Michael Forsuelo
A promising approach to generating clean and sustainable energy is artificial photosynthesis, which aims to mimic photosynthesis in plants or bacteria and improve upon its energy conversion efficiency. Charge separation is a key step in artificial photosynthesis, but its mechanism is not yet fully understood. Recent evidence for ultrafast (sub-picosecond) charge separation in a wide variety of organic donor-acceptor materials has revived interest in the topic. Since the timescale of ultrafast charge separation is comparable to typical decoherence timescales, quantum coherent effects may play a significant role in this process. […]
Sara Ratican
One of the fundamental aims of current neuroscience research is to understand how external sensory inputs and internal states are represented in the brain, and how neuronal circuits process these inputs to ultimately alter behavior. In order to decipher the underlying mechanisms behind this process, my research looks at how different tastes are distinguished by the brain in Drosophila Melanogaster. Calcium ions serve as a primary intracellular messenger in neurons. During electrical activity, intracellular calcium concentrations rise 10 to 100 times higher in active neurons. My project will use transgenic […]
Min Young Huh
What is a laser? The current world perception of a laser is a strong intensified beam of light that is projected in a directionless way. But what if we could change that? What if we can shine a beam of light in 1 direction but actually have the light in the other without any physical interaction. We are doing 2 experiments. First using hydrophone to cause density differential to guide the laser; using the principle of total refraction. Secondly we will be doing an experiment where we process LED light […]
Megan Fu
Limited water availability in areas of drought can have implications on disease spread in crops. The goal of my research is to study water stress dynamics in grape plants and mealybugs, one of the major vineyard pests. Mealybug vectors transmit a family of viruses leading to Grapevine Leafroll Disease (GLD), causing uneconomical losses in vine health, grape quality, and yield. It is especially important to understand the effects of water stress on mealybug movement, as it may subsequently affect pathogen spread. I will be examining 1) mealybug settling preference between […]
Miles Rusch
A stable and controllable quantum system is necessary for a quantum computer to operate reliably. The quantum system is generally composed of qubits, which are the information-storage elements of the quantum computer. The computer must be able to operate on this system in a controlled fashion as to not destroy the fragile state of the quantum system. My project involves optimizing the quantum computer’s operations so that their control of the qubits is maximized. I will employ a computer algorithm similar to gradient ascent optimization to optimize the operations. In […]
Zizhou Zhao
Most tapes in use today, are composed of a viscoelastic polymer spread on a plastic backing film, which often cause inflammation and damage, especially for infants and the elderly with sensitive skin. As an alternative technology to adhesive tape, synthetic gecko adhesives inspired by the adhesive foot-pads of geckos can be used to solve this problem. These new tapes attach to a surface with a dense array of micro- and nano-scale hair that maximizes the van der Waals interaction.
Gabriel Kaufman
In many research facilities and nuclear reactors, data collection relies on diagnostics in neutron spectrometry, which involves measurement of neutron scattering energies. Facilities often manufacture and utilize organic scintillatorscrystals that luminesce in response to excitation from radiationfor neutron spectrometry. Over the years, current uses of scintillator crystals has led to the development of novel crystals with short temporal responses. The scintillation light yield must be characterized in order to further development. A mathematical model has been derived for a mixed organic scintillator composed of bibenzyl doped with stilbene, which suppresses […]
Chasen Sherman
Microfluidics represents the future of global health care. The future of the microfluidic work which I will be doing is critical to lab-on-a-chip applications, where point of care health services will be able to be provided worldwide with small devices. What I specifically am working on is computer modeling of different microfluidic diodes and valves. Lab-on-a-chip devices are made up of many of these diodes and valves combined, and using advanced computer simulation techniques to predict the fluid flows will provide valuable insight into device design. Additionally, I will be […]
Henry Kilgore
Inflammation is the bedrock of the bodys chemical and biological responses to deleterious agents. Whether the negative stimuli is of biological, physical or chemical origin an inflammatory response is critical to the healing process, as it mediates the removal of a negative stimulus and promotes restoration of homeostasis to local physiological conditions. The experimental compound leukotriene B6 (LTB6) is postulated to be of an anti-inflammatory nature, given its structural similarities to other well studied and fish oil derived -3 compounds serving to temper immune and inflammatory responses. Using quantum mechanical […]
Nadir Bilici
Many years of research have established dopamine as a key neuromodulator required for learning and adapting behavioral responses to a changing environment. Dopamine actions are mediated by two classes of receptors, with largely antagonistic effects: the D1 group mainly leads to excitation-like effects in neurons, while the D2 group has inhibition-like effects. Particularly, the medial prefrontal cortex contains neurons expressing both D1 and D2 receptors, which have been implicated in a large number of normal and pathological behaviors. Although recent research links dopamine receptor D1 expressing neurons to working memory […]