Engineering Students Gain Valuable Experience This Summer

For The University of Scranton’s Department of Physics and Engineering, the summer is an opportune time for their students to gain research and internship experience in their field of study.

This year, students from across the majors offered through the department participated in elite summer internships, as well as with advanced space weather research projects on campus with Scranton professors, as well as through research programs offered with the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) Laboratory at Virginia Tech and through NASA. Students also presented research with professors at national conferences, including the National Science Foundation (NSF) Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) Workshop in San Diego, California.

Scranton student Gerard N. Piccini attended EISCAT Summer School at the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory in Finland. EISCAT is a scientific organization that conducts research on the lower, middle and upper atmosphere and ionosphere using the incoherent scatter radar technique. Piccini, Monroe Township, New Jersey, also participated in the SuperDARN Summer School at Virginia Tech. He presented his research on low-cost ionosonde development at the NSF CEDAR Workshop in San Diego, California.

University students Thomas J. Pisano, Michael Molzen and Nicholas Guerra conducted research funded by the NASA Living With a Star program, which is a space weather-focused and applications driven research program. These students participated at a NASA LWS team meeting at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) in Boulder, Colorado.

Pisano and Molzen also attended the SuperDARN Summer School at Virginia Tech and participated in NASA’s RockOn program held at the NASA Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia. In the RockOn program, students build and test atmospheric sensing devices called payloads, which were later launched on a sounding rocket from Wallops Island. They also presented their research on SuperDARN MSTIDs at the NSF CEDAR Workshop in San Diego, California.

Pisano, Staten Island, New York, is a junior electrical engineering major. Molzen, Bloomsbury, New Jersey, is a physics major in his junior year at Scranton. Guerra, Scranton, is a senior computer science major at Scranton, who is also pursuing a master’s degree in software engineering.

Cuong Nguyen attended SuperDARN Summer School at Virginia Tech. He presented research on personal space weather station - grape receiver at the NSF CEDAR Workshop in San Diego, California, and the Dayton Hamvention in Xania, Ohio, which is the world’s largest ham radio gathering. Nguyen, Ashley, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering and computer science from Scranton in 2023, and is now pursuing a master’s degree in software engineering.

Devin Diehl presented research on PyLap/SAMI3 HF radio wave modeling at the NSF CEDAR Workshop in San Diego, California. Diehi, Mayfield, is a graduate student at Scranton, pursing a master’s degree in software engineering.

 Simal Sami presented research on observations made with a GNU Chirpsounder 2 installation near Scranton at the NSF CEDAR Workshop in San Diego, California. GNU Chirpsounder 2 is a system for making ionospheric measurements using signals of opportunity produced by distant ionosonde. Sami, Jessup, is a senior information technology major.

Robert Troy, Dunmore, also conducted personal space weather station - ClementineSDR research on campus. He is a senior electrical engineering major.

Nathaniel Frissell, Ph.D., assistant professor physics and engineering at The University of Scranton, worked with all the students. He also played an instrumental role in developing the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) workshop at Virginia Tech and taught at the workshop this summer.

Physics and engineering professors Rachel Frissell; Juan Serna, Ph.D.; Majid Mokhtari; and Robert Spalletta, Ph.D., and mathematics professor Joseph Klobusicky, Ph.D., also worked with several of the students on their research projects and accompanied the students at the various conferences and workshops. Recent Scranton graduates Jonathan Rizzo ’21, Pittston Township; Nisha Yadav G’23, Muradnagar; and Veronica Romanek ’23, Hampton, New Jersey, also worked with students this summer. Romanek, who is now pursuing her Ph.D. at Virginia Tech, will continue the research she began at Scranton as part of her doctoral studies and will serve as the research liaison between the Virginia Tech group and students at Scranton.

In addition to research projects, several physics and engineering students gained experience through internships during the summer.

Robert C. Brudnicki, Archbald, participated in a summer internship with Schott Glass in Duryea. He also conducted personal space weather station - ClementineSDR research on campus. Brudnicki is a senior computer engineering major.

Evan M. Hromisin, Dallas, participated in a summer internship with GE Aerospace in Cincinnati, Ohio. Hromisin is a junior electrical engineering major.

John A. Nelson, Jefferson, Maryland, participated in a summer internship with Lumen Technologies in Monroe, Louisiana. Nelson is a senior computer engineering and philosophy double major.

Zainab H. Shah, Hellertown, participated in a summer research-based internship at Florida International University, Energy Power and Sustainability in Miami, Florida. Shah is a junior computer engineering major.

Mitchell W. Sporing, Mount Ephraim, New Jersey, participated in a summer internship with Miller Industrial Manufacturing in Glens Falls, New York. Sporing is a senior mechanical engineering major.

Seven University of Scranton students discussed their experiences at the Physics and Engineering Department’s Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Club meeting in September. The IEEE Club is a student branch of the world's largest technical professional organization. Students presenting at the IEEE club meeting were Brudnicki, Hromisin, Nelson, Piccini, Pisano, Shah and Sporing.

Undergraduate programs offered through the University’s Physics and Engineering Department are biophysics, computer engineering, electrical engineering, engineering management, mechanical engineering, physics and pre-engineering.