Students often sign up for Physics 491 Senior Projects with me. The general requirements for a project are described in the 491 Syllabus. Details depend on the specific topic of the project. I like to get students involved in either my thin film magnetism research or in the development of experiments that may be used in our Junior Lab course for physics majors. Here are some examples of past projects:
| Student | Dates | Project title |
| Toshio Sujino | 1999 | Magnetic and Electronic Properties of Multilayers |
| Kameron Rausch | 2000 | Construction of a Vibrating Sample Magnetometer |
| Justin Garfoli | 2001 | LabVIEW Kerr Effect Apparatus |
| Brent Harrison | 2001 | Transport measurements using a closed cycle He refrigerator |
| Jane Walner | 2001 | Construction of a Mossbauer Spectrometer for the Junior Lab |
| Cyrus Reed | 2002 | Construction of an IR Brillouin Light Scattering Spectrometer |
| Gina Barber | 2002 | Continued Development of the WWU Kerr Effect Apparatus |
| Beth Williams | 2002 | Independent study: Magnetism in Matter |
| Marc Sobelesky | 2003 | Continued development of the WWU IR BLS spectrometer |
| Jeff Dillon | 2004 | LabVIEW control and monitoring of a vacuum pumping station |
| Jeff Tong | 2004 | Chaos in a Gel |
| Shawn Reese | 2005 | Using the Acousoelastic Effect to measure in vivo Tendon Forces |
| Pete Jongema | 2005 | LabVIEW PID control of a high field Electromagnet |
| Cedar Wolf | 2006 | Fe Thin film Characterization |
| Joe Shaw | 2006 | MOKE study of sputtered magnetic thin films |
| Mons Lee | 2006 | Construction of a tunable laser |
| Andrew Simmons | 2006 | Independent study: Advanced topics in Classical Mechanics |
| David Gardner | 2008 | Construction and Characterization of an external cavity laser |
| Doug Oswald | 2008 | Construction of a Sonoluminescence apparatus |
| Chaunee McKay | 2009 | Growth and Characterization of Thin Magnetic Films |
| David Sergio | 2009 | Velocity calibration of a Mossbauer Spectrometer |
| Christine Atkins | 2009-10 | Brillouin Light Scattering Studies of an Fe Whisker |
| Brett Gibson | 2011-12 | Construction of a Sonoluminescence Apparatus |
| Duncan Harrison | 2011-12 | Brillouin Light Scattering Studies of Thin Film Co alloys |
| Tony Marzetta | 2013 | Design of a LabVIEW virtual instrument to collect BLS data |
| Jesse Hall | 2013S | Use of LabVIEW to collect MOKE data |
| Jesse Hall | 2014W | Preliminary work towards a WWU Magneto-Optical Trap |
| Brian McAdams | 2013-14 | Assembling a down-conversion apparatus for new WWU entangled photon experiments |
| Blake Nicholson | 2014 | Repair and operation of the WWU sputtering apparatus and Brillouin Spectrometer |
| David Nicols | 2014 | Construction of a photon entanglement apparatus at WWU |
| Sean Douglass | 2014-15 | LabVIEW control of the WWU/SFU BLS spectrometer |
| Jake Wilcox | 2014-15 | LabVIEW control of a MOKE apparatus for Junior Lab |
| Louisa McCuskey | 2015 | Holographic interferometry of a standing waves in a Quartz plate |
| Sam Stansell | 2016 W,S 2017 W,S | Construction and Characterization of an External Cavity Diode Laser |
| Noah Harris | 2016F | Measurement of Newton’s Gravitational Constant G using a LabVIEW controlled Cavendish Apparatus |
| Geordon Brewer | 2016F 2017W,S 2018W,S | Growth and Characterization of Magnetic Thin Films |
| Benny Saack | 2019F, 2020W,S | Improving the uniformity of thin Magnetic Films for Brillouin Light Scattering Studies. Characterization of films by Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray reflectivity, and Magnetooptical Kerr Effect |
| Garrett Harlow | 2021F, 2022W | Adapting a Magnetooptical Apparatus for use in Undergraduate Lab Experiments |
| Scott Ericson | 2022S | Improving a Magnetooptical Kerr Effect Apparatus: Optimization of Analyser Cross Angle |
Here are a few photos of apparatus used in recent student projects.
