Students with a good background in mathematics and modern physics can participate in these research activities. Experimental Solid State Physics Everyone is familiar with microwave radiation, as people use it often in heating their leftovers in their microwave oven or by making a call on their cellular phone. However, microwaves can be used to study the properties of materials. For instance, the fact that microwaves can heat water and metallic pots while heating neither glass nor plastic tells us something about those particular materials. More accurate measurements of the microwave absorption in samples can give us a great deal of information.
Microwaves are also useful in studying magnetic materials.
Other magnetic information is also obtainable, such as the strength of the magnetism and its temperature dependence. These data are crucial in attempting to develop a theory of magnetism for a system of materials. Dr. Karen Magee-Sauer's research field is in planetary sciences. Dr. Magee-Sauer primarily studies the composition and behavior of comets by observing the infrared emission of cometary molecules. Recently her group has started using the Keck telescope atop of Mauna Kea in their cometary research as well.