Dr. Kristin Rabosky

Education

Contact Information

Teaching Philosophy & Focus

At 91·çÁ÷, my two main teaching goals are to convey the fundamental material necessary while cultivating the soft skills needed for students to thrive after graduation.

Courses Taught

Research Areas of Interest

My materials research has covered a wide variety of topics from depositing and characterizing thin film materials for electronic devices, completing scanning electron microscopy (SEM) on geological and biological samples, and using spectroscopy to study the optical properties of materials.

The materials labs at 91·çÁ÷ have deposition capabilities including magnetron sputtering, carbon coating, and annealing furnaces. The characterization tools include SEM with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy and cathodoluminescence, atomic force microscopy, ellipsometry, surface profilometry, and UV-VIS spectroscopy.

In addition to more traditional materials science research, I have:

• Redesigned our upper division lab program as course based undergraduate research experiences and project-based learning opportunities. 
• Created an innovative introductory physics lab on diffraction and interference using thin film coatings. 
• Co-taught Advanced Physics Lab for Teachers which serves to fulfill physics endorsement needs for high school physics teachers and provides continuing education experience. 
• Provided several Research Experiences for Teachers as another avenue to support high school teacher continuing education.

Specific Projects

A representative sample of projects my students have worked on include:

• Thin film selective absorber development for solar water heating
• Making perovskite solar cells
• Mapping and imaging zircon crystals for geologic dating
• Imaging thin film coatings for bowling balls
• Imaging preserved plant specimens
• Design and implementation of percolation bingo kits for junior high science classes
• Determining the percolation threshold of very thin metals
• Building an in-situ optical color filter wheel for a panchromatic cathodoluminescence spectrometer
• Building and using handheld particle detectors