CLOSE
Tags Posts tagged with "physics"

physics

A first-generation college student, Jacquelynn Garofano, ‘06, is paying it forward by mentoring some of tomorrow's most promising engineers.

Never underestimate the power of a great mentor. As a first-generation college student, Jacquelynn Garofano, ’06, came to Southern to major in physics — and, within that first year, was conducting research in the physics lab. “The catalyst that really set me on my path was meeting and working with Professor [of Physics Christine] Broadbridge. She was instrumental in igniting my love of materials research and guiding me in the pursuit of a doctoral degree,” says Garofano.

Today, Garofano has come full circle, mentoring the next generation of engineers as the program manager of the Margaret Ingels Engineering Development Program at United Technologies, a new entry-level program for top engineering students. Participants rotate through four six-month assignments across the United Technologies business units, such as Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace.

This focus on education echoes Garofano’s early career. Under Professor Broadbridge’s leadership, she held several positions with the Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena (CRISP), a National Science Foundation-funded partnership between Southern and Yale University. Its goal: to share the wonders of science with K-12 students, college students, and educators. Garofano’s commitment to Southern remains strong — and this fall, she joined the SCSU Foundation Board of Directors.

“The two pillars that my career stands on are mentorship and networking,” says Garofano. “Over all this time, a simple but powerful mantra has struck with me: ‘I want to be for someone what Christine was for me,’ and it has materialized in a profound why.”

She’s a STEMinist: Garofano advocates for increasing the presence of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). “Representation matters (#SeeHerBeHer). As a first-generation college student, I was fortunate to have a strong female role model and mentor at Southern: Christine Broadbridge, [professor of physics and executive director of research and innovation]. Now that I’m a professional woman in the tech industry, I make every effort to share my journey and empower young students — but young girls and women, in particular.

A few accomplishments: Garofano earned a doctorate from the University of Connecticut and was named a “Woman of Innovation” by the Connecticut Technology Council in 2011; was spotlighted on the “40 under 40” lists of outstanding young professionals compiled by Connecticut Magazine (2013) and Hartford Business Journal (2015); and was honored by the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund for advancing women and girls in the STEM field.

On the job: “As program manager of the Ingels program, I have the privilege of cultivating and leading the next generation of engineers who will shape our future. Frankly, this is what attracted me to this role,” says Garofano, who has complete oversight of the program. Her responsibilities include: leading recruiting activities, managing associate rotation schedules, and planning training curriculum for both technical and leadership development.

On board: “I’m thrilled to have been asked to serve on the SCSU Foundation Board of Directors and look forward to the opportunity to support Southern’s mission of providing exceptional, accessible, and affordable educational opportunities to students through the work of the foundation.

A mighty mentor: Last fall, Garofano was approached by a young woman, Edwina Lorient, a native of Haiti, who was studying mechanical engineering. “Edwina was interested in learning more about the different aspects of engineering and hearing about my experience as an engineer,” says Garofano. “She shared with me her desire to use her engineering skills to support her family and community in Haiti with innovative solutions to provide pure water and clean energy,” she says. Garofano encouraged her to apply for summer research experiences, directed her to the Leadership Summer Research-Early Identification Program through The Leadership Alliance, and guided her through the application process. “I was elated when she told me that she was accepted into Brown University’s program for the summer! The return on my seemingly effortless investment has been massively rewarding, not just for Edwina in securing a research fellowship, but, for me also, because I’ve been able to be ‘that person’ for an aspiring young woman engineer,” she says.

Words of wisdom: “I encourage our program associates to build a strong professional network (as they have a unique opportunity to have four different roles across our enterprise), but most importantly, enjoy the journey and have fun!” she says.

Southern Alumni Magazine cover, Fall 2019, featuring Peter Marra, '85

Read more stories in the Fall ’19 issue of Southern Alumni Magazine.

Christine Caragianis Broadbridge, Ph.D., professor of physics and executive director of research and innovation at Southern Connecticut State University, has been appointed vice president of the Connecticut Academy of Science & Engineering. Broadbridge will serve as vice president through June 30, 2020, with the Council’s recommendation that her name be submitted for election by the membership for President (2020 – 2022) and Past President (2022 – 2024).

Broadbridge began her faculty career at Trinity College. In 1998, she was appointed Visiting Fellow in Electrical Engineering at Yale University and in 2000 joined the Physics Department at Southern. She has been a principal investigator or co-principal investigator on ten National Science Foundation projects and a researcher on many others, including grants from NASA, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Broadbridge participated in the establishment and is a researcher and education director for the Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena (CRISP) at Yale/SCSU and is the director for the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities Center for Nanotechnology. Throughout her career she has implemented numerous industry workforce initiatives, most recently BioScience Academic and Career Pathway Initiative (BioPath) and the New Haven Manufacturer’s Association Summer Teachers’ Institute.

