News and Events
2022-09-29 Dr. Sinko receives Gentec-EO Laser Lab Award
Dr. John Sinko was awarded a 2022 Gentec-EO Laser Lab Award on 7/13/2022 for research on laser removal of orbital debris. The accumulation of orbital debris around Earth has produced a kind of orbiting garbage patch that threatens existing satellites. Irradiating debris with a laser is a possible solution to remove some types of debris from orbit. The current research studies the interaction of laser radiation with typical debris materials.
Gentec Electro-Optics is specialized in laser beam and terahertz source measurement and analysis and are experts in the laser beam measurement field. As part of the award, Gentec-EO generously donated a new Beamage-4M laser beam profiler to SCSU. The full story can be found on St. Cloud State Today.
Dr. Sinko is working on this project with undergraduate physics majors Brian Davis, Jordan Graupmann, and Travis Mathwig as well as mechanical engineering majors Amr Abdo and Mohammed Alharbi, and SCSU student Thor Lemke. The foundation for this project also relies on much work and support from past research students, most notably including Chase Negen and Naqsh E Zafar.
Update on 10/11/2022: A story about this award also appeared in the St. Cloud Times
2022-09-23 Dr. Sinko to Serve as Guest Editor for Special Issue about Laser Propulsion in MDPI Aerospace
Dr. John Sinko will serve as Guest Editor of a Special Issue of the international, peer-reviewed MDPI journal Aerospace, titled "Laser Propulsion Science and Technology." Manuscripts will be accepted through May 2, 2023. More information can be found here.
2022-04-04 Physics Student Awarded Huskies Summer Research Fellowship
Congratulations to Brian Davis, who was awarded a Huskies Summer Research Fellowship. Brian will work with Dr. John Sinko on a summer research project entitled "Laboratory Tests for Laser Removal of Steel Orbital Space Debris"
2022-02-18 Proposal Enhancement Grant Awarded
Congratulations to Dr. John Sinko (Physics & Astronomy), Dr. Ahmet Serdar Sezen (Mechanical Engineering), and Dr. Eric Little (Mechanical Engineering) who were awarded $5,520 through an SCSU Proposal Enhancement Grant for their intersciplinary research project "Laser Vaporization Tests of Simulated Orbital Debris in Free Fall." In this project, an MME senior design team will design and build a sphere launcher to simulate orbital debris, then the physics team will engage the test spheres in a vacuum chamber to test the efficacy of using high energy lasers to remove small debris. The research will engage students from the Physics & Astronomy Department and Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Departments.
2019 Educator of the Year Awards and Outstanding Educator Designations
Physics professors Dr. Kevin Haglin and Dr. John Sinko were recognized as SCSU Outstanding Educators and subsequently selected as Minnesota State BOT Educators of the Year. The Outstanding Educator designation is a university-level award. Applicants must first be nominated by a colleague, then complete a lengthy portfolio to provide a holistic presentation of their teaching. These portfolios are reviewed by a university-wide panel organized by the SCSU Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, which recommends candidates to the SCSU University President. SCSU President Robbyn Wacker designated a total of four Outstanding Educators for the 2018-2019 period, also including Prof. Nancy Sundheim from the Department of Environmental & Technological Sciences, and Prof. Matthew Julius from the Department of Biological Sciences. The Outstanding Educator portfolios are subsequently considered by a Minnesota State systemwide panel and only six of these submissions from across the entire state were selected as Board of Trustees Educators of the Year. More information can be found at this website: Board of Trustees Excellence Awards.