Recent Research Students of D.S. Armstrong

One of the best aspects of teaching at William & Mary is the opportunity to mentor some truly exceptional students. Here are some that have done research in collaboration with me (with links to .PDF or .PS versions of their theses in many cases):

PhD Students

• James F. Dowd

  "Probe of Electroweak Interference Effects in Non-Resonant Inelastic Electron-Proton Scattering''
  (September 2018)

  Jim is now a postdoctoral researcher at Los Alamos National Lab.
  

• Valerie M. Gray

  "Determination of the Kinematics of the Qweak Experiment and Investigation of an Atomic Hydrogen Moller Polarimeter''
  (November 2017)

  Val is now Detector Physicist at Kromek, a company that manufactures solid-state and scintillation radiation detectors for medical, civil nuclear and security sectors.
  

• Siyuan Yang

  "A Precision Measurement of the Weak Charge of the Proton at Low Q²: Kinematics and Tracking''
  (May 2016)

  After a number of years as Seismic Imager with CGG, a French geosciences company, Siyuan is now a Software engineer with Google.
  

• Joshua A. Magee

  "A Measurement of the Parity-Violating Asymmetry in Aluminum and its Contribution to a Measurement of the Proton's Weak Charge''
  (Feb 2016)

  After graduation, Josh took a position as a Postdoctoral Researcher with Lawrence Livermore National Lab, and he is now Assistant Professor of Data Analytics at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts.
  

• Joshua R. Hoskins

  "Determination of the Proton's Weak Charge via Parity-Violating Electron Scattering''
  (June 2015)

  Following positions as a Postdoctoral Researcher with the University of Manitoba, a Research Associate in the Physics Dept. at U. Virginia, and as a visiting professor at the University of Mary Washington, Josh now holds a staff position as a software engineer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), based in Charlottesville VA.
  

• Carissa L. Capuano

  "Parity-Violating Asymmetry in the Nucleon to Delta Transition: A Study of Inelastic Electron Scattering in the G0 experiment ''
  (November 2011)

  Carissa is an Assistant Professor of Nuclear Physics at Virginia Commonwealth University.
  

• John P. Leckey, IV

  "The First Direct Measurement of the Weak Charge of the Proton ''
  (October 2011)

  John's was a postdoctoral research fellow with the University of Indiana, Bloomington, working on the GluEx experiment for several years, and is now Instrument Scientist in the Remote Sensing Flight Systems branch at NASA-Langley.
  

• Sarah K. Phillips

  "Measurement of the Strange Quark Contribution to the Vector Structure of the Proton''
  (October 2007)

  Sarah intially took a position as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of New Hampshire; she was awarded the 2012 JSA Postdoctoral Prize. She is now a Data Scientist with Ab Initio Software , a multinational enterprise software corporation based in Lexington, Massachusetts.
  

• Stephanie L. Bailey

  "Parity Violation in Elastic Electron Scattering: A First Measurement of the Parity-Violating Asymmetry at Q² = 0.631 GeV/c² at Backward Angle''
  (January 2007)

  After a few years as postdoctoral research fellow in Advanced Techniques for Cancer Imaging in the Department of Radiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, and a time as a Research Associate at Virginia Commonwealth U., Stephanie received an AAAS Science and Technology Policy fellowship in the Infectious Disease Division of the Bureau of Global Health at USAID. She is now Assistant Professor of Physics at Chapman University in California.
  

• Bryan J. Moffit

  "Elastic Scattering of Longitudinally Polarized Electrons from ⁴He: A Measurement of G^s_E at Q²= 0.1 GeV²''
  (October 2006)

  After taking a position as a postdoctoral fellow at MIT, doing experiments at Jefferson Lab, Bryan is now a research scientist in the Data Acquisition group at Jefferson Lab.
  

• Jessica H.D. Clark

  "The Ortho-Para Transition in Muonic Molecular Hydrogen''
  (October 2002)

  Jessica spent several years as the Head of Public Outreach at the APS (American Physical Society), where she created the "Physics Central'' WWW site. She is now research fellow in the Radiology and Radiation Therapy departments at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
  

• Gary A. Rutledge

      (co-supervised with J.M. Finn)

  "Measurement of the Strange Sea of the Proton''
  (December 2000)

  After a stint as a post-doctoral researcher with U. Manitoba and TRIUMF, based at Jefferson Lab, Gary then was employed as a Research Scientist with SAIC in San Diego, and now is a Physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Lab.

Senior Undergraduate Students

• M. Tristan Hurst

  "Pion Detection for the MOLLER Parity-Violating Electron Scattering Experiment" honors thesis (May 2023)

  Tristan is now in the Physics Ph.D. program at U. Pittsburgh.

