Dr. Kathleen Johnston

Dr. Kathleen Johnston is the Director of the Louisiana Tech University Center for Applied Physics Studies (CAPS), the LaSpace Campus Coordinator, SURA Trustee for Louisiana Tech, and Group Leader of the Louisiana Tech Particle Physics Group (PPG).

Contact Info Education Chronology of Experience Selected Publications Funding Activities Professional Societies and Honors Thesis Supervised Undergraduate Research Assistants and their Research Projects Undergraduate Courses Taught Graduate Courses Taught

Contact Info

Office: Engineering Annex, Room 219

Phone: 318-257-4358 or 4092

FAX: 318-257-4228

E-mail: johnston@phys.latech.edu

URL: http://www.phys.latech.edu/~johnston/index.html

Mail:

Center for Applied Physics Studies

Louisiana Tech University

Ruston, LA 71272

EDUCATION

CHRONOLOGY OF EXPERIENCE

  1. Director Center for Applied Physics Studies (CAPS), SURA Trustee for Louisiana Tech, and the Louisiana Tech LaSpace Campus Coordinator - August 1997 - Present - Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, Louisiana. Research: The Center for Applied Physics Studies (CAPS), founded by Dr. Johnston, is seeking to establish a cross-disciplinary research and educational environment that maximizes the transfer of technology, information, and research techniques among differing areas of specialty in Engineering and Physics thus maximizing the use of personnel, shared facilities, and the education of students in a team oriented environment. The research projects span the areas of Micro Machined Scintillator Sensors, On-board Chip Micro-Cooling, CsI coupled CCD Chip Development for applications in Gamma Ray Astronomy and Positron Emission Tomography (PET), and Particle Detector Development for experiments at Fermilab and the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF). The research project teams are composed of Physicists, Engineers, Postdocs, students (undergraduates, graduate, and high school), and Science School Teachers each working in their own area of specialty with a portion of their time spent in a cross over area. The Center's research program currently has funding from the NSF, DOE, Industry, Louisiana State Board of Regents Support Fund, LaSpace, TJNAF, and NASA/EPSCoR. The Center currently has 10 active grants and MOUs totaling ~$2.1M and spanning 2-3 years. I have reviewed proposals for the NSF, DOE, and NASA, served as a Panelists reviewer for the NSF in Washington, and critiqued papers for Physical Review, Phys Rev Lett, NIM, and IEEE. CAPS Director Duties: Guide the research activities, establish teams for research projects, maintain educational outreach programs, establish external collaborations, assign all work loads, proposal writing, staff evaluations, budgeting, hire personnel, secure resources for research activities, over site of Center facilities, purchasing, and computer system maintenance, and administer permanent Center staff which include an Administrative Assistant, an Electrical Engineer Technician, Computer System Manager, Web Master, 12 undergraduate students, and 4 graduate students. LaSpace Coordinator Duties: Administer Fellowships and Awards, evaluate student progress, selection of students for awards, distribution of Space Research information, and recruitment. SURA Duties: Attend SURA Board meetings four times a year, serve on the Over-site Committee for the TJNAF Facility, serve on the SURA Financial Committee, write reports on future recommendations for SURA research thrusts, and administer the local SURA Fellowship Program.
  2. Associate Professor of Physics - September 1992- Present - Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, Louisiana. Group Leader and founder of the Louisiana Tech Particle Physics Group. Research: Current physics research interest are Neutrino Oscillations, Hadron Structure and Hypernuclear Physics at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), and Particle Astrophysics. Current experimental projects are as follows: * A Minute-of-arc Resolution Gamma Ray Imaging Experiment - MARGIE, A hard X-ray, low energy gamma ray balloon borne coded aperture telescope designed to cover the energy range of 30-300keV, with a wide field of view and high angular resolution of ~1', * G0 at TJNAF, A Parity Violating Measurement, * D0 at Fermilab, Measurement of the Top Quark, * The Large Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), a fundamental search for gravity waves, * Experiment E89-09, "An Investigation of the Spin Dependence of the ?N Effective Interaction in the P Shell", at TJNAF. For E89-9 at TJNAF, I have designed, built, and am currently installing the scintillator hodoscope on the rear of the Electron Spectrometer. The purpose of the hodoscope is to give rough x-position information and electron arrival time for triggering purposes. After the experiment runs in March of 2000, I and the PPG will assist in the data gathering and analysis of the Lambda lifetime measurement. For the MARGIE experiment, I am responsible for the design, building, testing, construction, and data readout electronics of an Attitude Determination System (ADS) to be used on balloon flights capable of minute-of-arc position resolution. Currently, the ADS is being ground tested and will fly in the Spring of 2000. For the G0 experiment, I am responsible for the management of the Cryostat Exit Chamber (CED) Detector Project for the PPG. The responsibilities include the design, construction, signal processing electronics, and installation of the CED's on the G0 Spectrometer