Dr. Tabbetha Dobbins, Associate Professor of Physics
Tell us about the DEI research that you are involved in:
Big Science is at a cost of $40 to $80 Million (at construction, not operational costs). This means that we are involving multiple institutions, multiple principal investigators, and giving students the opportunity to work in big team projects with their research.
The “Big Science” done in Developing Countries work that I have experience with draws from a project that is near and dear to my heart—the African Light Source project (http://www.africanlightsource.org/).
Africa is the only habitable continent that does not have a synchrotron light source (or advanced light source). These light sources are multidisciplinary facilities. Almost any area of science and technology will find its home at a light source. From materials science to chemistry to physics to biological science, light sources enables us to measure and/or image at atomic scale and nanoscale resolution in order to get information about our samples.
Not only can a light source give us information about our samples, we can use a light source as “science for diplomacy”—as is the case for the SESAME Light Source located in Jordan. It had first light in 2017 and it has brought together for scientists from around the Middle East. The same things can happen on the continent of Africa. We can use the light source as a tool for scientific diplomacy.
We can also use it to answer regional problems such as a solving the crystal structure of malaria, tuberculosis, ebola, and other viruses without having to travel with the samples. Additionally, we can also use the light source to give high resolution 3D images of fossils and other heritage samples.
What made you want to undertake this work?
I first got involved in April 2015 when I was invited to serve on the African Light Source Executive Steering Committee. Now that committee is 16 persons– 4 are from the U.S. We held three conferences—two were on the continent of Africa and one occurred at a light source in Europe.
Why would our students at Rowan University be interested in this work?
I have been taking Rowan students to light sources in the U.S. since 2012. Students do their own research and we study our own samples that we prepared here at Rowan. The students have a lot of fun.
Another way that Rowan students are involved is with the REDI-SPARC Initiative. REDI stands for Research Experience for Diversity and Inclusion. SPARC stands for Synchronizing Partnerships for Advancing Research Characterization. The REDI-SPARC Initiative characterizes samples mailed to us from scientists in Africa using US based light sources. Two Rowan students (Joseph Jackson and Theresa Slater) were involved in helping to set up the questionnaire for receiving samples and a third (Denise Omoruyi) was involved in helping to collect the data.
Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about your work?
What better place to teach students about filling a void when they see one. This was the case for Henry Rowan. He saw a void geographically in south Jersey with the lack of an engineering school and he filled that void. We can also teach students to think in this way—that when they see a void, they can devise a plan, and work at filling it!
Photograph of Denise Omoruyi collecting data at the NSLS II located at Brookhaven National Laboratory (Upton, NY).
The data was being collected from a sample mailed to use from the group of Dr. Bjorn von der Heyden. Dr. von der Heyden is an Assistant Professor of Geology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Read more about his work here: http://www.sun.ac.za/english/faculty/science/earthsciences/staff-and-postgrads/academic-staff/dr-bjorn-von-der-heyden
NSLS II located at Brookhaven National Library (Upton, NY)