{"id":628,"date":"2020-06-14T21:26:47","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T02:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/?page_id=628"},"modified":"2020-07-03T12:37:59","modified_gmt":"2020-07-03T17:37:59","slug":"undergraduate-research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/scholarship\/undergraduate-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Undergraduate Research"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Working on the PHENIX detectors at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Summer 2003.<\/p><\/div>\n

Working alongside my professors and classmates at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) as an ACU undergraduate was one of the most formative educational experiences I had. It left such an impact, when I decided to pursue a career as a professor, I made undergraduate research experiences a priority. I chose a postdoctoral position at Valparaiso University, a school with a similar legacy of undergraduate research, where I could obtain mentorship and teaching experiences, as well as develop my research program. In my time on the faculty at Lamar and ACU, undergraduate research experiences have been one of my highest priorities. In the following sections, I will share some details of these experiences and reflect on how they have shaped me and influenced my approach to the ACU experience.<\/p>\n

Undergraduate Research at Lamar<\/h1>\n

When I began work at Lamar University, I was the only active nuclear physicist in the department. One of my first priorities was to secure funding for my research on STAR. I submitted two ultimately unsuccessful proposals to NSF–one in 2015<\/a> and one in 2017<\/a>–both with significant focus on undergraduate research experiences. In the absence of external funding, I pursued internal opportunities to support student research. The McNair Scholars program at Lamar was a tremendous blessing to me and my students, in this respect. I mentored Suzanne Wheeler, a Lamar physics major, as a McNair Scholar during the Summer of 2017. In her project she evaluated how STAR experimental data compare to simulations of STAR data that can be used in physics analyses. I used a portion of my start-up research funds to pay for her travel to BNL to attend the STAR Collaboration Meeting with me. Suzanne is the first Lamar student to hold a guest appointment at BNL, and the university nicely highlighted her work on the university newsfeed:
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SuzanneBNLTrip<\/a><\/div>
\nSuzanne was awarded an external scholarship to present a poster of her work at the 2017 Fall Meeting of the APS Division of Nuclear Physics (DNP) in Pittsburgh, PA. She enrolled in a physics Ph.D. program at University of Houston in Fall 2018.<\/p>\n
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Suzanne Wheeler presenting her research at the DNP 2017 conference in Pittsburgh.<\/p><\/div>\n

Later that year, I worked with another Lamar physics major, Alek Hutson, to secure an internally funded undergraduate research grant for summer 2018. The application was successful, unfortunately I was ultimately unable to serve as his mentor, due to taking the job at ACU. Before leaving Lamar, I was able to secure Alek an appointment at BNL; and he was able to travel to BNL to tour STAR and even visit with our ACU summer crew. Alek began work toward a Ph.D. in physics at University of Houston in Fall 2019.<\/p>\n

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Dr. Stephen Trentalange (far left) giving a tour of STAR to (L to R) Roy Salinas, Ty Fitch, and Alek Hutson.<\/p><\/div>\n

Undergraduate Research at ACU<\/h1>\n

ACU has provided me with opportunities to expand my undergraduate research program far beyond what I was able to do at Lamar. Being able to join the existing DOE grant immediately provided the external funding for students I sought unsuccessfully while at Lamar. DOE had long encouraged the ACU group to add an active analysis program, such as the one I brought with me. When I joined the group, the DOE immediately supported an increase in our funding to support the new work with STAR that I had proposed. The STAR forward upgrade project was a natural fit with the ACU group’s existing expertise in detector construction, and the successful NSF MRI grant has given us the opportunity to support around 20 student researchers during the summer and also during the school year. I will provide more detail on the forward upgrade effort in a separate section.<\/p>\n

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Roy Salinas giving a talk in the parallel sessions of the 2019 Annual Fall Meeting of the APS Division of Nuclear Physics in Crystal City, VA.<\/p><\/div>\n

In Summer 2018, I was able to travel to BNL with two ACU students, Roy Salinas and Ty Fitch, to begin deconstructing the old forward instrumentation at STAR in preparation for the new forward upgrade project. Roy and Ty were able to work alongside a diverse team, including undergraduates from Valparaiso and Kentucky, a graduate student from UC-Riverside, and Ph.D.’s from UCLA and ACU. Roy decided to continue his work with STAR into the following year, completing a McNair thesis in 2019 pioneering a data correction technique using machine-learning and neural network tools. Roy’s work was sufficiently well received by the STAR collaboration that he was able to present his research in a talk at the Fall 2019 DNP meeting. While most undergraduate students present their work in the dedicated undergraduate poster session, Roy was one of only a handful of undergraduate students to present work as a talk in the regular conference parallel sessions to an audience comprised mostly of Ph.D.s and graduate students. Roy is beginning his graduate work toward a Ph.D. in physics at Michigan State University in Fall 2020.<\/p>\n

