2 physics students' research recognized

Two students in the Department of Physics at California State University, Fresno have been recognized for research in their respective disciplines.

Geoffrey Scott Nelson, a 25-year-old junior from Sanger majoring in biomedical physics, received the Steven Chu award for best research at the meeting of the California section of the American Physical Society in October.

Nelson’s research including spending last summer making a documentary titled “Facts from the Fallout: Research conducted in the aftermath of Chernobyl.” He joined researchers at the Research Center for Radiation Medicine in Ukraine, the leading group studying long-term effects of the Chernobyl reactor accident.

The project made a documentary summarizing the findings, methodology and implications of the research conducted at Chernobyl.

Takako Kurimoto, a 25-year-old physics graduate student from Chiba, Japan, received an Excellency award for her student talk last summer at the Nuclear Physics Methods and Accelerators in Biology and Medicine seminar held in Prague.

Her project focused on plant irradiation and consisted of growing Arabidopsis thaliana (common name mouseear cress) under a controlled environment, irradiating living samples of the plant with different types and doses of radiation, and analyzing physical and physiological effects of radiation.

Kurimoto also received one of the 2007 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards from the American Physical Society.

For more information, contact the Department of Physics at 559.278.2371.