91ֱ�� to Offer Bachelor of Science Degree Beginning Fall 2026</h1> <article> <h1>91ֱ�� to Offer Bachelor of Science Degree Beginning Fall 2026</h1> <p>mreed — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 19:20:14 +0000</p> <span>91ֱ�� to Offer Bachelor of Science Degree Beginning Fall 2026</span> <span><span>mreed</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-10-16T15:20:14-04:00" title="Thursday, October 16, 2025 - 15:20">Thu, 10/16/2025 - 15:20</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The new degree gives students pursuing a wide range of eligible majors—from biochemistry and computer science to psychology and economics—the opportunity to graduate with either a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or a Bachelor of Science (BS), depending on the balance of their coursework. Students who complete at least one BS-eligible major and 16 full courses carrying the Natural Science and Mathematics designation may choose to receive the BS degree.</p><aside class="pull obj-right"><div class="basic-box basic-box--light"><h2 class="small-headline">Majors Eligible for</h2><h2 class="small-headline">the Bachelor of Science:</h2><ul class="list--clean"><li><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/chemistry-biochemistry/curriculum" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="5124b507-99df-4595-9104-bdb9c6a22310" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Academic Program in Chemistry and Biochemistry">Biochemistry</a></li><li><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/biology/curriculum" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="5954f263-77c8-4106-80db-2cb993408d8a" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Academic Program in Biology">Biology</a></li><li><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/business/curriculum" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="8ad7fc7e-532c-4cd8-9b35-8391defc685b" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Academic Program in Business">Business</a></li><li><a href="/biochemistry" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="755c73bb-f2ba-4bbe-bfb4-8fc57b94dd7c" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Biochemistry">Chemistry</a></li><li><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/computer-science" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="b1e2c8e5-2a8b-4967-8a6d-f8ce5cea4476" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Computer Science">Computer Science</a></li><li><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/data-science/curriculum" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="fe3d12fe-2a64-4438-b738-5fe696675b00" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Academic Program in Data Science">Data Science</a></li><li><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/economics/curriculum" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="30752c27-cce4-4efa-9ba3-c310d98b61a7" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Academic Program in Economics">Economics</a></li><li><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/environmental-science/curriculum" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="66900a61-06bd-4aa7-9555-e85efa26654b" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Academic Program in Environmental Science">Environmental Science</a></li><li><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/finance/curriculum" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="6911f8f3-bb76-4a72-a710-9869a094b462" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Academic Program in Financial Economics">Financial Economics</a></li><li><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/geosciences/curriculum" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="0a12379d-58d4-489b-a75d-68d46edd4214" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Academic Program in Geosciences">Geosciences</a></li><li><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/global-health" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="cf90288b-047f-4d2f-ac3a-91691901fde1" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Global Health">Global Health</a></li><li><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/mathematics/curriculum" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="50eb3820-b9e6-4a08-b060-92ebf3b1a4eb" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Academic Program in Mathematics">Mathematics</a></li><li><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/neuroscience/curriculum" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="8e28996c-7931-4f76-912f-28f4ec621121" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Academic Program in Neuroscience">Neuroscience</a></li><li><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/physics-and-astronomy/curriculum" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="d36e1693-1165-4e42-ac58-9f9bfb1b9a0d" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Academic Program in Physics and Astronomy">Physics</a></li><li><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/psychology/curriculum" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="2655a549-4d67-4820-a808-9a7fb471e11f" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Academic Program in Psychology">Psychology</a></li></ul></div></aside><p>“This is an important evolution for 91ֱ��,” says David Kamitsuka, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “The Bachelor of Science degree reflects the strength of our existing programs and the multidisciplinary nature of scientific work today. It gives our students new ways to signal the depth of their scientific training. For example, in all of the eligible majors, undergraduates routinely co-author with their faculty mentors in scholarly peer-reviewed scientific journals.”