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Yearly Interviews With Current and Recently
Graduated Students
2005
2003
2002
- James Crooks, Ph.D. candidate in Theoretical
Cosmology
- Kristi Dendy-Concannon, Ph.D.(2002) in Astronomy; now
Asst. Prof. of Physics, King's College, Wilkes-Barre, PA
- Carrie Rowland, Ph.D. candidate in Experimental Nuclear
Astrophysics
- Phillip Williams, Ph.D.(2002) in Experimental
Condensed Matter Physics; now post-doctoral fellow, NASA-Langley
Research Center, Hampton, VA
I am extremely pleased with my decision to join the Physics & Astronomy
Department here at UNC-CH. I majored in physics with an emphasis in
astronomy as an undergraduate at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
I knew that I wanted to get a PhD in astronomy (doesn't everybody?), but
I was planning on taking a year off after college. My husband was applying
to graduate schools in a different field, and I decided that since applying
to grad school was expensive and there was no certainty in where my husband
and I would end up, I would wait until we got somewhere, and then I would
apply to nearby grad schools for the next school year. But then my husband
got accepted at Duke University and I flew out here with him for his
"prospective graduate student" weekend. Duke does not have an astronomy
program, so I emailed both UNC and NCSU to let them know I was coming and
would like to check out their departments. NC State was slow to respond, but
Tom Clegg here at UNC eagerly responded and set everything up for me to come
and visit since the department was already having a prospective weekend of
its own. I was expecting the professors to ask me difficult questions about
quantum physics (that I couldn't answer), but instead, they all told me great
things about themselves in an effort to convince me that UNC was the place
for me. The students that I met were genuinely nice to me and honest, and I
met my advisor who spoke of pulsating white dwarfs like they were the most
fascinating things around. I was also accepted at NCSU for the same year, but
the overwhelming feeling of support from UNC drew me here.
My first year was very challenging, but I think that the first year of
graduate school is the hardest no matter what field or school you choose.
I had worked hard as an undergraduate and really I felt like the first year of
graduate school was just more of the same hard work. With only a couple
exceptions, the classes were well taught and the professors genuinely
wanted to help me understand the material. As an astronomer, one class that
I was required to take was on observational techniques. Our professor sent
us as a class off to Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona as an extended
field trip to give us real-life experience in what he was teaching. That is
probably my fondest memory of class work at UNC. For those exceptions that
I mentioned, the department provided additional resources in the form of
down-to-earth-genius graduate students to prepare us for the written exams and
so I felt like I had mastered the class material well enough to take the
exams. That doesn't mean I didn't agonize as the exams approached and worry
after they were over that I didn't pass, but that's just part of the
exam-taking experience.
I have never worried about sources of funding. For my first three years I
was a teaching assistant for a couple of different astronomy lab courses. I
enjoyed having freedom in how I taught the material, what I expected out of my
students, and what I taught my students (to a certain extent). For the next
two years I received funding as a research assistant, and next year my funding
is coming from the Graduate School. I was also able to get grants that are
available specifically for North Carolina graduate students. Several other
grad students in the department have benefited from these North Carolina
Space Grants too.
My favorite thing about our department is my fellow graduate students. I've
never felt like we were competing for grades, financial support, or anything
else. Whenever we have problems, whether they are homework problems, research
questions that we're afraid we should already know the answer to, or anything
else, I have always felt comfortable going to other grad students for help.
It has been great having people around who you know will never look at you as
inadequate or think that you should already know something. Also, it feels
like we all have a genuine desire to see each other succeed.
I think that I have the perfect research advisor for me. Pulsating white
dwarfs are fascinating and my advisor seems to have a never-ending knowledge
of them and enthusiasm for thinking up new and fun things. I began dabbling
in my research at the end of my first year and bounced from project to project
for the next year or so. This bouncing got me started on what became my
Master's project a little late, but my PhD project is simply an extension of
my Master's and so I won't have any problem graduating at the end of this
year, totaling six years (this seems to be the average amount of time for
graduation for astronomers). My research has been very exciting and I've
grown to love it. My advisor has provided me with opportunities to observe
at research class telescopes in Texas (McDonald Observatory) and in Chile
(our own SOAR Telescope). These experiences have not only provided me with
the experience I need as an astronomer, but I've also made connections with
astronomers from around the world to collaborate with.
