope you are having a blessed and joyful spring season.
Letter from the Chair
The Physics Department continues to build on the momentum that we reported on in our last newsletter. Our new Computational and Data Physics B.S. track and our new Astrophysics minor were officially approved by the Westmont Academic Senate and will appear in the 2024-2025 Academic Catalog for the first time. Our students continue to perform graduate-level research under the guidance of our talented faculty, with exciting plans for the upcoming summer. And we have a bumper crop of seven Physics and Engineering Physics graduates this spring! Of these, Sean Ryan was awarded as our Outstanding Senior this year. More details about these and other exciting happenings in our department are described in this newsletter.
We are also thrilled to announce the inaugural designation of seven scholarships to admitted students who show outstanding potential to study physics at Westmont. These scholarships, dubbed the Kihlstrom Scholarship for Promise in Physics after beloved Professor Emeritus of Physics Ken Kihlstrom, each carry a one-time award of $2,000 for a deserving student who demonstrates financial need. We hope to build momentum in this initiative as well, increasing the amount and frequency of these scholarships so we can bring in and maintain a cohort of students who will be encouraged to persist in the study of physics during their entire time at Westmont.
We hope you are encouraged by what God is doing in our department, and we thank you for your continued support and prayers. Wishing you and your families a restful, peaceful, and joyful summer!
God bless,
Bob Haring-Kaye
Class of 2024
This year we have seven graduating seniors from physics and engineering physics! Natalie Fogg, Sean Ryan, Kirsten Potts, Jacob Nelson, Naomi Siragusa, Chandler Baker, and Michael Lew (pictured left to right above after our Senior Breakfast celebration) walked the stage just over a week ago.
Instead of asking the dreaded question– “What are your plans after graduation?”– we wanted to ask this year’s seniors about their favorite memories during their time in the physics department. These memories included favorite professors, classes, research opportunities, and more. This year's seniors mentioned classes like Modern Physics and Electricity & Magnetism, which allowed them to dig deeper into concepts that were newer to them. Research opportunities also made an impact on these graduates; it was not only the prestige of the research they participated in that made these experiences special, but the ability to learn from experienced physicists and be entrusted with meaningful contributions to these projects. The graduates also reflected on the community within the physics department, which were able to grow through things like PEP (Physics and Engineering Phellowship) rallies, where physics and engineering students can spend time in community with each other and their professors. We will greatly miss these seven members of our community, but we look forward to seeing what is in store for them in this new chapter ahead.
Awards and Honors
During the Awards Convocation chapel on April 22, we honored students in each department for their excellence and hard work. This year's outstanding senior in the Physics department is Sean Ryan, who has been a wonderful presence both in the department and in the larger Westmont community. Not only has Sean excelled academically, making valuable contributions to the ATLAS experiment at CERN for two summers, he has also blessed the Westmont community musically through his participation in Westmont Choir and Chamber singers. We are incredibly thankful for Sean and his contributions to the Westmont community, and we cannot wait to see the amazing things he will continue to do in the future.
Eclipse Draws Crowds at Westmont Observatory
The solar eclipse that fascinated the nation this spring, although only at 55% maximum coverage in Santa Barbara, drew a crowd in excess of 100 students, faculty, staff, and administrators to the Westmont observatory on April 8, 2024. The department handed out solar eclipse glasses and hosted viewing of the sun through a telescope with a solar filter. Edible partial eclipses (donuts!) were also enjoyed as Dr. Ito and Dr. H-K shared evidence of the wonder of God's creation demonstrated by eclipses.
Summer Plans
This summer, we have multiple students participating in summer research, including Berit Lunstad, Michael Hemmett, and Reese Toepfer.
Berit and Michael will both be at CERN, looking for dark photon particles and studying unique decay pathways. Berit will be working on potentially adding on an extra jet reconstruction in the analysis, while Michael will be designing his own analysis program. Berit and Michael both expressed excitement about this summer’s research– both for the ability to learn and create professional connections, but also the unique opportunity to spend the summer living in France and commuting to Switzerland.
Reese will be working with chemistry professor Dr. Allan Nishimura this summer on research related to molecules and planar states. Reese, a physics major, reflected on the opportunity to do some interdisciplinary research with the chemistry department, expressing excitement about working with Dr. Nishimura as well as a friend who is a chemistry major on this project. Reese also writes children’s books in her free time that relate to her work in physics, so she is excited to potentially incorporate chemistry into her books as well.
Student Conferences and Presentations
Michael Hemmett attended the APS April meeting in Sacramento, where he was able to hear presentations on the current happenings of physics, and even presented his research as a contributed talk.
This conference was also an opportunity to connect with peers and professionals in physics. Michael was able to network and get some insight and advice for his upcoming summer there. Overall, Michael expressed appreciation for the way this conference gave him a broader sense of what is going on in physics. It gave him an opportunity to learn about anything from theories for black holes, to small particle accelerators for new medical technology. One talk that stood out among the rest was UC Berkeley professor Dr. Hitoshi Murayama, who was the director of the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5). During his presentation, Dr. Murayama recapped some of the topics included in the P5’s 2023 report. Michael was able to be introduced to Dr. Murayama later in the conference, giving him the opportunity to meet someone who is a leader in the field.
Grace and peace,
Bob Haring-Kaye – Professor and Chair of Physics and Engineering
Ben Carlson – Assistant Professor of Physics
Jen Ito – Assistant Professor of Physics
This newsletter was edited by Em Clifton (Communications Major, ‘26)