Brittni Blust makes presentation at prestigious physics conference

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Brittni Blust

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 Brittni Blust, a junior and a Biology major at Lock Haven University.

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.

Brittni Blust gave a poster presentation on her research titled "A comparison of the emission spectra of Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria" which explores a unique way of optical detection of the bacterial type. Brittni Blust was working closely with her classmate Tracy Swinger under the supervision of Dr. Marian Tzolov, associate professor in Physics and in collaboration with Dr. Joseph Calabrese, professor in Biology.

Dr. Tzolov explained that "optical detection has the inherent advantages of being fast, noninvasive, and without byproducts. We succeeded to find a way to discriminate optically between the two major types of bacteria – Gram positive and Gram negative – which is the first step in future applications in optical sensing devices. "

Ms. Blust is a resident of Carlisle, Pa., and she is a daughter of  Nicole Deter and Scott Werner.

Dr. Tzolov emphasized that "Brittni is a very organized student capable to quickly prioritize. She is a great team player and I am very happy that she and Tracy Swinger made a very successful team. Part of their work presented by Tracy Swinger got an award by the Society of Physics Students."

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 Brittni Blust and her 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 Pennsylvani