Five students from the Physics and Astronomy Department were among 170 undergraduates who presented posters at the annual meeting of the Nuclear Physics Division of the American Physical Society in Newport News, Va. Chris Allen '14 presented a poster on his research in nuclear astrophysics with Professor Rebecca Surman, who also presented on “The sensitivity of r-process nucleosynthesis to beta-delayed neutron emission probabilities.” Salina Ali ’15, Alexandrea Safiq '14 and Josh Yoskowitz ’16 reported on work they conducted with Professor Michael Vineyard on the analysis of pollutants in aerosol samples collected in the Adirondack Mountains using proton-induced X-ray emission and Micro-Raman spectroscopy. Jeremy Smith ’14 presented a poster on work he performed with Professor Scott LaBrake on the PIXE analysis of aerosol samples collected in Schenectady. The students all won competitive awards from the Conference Experience for Undergraduates program of the APS for travel and lodging.
Chief of Staff Edward Summers was the keynote speaker at a College for Every Student luncheon in Essex, N.Y. He spoke to about 60 guidance counselors from around the state on the College’s connection to the Adirondacks as well as on the topic of access to higher education.
When not working at the College as assistant director of Learning Environments, Jim Strohecker is refereeing local and regional hockey games. Recently, he had the opportunity to work 10 North American Prospects Hockey League games in Blaine, Minn. NAPHL is made up of 32 Midget Major (18 and under) and Midget Minor (16 and under) teams from 16 programs that compete at the USA Hockey Tier 1 level. The program allows younger officials to show the desire to work higher-level games and receive feedback and evaluations. Strohecker refereed four games and served as a linesman for six.
Scott Kirkton, associate professor of biology, was included in a Daily Gazette story regarding the ups and downs of the recent frigid temperatures. He said that the recent cold snap could play a role in knocking back certain kinds of invasive species. Read the story here.
University Press of America published a book by Peter Heinegg, professor of English. “Airy Nothings: Religion and the Flight of Time” is a collection of essays arguing that the category of sacred times, books, heroes and other entities are based on self-deception.