Finally, I've appreciated the fact that I've been able to create my own work
hours here in graduate school, especially now that I am done with classes.
I have a two year old son who was born at the end of my third year (just in
time for the completion of my classes), and I am expecting my second child (a
daughter this time) next month. Having the flexibility to do my research from
home, and sometimes working at non-traditional hours (as well as having a
supportive husband), has made having children in graduate school possible for
me. We've also enjoyed living in North Carolina. We've explored most of the
state as a family - all up and down the coast and all over the mountains.
The summers are hot, but the rest of the year is pleasant and there is a lot
to see and explore. (August 2005)
| | Calin Buia |
I am originally from Romania and as an undergrad I went to Babes-Bolyai
University, Cluj Napoca, Romania. Since high school I had a preference for
scientific subjects, but physics attracted me the most because it covered
such a broad range of phenomena and it offered so much freedom to pick
interesting topics to study. And I ended up in the physics department...
My undergrad courses were very focused on physics and mathematics (in
Romania you have to apply from the begining at the department you want to
major in) and offered me an excellent basis for graduate studies, in any
physics field. I can say that I took full advantage of this, and after
doing a string theory thesis as an undergrad I continued with a
renormalization thesis for my M.Sc. completed at University of Genoa,
Italy and later I turned to numerical condensed matter for my Ph.D.
degree, here, at UNC.
So how did I chose UNC for my Ph.D.? This decision has its roots in the
period in which I studied in Italy for my M.Sc. That studying abroad
experience was eye-opening for me, and in the end I realized that not
only had I learned a lot of physics, but at the same time I learned
so much about a different nation and its people. For this reason I
decided to take an even larger step for my Ph.D. and chose a program on a
different continent. I have to confess that I knew little about the
universities in USA, with the exception of the usual suspects (MIT,
Princeton and their relatives...). I had good GRE scores, but professors
at my home university reccomended me to avoid the above mentioned
universities, citing me the experience of other students who went
there only to find that they had to compete and struggle to get an
advisor and a thesis project. On the other hand, from the begining UNC
appealed to me, with the promise of a smaller, but friendlier
and more supportive department. And when JP Lu sugested to me (by e-mail)
a
research topic in numerical condensed matter, I felt already part of a
team and my mind was made. And I have to say that in 5 years I have never
regretted my decision (on the contrary, I considered myself lucky for such
a
good choice).
What do I like about UNC? This question would be best answered in a
relaxed conversation, over a pint of Heineken juice at "He's not here"...
However, here are a few highlights: first, the people. Despite
the top level scientific research carried out, the department preserves a
friendly, family-like atmosphere that makes you feel in good hands (and
you certainly are). Suggestions and comments from students are always
welcome, and even more important, taken into consideration. The classes I
took were well taught, and the department made constant efforts to
improve the quality of teaching in the problematic areas. The fellow
grad-students were always helpful, if it was for a homework assignment or
for a hiking day in the mountains. Second, the area. Chapel Hill succeeds
in offering a small town appearance with the cultural advantages of a big
city, so you can enjoy the quiet sunday afternoons in campus or explore
the night life on Franklin Street. True, it isn't New York or San
Francisco (thanks God it is not LA!), but if you don't mind driving to
Durham or Raleigh, the Triangle offers enough events every week to
satisfy more demanding tastes. And third, the beach volleyball courts
and the dedicated group of physicists and astronomers who are always
ready for a game. - (August 2003)
| | Doug Leonard |
I am a graduate student in experimental nuclear physics. I am nearly
finished with my Ph.D. work. My research goal was to measure reaction
cross-sections important for Big-Bang nucleosynthesis. The work was done
at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Physics Lab. This lab is the core of
the experimental nuclear physics research program. The lab is on Duke
campus. It is DOE funded and operated jointly by Duke, UNC, and NC State,
so yes sometime we're forced to be nice to dookies even during basketball
season. Actually I, and I think many of the "nucs", feel at least as
attached to the lab and the community there as to the UNC physics
department. We have offices there and after taking classes spend most of
our working hours there.