• Gherson Gonzales Hernandez

  "Cosmic Ray Testing of Pion Cherenkov Detectors" senior thesis (Jan 2023)

  Gherson is applying to graduate school in Applied Physics.

• Lauren M. Carver

  "Simulation and optimization of kinematics measurements for the MOLLER parity-violating electron-electron scattering experiment" honors thesis (May 2021)

  Lauren (now Lauren Larson) has been accepted into the Physics Ph.D. program at U. Texas (Austin).

• Quinn D. Campagna

  "Data Acquisition and Analysis for Helicity-Correlated Asymmetries in PREx-II" honors thesis (May 2020)

  Quinn is in the Physics Ph.D. program at U. Mississippi.

• Carrington A. Metts

  "Studying and correcting for helicity-correlated false asymmetries in the CREx experiment at Jefferson Lab" honors thesis (May 2020)

  Carrington has been accepted into the Masters program in Data Analytics in the Mason School of Business here at W&M.

• Mary E. Robinson

  "Machine Learning and Electron Track Reconstruction for the MOLLER experiment" honors thesis (May 2019)

  Mary has been accepted into the Physics Ph.D. program at U. Michigan (Ann Arbor)

• Anne-Katherine Burns

  "Pion Identification through Machine Learning for the MOLLER experiment at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility" honors thesis (May 2019)

  Anne-Katherine has been accepted into the Physics Ph.D. program at U. California at Irvine

• Jarod A. Worden

  (co-advised with W. Deconinck)

  "MOLLER Beam Dump Simulations" senior thesis (May 2019)

  Jarod has been accepted into the Master's program in Nuclear Engineering at Virginia Tech.

• Zach Hutcheson

  "Particle Tracking Inefficiencies in the Qweak Experiment" senior thesis (May 2017)

  Zach is now working as an SEM (Search Engine Marketing) Analyst for Merkle.

• Jacob McCormick

  "GEANT4 Simulation of Pion Detectors for the MOLLER Experiment'' senior thesis (May 2017)

  Jacob is pursuing a Masters in Aerospace Engineering at Purdue U.

• Peyton Rose

  " Optimization of Drift Chamber Performance for the Qweak Experiment '' honors thesis (May 2011)

  Peyton has been admitted to the PhD program in Physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz

• Ryan Zielinski

  " Testing and Analysis of Q-Weak's Multiplexing Electronics System '' senior thesis (May 2010)

  Ryan has been admitted to the PhD program in Physics at the University of New Hampshire

• Douglas C Dean III

  " Construction, Testing, and Characterization of Vertical Drift Chambers for Qweak '' (honors thesis - Awarded Alumini Prize for Research in Physics) (May 2009)

  Doug has been admitted to the PhD program in Engineering at Brown University

• Brian P. Walsh

  " Development of a Flatness Scanner and Simulation for Qweak Wire Chambers '' (senior thesis) (May 2007)

  Brian has applied to enter the Catholic seminary of the Diocese of Richmond.

• Anela O. Rayfield

  " Cryostat Exit Detectors for G⁰'' (senior thesis) (May 2005)

  Anela is taking a year off before going on to graduate work in physics.

• Aimee C.E. Slaughter

  " Parity Violation in High-Energy Electron Scattering: Data Analysis for the G⁰ Experiment'' (honors thesis) (May 2004)

  Aimee is pursuing a Ph.D. in physics at U. Rochester.

• Erin Epperson

  " Software and Simulation for Qweak'' (senior thesis) (May 2004)

  After a year off working in the 'real world', Erin will be working towards an MA in the Philosophy of Religion at the U. of Chicago Divinity School.

• Stephanie-Louise Bailey

  " Performance Analysis of the G⁰ Scintillation Detectors'' (honors thesis) (May 2002)

  Stephanie received her Ph.D. in nuclear physics here at W&M (see above)

• Eric J. Koskinen

  "Software Correction to Account for Dead Blocks in a Lead Glass Calorimeter'' (senior thesis) (April 2001)

  Eric founded of an internet software firm, and worked for several years with various firms; he then returned to the academic world and is pursuing a doctorate in computer science at Brown University. He was recently awarded the prestigious Gates Cambridge scholarship to allow him to study at Cambridge.

• Lisa J. Kaufman

  "Recoil Proton Detection for the Radiative Decays of the Phi Meson'' (honors thesis - high honors) (April 2000)

  Lisa obtained her Ph.D. in physics at U. Massachusets in 2006. After a stint as a postdoctoral fellow at U. Maryland working on the EXO double beta-decay experiment, she is now a tenure-track professor of physics at Indiana University.

