Math, Physics Major Presents to NSA

Undergrad research yields promising results

by Lucero Castellanos-Aguirre

Isabel Stafford, senior math and physics major, completed her internship through the math department of North Carolina State University in the Research Experience for Undergraduates program (REU).

Through REU 47 students worked on 14 different projects. Stafford worked with two other undergrads and a mentor.

“We designed a cost-efficient, permanent-magnet klystron capable of powering a future high-energy particle accelerator,” shared Stafford.

Klystrons—the device Stafford and her team worked on designing—take the power from an electron beam and turn it into radio-frequency power. The problem with these Klystrons is that their power output is limited by the energy of the electron beam.

“The solution we found was putting several electron beams in the same klystron,” Stafford says.

After working for almost two months, Stafford, along with her team, managed to design a multiple-beam Klystron that output about forty megawatts of power. Stafford and her group then presented these findings to the National Security Agency (NSA), and in another decade or so their design could possibly be used in what will replace the Large Hadron Collider—the most powerful particle accelerator ever built.

“My mentor, Dr. Tran, told us that a few representatives from the NSA would be dropping by to check out everyone's research,” said Stafford. “They also wanted to see a few in-depth presentations about the summer's research. Dr. Tran and the other program coordinators decided that they wanted my group to present because of the success and practicality of our research.”

Although Stafford has yet to decide on a career goal, she very much looks forward to graduating in May 2016 and is grateful for the experience and knowledge she has gained through this internship.

“The research program was a really great experience,” she says. “I got to hang out in North Carolina with a bunch of other people who really like math and physics for a whole summer, while doing research that's actually important.”

To learn more about undergraduate research opportunities at Andrews University, visit andrews.edu/research.