I think classes at UNC are fine. I can't say I loved taking all of them,
but you have to learn the basics and then you get to do the fun stuff. So
I'll mostly write about work at TUNL. TUNL is a unique facility. Because
of its joint operation by the three universities there are many graduate
students there. In fact the lab is really all about the students.
Somehow in spite of that fact that many of us, or at least I for one, came
in not knowing an ion source from a target chamber, still the lab has a
reputation for producing much of the worlds best data in low energy
nuclear physics as well as an impressive number of Ph.D.'s., now over 200.
You might guess that this is because the grad students are put on small
part of a big project and micro-managed on some menial tasks by people who
know what they are doing. Not at all…. I was at the lab less than a
week before I was responsible for putting together an experiment and
getting results. The reason it works well is because of the group effort
and everyone's willingness to answer questions and help out. The
professors are some of the best in the field and have a much experience to
share. They work with us closely working hard and long to help out on
experiments. There is also a tradition that senior graduate students
donate much of their time to passing on our tips and tricks and generally
getting the new students up to speed quickly. I make this sound like we
are being noble, when really we are usually just procrastinating from
writing our dissertations…. as I should be doing now.
In spite having plenty of guidance if sought, ultimately we are in charge
of our own fate and are responsible for making nearly every element of our
experiment work including… maintenance and development of beam lines,
source and accelerator operation, designing and development target
equipment, setup of electronics and data acquisition, and implementation
of data analysis solutions… oh and did I mention plumbing? We have to
roll up our sleeves here and get into things. We become experts on what
need to or want to, but mostly we learn to get things done, get problems
solved and move on. Because of this type of broad training TUNL grads
have found jobs in a wide variety of fields, some not even so technical in
nature.
So now a few random little facts that didn't seem to fit into my rambling
thesis here… We are given many opportunities to work on several
experiments both at the lab and around the world. We are encouraged and
funded to travel, both for research and conferences and an occasional
lecture series which are often in nice places. Most everyone in the
research groups is on friendly terms and the most heated arguments are
usually about where to go for lunch. All in all working at TUNL has been
a lot of fun and I even learned to tell the difference between an ion
source and a target chamber. - (August 2003)
Overall, I’d say being a graduate student is a great adventure. I make my
own hours, I’ve been sent to Europe for “work“, created my own labs to
teach undergraduates, been responsible for running a research class
telescope, struggled through learning material to pass my classes and
written exams, and still have had time to spend the occasional weekend at
the beach. I entered the world of graduate school 5 years ago. When I
finished my B.A. in physics at Hanover College, a small liberal arts
college in Indiana, I realized that I wanted to continue learning more
about physics and especially astronomy. This prompted me to apply to
graduate programs that had a strong astronomy component. I chose UNC over
the other schools because of the attitude of the people I met in the
Physics department. While the graduate students were serious about their
science, they also seemed to have fun and get along with each other. I
believe that I made the right decision in coming to UNC-Chapel Hill.
The department always makes sure you have enough support, either through
teaching labs, grading homework, or from grants and fellowships. I spent
the first 3 years of graduate school as a T.A. In that time I was able to
teach physics and astronomy labs. The department does provide you with
some training and exposure to what you’ll be teaching before you start
your first year, giving you less to worry about as you struggle through
your first year of classes. I think my experience as a teacher was an
integral part of my education here at UNC; it gave me confidence in what I
already knew about the science, allowed me to think about different ways
of explaining a concept, and sometimes exposed me to other aspects of
physics. A full T.A. usually took about 17 hours a week. Only
occasionally did I find teaching to interfere with my classes or research
and would find myself up late grading labs or tests to get them back to
the students on time.
