Graduate and Undergraduate Student Participants
Quick Link: A-I | J-R | S-Z
Most student email addresses are listed in the directory.
- Daniel Bolton
- Ph.D. Candidate, Physics
- Expected Graduation: 2011
- Theorist
- Resume
- One interesting aspect of the strong nuclear force is that it
"sees" protons and neutrons as being approximately identical. This
symmetry is weakly broken by the difference between the particle's
masses. A nuclear reaction that is sensitive to this symmetry breaking
has recently been measured. I am working on the theoretical framework
through which we can understand the results of this experiment.
- Ian Derrington
- Ph.D. Candidate,Physics
- Expected Graduation:2011
- Experimentalist
- Resume
- Low cost, high speed DNA sequencing has the potential to vastly accelerate research and to enable medicine based on ones DNA genome. Sequencing with nanopores, or nanometer sized holes, is a candiate to achieve significant milestones such as $1000/genome sequenced in one day and revolutionize DNA sequencing. I study and help design mutations of a protein nanopore MspA, which is one of the most promising nanopores for use in sequencing.
- Matthew Dietrich
- Ph.D. Candidate, Physics
- Expected Graduation: 2010
- Experimentalist
- Quantum computation is a new paradigm which would allow for new,
more efficient algorithms than are possible on a classical computer.
There are many candidates for a possible physical realization of a
qubit, the fundamental unit of information in such a computer. I work
to implement a qubit using the hyperfine levels of a barium 137 ion
isolated in a Paul trap.
- Stephanie Morris Gogarten
- Ph.D. Astronomy
- Graduated: 2009
- Observer
- Resume
- I am studying nearby galaxies using data from the Hubble Space
Telescope. Our observations resolve individual stars within other
galaxies, and by comparing the populations of stars we observe with
models of stellar evolution, we can determine the history of star
formation in these galaxies.
- Charles Hagedorn
- Ph.D. Candidate, Physics
- Expected Graduation: 2010
- Experimentalist
- Resume
- I test Newton's gravitational inverse square law at sub-millimeter
scales. Over distances shorter than ~50 microns, the diameter of a
human hair, no one has yet demonstrated that gravity even acts, let
alone agrees with Newton's prediction. Extensions to the Standard Model
of particle physics and to the emerging standard model of cosmology
suggest that gravity may have unexpected properties on this
still-macroscopic scale. Our null experimental test is based around a
high-precision torsion balance. In my talk, I'll highlight some of our
instrument's interesting features and capabilities. In addition, I'll
describe a few of the interesting challenges involved in making
precision measurements of weak forces.
- Andrew Jones
- Ph.D. Candidate, Physics
- Expected Graduation: 2011
- Experimentalist
- Resume
- I utilize a method known as scattering-Scanning Near-field Optical microscopy to break the optical resolution limit. My primary focus has been the investigation of Vanadium Dioxide, a material which undergoes a metal-insulator transition and has been proposed for a variety of applications ranging from ultrafast shutter to "smart windows"
- David Kettler
- Ph.D. Candidate, Physics
- Expected Graduation: 2010
- Experimentalist
- Resume
- As a member of the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion
Collider at Brookhaven National Lab, my research involves probing
nuclear matter under extreme conditions. This is done primarily by
studying correlations between particles produced in nuclear collisions.
These correlations can then be related to physical phenomena such as
jets and anisotropic flow. My research reveals several unexpected
aspects of nuclear collisions.
- Nathan Kurz
- Ph.D. Candidate, Physics
- Expected Graduation: 2010
- Experimentalist
- Resume
- Quantum computation and networking represent a rich field for the
study of both foundational physics and practical computing algorithm
applications. Trapped ions are an ideal system to employ for this
application because of their long coherence times and relative ease of
coupling to photons for computing operations and transmission of
quantum information. We propose an experiment to entangle the quantum
state of a single trapped barium ion to a visible wavelength photon
which can then be transmitted over long distances via optical fiber.
This entanglement operation can then be used to create an entangled
state of two ions trapped at two separate locations, a necessary first
step in many quantum computing and networking protocols.
- Tracy Lovejoy
- Ph.D. Candidate, Physics
- Expected Graduation: 2010
- Experimentalist
- Resume
- I am studying advanced materials for semiconductor applications.
The system I'm working on right now is gallium oxide, a transparent
conductor. This could be used as a transparent electrode in a solar
cell, or as a high temperature gas sensor. My work revolves around
trying to understand the mechanism for the conductivity in this
material, which is a subject of much debate.
