Alumnus Miller receives Apker Award

For the second time in three years, a physics student at the University has received the American Physical Society’s $5,000 LeRoy Apker Award for outstanding achievements in physics by undergraduates. Among this year’s three recipients is David Miller, a 2005 graduate.

Nominees for the award are required to have an excellent academic record and to have demonstrated exceptional potential for scientific research by an original contribution to physics. Miller gained research experience working with Juan Collar, Assistant Professor in Physics and the College.

As a member of Collar’s research group, Miller looked for high-energy axions or axion-like emissions from the sun using the Axion Solar Telescope at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory. Axions are hypothetical particles that, if detected, could resolve several problems in particle physics and cosmology.

Miller participated in all aspects of this project from its inception, including selection of materials for the particle detectors; construction, installation and running of the detector; and data analysis. He currently works at CERN and will attend graduate school at Stanford University in 2006.

Chicago physics alumnus Peter Onyisi received the Apker Award in 2003.