• Adam P. Gurson

  " Radiative-Phi Experiment Software'' (senior thesis) (April 2000)

  Adam is a computer consultant with Integrity Applications Inc.

• Sandy Sligh

  "Testing of a Prototype G0 Detector Assembly'' (honors thesis) (April 1999)

  Sandy is pursuing a Ph.D. in physics at U. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

• Jennifer L. Thompson

  "Focal-Plane Detectors for a Parity Violation Experiment'' (honors thesis - high honours) (April 1998)

  Jennifer is pursuing a Ph.D. in physics at U. Pennsylvania.

• Bao Nguyen

  "Single Bubble Sonoluminescence'' (April 1998)

  Bao is now an engineer with Sprint.

• Alex Dubanowitz

  "The Upstream Charged Particle Veto for Rare Radiative Decays of the Phi Meson '' (April 1998)

  Alex did an MSc in earth resources engineering at Columbia U., and is now a Civil Engineering consultant with CSL Consulting.

• Jin Yamamoto

  "Single Bubble Sonoluminescence (SBSL)'' (honors thesis - high honours) (April 1997)

  Jin is defended his Ph.D. in physics at U. Michigan (Ann Arbor) in 2002, did a postdoc in the radiation oncology department at the Univ. of Michigan hospital, and is now a data analyst for the Microsoft Web Search team..

• Nancy M. Bent

  "Computerizing Undergraduate Physics Laboratories'' (senior thesis) (April 1997)

  Nancy is now a High School Physics Teacher in Fairfax County Virginia.

• Tom O'Connor

  "Off-line Data Analysis Software for TJNAF E94-016'' (senior thesis) (April 1997)

  Tom is now working for Surety.com, a software firm here in Virginia.

• Jessica H.D. Clark

  "The Calibration of Hall Probes: Field Mapping for CLAS'' (honors thesis^*: high honours) (April 1995)

  Jessica completed her Ph.D. in physics here at William and Mary, and is now Public Outreach Specialist for the APS.

• Glenn T. Nofsinger

  "CLAS Toroidal Field Mapping: Data Acquisition with LabVIEW'' (senior thesis^*) (April 1995)

  Glenn worked for several years as a Laser Development engineer for a firm in San Diego, California, then obtained a PhD in engineering at Dartmouth College in 2006, and is now an engineer working for BAE Systems.

• Shannon R. Davis

  "Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy of Muon Capture on Silicon (²⁸Si)'' (senior thesis) (April 1995)

  Shannon has completed an M.A. in History at Miami University (Ohio), and is planning on working towards a Ph.D. in geophysics/atmospheric physics.

Summer Students, High School Students

• Evan Jackson (Charles Center summer research student)

  "Calibration of Tracking Measurements for the MOLLER experiment"

• Eric Henderson (NSF REU student - Summer 2013)

  "Light-Weighting in Cerenkov Detectors"

• Alexander Gvakarhia (Monroe Scholar summer student - Summer 2010)

• Adam Watson (Governor's School in the Sciences high school student - 2009/2010)

  Adam graduated as salutatorian from Lafayette High School

• L. Joseph Snow (NSF REU student - Summer 2009)

  "Some Analysis of Vertical Drift Chamber Data Using ROOT "

• Ryan Zielinski (NSF REU student - Summer 2009)

  "Testing QWeak's Multiplexing Electronics"

• Lindsay Glesener (NSF REU student - Summer 2005)

  "Target Density Fluctuation Monitoring in the HAPPEX Helium Parity Violation Experiment"

• Nathan Baillie (NSF REU student - Summer 2001)

  "Using Timing Data to Measure Signal Attenuation in the G0 Scintillators"

• Eric Koskinen - (Summer 2000)

  "Radiative Phi Data-Taking and Analysis"

• Lisa Kaufman - (NSF REU student - Summer 1999)

  "Measurement of Recoil Proton Properties for Rare Decays of the phi Meson"

• Will Pluim - (NSF REU student - Summer 1999)

  "Laser Scanning the Surface of Polished Scintillators "

• Sandy Sligh - (Summer 1998)

  "Radiative Phi Event Display software"

• Jennifer Knowles - (Summer 1998)

  "Radiative Phi Event Display software"

• Belinda Kong (Wilson Cross-Disciplinary Student - Summer 1996)

  "The Philosophical Implications of Quantum Mechanics"

• Scott Sweeney (Chappel Summer Research Student - Summer 1995)

  "Nuclear Data Analysis on the SGI"

• Shannon Davis (NSF REU student - Summer 1994)

  "Muon Capture on Silicon"

• Bess Dawson (NSF REU student - Summer 1994)

  "Monte Carlo Simulation using GEANT: Rare Radiative Decays of the Phi Meson"