Austin Mohney gives presentation to American Physical Society

Related Media

Austin Mohney

LOCK HAVEN, PA (04/01/2011)(readMedia)-- As the world's leading physicists assembled in Dallas, Texas, March 21-25, for the 2011 meeting of the American Physical Society (APS), Lock Haven University had a major presence. One of the presenters was Mr. Austin Mohney, a junior and an Applied Physics major at Lock Haven University.

As his presentation at the APS 2011 March meeting, Mr. Mohney gave a poster presentation on his research titled "SEM and EDX Study of Al alloy Precipitant Surface Segregation due to Annealing" which focuses on research of precipitant hardened Al alloys their thermal stability, and diffusion characteristics. He conducted his research in the nanotechnology program under Dr. Indrajith Senevirathne, assistant professor in the Geology and Physics Department.

Dr. Senevirathne explained that "In Al alloys, precipitation hardening by impurity phase metallic microstructures in the main bulk metal is a norm. This results in improvement in favorable physical attributes such as strength, heat conductivity, etc. The study is to understand how these could change due to heat."

Mr. Mohney has won a prestigious NSF REU scholarship to do research at Materials Research Institute at Georgia Institute of Technology, where he will be this summer. A resident of Kane, Pa., he is the son of Carl and Julie Mohney.

Dr. Senevirathne said, "Mr. Mohney is very diligent in his approach to research, and I have no doubt he will be a great fit to any research group in the world."

Attendance at the APS March meeting typically includes more than 12,000 of the top scientists in physics and applied physics research throughout the world. The attendance always includes a few Nobel Prize winners in Physics or/and Chemistry.

Each year since 2009, LHU nanotechnology students have been presenting their research at the APS conference. The record began in 2009 with a single LHU student presenter, and in 2010 there were 6 LHU student presenters. This year, there were 9 LHU student presenters. Dr. Indrajith Senevirathne and Dr. Anamika Gopal, assistant professors of Physics, directed the trip to Dallas. Dr. Senevirathne has been taking student presenters to the APS March meetings since 2009.

Lock Haven University is a member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), the largest provider of higher education in the commonwealth. Its 14 universities offer more than 250 degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. Nearly 405,000 system alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.