March 16, 2011 — New College of Florida student Katherine “Katie” McAlpine won third prize in the undergraduate student poster competition at the 2011 Annual Joint Symposium of the Florida Chapter of the AVS Science and Technology Society and the Florida Society for Microscopy. The symposium was held March 7-8 at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
As part of the award, McAlpine received a $100 cash prize for her poster “Real-Time Optical Monitoring of Plasmonic Ag Particles Oxidation in SiO2 Thin Films,” important in the development of new optical materials for use in optical communication devices, lasers and solar cells. McAlpine is in her second year at New College with an area of concentration in physics. She conducted the study in the Optical Spectoscropy and Nano-Materials Lab at New College under the mentorship of José Jiménez, postdoctoral research associate, and with the support of Mariana Sendova, professor of physics. McAlpine hails from Brooksville, Fla.
Photo caption: Katie McAlpine, center, with physics professor Mariana Sendova and postdoctoral research associate José Jiménez