System, and data analysis when the experiment runs. The design and prototype testing of CED elements has been completed and construction has begun. The PPG presented to the PAC at TJNAF a proposal for measuring the N-to-Delta Transition utilizing the G0 Spectrometer system that was approved for running in 2001 with K. Johnston, N. Simicevic, and S. Wells as spokespersons. For LIGO, I am responsible for the residual gas studies on the Core Optics for the interferometer. I have secured a new SIMS Lab from MIT for this purpose and I am in the process of getting it installed and operational. For D0 at Fermilab, I am currently beginning data analysis on Super Symmetric Particle Searches with the D0 Spectrometer. PPG Group Leader Duties: Setup entire Detector Test Lab and computer system, manage all experimental projects for the PPG, which include grant administration, establishment of time-lines, assignment of personnel or FETs, establishment of work loads, evaluation of equipment needs, purchasing, detector design, electronics design, data measurement, software development for data analysis, and establishment of time-lines, and deliverables for projects, and presentations at G0 Group Meetings on the progress of the CED's. Teaching Duties: Responsible for teaching undergraduate and graduate Physics courses. In addition, I have 9 students in my Detector Test Lab working on various experimental research projects. There are 7 undergraduate research assistants and I am supervising the thesis for 2 Master's students and 1 Ph.D. student. University Commitments: Member of the University Networking Committee, faculty advisor for the SPS, and on the Graduate Faculty. In addition, I maintain the CAPS and Physics Computer System which consists of six 400 MHz and two 600 MHz DEC Alphas running Unix and 30 PC's all on a local area ATM Network.
  3. Program Chair of Physics - April 1997- December 1998 - Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, Louisiana. Physics Program Task: Schedule classes, advise students, generate reports, keep up with book orders, maintain the department computer system and network, inventory, schedule graduate teaching assistants, establish class sizes, and recruit students.
  4. Post Doctoral - September 1991 - August 1992 - Los Alamos National Lab at Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility (LAMPF) for the MP10 Group. Duties: Responsible for coordinating preparations for LAMPF Experiment 1097, "A Measure of the Spin Dependence and Analyzing Power for the Reaction np ® pp?-", to be run in Summer 1993, and to assist in the running of Experiment 876, "A Measure of the np-Elastic Analyzing Power ANO and Spin Transfer KNN", the current experiment on Line X at LAMPF. The task for E1097 involved the design, construction, testing, and installation of the charge division cylindrical drift chamber, studies of the electronics response, adoption of the MEGA charge division electronics to the chamber, gas response studies, rewiring of the chamber, setup and testing of the chamber in a parasitic mode with E876 in the Summer of 1992. The task for E876 involved the change over of the bending magnets in the E876 Polarimeter, the reinstallation of all the chambers, and testing of the chambers, data taking, and analysis. I was the supervisor of 3 graduate students and two undergraduate students for this project.
  5. Post Doctoral - January 1991 - September 1991 - University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas. Duties: Task Leader for the construction of a charge division cylindrical drift chamber for Experiment 1097 to be run at LAMPF in May of 1991. The duties involved construction and design of carbon fiber cylinders, assembly of the detector, wiring, testing of the electronics, and installation and testing of the chamber in the beam. In addition, I had the task of supervising and training 4 students; 2 graduate and 2 undergraduate students.
  6. Research Assistant - September 1987 - January 1991 - University of Houston, Houston, Texas. Duties: Assisted in the building of the photon arm cylindrical drift chamber detector for the MEGA Experiment at LAMPF, "A Measure of the Rare Decay ??® e?." The tasks involved construction of the cylindrical rohacell cylinders, assembly of the detector, wiring, and testing on the beam line at LAMPF. My thesis project consisted of a search for a strange dibaryon performed at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) at Brookhaven (E820). I was responsible for the construction, testing, and installation of a barrel and ring type scintillation counter surrounding the Helium target used to track charged particle final states. In addition, I assisted in all phases of the setup of the experiment, data taking, standing shifts, all the data reduction and analysis.
  7. System Manager - January 1986 - May 1987 - Texas Accelerator Center, The Woodlands, Texas. Duties: Maintained the computer system. The hardware maintained were a VAX 11/730 with a VMS operating system and a UNIX based AT&T 3B5. Also, support for the local area network, evaluation of user needs, solution of users problems, training in the use of software.
  8. System Consultant and Engineer - February 1985 - December 1987 - Unisage, Inc. at NASA, Hardware Research Group, Houston, Texas. Duties: Configured all hardware for UNIX based equipment. The hardware included AT&T 3B line, NCR Tower, Motorola, Mascomp, HP9000, Convex and various peripherals. Designed and set up all system maintenance and installation procedures and trained our staff in their use.
