Timothy Koeth, Associate Research Professor, Profiled in The Washington Post

"Cyclotrons might not save the world, but the kids who build them will."

– Timothy Koeth

The September 8, 2016, issue of The Washington Post profiles Timothy Koeth, associate research professor and director of the University of Maryland Radiation Facilities with joint affiliations in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics.

The story discusses Koeth's efforts to help students build a small particle accelerator called a cyclotron. According to the Post story:

"Seniors Luke Bittner and Brian Heligman, both materials engineering majors, had secured $2,000 from the student government association toward building a working cyclotron as a teaching tool. Then they rallied a group of students to help and, because there seem to be no instruction manuals for how to build a cyclotron, recruited Koeth, along with Brian Beaudoin, a course instructor and particle physics research scientist, and Kiersten Ruisard, a PhD student in physics, to guide them.

If all goes according to plan, over the next few years students will not only construct the largest cyclotron built by undergraduates, they will wind up with a machine that will continue its hands-on educational mission by allowing students to conduct experiments in nuclear physics. 'This is for kids who need to build to learn,' says Koeth."

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Published September 8, 2016