Maslow will get a taste for the scientific things in life, when Dr. Jim Drachenberg, associate professor of engineering and physics, takes the stage at Cosmic Cafe this Thursday at 6:30.
Cosmic Cafe began years ago and was inspired by the Society of Physics students who had been doing a similar event as a national activity.
In the past, this event was held at Monk’s, another local coffee shop, but to make things more convenient for the student body it has been moved to Maslow. These talks happen at least once a semester, allowing professors to rotate as speakers.
Dr. Jim Drachenberg will be speaking on “Proton Spin”, one of the current projects he is involved in. He is working with STAR collaboration at RHIC in Brookhaven, Long Island to study how the proton is put together and attempting to answer the question of why it spins. ACU is the only institution within its’ cohort to be involved in every part of the process, which takes place mostly in the basement of Onstead Science Center.
“Most of the time students are just cutting scintillator tiles and sending it over to Brookhaven, but we are sending them the final project,” said Roy Salinas, senior physics major .
A scintillator is a material that exhibits the property of luminescence. Luminescent materials, when struck by a particle, absorb the energy and emit light.
“My nieces and nephews came to the last one and actually asked some questions,” Drachenberg said. “Cosmic Cafe is designed for a lay audience, so we like to reinforce that this event is not designed just for physics and engineering majors, but anyone who has an interest in the work we are doing at ACU.”
Ben Edwards, senior and president of the Society of Physics, said he thinks that professors taking the time to explain their physics projects is great so that students can understand them.
“I think it’s great that here at ACU, we are able to share our knowledge and perspective with the community on topics they would otherwise not hear about,” Edwards said.
Amen Mugisha, a Sophomore Psychology major works on polishing scintillator tiles in the basement of Onstead Science Center
