TEXAS (FOX 44) - A Midway High School graduate is being recognized on a national level for her hard work!
Acoording to the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), senior Kara Stogsdill is a physics student studying ways to measure the mass of tiny particles called neutrinos. She has earned a prestigious national award for her research - the Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award from the Society of Physics Students, an organization of the American Institute of Physics. This award is given to students based on exceptional research achievements in any physics-related field.
Stogsdill's research is part of the Project 8 Neutrino Mass Experiment, which includes faculty and students from UTA and 13 other universities and national laboratories in the United States and Europe. Project 8's goal is to measure the mass of the neutrino, which is considered one of the building blocks of the universe. Ben Jones, a UTA associate professor of physics and Stogsdill's faculty mentor, is a principal investigator for Project 8.
UTA says neutrinos are the most abundant particles with mass in the universe. Every time atomic nuclei come together (in the case of stars like the sun) or break apart (such as in nuclear reactors), neutrinos are produced. Even everyday items like bananas emit neutrinos from the natural radioactivity of potassium in the fruit. Scientists believe that studying neutrinos can help us understand how the universe came to contain matter.
In addition to having little mass, neutrinos also interact very weakly, making it difficult for scientists to pinpoint them to study. Stogsdill is building a Zeeman slower, an instrument that is used to slow and cool a beam of hot atoms so that scientists may study them more easily.
According to UTA, Stogsdill grew up in Waco and attended Midway High School. She says she developed an early fascination with physics as well as chemistry, mathematics and science in general. She came to UTA initially planning to major in engineering.
Stogsdill said Jones has given her confidence to grow as an undergraduate researcher. She started out with no research experience, and is now an experienced member of the lab group.
UTA says after Stogsdill graduates next spring, she plans to apply for an internship at a national laboratory and then pursue a doctoral degree.