[MAAPT] Saturday's schedule

[Andy Rundquist]

When: Saturday 10/27 8:00 - 2:30
Where: Saint Cloud State University
Robert H Wick Science Building, Room 24 (basement - where the  
planetarium is)

Dues for the year for MAAPT membership is $10 and can be paid on  
Saturday

Lunch will likely be at the campus cafeteria ($6 - $7)

Note that we have plenty of room for more posters, just warn Andy  
Rundquist ahead of time

Schedule:

Short version (see below for the detailed version)

8:00 - 8:30 Registration
8:30 - 8:50 Linda Winkler, MN State University Moorhead
8:50 - 9:10 Ananda Shastri, MN State University Moorhead
9:10 - 9:30 Russ Palma, MN State University Mankato
9:30 - 10:15 Planetarium presentation
10:15 - 10:45 Poster session (snacks provided)
10:45 - 11:45 Invited speaker: Charles Falco
12:00 - 1:00 Lunch and business meeting (Garvey commons)
1:00 - 2:30 Workshop by Jennifer Docktor and Leon Hsu, University of  
Minnesota Twin Cites


Detailed schedule:

8:00 - 8:30 Registration

8:30 - 8:50 Linda Winkler
Title:  Syringe Thermodynamics
Presenter:  Linda Winkler, Mn State University Moorhead

With two glass syringes, some beakers/flasks and tubing, and computer  
pressure/temperature probes, students can construct and study a  
variety of thermodynamic systems(1). We have been using these tools  
in a calculus-based third semester physics course to build an air  
thermometer, a hydraulic system, and an engine.  The tools will be  
further described, as well as their impact on student understanding  
of thermodynamic principles.
(1) D. P. Jackson and P. W. Laws, AJP 74 (2), pp 94-101.

8:50 - 9:10 Ananda Shastri
Title:  Developing a research program around a student-built nuclear  
magnetic resonance spectrometer
Author:  Ananda Shastri
Affiliation:  Department of Physics and Astronomy, Minnesota State  
University Moorhead
Abstract:  Students at Minnesota State University Moorhead have  
helped build a solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)  
spectrometer.  This talk will describe what NMR is, how students were  
involved in the building of the system, describe ongoing projects,  
and outline plans for future work.

9:10 - 9:30 Russ Palma
Title: Developing a Speaker Exchange Series between MSU Mankato and  
MAAPT Institutions
  Dr. Russell L. Palma, Minnesota State University Mankato,  
Department of Physics and Astronomy

Abstract:  In the past two years the MSU Mankato Department of  
Physics and Astronomy has offered a slate of speakers willing to  
present research colloquia at institutions within a several hour  
drive of Mankato.  The aims of this program have been to (1)  
publicize ongoing scholarly activity within the department, (2)  
recruit potential students into our M.S. program, and (3) develop a  
speaker exchange that would build awareness and camaraderie within  
our professional community.  In this talk I will detail the successes  
and challenges encountered thus far, and encourage discussion of how  
the above aims might be better achieved.

9:30 - 10:15 Planetarium presentation

10:15 - 10:45 Poster session (snacks provided)
Title: Approximate Ising Model Solution
Authors: Richard A. Thomas, PhD, Hendrik J. Viljoen, and Isaac Jensen.
Abstract:
Real-life magnetic materials are composed of directionalized magnetic  
spins and are magnetized only when a majority of spins point in one  
direction over another. A method was created to model properties of  
these materials based on the Ising Model. The method considers all  
possible ways for magnetic structure to change and determines rates  
for these changes. The rates are set to zero to determine the  
magnetization equation. This equation relates magnetization to  
applied fields as well as to temperatures. Different kinds of  
magnetic ordering can be applied using this model. The method and  
sample results are shown.

10:45 - 11:45 Invited speaker: Charles Falco
Charles Falco is a Professor of Optical Sciences at the University of  
Arizona where he holds the UA Chair of Condensed Matter Physics.  He  
is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Institute of  
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the Optical Society of  
America, has published more than 250 scientific manuscripts, most of  
which are related to various physical properties of thin film  
materials, co-edited two books, has seven U.S. patents, and has given  
more than 200 invited talks on his research at conferences and  
research institutions in some 20 countries.   However, in addition to  
his scientific research, in 1998 he was co-recipient of an award from  
the AICA for his work as co-curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim  
museum's "The Art of the Motorcycle," for which he also wrote the  
exhibition catalog's introductory essay and bibliography.  With over  
2 million visitors thus far in New York, Chicago, Bilbao, and the  
Guggenheim Las Vegas, it is by far the most successful exhibition of  
industrial design ever assembled, and is the 5th most attended museum  
exhibition of any kind.  More recently, a collaboration with the  
artist David Hockney that found artists of such repute as van Eyck,  
Bellini and Caravaggio used optical projections in creating portions  
of their work has resulted in widespread coverage in the popular  
media, including an hour-long BBC special and a segment on CBS '60  
Minutes', and over 70 invited talks and public lectures on this topic  
in eleven countries.

--------Abstract----------
The Science of Optics; The History of Art
Charles M. Falco
College of Optical Sciences
University of Arizona, Tucson

Recently, renowned artist David Hockney observed that certain  
drawings and paintings from as early as the Renaissance seemed almost  
"photographic" in detail.  Following an extensive visual  
investigation of western art of the past 1000 years, he made the  
revolutionary claim that artists even of the prominence of van Eyck  
and Bellini must have used optical aids.  However, many art  
historians insisted there was no supporting evidence for such a  
remarkable assertion.  In this talk I show a wealth of optical  
evidence for his claim that Hockney and I subsequently discovered  
during an unusual, and remarkably productive, collaboration between  
an artist and a scientist.  I also discuss the imaging properties of  
the "mirror lens" (concave mirror), and some of the implications this  
work has for the history of science as well as the history of art  
(and the modern fields of machine vision and computerized image  
analysis).  These discoveries convincingly demonstrate optical  
instruments were in use -- by artists, not scientists -- nearly 200  
years earlier than commonly thought possible, and account for the  
remarkable transformation in the reality of portraits that occurred  
early in the 15th century.
(for more information see http://www.optics.arizona.edu/ssd/FAQ.html)

Acknowledgments:  This work was done in collaboration with David  
Hockney.  We gratefully acknowledge David Graves (London), Ultan  
Guilfoyle (Guggenheim), Martin Kemp (Oxford U.), Masud Mansuripur (U.  
Arizona), José Sasián (U. Arizona), Richard Schmidt (Los Angeles),  
and Lawrence Weschler (The New Yorker) for a variety of valuable  
contributions to our efforts.

12:00 - 1:00 Lunch and business meeting (Garvey commons)

1:00 - 2:30 Workshop by Jennifer Docktor and Leon Hsu
Cognitive research and the practical classroom: Bridging the gap
Jennifer Docktor & Leon Hsu, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Abstract:

In the past few decades, studies in cognitive psychology have  
advanced our understanding of how people think and learn.  
Unfortunately, the link between such research and classroom practice  
is often unclear. In this workshop, participants will examine a few  
key findings from cognitive studies and discuss practical  
implementations of those findings in the physics classroom. Topics  
will include student expectations and beliefs about learning physics,  
cognitive conflict and conceptual change theory, and learning as an  
active, constructive process.  A list of resources for research-based  
instructional materials will be provided and strategies for using  
them to teach physics will also be addressed.




**************************************************
Prof. Andy Rundquist
Hamline University
Chair, Department of Physics
arundquist at hamline.edu
www.hamline.edu/~arundquist
651-523-2513