I found classes at UNC to be challenging, but not impossible. All of my
teachers wanted their students to understand the material and would give
you time outside of class if you asked for it. My greatest resource in
surviving these classes was other students. We helped each other out with
the homework and studying for the exams. In fact, in my first year we all
gathered for pizza each Sunday in order to work on the homework. As an
astronomy student you are not expected to take the second semester of
quantum mechanics or E&M. Instead you have the option of taking Stellar
Interiors/Atmospheres and High Energy Astrophysics. These classes had
more bearing on the material I needed to know to do my research. Overall,
I found classes to be useful in that they create a foundation of knowledge
that you can lean on as you learn the specific material you need to know
to do your research. Most people are able to get classes out of the way
by their 2nd year. However, because of a number of scheduling
difficulties, classes were not offered and I was not able to finish my
required classes until my 4th year. Though this was a bit annoying, it
didn’t particularly slow me down in my research.
I started working on research for my degree at the end of my first year.
I chose to work with advisor because he worked stellar astronomy, the area
of astronomy I found the most interesting, and he seemed to have a sincere
enthusiasm for his work. I started by working on a master’s project,
which I defended half way through my 3rd year. I really liked working on
pulsating white dwarf stars and so I chose to stay in that area of
astronomy for my PhD research. Because of working in the same area, the
tools and background I developed in my masters could apply to my Ph.D.
research. I have really enjoyed working with my advisor. He has had up
to 5 graduate students and several undergrads working for him at one time.
At times this makes it hard to get his attention for your specific
concerns, but it also fosters a sense of community with other people in
your group and a sense of independence as you have to rely on yourself to
get the work done. My advisor has provided opportunities to meet others
who work on similar areas of science by sending me to conferences in
Delaware, Seattle and Portugal. Research has also sent me on observing
runs in Texas, at McDonald Observatory, and Arizona, at Kitt Peak National
Observatory. Since I like to travel, I see these journeys as real perks.
Moving to North Carolina took a bit of adjustment; I was not accustomed to
the summer heat, sweet tea, or southern accents. But the people here are
friendly and though I don’t think I’ll ever learn to love the summer, the
extended autumn and the blooming trees in the spring make-up for it.
Most students do not live on campus and there are plenty of apartments and
houses to rent within a 4 mile radius of campus. Apartment rents can be a
bit on the high side, especially if you want to live alone. I have always
had at least one roommate and have never had a problem living on my
stipend. The parking at UNC is atrocious, but the town has free buses and
bike lanes; I have used both as my primary transportation to work. The
town of Chapel Hill is dominated by the University. Its true small town
feel only comes out when UNC is on break. Chapel Hill is located next to
two small cities, so within a short driving distance you can find almost
anything you are looking for.
Believe it or not there is life outside of Physics and Astronomy; you just
have to make the time. Most of the graduate students here try to mix
some fun in with their work. People are frequently looking to get
together to have a party, go get a drink, see a movie, have a poker night,
play volleyball, go to the beach, see a baseball game etc. The graduate
students have even been known to gather in West Virginia to do some
camping and white water rafting. Chapel Hill lies in the center of North
Carolina, meaning you are 2.5 hours from the beach and 2.5 hours from the
mountains, both have plenty of recreation when you want a nice day trip.
In coming to graduate school at UNC, I did not have to completely put my
life on hold. I had time to enjoy life while pursing my studies of
Astronomy. - (September 2003)
| Jennifer
Weinberg-Wolf |
There are many things that initially drew me to the UNC Department of
Physics and Astronomy when I was applying to graduate school. I jointly
majored in physics and astronomy at Harvard University, splitting my
time between two different departments. I was excited that UNC has a
joint
department of physics and astronomy. Although I chose to continue my
studies in experimental condensed matter physics, I have enjoyed the
option
of taking astronomy classes and attending seminars or colloquia on topics
outside of my field. I also love the conversations I can have with fellow
graduate students working in a variety of fields.
The most important factor in my decision to attend UNC, however, was due
to
my impressions from my first visit, initial impressions that have been
proven true over the past four years. UNC was by far the friendliest
environment out of all the graduate schools I visited. There is a real
camaraderie between students that extends outside of the classroom. I am
closest to the people in my actual class because we survived all the
introductory classes together, but everyone in the department is friendly
and great to spend time with. I have found all the professors very
approachable and willing to help with a variety of subjects. This
leads to wonderful opportunities for collaborations and informal help.
