Current Undergraduate Students

As an undergraduate at the U of R, Anne has worked on a project to characterize polishing pitch, the evaluation of optical materials with a commercial birefringence mapper (see instrumentation), the development of bound abrasives to prepolish hard ceramics, and most recently a study of the chemical durabilityof phosphate laser glasses (paper in preparation). Anne has spent many hours putting together materials for the OSA Rochester Section middle school outreach programs.

Recent Publications and Presentations:

A. E. Marino, K. E. Spencer, J. E. DeGroote, K. L. Marshall, A. Rigatti, and S. D. Jacobs, "Chemical durability of phosphate laser glasses polished with pitch, pads, or MRF," to be submitted to Applied Optics (September, 2004)

A. Marino, K. Spencer, J. DeGroote, and S. Jacobs, “Chemical durability of phosphate laser glasses”, to be presented at the OSA Topical Meeting on Optical Fabrication and Testing, Rochester, NY, Oct. 10, 2004.

L. L. Gregg, A. E. Marino, J. C. Hayes, and S. D. Jacobs, “Grain Decoration in Aluminum Oxynitride (ALON) from Polishing on Bound Abrasive Laps,” in Optical Manufacturing and Testing V , edited by H. P. Stahl (SPIE, Bellingham, WA, 2003), Vol. 5180, pp. 47–54.

A. Marino, K. Spencer, J. DeGroote, and S. D. Jacobs, “Chemical Durability of Phosphate Glasses,” Industrial Associates of The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 5 April 2004.

A. E. Marino, J. Hayes, L. L. Gregg, and S. D. Jacobs, "Grain decoration in aluminum oxynitride (ALON) from polishing on bound abrasive laps," Optifab 2003 (SPIE, Bellingham, WA,2003), Vol. TD02, pp. 81-83.

G. Chen, Y. Du, S. Wang, A. E. Marino, L. L. Gregg, S. R. Arrasmith, and S. D. Jacobs, “Effect of SnO on Chemical Durability of Phosphate Glasses,” Glass Technol. 43C , 97 - 99 (2002).

A. E. Marino, S. R. Arrasmith, L. L. Gregg, S. D. Jacobs , G. Chen, and Y. Duc, “Durable Phosphate Glasses with Lower Transition Temperatures,” J. Non-Cryst. Solids 289 , 37 - 41 (2001).

J. E. DeGroote, S. D. Jacobs, L. L. Gregg, A. E. Marino, and J. C. Hayes, “Quantitative Characterization of Optical Polishing Pitch,” in Optical Manufacturing and Testing IV, edited by H. P. Stahl (SPIE, Bellingham, WA, 2001), Vol. 4451, pp. 209–221.

Rupal was President of the OSA student chapter in 2003-2004, and she is Education Chair for 2004-2005. In this capacity, she has participated in numerous educational outreach activities to promote science careers for women.

Recent Publications and Presentations:

J. Lambropoulos and R. Varshneya, "Glass material response to the fabrication process: examples from lapping," To be presented at the OSA Topical Meeting on Optical Fabrication and Testing, Rochester, NY, Oct. 10, 2004.

A. Trajkovska-Petkoska, R. Varshneya, T. Z. Kosc, K. L. Marshall, and S. D. Jacobs, "Enhanced Electro-Optic Behavior for Shaped Polymer Sholesteric Liquid Crystal (PCLC) Flakes Made by Soft Lithography," accepted by Adv. Funct. Mater. (July 2004).

A. Trajkovska-Petkoska, R. Varshneya, T. Z. Kosc, K. L. Marshall, and S. D. Jacobs, “Electric-Optical Response of Shaped Polymer Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Flakes in an AC Field,” Great Lakes Photonics Symposium, Cleveland OH, 7 - 11 June 2004 (manuscript to appear in symposium CD).

R. Varshneya, A. Trajkovska-Petkoska, T. Z. Kosc, and S. D. Jacobs, "Motion of Polymer Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Flakes in an Electric Field," Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU),University of Rochester, 8 August, 2003.

A. Trajkovska-Petkoska, R. Varshneya, T. Z. Kosc, K. L. Marshall, and S. D. Jacobs, “Manufacture of Shaped Polymer Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Flakes Using Soft Lithography,” 12th Annual University of Rochester Symposium on Materials Research (SOMR), Rochester, NY, 3 April 2004.

R. Varshneya, A. Trajkovska-Petkoska, T. Z. Kosc, and S. D. Jacobs, “Motion of Polymer Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Flakes in an Electric Field,” Industrial Associates of The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 10 October 2003.

R. Varshneya, J. E. DeGroote, L. L. Gregg, and S. D. Jacobs, "Characterizing Optical Polishing Pitch," Optifab 2003 (SPIE, Bellingham, WA,2003), Vol. TD02, pp. 87-89.

J. E. DeGroote, S. D. Jacobs, L. L. Gregg, A. E. Marino, J. C. Hayes, and R. Varshneya, “A Data Base for the Physical Properties of Optical Polishing Pitch,” in Optical Fabrication and Testing Digest (Optical Society of America, Washington, DC, 2002), pp. 55-59.

Ms. Katie Spencer is an Optics senior in The Institute of Optics. Katie started work with our group in January of 2004. Her initial project was the characterization of phosphate laser glass coupons for chemical durability against degradation from humidity in a 14 week test. In this work she became proficient with using the Zygo NewView 100 white light interference microscope for microroughness measurements. During the summer of 2004, Katie worked on ideas and developed lesson plans to use in demonstrations for 100 middle school teachers attending OSA's Educator's Day in downtown Rochester on Tuesday, October 12th.

Recent Publications and Presentations:

K. Spencer, R. Varshneya and S. Jacobs, "Polarizers and Polarized Light - a Lesson Plan for Middle School," prepared for Educator's Day, OSA Annual Meeting, Rochester, NY, October 12, 2004.

K. Spencer, R. Varshneya, A. Marino, and S. Jacobs, "Liquid Crystals and Mood Patches - a Lesson Plan For Middle School," prepared for Educator's Day, OSA Annual Meeting, Rochester, NY October 12, 2004.

A. E. Marino, K. E. Spencer, J. E. DeGroote, K. L. Marshall, A. Rigatti, and S. D. Jacobs, "Chemical durability of phosphate laser glasses polished with pitch, pads, or MRF," to be submitted to Applied Optics (September, 2004)

A. Marino, K. Spencer, J. DeGroote, and S. D. Jacobs, “Chemical Durability of Phosphate Glasses,” Industrial Associates of The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 5 April 2004