Stuart Casarotto
  • engineering physics and environmental studies
  • Class of 2014
  • Caledonia, IL

Stuart Casarotto participated in Celebration of Learning

2012 May 7

More than 75 Augustana students from all academic areas shared their advanced research projects on Saturday, May 5, at the Celebration of Learning. This on-campus research symposium annually gives students an opportunity to show off their academic accomplishments to their families and the Augustana community.

Among the students involved:

Stuart Casarotto, a junior from Caledoni, Ill., majoring in engineering physics and environmental studies. The research was titled Testing and Installation of a High-Efficiency CsI Scintillator Array. Experiments on unstable atomic nuclei far from stability are important in understanding changes to the structure of these physical systems. The facility of the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL), located at Michigan State University, is used for performing experiments on neutron-rich nuclei. Currently, these experiments are limited to the elements lighter than magnesium. This is due to the resolution of the charged fragment detectors, which limits the isotopic separation. The resolution of the system will be improved with changes to the setup, primarily due to a new scintillator array. The new array consists of twenty-five sodium-doped CsI crystals arranged in a 5 x 5 configuration. Scintillators produce visible light due to the interactions of nuclei passing through the scintillator material. The light collected is proportional to the energy lost by the nuclei. The testing, assembly, and installation of the detector array will be presented.

Celebration participants presented their research through a poster display or an oral presentation. Many students expounded on the results of their Senior Inquiry, a multiple-term research project required for most academic programs. Other students shared honors capstone projects or student-faculty research findings. Because of the advanced level of research involved, most of the presenters are upperclass students.

Anne Earel and Stefanie Bluemle, Augustana reference librarians and the event's co-directors, said the Celebration of Learning provided an outlet for students to showcase their accomplishments.

Presentations topics varied greatly and included anthropology, biology, physics, geography, gender studies, theater and more.