News Research

May 1, 2019 at 3:02 pm

Happy Beginnings | Bruno Receives Blue Ribbon and Harvard Acceptance

HTC Physics Senior Jack Bruno's Blue Ribbon Research

Ohio University Honors Tutorial College senior physics major Jack Bruno describes his award-winning summer research over Lake Michigan and his hopes for the future. Top on his list– move to MA and attend graduate school at @Harvard. #LakeMichiganOzoneStudy #SocietyofPhysicsStudents

Posted by Ohio University Department of Physics and Astronomy on Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Editor’s Note: The Happy Beginnings series features recent graduates who are getting started in careers, graduate school and service.

Honors Tutorial College senior Jack Bruno received a blue ribbon at Ohio University’s 2019 Student Expo for summer research he conducted in Wisconsin for two years.

A Physics major, Bruno worked under the supervision of Research Scientists R. Bradley Pierce, Jonathan Gero, and Tim Wagner of the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In this video, he explains what it was like to be part of a scientific team trying to understand ozone pollution over Lake Michigan.

“Jack is perhaps the most original and self-driven student I have seen,” reflects Distinguished Professor of Physics Dr. David Drabold, who served as Bruno’s director of studies. “Completely on his own, he determined his scientific direction, forged the essential external collaborations and succeeded so well that he will be at Harvard next semester. This kind of independence and drive is usually a harbinger of a great career in science.”

Bruno has continued to work with University of Wisconsin researchers on data analysis from the campaign and presented results of a summer lake breeze event at the 2018 American Meteorological Society Student Conference in Austin, Texas. He wrote his undergraduate honors thesis using data from the campaign related to improvement of “Lake Breeze” modeling.

“I used the python coding language to analyze data from the Lake Michigan Ozone Study (LMOS). LMOS was a field campaign from the summer of 2017 involving several agencies collecting a host of remote sensing and in situ data along the coast of Lake Michigan. The goal of the study is to improve understanding of ozone pollution transport in the region. My work centered around examining the physical structure and evolution of lake breezes. They are of particular interest, because they are believed to be the primary mechanism for carrying pollutants inland,” Bruno said.

Bruno intends to broaden the scope of his air-quality studies to a global scale. He wants to discover ways to mitigate the negative effects of pollution generated by the United States on other countries, especially in the developing world.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*