Brandon Vogt

Brandon Vogt, Ph. D. Student, Department of Geography, Arizona State University

After a visit to the International House of Pancakes, geographers Mark Fonstad and William Pugatch of Texas State University-San Marcos and Brandon Vogt of Arizona State University in Tempe digitally scanned the surface of a pancake in cross-section.

Wiebe's team is rounded out by postdoc Haidong Zhou, and students John Janik, Ben Conner, and Brandon Vogt.

Brandon Vogt, a doctoral student at Arizona State University, suggested comparing the pancake to Kansas.

Doctoral student Brandon Vogt knew that from personal experience.He frequently drove the width of the state, making the trip from Boulder, Colo., to Colombia, Mo.And he began to wonder just how flat Kansas really was.Vogt's research now confirms his suspicions: Kansas really is flatter than a pancake.Robert Siegel talks with Vogt about his findings, which are published in the Annals of Improbable Research.

Geographers Mark Fonstad and William Pugatch of Texas State University at San Marcos, along with Brandon Vogt of Arizona State University, compared the "flattening ratio" of a pancake (purchased at International House of Pancakes and measured using a confocal laser microscope) and Kansas (based on a digital elevation model from the U.S. Geological Survey).

Well, it all began when Brandon Vogt, a doctoral student at Arizona State University, was eating some pancakes with three researchers, when the breakfast discussion turned to the subject of how flat the food they were eating really was.Then Vogt said they should compare the pancake to Kansas…so they did, using a special microscope to examine the food's surface.

Brandon Vogt's Spring 2003 Web Depot, Arizona State University

Welcome to Brandon's ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY Fall 2003 Web Depot! Brandon is a Ph. D. student in ASU's DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY. Take a look around the site