- Keiko Munechika
- Ph.D. Candidate, Chemistry
- Expected Graduation: 2010
- Experimentalist
- Resume
- My focus is to study the optical properties of metal nanoparticles
and plasmon enhanced fluorescence of nearby fluorophores. Plasmon
enhanced fluorescence has the potential to improve the performance of
existing fluorophores and has become a driving force behind
incorporating metal nanoparticles into applications such as biosensing
and optoelectronics. My work involves both synthesizing metal
nanoparticles and studying optical properties of metal
nanoparticle-fluorophore hybrids using various microscopy
techniques.
- Natalie Ramiene
- B.S. Candidate, Physics
- Expected Graduation: 2010
- Experimentalist
- The radioactive decay of uranium (U) and thorium (Th) inside the
Earth is believed to be the main source of energy for mantle
convection, which causes earthquakes and volcanoes, among other things.
As well as heat, the decay of U and Th produces geoneutrinos, which can
be used to measure the U and Th throughout the Earth in an effort to
check the accuracy of models of the Earth's composition. Because the
crust is not uniform in size, the contribution to the geoneutrino flux
from U and Th in the mantle and the crust depends on detector location.
Therefore, if only a single measurement is made, we are not able to
determine what fraction of the observed geoneutrinos come from the
crust verses the mantle. However, by measuring the geoneutrino flux at
multiple locations, we may be able to determine the distribution of U
and Th content in the Earth's crust and mantle. We currently have a
measurement from one detector, and by comparing it to the predicted
values from various other detectors, we will be able to predict the
best sites to locate future geoneutrino detectors and determine the
optimal number of detectors to build.
- Marshall Roth
- Ph.D. Candidate, Physics
- Expected Graduation: 2011
- Experimentalist
- The Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has made a significant
contribution to our understanding of the most energetic phenomena in
our universe. The driving technology behind these discoveries has been
the Large Area Telescope (LAT), which utilizes technology from particle
accelerators to view the high energy sky in a whole new way. Many of
these breakthroughs were made possible by the extensive analysis of the
wide range of interactions that the LAT experiences while in orbit. My
research focuses on a subset of these analyses, as well as some
applications developed by myself and others at UW for discovering new
physics.
- William Terrano
- Ph.D. Candidate, Physics
- Expected Graduation: 2011
- Experimentalist
- Resume
- I am building and running torsion balances to study several
possibilities for new, macroscopic forces. One project is a new design
for a pendulum that will use a combination of different magnetic
materials to be sensitive to forces between the spins of electrons at
much greater sensitivities than was previously possible. I am also
working on a prototype for a pendulum with a large hydrogen density.
This is interesting because most observations constraining Dark Matter
interactions rely on Hydrogen dynamics, so a pendulum with a large
Hydrogen excess would allow us to study Dark Matter - neutron/proton
interactions in greater detail. The difficulty lies in designing a
pendulum with polyethylene that has the mechanical stability to make a
precision measurement possible.
- Ethan Thompson
- Ph.D. Candidate, Physics
- Expected Graduation: 2010
- Theorist
- Resume
- My research involves the broad application of a technique known as
gauge/gravity duality. This duality allows for the otherwise
intractable calculation of the dynamics of strongly-coupled field
theories using simpler gravity and string theories. In particular, my
research focuses on the application of these techniques to condensed
matter systems. Practically speaking, my research involves carrying
out high-precision numerical solutions to differential equations using
software like Mathematica and similar programs.
- Jonathan Walsh
- Ph.D. Candidate, Physics
- Expected Graduation: 2010
- Theorist
- Resume
- I work on improving data analysis techniques for the Large Hadron
Collider. A class of algorithms is used to simplify and interpret data
from collisions, and I study methods to use these algorithms in novel
ways to separate signals of interesting physics from the very large set
of background events at the LHC. The interpretation of the data is
influenced by many factors, including the resolution of the particle
detectors, the systematic biases of the algorithm in interpreting the
data, and the dynamic nature of the underlying physics of the
collisions. Addressing this multi-faceted problem leads to significant
improvements over current techniques.
- Zenghui Wang
- Ph.D. Candidate, Physics
- Expected Graduation: 2010
- Experimentalist
- Resume
- A single suspended nanotube, as one of the smallest
nanoelectromechanical systems, is driven to oscillate with resonance
detected and tuned. At low temperatures, as individual atoms are
adsorbed onto the nanotube surface, the resonance frequency is lowered
with increased mass of the resonator. The density of the adsorbed
monolayer is determined from the frequency shift and striking phase
transitions are detected within such low-dimensional monolayers.
- Joseph Wasem
- Ph.D. Candidate, Physics
- Expected Graduation: 2010
- Theorist
- Resume
- I work in the area of lattice QCD which aims to put the fundamental
field theory of QCD (which governs nuclear reactions) on a computer.
With this technique we can calculate quantities that are difficult or
impossible to access with experiments. Currently I am working on the
first lattice calculation of nuclear parity violation, which is very
poorly understood experimentally but may be more easily accessible with
lattice QCD.