</p><p>Kamitsuka noted that several programs outside traditional STEM areas—such as economics, business, and psychology—also qualify for the BS. “That reflects how today’s problems are solved,” he says. “Understanding markets, managing complex organizations, and studying human behavior all require the same analytical and evidence-based thinking we teach in the natural sciences. The BS degree captures that spirit of interdisciplinary inquiry grounded in the liberal arts tradition that is at the heart of an 91ֱ�� education.</p><p>The new degree will also broaden 91ֱ��’s appeal to prospective students. Across U.S. higher education, more than half of all international students pursue <a href="/arts-and-sciences/sciences-at-oberlin" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="6b83b150-0f8e-435b-9594-08382bdb4e2f" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Sciences at 91ֱ��">degrees in STEM or science-related fields</a>—a trend that makes 91ֱ��’s new BS degree especially attractive to global applicants.</p><p>For people like Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Jason Belitsky, the degree represents a way to better acknowledge the work many students already do.</p><p>“Our students in chemistry, physics, biology, and related disciplines already engage in extensive lab work, data analysis, and scientific problem-solving that meet the expectations of a Bachelor of Science education,” Belitsky says. “This new degree formally recognizes that rigor and affirms the quality and breadth of scientific preparation our students bring to graduate study and professional work.”</p><p>Belitsky emphasizes that the BS option doesn’t change 91ֱ��’s approach to teaching—it enhances it. “What’s exciting is that students will be able to show both sides of their education: deep technical and analytical expertise, and the creativity and communication skills that come from a liberal arts environment.”</p><p>The degree was endorsed by the college’s Educational Plans and Policies Committee earlier this year and approved by the College Faculty. The Bachelor of Science will be available to students beginning in fall 2026.</p><hr><h3>How to Qualify for the BS Degree</h3><p><em>To earn a Bachelor of Science at 91ֱ��, students must:</em></p><ol><li>Declare at least one major from the list of BS-eligible programs.</li><li>Notify the Office of the Registrar of their intention to convert their Bachelor of Arts degree to a Bachelor of Science.</li><li>Complete at least 16 full courses designated as Natural Science and Mathematics.</li></ol><p><em>Students who meet the criteria may choose to graduate with either a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science—but not both.</em></p><hr></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">The new degree option expands academic pathways in the sciences, social sciences, and interdisciplinary fields. </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2025-10-16T12:00:00Z">Thu, 10/16/2025 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Communications Staff</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p> 91ֱ�� will begin offering a <a href="/arts-and-sciences/bachelor-of-science" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="122754f5-47f5-4c43-a02d-0fce89dcb008" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Bachelor of Science (BS) at 91ֱ��">Bachelor of Science</a> degree option to students in the<a href="/arts-and-sciences" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="c6983a98-0d9e-4cc8-b7f9-ba6f11fa4cbb" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="College of Arts and Sciences"> College of Arts and Sciences</a>, expanding pathways in the natural sciences, social sciences, and emerging interdisciplinary fields. Students may elect to pursue the BS program beginning in fall 2026.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4112">New Programs</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25246">Biochemistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25251">Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=187731">Business</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25306">Chemistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25321">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=415031">Data Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25341">Economics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=468171">Financial Economics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25366">Geosciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25401">Mathematics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=4861">Neuroscience</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25411">Physics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25286">Psychology</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/chemistry-biochemistry" hreflang="und">Chemistry and Biochemistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/biology" hreflang="und">Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/business" hreflang="und">Business</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/computer-science" hreflang="und">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/data-science" hreflang="und">Data Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/economics" hreflang="und">Economics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/environmental-science" hreflang="und">Environmental Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/finance" hreflang="und">Financial