Jewelia Yao
The human brain is characterized by ridges, or gyri, and indentations, or sulci. Individual differences in sulci have been shown to be related to aspects of cognition, which is important for our everyday functioning. Despite these findings that a) sulci develop and b) individual differences in sulci are linked to cognition in adults, no study has yet examined the relationship between the development of sulci and the development of an essential cognitive ability known as working memory. Working memory is the ability to maintain and manipulate information. It develops over […]
Samira Maboudian
In 2018, an estimated 50 million people worldwide were living with dementia. However, there is currently no single, universal cognitive assessment to diagnose dementia. Many of the tests and metrics used are either too simple or take too long to administer in a clinical setting. Some common diagnostic screenings are also hindered by questionable validity and low sensitivity. Issues with these screening tests cause problems in clinical trials because they blur the line between the actual effects of treatment and the effects of an unreliable or poorly quantified test. I […]
Ian Stratford
My project explores the political implications of the religious aspects of The Eumenides by Aeschylus. The play was written circa 458 BC, a time of significant change for Athenian religious practice as democratization reached the cults of the city and control of religious rituals moved from old cultic families to civic oversight. The politician Kimon was able to orchestrate the foundation of a cult to the hero Theseus, and even established a cult family of the type that was now falling out of power. This exception speaks to the relationship […]
Isabella Franchesca Shipley
With well established evidence of the nuanced social and political aspects of environmentalism, it has become apparent that there is a need for a more compelling and holistic approach to discussing these issues. My research will document how art contributes to these conversations and explores the more human elements of environmental justice. The extent to which visual art can impact the formation of individuals’ opinions, motivations and curiosities with respect to the environmental movement will be explored through art practice. Informed by past works, this project will draw from art […]
Yuniba Yagues
The ability to measure vibrations is a vital engineering problem. From measuring pulse for health diagnostics to sensing pressure on a touch screen for a smart phone, the applications vary far and wide. In our group we study the use of polymer-based devices called piezoelectrets to measure pressure signals for a variety of applications. Our microfabricated polymer approach yields superior flexibility, piezoelectric coefficients, and costeffectiveness when compared to traditional ceramic material competitors. The devices themselves also vary in material composition and geometry depending on the application. In this project we […]
Vivian Li
The firing properties of a neuron are not only influenced by the electrical and chemical signals it receives, but also by the physical properties of its environment. Their ability to detect stimuli such as pH, temperature, and mechanical pressure allows a neuron to change its excitability in response. Two-pore domain potassium (K2P) ion channels are of particular importance because they are crucial in hyperpolarizing and modulating the resting membrane potential. Deviations from normal resting membrane potentials lead to unexpected consequences, including mental illness.The purpose of this research project is to […]
Soumil Jain
What makes a smart building smart? Does a smart building or space trigger behavioural changes in users and their interactions with the space? Transformation in health and medicine calls for innovation and integration of information science and engineering approaches to revolutionize healthcare delivery systems, including high-performance wireless communication and sensing technologies. This study is part of an NSF-funded project and will focus on developing event-based behavioural models to simulate building-user interactions in hospital settings, to predict human behaviour in a hospital and optimize design.
Siyang Li
Fast Radio Bursts (FRB) are high-energy millisecond duration radio signals of unknown astrophysical origins whose localizations are limited by the inherently low resolutions of radio telescopes. Recent theories propose that the origins of FRB may also produce nanosecond duration optical counterparts which, if observed with higher resolution optical telescopes, would allow astronomers to localize and identify the origins of FRB. Due to their extragalactic distances, optical counterparts to FRB can also be used to learn more about the fundamental properties and evolution of the Universe through probing the missing Baryonic […]
Nicole Mizrahi
The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction (~66 million years ago) is hypothesized to have been caused by environmental effects of the Chicxulub asteroid impact and/or Deccan Traps flood volcanism in India. Both potentially caused major climatic change through increased sulfate aerosol production, which would have caused significant global cooling and/or acid rain. Sulfur released by each of these events has a distinguishable isotopic composition. To characterize changes to the sulfur cycle across the K-Pg boundary and investigate the role each catastrophic event played in the extinction, I will measure sulfur abundance […]
Hunter Martin
One of the principal probes of cosmology is weak gravitational lensing whereby gravitational effects of mass bend the path of light. This causes small but correlated distortions in the images of distant galaxies which we can measure and then use to study the distribution of matter over cosmological distances and time scales. However, one of the fundamental assumptions of this method is that galaxy shapes (which we can model as ellipses) are randomly oriented in the universe, and that these distortions serve to align them. But what happens when the […]