Recent Research Students of D.S. Armstrong
Phd Students
Senior Thesis Students
Summer Students and High School Students
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):
- 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 GsE 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.
- 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.
*co-supervisor: Keith
Griffioen
last updated May 2020
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