  9. Task Leader/Engineer B - May 1984 - May 1985 - Computer Science Corporation/NASA, Houston, Texas. Duties: Mathematical analysis for the NASA Shuttle non-propulsive consumables group which included analysis of thermodynamic problems of heat flow, conversion of code from UNIVAC 1184 to HP9000. System Administrator for the UNIX based computer system, set up and installed all hardware, UNIX shell and C programming, and user support.
  10. Research Technician - June 1982 - April 1984 - Exxon Production and Research Division, Thermal and Electrical Properties Group, Houston, Texas. Duties: Contributed to design and performed thermal power measurements on porous media, performed independent theoretical and experimental investigations on the electrical field dependence of the diffusion coefficient in porous media, performed special core analysis involving permeability, porosity, and electrical conductivity. The above experiments have involved apparatus construction and design, use and set up of HP9816 and HP9836 computers, analysis and interpretation of experimental data.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  1. "An Investigation of the Degradation Effects of Black Chrome on Nickel in Different Atmospheres and Varying Temperatures", K. Johnston and A. Ignatiev, Vac. Sc. Tech., V10, 300(1983).
  2. "An Investigation of the Electric Field Dependence of the Diffusion Coefficient in Porous Glass Frits as Analogous to Amorphous Semiconductors", K. Johnston, EXXON Production and Research publication number, EPR/LRR 10896(1984).
  3. PANIC XII, International Conference on Particles and Nuclei, MIT, ed. by T.W. Donnelly, June 1990. Contributed papers: * IV-8 "Kaon-Nucleon Total Cross Sections", BNL AGS E835Collaboration * IV-9 "Search for Strange Dibaryons using the Reaction 3He(K,?+)nX", K. Johnston et. al. * IV-10 "A Status Report on Dibaryon Searches in the S=-1 Sector", R. Chrien et. al. * IV-20 "Observation of pp? System", T. Kishimoto et. al. * IV-21 "An Experimental Study of the Nonleptonic Weak Decay of Lambda Hypernuclei", J. Szymanski et. al.
  4. "A Search for a Strangeness = -1 Dibaryon Below the SN Threshold", K. Johnston et. al., Phys. Lett. B201 (1991).
  5. "2H(p,n)2p Spin Transfer from 305 to 788 MeV", M.W. McNaughton, K. Johnston et. al., Phys. Rev. C45, 2564 (1992).
  6. "np Elastic Spin Transfer Measurements at 485 and 635 MeV", M.W. McNaughton, K Johnston et. al., Phys. Rev. C46, 47 (1992).
  7. "LAMPF E1097 Single Pion Production in np Scattering", K. Johnston, NN-Workshop on Nucleon Interactions, LAMPF, ed. by T. Taddeucci and M. McNaughton (1992).
  8. "np-elastic analyzing power Ano and spin transfer Knn", M.W. McNaughton, K. Johnston, et. al., Phys. Rev. C48, 256 (1993).
  9. "Dilute Scintillators for Large Volume Tracking Detectors", R.A. Reeder, K. Johnston et al., Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A334, 353 (1993).
  10. "The Influence of the Nuclear Medium on the K+ Total Cross Sections", B. Barakat, K. Johnston et. al., Phys. Lett. B307, 293 (1993).
  11. "An experimental Study of the Nonleptonic Weak Decay of Lambda Hypernuclei", J.J. Szymanski, K.Johnston, et.al., Contributed paper to the PANIC XII International conference on Particles and Nuclei, Cambridge, Mass., June 25-29, 1990.
  12. "Measurements of the Nonleptonic Decays of and ", M. Athans, K. Johnston, et.al., Bull. Amer. Phys. Soc., Vol. 37, p. 903 (1993).
  13. "Construction of the MEGA Photon Detector", by M. Barakat, K. Johnston et al. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A349 (1994).
  14. "Measurement of Low Energy K+ Total Cross Sections on N=Z Nuclei", R. Weiss, K. Johnston et. al., Phys. Rev.C49, 2569-2578 (1994).
  15. "Measurement of the Reaction 12C(((,(-)X Near Threshold", M. Albert, K. Johnston et. al., Phys. Rev. C51, No. 3, 1065-1069 (1995).
  16. "Charge Division Read-Out in a 1.8 Meter Long Wire Chamber", E.V. Hungerford, K. Johnston et al., IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Vol. 42., No. 4, August 1995.
  17. "Candidate Events in a Search for Oscillations", Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 75, 2650-2653 (1995).
  18. "A large acceptance cylindrical drift chamber detector", D. Ambrose, K. Johnston, et al., Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 364 (1995) 265-278.
  19. "Candidate Events in a Search for Oscillations with the LSND Detector for 1995 Data", Phys. Rev. Lett. Aprill 1996.
  20. "Evidence for Oscillations from the LSND Experiment at the LAMPF", C. Athanassopoulos, K. Johnston, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 77, 3082-3085, No. 15 (1996).
  21. "Evidence for Neutrino Oscillations from Muon Decay at Rest", C. Athanassopoulos, K. Johnston, et al., Phys. Rev. C54, No. 5, 2685-2708 (1996).
  22. "Measurement of the electron neutrino - carbon scattering crossection with the LSND detector", Phys. Rev. C (1997).
  23. "The Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector and LAMPF Neutrino Source", By C. Athanassopoulos, K. Johnston, et al., Nucl. Instrum. & Meth. (NIM) A388, 149-172 (1997).
  24. "Time-Zero Fission-Fragment Detector Based on Low-Pressure Multiwire Prportional Chambers," K. Assamagan, Johnston, et al., Nucl. Instrum. Meth (NIM), A426:405-419 (1999).
  25. "Co-Registration of MRI and PET Images using the Principal Axes Transformation (PAT)", M. Gururaj, K. Johnston, R. Keynton, et al., Paper submitted to Houston Society for Engineering in Medicine and Biology (HSEMB), Houston, TX, February 2000.

