Mark W. Plano Clark, Associate Professor of Physics
| Education: | B.A.(Mathematics), St. Mary of the Plains College |
| | B.S., Kansas State University |
| | M.S., University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill |
| | Ph.D., University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill |
| Areas of Interest: | |
| Research: | Physics Education (educational materials development), Astronomy (robotic telescope development for teaching and student research in variable stars), Robotics, NEW! Development of a Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) for classroom use, History of Boswell Observatory and the Alvan Clark 8" achromatic refractor, X-ray diffraction |
| Courses Taught: | Introductory Physics, Analog Electronics, Digital Electronics, Mechanics, Statics, Optics, Astronomy |
| Student Projects: | - Robotic telescope development
- mechanical development of pointing and tracking to <5 arc sec
- optical alignment/CCD imaging
- development of electronics package to utilize GPS time/position, tilt sensors (for alignment), magnetic field sensor (for alignment), and remote internet control
- construction of observatory to house the telescope
- CCD imaging of variable stars
- Fireworks control
- work on revision of first prototype to incorporate CAN networking and a more robust/compact controller (electronic engineering)
- Human Larynx model
- Continue development of a more human-ike model to be used in the introductory course (3D printing, study potential 3D vocal folds
- Perform optical tests on Alvan Clark achromatic refractor for possible publication in the Journal of the Antique Telescope Society
- Construct a classroom Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) in collaboration with Alex Enders at UNL
- Produce a Bragg diffraction for x-ray crystallography of both powder and single crystal samples
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