A microscope Daniel Foley was using in a University of New Hampshire physics lab needed an improved scanning tip. Finding a method of producing that tip became his research project, funded by a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF). It was a long summer, but Dan said that the most satisfying — even fun — thing about his work “was overcoming the obstacles that kept popping up... and eventually finding a working method.”
Dan’s hometown is Northwood, New Hampshire, and he will graduate in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science in physics. His current goal in life, he said, “is to do research in the field of nanoscience that can one day be used to enhance everyday life.” He plans to write a detailed technical report on the results of his project and felt that publishing in Inquiry “would make a good starting point where I could begin organizing my research into a less detailed paper that could later be expanded on.”
“Mentoring undergraduates is a natural part of a professor’s research endeavor,” said Dr. Karsten Pohl an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Materials Science Program, who came to the University of New Hampshire in 2000. His research group is “working toward a fundamental understanding of the new Physics that governs nanostructured surfaces and interfaces via novel atomic and molecular experimental and modeling techniques.” Many undergraduate and graduate researchers have been and are part of his group.
Dr. Pohl further noted that “formally completing a student’s research project by writing up a publication is very satisfactory for student and mentor. It is also highly valued by potential employers of graduating students.” He was very involved with helping Dan complete his Inquiry article. “Writing for a broader audience is an important skill,” he said. “It helps the students communicate their excitement for research to the general public.”
Read Daniel Foley’s article Finding a Safe, Efficient Method of Producing High Quality, Non-corrosive Scanning Probe Tips for Scanning Tunneling Microscopes >>
