YouTube, Chatbots & Physics Research
Student Snapshot: Noah Lape ’26
Hometown:
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
Majors:
Physics and mathematics, with a minor in Japanese.
Clubs and organizations:
Physics and Astronomy Club, QR Center, Alpha Lambda Delta, Physics Majors Committee, Quantitative Reasoning Center (tutor), Department of Mathematics (teaching assistant, calculus) and the Charles M. Kanev Planetarium (as a teaching assistant, I get to program shows for the planetarium and present them to audiences).
Best thing about my Dickinson experience so far:
The research opportunities! Nowhere else could I get as many opportunities as a freshman. I worked on a YouTube video series with Professor of Physics & Astronomy David Jackson; conducted research with Professor of Physics Lars English, which culminated in a published paper I was allowed to put my name on; and I did an internship with the academic technology department. I also was given even more opportunities to co-author papers on various physics subjects, such as relativistic vs. classical predictions of the momentum of a beta particle and how an object can get lighter the faster it moves, which are still being worked on.
“Dickinson really excels in cultivating student-faculty connections and generating opportunities, even for first-years.”
Best thing about my major:
The physics faculty are incredibly friendly and willing to talk physics just about whenever you drop by their offices. Often, they're free after class for a while too, and they’re willing to field any and all questions you have. If you express interest in doing research, they are more than willing to try to help find a project that fits with your abilities and interests, even as a first-year. Physics majors also get a key to a special major-only hangout room, the classrooms and the physics storeroom, which makes for a great study spot and empowers you to test out any interesting experiment that pops into your head. All the physics majors are very nice, and because we are a small major, the community is very tight-knit.
Favorite class so far:
Physics 131, the introductory physics course. It's taught in a very unique way. Everything is very hands-on—every class session has you actively working on experiments to learn physics concepts. The teacher and a TA walk around and help you if you have any questions. This model keeps everything very engaging and minimizes lecture time, so you can really enjoy some of the cool results.
"If you express interest in doing research, [professors] are more than willing to try to help find a project that fits with your abilities and interests."
About my internship:
I did an internship with the academic technologies department, coding AI Chatbots for Japanese-language courses here at Dickinson. The idea is that students will be able to practice speaking and typing Japanese with these chatbots. This project helps me keep my programming skills up-to-date and my Japanese-language skills sharp.
About my research:
Last semester, I worked on a research project with Professor Lars English. We worked on compact localized states in electronic lattices. This sounds complicated, but actually it’s not that bad! Basically, you can put parts of a circuit, the thing that carries electricity all through your house, together in many ways, almost like Legos. If you build these circuits in a particular way and then allow electricity to flow through them, you can prevent the electricity from flowing to other parts of the lattice and keep it “localized” to only a few of the circuit components and not the whole thing. This was very cool to work on because, even though a lot of brilliant scientists have developed robust theories on how these systems work and in what ways you need to connect the circuit components to make this happen, no one had built out these circuits in real life before.
Working with Professor David Jackson over the summer, I investigated interesting physics phenomena and made videos about them for his YouTube channel, All Things Physics. For this project, we traveled across the East Coast, making stops in Pittsburgh, North Carolina and Virginia to visit collaborators and film on location at interesting sights. I worked on setting up and capturing on film a variety of phenomena, such as how a two-ton granite ball can float on water, how 3,000 lbs. of lead can exert a measurable gravitational force on a mass, how it is possible to see “invisible” air currents emanating off objects and how the fact that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light leads to a counterintuitive result for a classic elementary physics experiment. One of the videos we have already released has gotten over 370,000 views!
"I’ve gained an incredible amount of skills during these experiences, and I’ve deepened my respect for the interconnectedness of science."
About my tutoring and teaching assistantship:
I do one-on-one peer tutoring in the QR (Quantitative Reasoning) Center for the introductory computer science classes, quite a few math classes and quite a few physics courses. Through the QR Center, I also work a shift in the math help room. I'm also TA for an introductory calculus course.
What I’ve learned so far through my research and internships:
I’ve gained an incredible amount of skills during these experiences, and I’ve deepened my respect for the interconnectedness of science and large projects as a whole. I really appreciate the opportunities to work with various teams and learn from the specialized knowledge and perspectives of mentors and collaborators.
I believe that nowhere else could a highly motivated and capable first-year get the amount of opportunities and professor attention I did last year. Dickinson really excels in cultivating student-faculty connections and generating opportunities, even for first-years. I also want to emphasize how collaborative the environment is and how willing to help my professors, upperclassmen, mentors and peers are. Without their assistance and willingness to let me work with them, I would not have had a fraction of the success I've had.
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Published February 12, 2024