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Assistant Professor of Physics Jeremiah Williams discusses his research activities at a recent faculty event.
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Of the 400 CAREER Awards given annually to faculty members across all science disciplines represented by NSF, only six or seven went to faculty at undergraduate institutions. The recognition affirms what Williams, assistant professor of physics, already knows — that science taught within the liberal arts provides a well-rounded foundation for success in all scientific pursuits.
"Undergraduates need an environment where they can get into a laboratory to do cutting-edge research, to find new understanding in the creation and dissemination of science, to discover things never seen before and to learn why things behave the way they do," Williams said. "As faculty, our job is two-fold: to teach — and to provide the opportunities for meaningful, hands-on research, which helps students become proficient in critical thinking skills."
The award will enable Williams to build a premiere undergraduate-driven research laboratory, which will allow the department to develop laboratory and curricular exercises involving plasma science throughout Wittenberg's physics curriculum. Many of the topics of interest in both the industrial and space plasma communities can be explored in such controlled laboratories.
"Given that we live in a technological society, it is critical to have scientific literacy," Williams said. "This award provides a significant amount of scientific credibility to the research efforts that are occurring within my laboratory on campus and will help as we form and extend existing collaborations. Current funding supports the research of five students on a number of projects, some here and some in collaboration on both domestic and international projects."
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Tomographic Particle Image Velocimetry system in the Barbara Deer Kuss Science Center
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"First, we try to incorporate ideas from the research into the courses that we teach," Williams said. "We also spend time talking with students about the types of things that take place in the lab. This tends to be particularly effective when students who are taking courses stop by with questions, see the experimental setup that we have, and then ask about it."
Currently the team is working with colleagues at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (the national lab for plasma physics) to develop a small, robust plasma device that can be used to introduce ideas from plasma science throughout the undergraduate curriculum.
"This work is being supported by the CAREER Award, and a Wittenberg student just started working on the project," Williams said. "Our effort will result in the development of a simple device that can be used at institutions without plasma expertise (which is most undergraduate institutions) and in a number of lab experiments, which can be used throughout the physics curriculum. They will be used here and will lead to a course in plasma physics at Wittenberg."
Williams' current research interests include understanding the transport and the thermal properties of weakly coupled dusty plasma. In addition to the recent CAREER award, Williams received a 2009 NSF Major Research Instrumentation Award of more than $260,000 for the acquisition of a Tomographic Particle Image Velocimetry system at Wittenberg.
Williams earned his bachelor's degree at Dickinson College, his master's degree at the University of California-Los Angeles, and his Ph.D. at Auburn University. He completed postdoctoral work at Auburn before joining Wittenberg's faculty in 2007.
Written By: Phyllis Eberts '00
Photos By: Erin Pence '04
