Physics Graduate Student receives National Research Award

Morgantown, WV, October 10, 2006:  Stephanie Sears, a first year graduate student in the Department of Physics in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University, was recently announced as the recipient of a 2006 National Sigma Pi Sigma Undergraduate Research Award.

Sears received the award for research, “Investigating Experimental Parameters in a New Plasma Source,” conducted at Eastern Michigan University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree before coming to WVU for graduate school. The objective of the project was to investigate the properties of a prototype plasma source similar in nature to an ion thruster. Ion thrusters have important applications in the area of spacecraft propulsion; beams of ions—electrically charged atoms or molecules—can be used to propel spacecraft more efficiently than tradition thrusters.

Sears graduated in May 2006 from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan with a bachelor of science degree in Physics Research and minors in chemistry and mathematics. She spent this past summer working with Dr. Mark Koepke's research group in the Department of Physics at WVU and plans to earn a PhD in experimental plasma physics. She was born in Dearborn, Michigan, just west of Detroit.

“We are proud to have Stephanie as a student. This award is testament to the strength of the programs in the Eberly College as they continue to attract such high quality students,” remarks Mary Ellen Mazey, Dean of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.

Sigma Pi Sigma is the National Physics Honor Society, and is closely linked to the Society of Physics Students (SPS). SPS is a professional association explicitly designed for students to develop themselves professionally while being active and contributing members of the larger science community. Sigma Pi Sigma’s Undergraduate Research Award program provides, on the basis of an annual competition among the active Chapters, calendar year grants to support local Chapter activities that are deemed imaginative and likely to contribute to the strengthening of the SPS program.

For more information, contact Sears at ssears@mix.wvu.edu.

W-V-U