Chapel Hill is also a great area to live in. I grew up outside of
Chicago, so the heat of the summers gets a little rough on me, but I see
the sun much more than I did when I was growing up, and the winters seem
more like fall to me. With Research Triangle Park so close, there are
plenty of tech jobs in the area which has proven beneficial for my husband
who moved down to the area from Boston with me. We lived our first three
years down here in Chapel Hill and then moved to Durham when we bought a
house. While not making me rich, the stipends from the department were
always enough to cover my half of the rent/mortgage.
All in all, I really like it here. Graduate school is not for the
unmotivated. But even with the long hours and hard work, I enjoy the
area and the department a lot. I have never regretted my decision to
come to UNC. - (September 2003)
 My decision to apply to graduate school in physics came as a
surprise, particularly to myself. I worked hard as an undergrad at Emory
University, particularly my last semester while I was writing a senior thesis. I
had worked so hard that I had stopped enjoying science; I was burned out. So I
took a job teaching at Emory while I tried to figure out what to do with myself.
After a few months I started reading articles on physics again and soon after I
was reading physics textbooks in my spare time. It then occurred to me that as a
graduate student I could get paid to do something I would otherwise do
anyway.
I knew I wanted to live in the Triangle area since my girlfriend
(now wife) Kristy was already in graduate school at Duke in neuroscience. I
looked at physics programs at Duke, NC State, and UNC-Chapel Hill. I had a vague
sense that I was interested in particle physics, cosmology, string theory, or
something along those lines. UNC had by far the most faculty doing research in
those areas so I that's where I decided to apply.
Since my second week at UNC
I've been working with Dr. Paul Frampton, first on theoretical astrophysics, more
recently on theoretical cosmology. I've had two papers published [see Mod. Phys.
Lett.A16 (2001) 63-74 and Astrophys.J.546 (2001) L1-L4 or look on the Los Alamos
archive at astro-ph/0010404 and astro-ph/0002089] with Dr. Frampton and others.
I am currently developing a thesis project on dark matter-quintessence coupling,
though Dr. Frampton has four other graduate students and a postdoc working with
him on projects in string theory and phenomenology as well as
cosmology. The academics at UNC are demanding, make no mistake about it,
but not impossible. Classes are on the whole well taught and the faculty are
generally quite approachable. Anyone who has a solid background in
undergraduate-level physics and a willingness to work hard will not find the
classes impossible. The real challenge is the Ph.D. written exam, though students
get up to three chances to pass each part. In my experience, I've found the
faculty genuinely supportive of student progress; they really want you to
graduate.
Still, the best sources of support in the department are the
other students. The people I slogged through first-year classes with are still
my best friends in North Carolina. We kept each other sane through some pretty
stressful times. The other graduate students here are also extremely friendly;
house parties are a common occurrence. Chapel Hill is fairly expensive by
graduate student standards, so the most common living arbrangement for single
people is a large house with space for three or four. However, there are many
options. My wife and I own a house in Durham where housing costs are
significantly lower and where we can have dogs. - (March
2002)
 For my undergraduate education, I attended the
University of Alabama. The Physics & Astronomy Department at UA was moderate in
size -- there were 20-30 faculty there (with 20-30% of that Astronomy faculty)
and my advanced classes usually consisted of 6-7 people. I did well in my
classes at UA and on the General GRE, though not so well on the Physics GRE.
From the time that I decided to go to college, I knew that I wanted to pursue a
PhD, so I applied to graduate schools, despite my low Physics GRE scores. This
is now my sixth (and final!) year of graduate school at UNC. After I graduate, I
plan on teaching astronomy at a small college.
I chose UNC because it has a
strong extra-galactic research component, and because I liked the moderate size
of the department. I didn't want to go to a graduate school where I would get
lost in the crowd and would only be a statistic to my research advisor. At UNC,
I have been able to work very closely with my advisor who typically has 3-4
students working with him, and my research is conducted in collaboration with one
other individual from an outside institution. I have been very pleased with the
research environment here. I have received plenty of moral and financial support
from my research advisor, though the amount of funding varies depending on grant
status, among other things. The computing facilities are top-notch and I have
always had ample access to the computing resources and software that I need for
my research. Overall, UNC has been a wonderful place to foster independent
research skills.