An active member of the Academy since her election in 2008, she chairs the Membership Committee, serves on the Development and Advocacy Committee, and was elected to the Council in 2016.

“I am honored to continue working with such a distinguished and dedicated group of scientists and engineers from Connecticut’s academic, industrial, and public sector communities,” said Broadbridge. “The work that the Academy does adds value to the state of Connecticut from promoting science education for K-12 students and the citizens of Connecticut to providing expert advice on issues of science and technology.”

Broadbridge has a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Rhode Island, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in engineering from Brown University. At Brown, she conducted research in the fields of materials science, physics and nanotechnology. Selected awards include the 2006 Connecticut Technology Council’s Woman of Innovation Award for Academic Leadership and the 2014 Connecticut Materials and Manufacturing Professional of the Year Award. Broadbridge was a Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame Honoree in 2008 for Outstanding Women of Science in Academia and was a Connecticut Science Center STEM Achievement Award nominee in 2016. She is a member of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of Sigma Pi Sigma and Tau Beta Pi (national honor societies for physics and engineering respectively).

The Connecticut Academy of Science & Engineering is a nonprofit, 501(c)3 institution patterned after the National Academy of Sciences to provide expert guidance on science and technology to the people and to the state of Connecticut, and to promote the application of science and technology to social and economic well being. The Academy’s 400+ members include leading scientists, physicians, engineers, and mathematics who are experts in a wide range of science and technology-related fields.

John and Nina Caragianis firmly believed in the transformative power of education. Their daughter — now a celebrated Southern professor and administrator — has established a memorial fund that extends her parents’ legacy by helping Southern students.

Christine Caragianis Broadbridge, Southern professor, administrator, and donor, shares a photo of her parents — Nina and John W. Caragianis — taken when she earned her doctorate from Brown University.

When Christine Caragianis Broadbridge was deciding on a college major, it was her father who nudged her toward the sciences — still an unconventional path for a woman in the mid 1980s.
“He said, ‘Pick the most challenging thing you can think of, and I’ll be there for you,’” Broadbridge recalls. “So I picked electrical engineering and physics.”

Broadbridge’s initial exposure to technology came from watching her father repair jukeboxes and pinball machines at the family’s vending machine business. She is a first-generation college student, but earning a university degree was always a given. “My mother and I talked about college every day,” says Broadbridge, who went on to graduate first in her class at the University of Rhode Island (URI), where she was one of a few women engineering majors.

A master’s degree and doctorate from the esteemed Brown University of Providence, R.I., followed. “I had my child by this time,” says Broadbridge, “and my parents were so supportive and proud that I was able to earn my doctorate while starting a family.”

In 1993 — at age 26 — Broadbridge became the first female engineering professor at Hartford’s Trinity College. Today, she remains a tireless advocate for higher education at Southern, where she’s a physics professor, researcher, and the executive director of research and innovation — as well as a Yale Visiting Fellow.

Broadbridge is also a leader in the groundbreaking field of materials science, which studies the properties of materials like metals, glass, semiconductors, composites, and plastic. Her research focus is nanotechnology — the manipulation of matter at an atomic level — an emerging discipline scientists say has the potential to revolutionize everything from healthcare to alternative energy. As the founding director of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities Center for Nanotechnology at Southern, Broadbridge has helped launch countless students’ careers in the field.

Her commitment to these future scientists echoes her parents. Both cheered her on throughout her career, helping with college expenses so she could travel for research and training opportunities. “Education was so important to my parents,” she says. “It was something they stressed to me from a very young age.”

In 2018, Broadbridge and her husband William, who works in the high-tech electronics industry, established the John and Nina Caragianis Research and Innovation Endowed Fund at Southern. The gift continues the couples’ long-held commitment to education while honoring their memory. John Caragianis passed away in 2006; his wife, Nina, died in November at age 85.

The fund benefits undergraduate or graduate students at Southern with at least a 3.0 GPA who are enrolled in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) or STEM-related field. The money can be used for books, supplies, travel, conference fees, software — or any academic endeavor that would enhance a student’s education or interest in research and innovation. Preference is given to first-generation college students.

“There are huge opportunities at Southern, and it’s really about encouraging students to seek them out, just like I did as a student,” says Broadbridge. She remembers her father taking her on trips to the bookstore at nearby Brown University, inspiring her to pursue a research opportunity at the Ivy League campus while still a senior at URI. “He always encouraged me to think about what I could do to expand my horizons,” she says. That early work — a partnership between Brown’s engineering department and Rhode Island’s jewelry industry — helped plant the seeds for her future research.

When establishing the fund at Southern, Broadbridge focused on STEM students not only because that’s where her passions lie, but as a nod to her father’s deep interest in science and technology. A self-taught businessman who ran a successful Newport, R.I., vending machine company — Newport Music/Automatic Vending Service — Caragianis chose the Navy over college. But he never stopped learning, says Broadbridge.