FUNDING ACTIVITIES

  1. "A Proposal to Study the Electroweak Force via Neutrino Interactions", PI, NFS RUI and REU Grant #PHY-9307319, $26,000, funded June 1993.
  2. "A Contract to Perform Consulting Services for the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND)", PI, Los Alamos National Lab Contract, $10,000, funded January 1994.
  3. "Louisiana Balloon-Borne Experiment Cluster", PI, NASA/ EPSCoR, a 5 year grant totaling ~$500,000, first 3 years $295,000, funded June 1994, the last 2 years have been accepted for funding for $195,000 beginning June 1997.
  4. "A Proposal to Study the Electroweak Interaction via Neutrino Oscillations and Hypernuclear Physics at CEBAF", PI, NSF, 3 years $223,000, funded July, 1994, has been extended one year July 1997 with additional funding of $30,000.
  5. "A Proposal to Build a Pointing System for a Minute-of-Arc Resolution Gamma Ray Imaging Experiment", PI, LEQSF, 2 years $120,170, submitted November 1995.
  6. "A Pointing System for MARGIE a Minute-of-Arc Gamma-Ray Imaging Experiment," Co-author, LaSpace 1 year $20k, funded April 1996.
  7. "An Orientation System for MARGIE a Minute-of-Arc Gamma-Ray Imaging Experiment," Co-author, LEQSF, 2 years $70k, funded June 1996.
  8. MOU with TJNAF for 1/2 funding of three Bridged Faculty positions for four years between Louisiana Tech University and TJNAF, PI, a $1M cap, funded September 1996 for ~$465,000.
  9. "The Multi-disciplinary Equipment Enhancement Project", PI, NSF/MRI 1 year $300,000 with $141,000 University Match, funded September 1998.
  10. "A Proposal to Study the Ground State Nucleon Form Factors", PI, NSF 2 years funded August 1998, $300,000.
  11. "Research in High Energy Physics at La Tech", PI, DOE, 3 years $467,000, funded July 1999.
  12. "Louisiana Balloon-Borne Experiment Cluster", PI, NASA/ EPSCoR, a 5 year grant totaling ~$500,000, funded June 1994, has been extended another two years for $100,000 June 1999 and ~$100,000 June 2000.
  13. A SIMS Surface Spectrometer Lab donated to La Tech by MIT, approximate cost $1,000,000, Fall 1999.
  14. MOU with TJNAF for Equipment Costs of the CED's for the G0 Experiment, PI, TJNAF/DOE 3 years $280,000, funded July 1999.
  15. "Experimental Gravitational Research with LIGO", Co-PI, NSF, 3 years $504,000, submitted October 1999, pending.
  16. "Parity Violating Measurements at TJNAF", PI, NSF, 3 years $650,000, submitted November 1999, pending.
  17. "A Planning Grant for the creation of the Institute for Applied Biological and Chemical Nano Systems", Co-PI, BoR, 1 yr $58,000, submitted October 1999, pending.
  18. "The Center for Applied Physics Studies", PI, La BoR DEFE Program, continuing yearly, $150,000, submitted January 2000, pending.