The courses that I have taken here were, in general, very
well taught. I have been lucky to have very decent professors who truly wanted
the students in their class to understand and were willing and able to answer
questions outside of class. In my opinion, the courses broadened my
understanding of physics and astronomy, though not necessarily in the areas that
I would have liked. Like most graduate programs, my first two years were spent
concentrating on courses. I often think that these courses would have been more
beneficial if the research component and the class component of grad school were
intermingled. If this were the case, I think it would lead to a better
understanding on all levels of the research being done and not so much like a
hoop that we have to jump through to get through graduate school.
I do not
think I would have made it through those first couple of years of graduate school
without the camaraderie of the students in this department. From the first day,
I found my classmates to not only be a source of knowledge on homework
assignments but also a source of comfort in the stress of daily life -- I even
met my husband here! Outside of school, I have truly enjoyed living in the
Triangle area. The Triangle is an odd mixture of southern hospitality and
northern fervor with its cutting edge technologies and finger-lickin' barbecue.
Although the cost of living is high, there is never a shortage of things to do;
we've got it all from sports to theater to hiking to farm shows. In fact, within
a few hour drive, you can enjoy the Atlantic coast, the Great Smoky Mountains or
a bustling metropolis.
Overall, I have been very pleased with my choice of
UNC for graduate school. The Physics department offers a relaxed atmosphere for
learning with capable and supportive faculty and advisors. - (March
2002)
 I was a physics major as an undergraduate at Stetson
University, a small school in Florida. I always had the intention of going to
graduate school to study observational astronomy. When it came time to choose
what graduate schools to apply to I looked first at what research was being done-
was there an astronomer who worked on something I was interested in? I had the
good fortune to spend a couple of summers away from Stetson to do research in
different astronomy topics so I thought I had a pretty good idea about what I
wanted to study as a graduate student. A second criterion for me in choosing a
graduate school was what I thought life would be like at a particular school.
What appealed to me about UNC was how friendly everyone was during my visit as a
prospective student. My first impressions of the people here turned out to be
true- this department truly has a non-competitive and supportive
environment.
My experience as a graduate student here has been a bit
atypical because after working on an astronomy project for about two years I
decided to switch research groups and do my Ph.D. thesis working in the nuclear
astrophysics group. This decision resulted in my having to take a few more
classes to meet requirements, since the requirements for astronomy students are
different from those of a physics student. I am very happy having made the
switch and I could spend much time writing about how great it is working for the
nuclear astrophysics group. Within this group I have had no problems with
computer, equipment, space or financial support. I have never been denied travel
to meetings or experiments at other facilities. The research topics in the
nuclear astrophysics group are original, interesting and involve much hands-on
experimental work. We collaborate within the UNC department, but also work with
nuclear physicists from all over the world. Most of our experiments take place
at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory located on Duke University's
campus. This allows students in the nuclear groups to work (and play) with
people from Duke and N.C. State Universities. The nuclear astrophysics group
also does experiments at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Notre Dame
University.
Some of the courses required by the department have been
extremely well taught and a pleasure to take, others have not been. Any graduate
school will have requirements and hoops to jump through. Some of them are easy,
others are miserable. There have been some very difficult exams, but everything
has been doable and in the end the anticipation and worry about written exams,
prelims, or whatever has always been much worse than the actual
event.
Chapel Hill is a comfortable place to live. There are plenty of
coffee shops on Franklin Street to study, grade labs or relax. The true feel of
any place is not done justice by words and should be experienced. Anyone
thinking about attending UNC (or any school) should visit the place and talk to
people. - (March 2002)
 I am a Ph.D. physics graduate student here
at
UNC-Chapel Hill. I received an M.S. degree in physics here from UNC and a B.S. in physics from
the College of William and Mary in Virginia, with minors in Math and Studio Art. I was born and
raised in Portsmouth, VA. My hobbies and interests include sci-fi reading, movies, video games,
and studio art (drawing, painting, you name it!).