Economics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/geosciences" hreflang="und">Geosciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/global-health" hreflang="und">Global Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/mathematics" hreflang="und">Mathematics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/neuroscience" hreflang="und">Neuroscience</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/physics-and-astronomy" hreflang="und">Physics and Astronomy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/psychology" hreflang="und">Psychology</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Mike Crupi</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-article-header field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">0</div> </article> <article> <h1>A Galaxy of Options</h1> <p>awillia2 — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 04:59:39 +0000</p> <span>A Galaxy of Options</span> <span><span>awillia2</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-03-06T23:59:39-05:00" title="Thursday, March 6, 2025 - 23:59">Thu, 03/06/2025 - 23:59</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><figure class="captioned-image obj-left"> <figcaption><em>Forty Ways to Know a Star</em> by Jillian Scudder</figcaption> </figure> <p>Astronomers can measure how much non-hydrogen glowing gas a galaxy has using a value called metallicity. This is a really useful metric in principle, Scudder says, because low metallicity values indicate unprocessed gas, and high metallicity values signify heavily recycled gas. Unfortunately, there isn’t a single, clean way of calculating that value. “We don’t have one method that works,” Scudder says. “We have a dozen methods that all kind of work in different contexts.” </p> <p>Scudder’s latest research, published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae2719" target="_blank"><em>Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</em></a> with coauthors Aidan Khelil ’22 and Jordan Ordower ’25, aimed to make sure that metallicity values were still reliable coming from regions of a galaxy dominated by light from young stars, even as the data available to astronomers became massively more detailed.</p> <p>In the past, astronomers only had access to a single spectra—a term that describes which wavelengths are present in light—per galaxy. Those wavelengths correspond to different elements, so it’s a way to identify what object (e.g., a star, a pulsar, a black hole) made the light. If this single spectra wasn’t dominated by starlight, astronomers would toss that galaxy and move on. </p> <p>Thanks to technology, galaxy images are more detailed; for example, the ones Scudder is working with have about 10,000 galaxies with anywhere between 200 and 2,000 spectra each. You can think of it like astronomers now seeing a 4K image instead of a blurry one. With this newly granular boundary, suddenly it mattered more to know if the dividing lines between starlight and not-starlight were affecting the metallicities.</p> <p>Scudder took all the public spectral data for these galaxies, to the tune of 1.5 million data points, and ran them through 12 different methods for estimating metallicity values. “This is where data management becomes important, because you will ruin your computer if you ask it to plot 1.5 million things times 12,” she says. “If you ask it, the computer will go, ‘No,’ and shut down.” </p> <p>She then created a SQL database of these metallicity values and loaded them into computers in her lab for student researchers. Within these values, students looked at the image of each galaxy and where the boundary line changed, pixel by pixel, from “starlight” to “not starlight,” with each metallicity estimation method.</p> <p>Scudder analyzed the boundary to find pixels with trusted metallicity values located right next to a pixel that <em>didn’t</em> seem like starlight. Since there should be a rotational symmetry in a galaxy, she rotated along that plane to find another pixel with the same metallicity value located the same distance from the center—but surrounded by trustworthy pixels.</p> <p>“If there is not a difference, it tells me that being adjacent to something I don’t trust actually doesn’t matter at all,” she says. “This means the way we’ve been splitting these galaxies up is fine. But if I <em>do</em> see a difference, that tells me we have to be more careful about how we do our metallicity work going forward.” </p> <p>Her result was initially surprising. “What I found was that it matters <em>some</em> of the time,” Scudder says. For three of the 12 methods she tested, the boundary of star to not-star was getting contaminated, or displaying false positives. The common denominator? Those three methods calculated metallicity only using the ratio of nitrogen to hydrogen. </p> <aside class="pull obj-right"> <div class="basic-box basic-box--light"> <h2 class="small-headline">Student Researchers</h2> <ul class="list--clean"> <li>Megan Kyi ’26</li> <li>Jonah Ordower ’25</li> <li>Tanisha Shende ’26</li> <li>Abby Tejera ’25</li> <li>Jenna Walker ’26</li> </ul> </div> </aside> <p>Scudder suspected the problem was a sensitivity to nitrogen. Young stars have a “shell” of partially ionized material that includes a thin layer of nitrogen. But other celestial objects create different volumes of glowing nitrogen. For example, a supermassive black hole’s higher-energy light produces a thick shell of partially ionized nitrogen, which then permits a brighter nitrogen glow. </p> <p>The good news is that Scudder found that the metallicity methods that used elements in addition to nitrogen, like oxygen and sulphur, were not affected. Now that astronomers know this, they can either choose metallicities that aren’t so sensitive to nitrogen or just pay more attention to their boundary conditions. </p> <p>Scudder’s next project is figuring out how to compare these 12 metallicity methods to each other so that researchers can compare directly between the metallicities. Ultimately it means that the data and research up to this point is all OK. “It’s really good news for everything we have done so far,” Scudder says. “I found this result to be really reassuring in many ways.