Encouraging and enabling student achievements is our primary goal at
HWS.
This page gives only a small window on the activities and accomplishments
of our students both before and after graduation. This is probably the
most important page on our Web site, because encouraging and enabling
student achievements is our primary goal at HWS.
What are some examples of student achievements at HWS?
John Rogers published an original research paper entitled
Quantum Mechanics with Explicit Time Dependence in Physics Letters A,
an internationally recognized journal, ordinarily a place for professors
and senior scientists to publish.
Laura Beckwith used Java to develop a variety of computer
simulations in physics in a year-long independent study project her senior
year. She even used thermodynamics to alphabetize a list of words!
Jack Harwich completed on senior honors thesis on simulated
annealing. Using computer experimentation, he determined how quickly the
temperature of a system can be lowered, while still getting it to freeze
in an organized pattern.
Andy Dougherty has been working with lasers, and has
succeeded in making and developing his own holograms.
David Fan, a student double-majoring in Physics and Environmental
Studies, is combining these interests in a research project on radioactivity
in the natural environment.
Jamie Brown and Erik Russell have explored
some of the intricacies of general relativity, gauge theories, and differential
geometry, all in an individualized independent study course.
If you major in Physics at Hobart and William Smith,
what happens next?
It could be graduate school. Our graduates
have gone to graduate school in everything from applied physics and optics
to medicine and engineering.
It could be industry. Maybe you'll follow in
the footsteps of other HWS Physics majors, and find a career as a programmer
in the telecommunications industry, or seek out a job in computational
biology.
It could be teaching. You can major in Physics
and receive certification in Education. One of our alums is teaching in
Oregon right now.
It could be research. One of our alums is in
charge of the optical equipment at the Cornell High Energy Synchroton
Source, a facility used by scientists from around the world. Another student
has worked as part of a team trying to unravel the mysteries of AIDS.