My original motivation for grad school
was to learn more about physics and increase my knowledge. I participated in the SPGRE (Summer
Pre-Graduate Research Experience) program. Administered out of the School of Education, that
summer program allowed me to do research here in the physics department the summer after my
junior year and attend workshops and panel discussions on graduate school. I enjoyed that
experience and the diverse research areas offered at UNC and decided that I positively wanted to
come here for grad school. Now that I’m in grad school I feel that I made the right choice. At
this point, the next step for me would probably be a postdoctoral position followed by either a
research career in industry or a tenure-track faculty position at a university where I can
engage in both teaching and research.
My field is specifically experimental condensed
matter physics; the subtopic is surface science and nano-scale technology. My research involves
studies of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT) nanoelectromechanical devices. Carbon nanotubes
are a fairly recently discovered material which exhibit remarkable mechanical and electrical
properties. They are essentially cylinders of graphite sheets, and are about 10, 000 times
smaller than the width of a human hair. Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) are devices, such
as switches, sensors, or resonators, which give a mechanical response to electrical stimuli, or
vice versa; nanotubes could potentially make ideal candidates for these devices. We create our
devices using processing techniques including photolithography, electron beam lithography and
wet etching, and tools such as the nanoManipulator system, atomic force microscopy (AFM),
scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and a combined SEM/AFM system. We attempt to construct the
NEMS structures with cantilevered, suspended, and crossed MWNTs as integrated, in-plane devices
and study their properties to hopefully understand some of the interesting phenomena that occurs
at the nanometer size scale.
The research done in our group spans several collaboration
efforts. Within the department, we often collaborate with at least two other experimental
condensed matter groups and one other theoretical group, sharing ideas, resources, and
equipment. The MURI grant (Multi-University Research Initiative) spans UNC (Physics, Chemistry,
and Computer Science here at UNC), NCSU, and Duke University on nanotube and other nanoscale
research. With the nanomanipulator project, we often collaborate with the Departments of
Chemistry, Information and Library Science, and Gene Therapy and the Medical School on research.
My own project specifically involves collaborations within the Physics Department as well as
with Computer Science and Chemistry.
There is definitely appropriate research support
available here. We have several computers in our lab due to our collaboration with the
department of computer science. Most of the necessary equipment for our experiments as a result
of various national research grants won here in our group and through various collaborations.
Library resources here are great; we have electronic subscriptions to various journals and an
inter-library loan system among NC colleges and universities. The space in the building though
has become a problem somewhat with the expanding depth of research done here, but that may soon
be alleviated with the planned construction of new buildings.
Many of my academic courses
were well taught; some of them were not so well taught. My thoughts are that this is not so
unusual; statistically every teacher or professor is just not the same. In classes where the
teaching was lacking, I could sometimes compensate for that with study groups, reference books,
teacher help/consultation, and extra effort. All of the professors in the classes I had were
readily available and approachable for questions and help, even in courses where the in-class
teaching was not the best. Several of the courses I took because of their direct relevance to
my research, and those were very helpful. Additionally, the academic work formed a basis of the
fundamentals for understanding not only my own research but also for appreciating interesting
research in other fields.
Among the things I like about this area are the weather, scenery
(parks, trees, lakes, etc.), urban and rural aspects, and the breadth of things (sports,
concerts, museums, events) to do here in NC and particularly the Triangle area. We’re also not
too far from other interesting neighboring places like Virginia, Washington, DC, Georgia, and
South Carolina. On the UNC campus, I particularly enjoy the scenery and environment; it’s no
problem to walk out on campus on a nice day and relax on the yard under the trees or wherever.
Within the physics department, overall the physics grad student rapport here is good;
there’s much communication and exchanges of ideas. As you progress in your grad studies,
typically you become most active with those in your field and closer to your academic year. It
gets harder to interact (sometimes even know who they are!) and maintain a rapport with younger
students as you get further involved with your own research, but nevertheless the atmosphere is
amicable. One aspect that I like about the physics department here at UNC is the good balance
and interplay between the social and intellectual climate. The department here has a host of
seminars and colloquia for enriching the intellectual climate, but there are also departmental
picnics, camping outings, etc., which allow people to mingle freely on the social level.
Students here are not always glued to a book or boarded up in the lab, but get out and have
get-togethers, movie outings, parties, sports games, - all sorts of social, stress-relief
events. - (March 2002)
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