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ACU Atom Smashers at the Fall 2019 DNP Meeting in Crystal City, VA. (Seated, L to R) Emily Branson, Yves Ngenzi, Christine Case, (Standing, L to R) Beth Jennings, Mike Daugherity, Jim Drachenberg, Kolby Kiesling, Roy Salinas, Nate Rowlands, Donald Isenhower, Lily McIntosh.<\/p><\/div>\n

During the summer of 2019, as well as working with Roy on STAR analyses, I helped mentor Lily McIntosh, an ACU engineering student, to develop a procedure for constructing detectors for the STAR forward upgrade. This procedure, which she was able to present with a poster at DNP 2019, would lay the framework for a large construction effort led by ACU students that continued during Fall 2019, Spring 2020 (complicated by COVID-19, obviously), and throughout Summer 2020. 23 different undergraduate students from a host of departments across campus were supported to work on this effort, which will be discussed in more detail in a forthcoming section.<\/p>\n

Reflection<\/h1>\n

I admit that it feels a bit strange to reflect on a program that I hope is still in its infancy! However, even though I have much work still to do, it is easy to identify lessons that have already shaped me.<\/em><\/p>\n

Building a program from scratch at Lamar was difficult. Having funding proposals rejected was particularly disheartening. In hindsight, I’m grateful for the chance to learn from failure. My second NSF proposal at Lamar, though unsuccessful, was much improved than the first; and the experience of writing and improving grant proposals has helped me tremendously at ACU. I am gratified that I can say the NSF proposal for the STAR forward upgrade was successful and the renewal of our DOE grant was not only successful but came with a substantial increase in funding. Furthermore, had I not initially failed at securing external funding, I might not have felt compelled to look for local funding opportunities, which led to my participation with the McNair Scholars program at Lamar. Having seen the fantastic opportunities this program provided Lamar students, I have enthusiastically continued to participate in the program at ACU. These experiences helped me learn early that my failures are opportunities. They are chances to reflect, evaluate, and get creative. They have become major lessons that I teach my students in the classroom and the lab.<\/p>\n

The process of teaching students how to do research has helped me develop as a teacher. One obvious way is in development of a course on Data Reduction and Error Analysis that I delivered at Lamar. I had initially taught a one-hour version of this course as a visiting assistant professor at Valparaiso. This course had been developed by one of my postdoctoral research advisors. When I arrived at Lamar, I had the chance to expand this to a three-hour course and add hands-on in-class analysis activities. I drew heavily from my analysis projects with STAR and that experience has continued to pay dividends with training research students at ACU. My experience has also helped me find ways to incorporate computational methods in my regular courses, such as Classical Mechanics and Electricity and Magnetism. In these courses, I am not discussing nuclear physics data analysis specifically. However, mentoring research students on such projects has given me a better understanding of the software tools, themselves, and how to aid students in learning how to use them for the first time. I have seen research students graduate and find success and fulfillment in fields far removed from nuclear physics, and the tools they developed in our work have played helpful roles even in the transitions. It has taught me the value of learning not only for the intended purpose but also as a life skills we may not anticipate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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A portion of the ACU Atom Smashers group working on the PHENIX detectors at Brookhaven in Summer 2003. (L to R) Jim Drachenberg, Donald Isenhower, Masako Hagiwara, and Larry Isenhower.<\/p><\/div><\/td>\n

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ACU Atom Smashers working on the STAR experiment at Brookhaven in Summer 2018. (L to R) Roy Salinas, Jim Drachenberg, Mike Daugherity, and Ty Fitch.<\/p><\/div><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The initial decision to leave Lamar was difficult. To be clear, I have been blessed beyond measure by this transition. However, I was leaving a program that in many ways needed me. I felt that I filled a role at Lamar that they did not otherwise have. ACU was already strong. I did not want to leave Lamar unless I was confident that I could fill a need for the students at ACU. As I reflect on my time at ACU, I believe that for all my flaws I have been able to fill a needed role, here. I have been able to compliment our already strong research program with my active program in data analysis. Students like Roy Salinas have been able to engage this and use it as a spring board for a Ph.D. program. I have been able to use my connections with STAR to secure a large construction project that can be completed for the first time on the ACU campus. This has provided work, e.g. for our international students, who often need jobs near to campus. It has been most gratifying to give back to a program that gave so much to me. I am grateful for the opportunity, so far; and I look forward to growing it even more in the future, Lord willing.<\/p>\n

2020 Mentor of the Year Nominations<\/h1>\n

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<<< The Collins Effect<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0STAR Forward Upgrade >>><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Working alongside my professors and classmates at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) as an ACU undergraduate was one of the most formative educational experiences I had. It left such an impact, when I decided to pursue a career as a professor, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17290,"featured_media":0,"parent":85,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"sidebar-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-628","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1066,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/628\/revisions\/1066"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/85"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/jimdrachenberg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}