KU News Release

KU senior named finalist for national physics prize

LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas senior’s research related to understanding patterns of mass extinction on Earth has earned him a finalist berth in a national competition for undergraduates doing original research in physics.

Alexander J. Krejci (pronounced CRAY-chee) from Lawrence is one of five finalists for the 2008 Vanderbilt Prize for Undergraduate Research in Physics and Astronomy. The finalists and the prize winner will receive their awards Aug. 15 in a ceremony at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

Each finalist will receive $500. The $1,000 first prize will go to a student from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. Other finalists are from University of Alabama-Huntsville; Worchester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts; and Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio.

Krejci, majoring in physics and geology at KU, was selected for his project “A Code to Compute High Energy Cosmic Ray Effects on Terrestrial Atmospheric Chemistry.”

Adrian Melott, professor of physics and astronomy, who has advised Krejci’s undergraduate projects, noted that Krejci has worked specifically on computations to help determine the effects of increases in the high-energy cosmic ray flux on the Earth’s atmosphere and ecology.

This summer, Krejci is in Geneva, Switzerland, at the European Center for Nuclear Research, where he is one of three KU undergraduates working with scientists to bring online a new detector designed and built at KU called the Zero Degree Calorimeter. The detector was designed to help physicists monitor collisions of particles in the center’s Large Hadron Collider.

Krejci has received three KU undergraduate research grants. This summer he received a grant for his project “Proton Beam Calibration and LED Calibration System at CERN Particle Collider in Geneva, Switzerland.” Michael Murray, professor of physics and astronomy, directs Krejci’s proton project. Melott directed Krejci’s spring 2008 project “Mechanisms by which Cosmic Rays Affect Biodiversity” and his 2007 project “Statistical Analysis in Astrobiology.”

Also this year, Krejci’s research contributions are included in two papers on astrobiophysics submitted to scientific journals. He is the first author on one paper and a contributing author on the other.

Krejci is in the Dean’s Scholars Program, which is part of the University Honors Program and is geared for academically talented students in the liberal arts and sciences who are interested in pursuing graduate study and who represent groups traditionally underrepresented in graduate education.

He is the son of Jerry and Kelly Krejci of Lawrence and is an Olathe Northwest High School graduate.

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