Austin Mohney makes presentation at prestigious physics conference

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Austin Mohney

LOCK HAVEN, PA (03/29/2012)(readMedia)-- Lock Haven University had a major presence when the world's leading physicists assembled in Boston, Massachusetts, February 27 - March 2, for the 2012 March meeting of the American Physical Society (APS). One of the presenters was Austin Mohney, who graduated from Lock Haven University in December 2011.

The APS March meeting is the largest physics meeting in the world. 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 with Dr. Senevirathne. This year, there were 16 LHU student presenters. Dr. Marian Tzolov, associate professor of Physics, and Dr. Indrajith Senevirathne, assistant professor, directed the trip to Boston.

Mr. Mohney gave two presentations at the APS 2012 March meeting. He gave a poster presentation on his research titled "Precipitant diffusion and surface segregation in Al Alloys near melting point: Al 2024" which focuses on research on Aluminum alloys and their stability against thermal diffusion. This research was conducted in the LHU nanotechnology program under Dr. Indrajith Senevirathne, assistant professor in the Geology and Physics Department. Mr. Mohney also gave a talk titled "Zinc Oxide Coated Carbon Nanotubes for Energy Harvesting Applications" about his research at Georgia Institute of Technology for his NSF funded summer research under Dr. David Stollberg. 

Dr. Senevirathne explained, "Aluminum alloys are precipitant hardened and used in many industrial applications. This is an investigation towards their thermal stability towards an applied temperature gradient."

This was Mr. Mohney's second experience presenting his research at the APS March meeting.  He had presented his research in the APS 2011 March meeting in Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Senevirathne said, "Mr. Mohney is very diligent in his approach to research and has a relentless work ethic. He is my best student yet and any research group will be lucky to have him."

Mr. Mohney graduated with a B.S. (Summa Cum Laude) in Physics and Applied Physics. He has been accepted to pursue his Ph.D. in nanotechnology/engineering with a full scholarship to Drexel University, University at Albany and Georgia Institute of Technology.

A resident of Kane, Pa., Mr. Mohney is the son of Carl and Julie Mohney.

Attendance at the APS March meeting typically includes more than 12,000 of the top scientists in physics and chemistry research throughout the world. Attended Nobel laureates included William Phillips (1997 Nobel Prize in Physics) at NIST and Robert Laughlin (1998 Nobel Prize in Physics) at Stanford University.

The presentation by Austin Mohney and his colleagues is based on experimental results which the students acquired using the state-of-the-art equipment at Lock Haven University guided by the experienced faculty in the Nanotechnology program.

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.