May 18, 2006

Professors Koltick and Kim Attend Counterterrorism Conference in Washington, DC

Professor David Koltick and Professor Yeong Kim attended the Fifth Annual International Counterterrorism Conference in Washington, D.C. on April 20-21, 2006. The subject of this year’s conference was “Public and Private Partnerships.” According to Tom Gede, Executive Director of the Conference of Western Attorneys General, “This conference has become the Post-9/11 gathering of international public officials in technology and counterterrorism from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Australia, and Europe.”

The conference focused on leading edge advancements in counterterrorism technologies and global perspectives on policy and homeland security issues. Officials and representatives from law enforcement, maritime security companies, airport and transportation agencies convened with homeland security policy makers, practitioners and first responders, including Customs, DHS, Coast Guard, Defense and Immigration.

Guest speakers were Ronald K. Noble, Secretary General, ICPO-INTERPOL and Tom Ridge, Former Secretary of Homeland Security, United States of America.

Pictured from left: David Koltick, Tom Ridge, Yeong Kim. Dr. Koltick and Dr. Kim met with Tom Ridge, Former Secretary of Homeland Security, at the International Counterterrorism conference.

May 16, 2006

Dr. Ivan Novikov accepts Assistant Professorship at WKU.

Dr. Ivan Novikov has accepted a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor of Physics at Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green. Dr. Novikov has been a post-doctoral research associate with the Applied Physics Laboratory, Purdue, since November 2002.

He received his PhD. in Nuclear and Particle Physics from St. Petersburg State University, Russia, in 2000. He has been deeply involved with many key projects at the Applied Physics Laboratory, including neutron interrogation of hazardous materials, detection of radiation in drinking water, and neutron irradiation of biological materials.

Dr. Ivan Novikov at APL.

Dr. Novikov in the bio-lab that he set up at Purdue.

Dr. Novikov has been awarded an EPSCOR research grant from the state of Kentucky. This award from the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research will be matched by funds from Western Kentucky University as part of his start-up package.

March 20, 2006

Seth McConchie’s Homeland Security Poster Wins First Prize

Seth McConchie, a Ph.D. student at the Applied Physics Laboratory, has won First Prize for his poster in the e-Enterprise Conference Poster Session, held on March 20, 2006 in the Purdue Memorial Union. Mr. McConchie was awarded the $500 cash first prize in the Purdue Homeland Security Institute Topic Area. A panel of experts from academia and industry judged the student submissions.

Mr. McConchie’s poster is entitled “CarScreen: A VBIED Detection System.” His poster concerns his research at the Applied Physics Laboratory on the detection of explosives in vehicles. His thesis advisor is Dr. David Koltick.

April 11, 2006

Matt Marziale Showcases Work at Undergraduate Research Poster Day

Matt Marziale, student at the Applied Physics Lab, presented his poster entitled “Momentum Distributions in Condensed Matter Systems at the Undergraduate Research Poster Day, April 11, 2006.

Abstract

Momentum Distributions in Condensed Matter Systems

Matt Marziale

Research Mentors: Dr. David Koltick and Dr. Yeong Kim

The quantum energy indeterminacy due to interactions between charged particles in a plasma has been shown to lead to a generalized momentum distribution which has a high-energy momentum distribution tail diminishing as the inverse eighth power of the momentum, instead of the conventional Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution tail decaying exponentially. The energy-broadened quasiparticle energy states can be thought of as highly energy-broadened stationary states, broadened due to interactions with other charged particles within the plasma environment. The predicted high energy momentum distribution has been observed in coulomb-like QCD interactions and coulomb-like nuclear interactions. This behavior is predicted to be universal, allowing for strong enhancement of the plasma particle number density at energies far in excess of the average plasma temperature. We propose to search for these high energy particles (10-100eV) in metal-hydrides (Titanium, Zirconium and Palladium), both as pure metals and in nano-structured materials as a function of temperature (300^o K-1000^o K) and H/M ratio using thermal neutron (~0.025eV) n + p => n + p inelastic scattering to probe the proton momentum distribution within the metal.

February 16, 2006

Professors Koltick, Kim Brief Pentagon on CarScreen

Professor David Koltick and Professor Yeong Kim were invited by Paul Benda, Director of the Force Protection Agency, to conduct a briefing at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., on February 16, 2006. They presented their current progress on their CarScreen scanner. CarScreen is a neutron interrogation system for the detection of explosives in vehicles, and designed for stationary and mobile deployment for the protection of high-value assets such as embassies or other government buildings. This project is a joint development of the Purdue University Applied Physics Laboratory, Raytheon Corporation and 2K Corporation.

CarScreen prototype. Front view and detector tower detail.

Applied Physics Lab, Raytheon and 2K teams on the CarScreen platform.