Academics & Research
Physics professor Lauranne Lanz uncovers something new about jumbo galaxies that has the astronomy world spinning
Lauranne Lanz spied Jupiter through a telescope when she was just 4 years old, the first celestially significant moment in her life but not the last: The budding astronomer would eventually help identify a new class of galaxies. Super spirals, discovered in 2016 by a team of four astronomers including Lanz, assistant professor of physics,…
What makes Thai fireflies synchronize their flashes? (Hint: It’s math.)
Matthew Mizuhara wants to talk about fireflies. Not the ones that flicker in New Jersey, but a species found in the forests of Thailand. During mating season, these insects stop flashing as individuals — here and there and anytime — and align all their internal light switches, beaming collective bursts into the darkness. There is…
How an idle conversation about the weather helped this team solve a mystery — and pen a children’s book
Nate Magee, Aaron Lynn ’20 and Lauren Madden teamed up to solve a weather mystery. Now, they’re writing a children’s book about it. “It’s a great big TCNJ family project,” Madden laughs. The rain in Spain falls mainly during the cooler months, and on the island of Mallorca, hardly at all in July. But when overnight…
How Estefany Rodriguez encourages her students to view art in the everyday world
Estefany Rodriguez fused her talent for art with her passion for community during her recent study abroad experience to Johannesburg, South Africa where she drew on TCNJ inspirations to teach sixth graders to see art in unexpected places. Rodriguez, a senior art education major, says that her craft looks very different in South Africa than…