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES AND HONORS

Thesis Supervised:

  1. Brad Boyd, Master's in Physics, Summer of 1995, topic "An Investigation of the ?? ® ?e Neutrino Oscillation."
  2. Craig Neerman, Master's in Physics, Fall 1997, topic "The energy calibration for Experiment 905, a search for a sigma hypernuclear bound state in 4He(k-,?+/-) reactions, conducted with the AGS at BNL".
  3. Chumki Sen, Master's in Electrical Engineering, Spring 1997, "An Analysis of the Fiber Optic Gyro System for the MARGIE ADS System".
  4. Monjula Gururaj, Master's in Biomedical Engineering, Winter 1999, topic "Co-Registration of MRI and PET Images using the Principal Axes Transformation (PAT)."
  5. Brian Anderson, Master's in Physics, Spring 2000, topic "An Electron Hodoscope for the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility's Hypernuclear Physics Program."
  6. Karl Ekblad, Master's in Physics, Spring 2000, topic "A Minute-of-Arc Resolution Attitude Determination System (ADS) for use on Balloon or Satellite Borne Experiments."

Undergraduate Research Assistants and their research projects:

  1. Steven LeBouef, design and construction of the tube base electronics for the Scintillator Hodoscope for the CEBAF Experiment 89-09, BS in EE 1995.
  2. Melissa Strickland, assist in the design and testing of a pointing system for the Balloon-Borne Experimental Cluster in collaboration with the M. Cherry's Group at LSU, BS in Physics 1995.
  3. Brian Bisbee, assisted in the testing and setup of the Beam Monitoring System for the LSND Experiment at LAMPF and setup of a testing procedure for the Scintillator Hodoscope for Experiment 89-9, BA in History of Science in 1995.
  4. Chris Ausbrooks, responsible for the PC and Ethernet maintenance of the department and the Detector Test Lab, EE major.
  5. Eric Burch, responsible for the setup of the Detector Test Lab's VME and CAMAC based Data Acquisition Systems, BS in Physics 1994.
  6. Jeff Smith, responsible for an Orientation System for the MARGIE experiment, BS in Physics 1995.
  7. Ross Patrick, PC and NTWork Station Manager and assistant for Ross Sanders, Sophomore Physics major.
  8. Ross Sanders, Unix System Management for our AlphaStations and DEC 5000 computer systems, Senior Computer Science major.
  9. Derek Prosperie, Team Leader for the electronic design, testing, and assembly of the ICD detector electronics for the D0 experiment at Fermilab, BS EE Winter 1997.
  10. Daniel Bent, Team Leader for the assembly, testing, and electronics design of chamber readout for the hodoscope for E89-09 to be run at TJNAF in the Fall of 1999, BS EE in Fall 1997.
  11. Brian Anderson, Team Leader for the setup of the Cosmic Ray Test Stand, including wire chambers, scintillator triggers, electronics, and DAQ system, BS Physics Spring 1998.
  12. Karl Ekblad, Team Leader for the complete MARGIE test setup for the resolution measurement and the engineering balloon flight in the Spring of 1998, BS Physics Spring 1998.

Undergraduate Courses Taught

  1. Physics 201, Classical Mechanics for Engineers, Calculus based physics.
  2. Physics 202, Electro Magnetism for Engineers, Calculus based E&M.
  3. Physics 205, Classical Mechanics for non-science majors, Algebra based physics.
  4. Physics 206, Classical E&M for non-science majors, Algebra based physics.

Graduate Courses Taught

  1. Physics 501, Theories of Physics, A Survey of Modern Detectors with T. Ferbel's book on "Modern High Energy Detectors."
  2. Physics 505, Electrodynamics, a course in E&M with J. D. Jackson's book on Electrodynamics.
  3. Physics 531-532, Quantum Mechanics Part One and Two, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji's fundamentals of "Quantum Mechanics."

any comments welcome

Last updated 6/17/00