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Research Opportunities
Augsburg's physics program combines the personal nature of a small department with the varied research opportunities of a larger program. Because practicing scientists do much more than study textbooks, Augsburg provides two distinct opportunities for practical experience in the sciences outside the normal curriculum. For over 25 years we have provided on-campus research opportunities for many of our best students, thanks primarily to support from NASA and National Science Foundation (NSF) research grants awarded to our faculty members. We are currently funded at a rate of $400,000 per year. Augsburg was also the first purely undergraduate institution to be linked to NASA's Space Physics Analysis Network (SPAN), now part of the worldwide internet computer networking system. The second opportunity, arranged through Augsburg's Cooperative Education Office, is employment at one of several Twin Cities firms involved in such fields as electronics, optics, biomedical engineering, civil engineering, and space manufacturing technology. Our graduates repeatedly tell us that these research experiences were a key factor in their decision to pursue advanced degrees, and that their research background gave them an important sense of direction both during their studies and during their later careers. Space Physics Research Laboratory Mark Engebretson, Ken Erickson, Jeff Johnson, and Jennifer Posch Although the "laboratory" for our space physics group's research is literally the entire planet and its environs out to high altitudes, our department provides facilities to process and analyze the data collected at various remote locations (satellites, rockets, and numerous ground-based observatories in Canada, Greenland, and Antarctica), and to calibrate and repair new sensors from time to time. High-speed telecommunications lines connect computers in this laboratory to NASA's internet system at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, as well as to Augsburg's local campus computer network.
Augsburg MACCS Project Information Center Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory Bill Jasperson and Dave Venne This group's ongoing efforts include analyzing meteorological and climate data, applying artificial intelligence techniques to weather forecasting demands, and developing educational museum exhibits on meteorology. Here too, computer work also involves contact with other systems, including supercomputers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Thin Magnetic Films Laboratory J. Ambrose Wolf This laboratory was completed in July of 2000 under the guidance of J. Ambrose Wolf, Professor of Physics. Equipment in this lab allows researchers to control certain evaporation parameters and thus allows the structural and magnetic characteristics of thin magnetic films to be manipulated. In the future, the characteristics of these films will be studied using the AFM/MFM, VSM, and X-Ray Defraction techniques. |