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Undergraduate Contribution

SSX as Student-Integral Lab

As a liberal-arts college, Swarthmore has a purely undergraduate student population. While this means there are no graduate students to conduct research on the machine, it does give undergraduates the opportunity to experience high level, cutting-edge science research in their place. The Swarthmore undergraduates are what make the SSX laboratory successful. The students contrbute in many ways including building hardware and probes, conducting analyses on data or developing simulations. Since its inception, nearly 50 students have added to the SSX's ever growing body of work. In addition to contributing to published work, the students have produced valuable theses, focusing on data analysis topics or diagnostics, as well as making and presenting posters for display both at Swarthmore itself and at the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics annual meeting.

Peter Weck and Emily Hudson help Doc Brown clean the extension chamber of the SSX wind tunnel before it is attached to the main chamber.

Adrian Wan (right) poses with Post-doc David Schaffner (middle) after Adrian received an award for Outstanding Undergraduate Poster at the 2013 APS-DPP Meeting in Denver, CO.

Doc Brown wipes down the SSX end bell with Emily Hudson.

Doc Brown prepares Emily Hudson and Peter Weck for the days work.

Emily Hudson cleans one end of the SSX windtunnel copper flux conserver.

Peter Weck cleans the other end.

Ken Flanagan discusses his research at the 2011 APS-DPP meeting in Salt Lake City, UT.

Darren Weinhold talks about his poster at the 2011 APS-DPP meeting in Salt Lake City, UT.

Mike Fisher explains his work to an during the poster session at the 2011 APS-DPP meeting in Salt Lake City, UT.

Darren Weinhold in front of his poster at the 2009 APS-DPP Meeting in Atlanta, GA.

Max Korein poses in front of his poster at the 2009 APS-DPP meeting in Atlanta, GA.

Tom Kornack in front of his poster at the 1997 APS-DPP meeting in Pittsburg, PA.

Peter Weck and Emily Hudson help Doc Brown clean the extension chamber of the SSX wind tunnel before it is attached to the main chamber.

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