Utah State University honors student Joseph Cooney fell in love with the surrounding mountains of Cache Valley during his first visit to campus and concluded after meeting several Aggies that USU offered a community he could “be a part of “.
Utah’s mountainous terrain and climate now form a key part of the physics major’s research, which he will share with state lawmakers and the public on Thursday, Jan. 18, as a participant in the 2024 Undergraduate Research Day on Utah’s Capitol Hill. The St. Louis native is among 27 Aggies presenting research posters at the annual meeting, which brings together Utah State and University of Utah scientists at the center of state legislative activity.
With guidance from faculty mentors Binod Pokharel and Jon Meyer in USU’s Department of Plants, Soils and Climate, Cooney developed a computer simulation in Python to study the formation of ice crystals and how atmospheric electric fields affect those crystals.
“Utah’s mountains can produce special weather events,” he says. “Dust particles in the air become charged, which causes electrical storms. These particles act as a starting point for ice crystals, but the effects that electrical charging from the atmosphere has on ice crystal formation is not well known.
With the simulation, Cooney discovered that water molecules arrange themselves differently under electric fields.
“The stronger electric fields keep the molecules close to the core, which helps the crystals grow,” he says. “The stronger the electric fields, the faster the ice crystals grow. Denser, more uniform nuclei may be more stable and more likely to form crystals that fall as snow.
Understanding how ice crystals form and respond to atmospheric electricity can add to knowledge about the amount of ice and snow that will be produced in Utah’s mountains.
“What we’re learning is that an abundance of dust particles compared to water in the air means less snow,” Cooney says. “Dust particles help form snow, but if there are too many, the droplets and ice that form are not ‘heavy’ enough to become precipitation.”
This year marks Cooney’s third year participating in the Capitol Hill event, initiated in 2000, which highlights the importance of university research to the well-being of local communities and to preparing Utah scientists to meet future challenges.
“Sharing science in public is important because some people don’t trust science,” says Cooney. “It’s important to share the message that research can benefit society.”
The student has participated in various research projects investigating the physicochemical characterization of foods with faculty mentor Silvana Martini, professor in USU’s Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Sciences and director of the Aggie Chocolate Factory.
Cooney is the author of three peer-reviewed articles in JAKOSthe Journal of the American Society of Petroleum Chemists: one on the effect of cannabidiol (CBD) on the crystallization behavior of various fats, another on the viscosity of chocolate, and a third on oleogelator molecules.
“I chose physics as my major even though I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do,” he says. “I just knew I wanted to do science.”
Beyond the lab, Cooney enjoys winter sports offered by the state’s “Greatest Snow on Earth,” including skiing on Beaver Mountain and sledding on USU’s Old Maine Hill.
In the future, he plans to further study molecular simulations and graduate studies in computational chemistry.
“Utah State is a great place for students to pursue research,” says Cooney. “The key is to keep an open mind and explore all possibilities, including areas outside of your usual interests.”
