Fatima Mahmood '06, a math and physics double
major, recently won the award for best undergraduate paper at a conference of
the New York State Section of the American Physical Society.
She presented a research project titled “Neutral
Meson Analysis of Photoproduction from the Proton.”
The conference, titled “Physics of the
Microworld: From Quarks to Nanostructures” was held at New York City College of
Technology and attended by graduate students, teaching faculty and researchers.
Mahmood used data from experiments by her
advisor, Prof. Michael Vineyard of Union's
physics department, at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Virginia to study meson
production from the proton and learn about the structure of nucleons. The neutral
mesons are identified by their two-photon decay.
Mahmood began the research project in the summer
of 2003. The work was supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Energy
and Union College, and a National Science
Foundation AIRE grant.
Mahmood, of Clifton Park,
is a 2002 graduate of Shenendehowa
High School. At Union, she is a dean's list student and William Golub Presidential Scholar. She also
presented her research last spring at Union's
Steinmetz Symposium, an exposition of student scholarly and creative
achievement.
After Union,
she would like to go to graduate school. She is considering college teaching or
academic research.