“As he got older, he wanted to learn everything he could about technology,” she says. Broadbridge recalls her father devouring science magazines and clipping articles he thought she’d find interesting or relevant to her work. “He was the one who started sending me articles about nanotechnology, way back before it was a hot field,” she recalls.

John and Nina instilled that same love of learning in their three children and eight grandchildren, says Broadbridge, who has a daughter, 22, and a son, 26, who graduated from Southern with a master’s in science education.

“The kids are getting older, but they still talk about my parents and their message,” Broadbridge says of her extended family. “That message was very consistent for everyone they knew: Look for opportunities, work hard, and we will be there to provide encouragement and support.”

Broadbridge says she chose to establish the fund at Southern for the same reason she joined the faculty: She believes strongly in the university’s mission and diversity, and the power of public education to transform lives.

Her life’s work has focused on projects that encourage young people in underrepresented populations — including women and minorities — to consider careers in the STEM fields. At Trinity, she started a program that paired Hartford high school students with research opportunities at aerospace giant United Technologies Corporation. It was highly successful, with 100 percent of participants going on to college, Broadbridge says.

While at Southern, she helped found the National Science Foundation-funded Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena (CRISP) at Yale and Southern. As the center’s education director and a senior researcher, part of her role is helping high school science teachers inspire new generations of STEM students.

Broadbridge says her parents would be proud to know their commitment to education will live on at Southern through an endowed fund established in their memory. “I think they would be happy that I’ve chosen to do something that celebrates their legacy by inspiring and supporting the next generation of researchers and innovators,” she says.

SouthernCT.edu/giving

See other stories from the online issue of Southern Alumni Magazine.

Photo: Peter Hvizdak / Hearst Connecticut Media

Dana Casetti, an adjunct faculty member in the Physics Department, was featured on the front page of the New Haven Register (July 15, 2018) for her participation in two global projects in astrophysics. Casetti taught last month in the summer school program at the Vatican Observatory, one of only a handful of astronomy experts selected to teach Ph.D. students, post-doctoral researchers and other outstanding astrophysics students from around the world. She also recently had been part of a team of experts who used NASA’s Hubble Telescope to help provide an answer to an astronomical mystery pertaining to two satellite dwarf galaxies. Astronomers believe that project is providing additional insight into how stars are “born.”

The following is a link to the Register story:

https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/SCSU-adjunct-Yale-researcher-looks-to-the-stars-13076625.php 

Physics, Evan Finch

Evan Finch wants to get to the heart of the matter – “strange quark matter,” that is.

The assistant professor of physics at Southern and expert on particle/nuclear physics has been researching whether this theoretically enigmatic type of matter exists. If proven, scientists believe it could hold the keys to unlocking many mysteries of the universe.

While the Earth is made up of atoms, which form “visible matter,” a larger portion of the universe is believed to be made up of “dark matter,” which does not emit light and is invisible. But physicists theorize that another type of matter – called strange quark matter, or “strangelets” – is part of creation, as well.

It has yet to be proven, but if it exists, scientists say it would be much heavier than visible matter, likely thousands of times as dense. It could be one of the building blocks of neutron stars, and it could even be responsible for influencing the space-time continuum.

“So far, every test for strange matter has come back negative,” Finch said. “But it can’t be ruled out, and in fact, many physicists believe it exists. Over time, I’ve become less optimistic that it exists. But we certainly can’t rule it out. There is sound theoretical science behind its possible existence.”

Crab Nebula
Optical: NASA/HST/ASU/J. Hester et al. X-Ray: NASA/CXC/ASU/J. Hester et al.

Finch has been part of a team of scientists involved with the use of an Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) for the International Space Station. The AMS measures the level of cosmic rays in the atmosphere, which is important information needed to prepare for a manned flight to Mars by NASA in the next 20 years or so. But the AMS also can detect strange matter, as well as dark matter.

The AMS was installed on the space station in 2011. Finch said it is more likely to capture strange matter at the station, than on Earth.

Finch, now in his third year of teaching at SCSU, brought two students interested in particle physics – Richard Magnotti and Michael Schriefer — to the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island during the summer for three short trips. During the trip, the students sought to troubleshoot a small detector that is used as part of the lab’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, which recreates conditions that are believed to have existed in the first millionth of a second after the Big Bang. The Big Bang is the most commonly held theory by scientists in terms of what ignited the start of the universe. Finch said the collider is the second largest in the world.

“While we weren’t able to find out the cause of a problem in the detector, we were able to re-purpose it,” Finch said.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, is a research organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Located in Geneva, its Large Hydron Collider is where the Higgs boson particle, sometimes called the “God particle,” was proven in 2012.

© 2016 Southern Connecticut State University.