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Jillian Scudder is making sure astronomers can trust old data before leaping into new research.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2025-03-21T12:00:00Z">Fri, 03/21/2025 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Dyani Sabin ’14</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>When astronomers assess the ages of galaxies, they look at the glow of the elements created by nuclear fusion. “Our hydrogen gas comes prebaked with the universe,” says Associate Professor of Physics Jillian Scudder. “Anything else has gone through a star, because the only way you get these heavier elements is if a star built them.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4292">91ֱ�� Research Review</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25411">Physics</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/jillian-scudder" hreflang="und">Jillian Scudder</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/physics-and-astronomy" hreflang="und">Physics and Astronomy</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-cte-images field--type-list-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yes (Individual Images)</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Andrea Wang ’19</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-flex-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden vertical-spacing--basic field__items"> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-40342" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-copy paragraph--view-mode--default o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <hr> <p><em>Jillian Scudder’s research addresses questions of how galaxies function and change. She earned her doctorate at the University of Victoria in British Columbia and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Sussex in England. Her latest book is 40 Ways to Know a Star (Chronicle Books, 2025).</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div class="field field--name-field-bio-card-el-biography field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> <div class="biography-card"> <figure> </figure> <div class="biography-card__content"> <h2><span>Jillian Scudder</span> </h2> <ul class="item-list list--clean" style="margin-top: 0px;"> <li class="professional-title">Associate Professor of Physics</li> </ul> <a class="view-more" href="/jillian-scudder">View Jillian Scudder’s biography</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-40375" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-copy paragraph--view-mode--default o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <h2 class="small-headline" style="margin-top: 1.25rem;">About the Illustration</h2> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right" data-cte style="margin-bottom: 1.75rem;"> <figcaption><em>Click the image to expand</em></figcaption> </figure> <p class="subhead" style="color: var(--darkgray);">Illustrator: Andrea Wang ’19</p> <blockquote data-add-quotes data-no-attribution> <p>Academic papers were a rich source of visual references for the diagrams—one of them depicts a “protostar,” the earliest stage in a star’s life cycle. Little accents like magnetic field lines, scientific symbols, chart data points, are also inspired by various charts and diagrams. The textures are pulled from turbulence simulations of molecular clouds, modeling conditions conducive to star formation.</p> </blockquote> <p class="icon-text"><span aria-label="Phone" class="icon-text__icon fas fa-fw fa-link" style="color: black;"></span><a href="https://andreajw.com/" target="_blank">andreajw.com</a></p> <p class="icon-text"><span aria-label="Instagram" class="icon-text__icon fas fa-brands fa-instagram"></span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/andreajw_" target="_blank">@andreajw_</a></p> <hr class="hr--light" style="clear: both; margin: 1.25rem 0;"> <p><a class="view-more" href="/node/488025">Return to <em>91ֱ�� Research Review</em></a></p> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-40343" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-copy paragraph--view-mode--default o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <p class="header-tag no-show" id="header-tag">91ֱ�� Research Review</p> <style> .no-show { display: none } </style> <script> (function() { var header = document.querySelector(".story-header"); var headerTag = document.getElementById("header-tag"); header.insertBefore(headerTag, header.firstElementChild); headerTag.classList.remove("no-show"); })(); </script>  <script> (function() { var credit = document.querySelector(".top-combo__figure .figure__credit"); credit.innerText = credit.textContent.replace("Photo credit","Image credit"); })(); </script>  <style> aside .list--clean li { margin-bottom: 0.25rem; } aside ul.list--clean { margin-top: .5rem; font-family: var(--font-sans-serif); font-size: 0.875rem; } aside .basic-box { margin: .5rem 0; max-width: 240px; } aside .basic-box .small-headline { font-size: 1rem; } </style> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Friday Afternoon with Lab Crawl</h1> <p>jstrauss — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 15:08:42 +0000</p> <span>Friday Afternoon with Lab Crawl</span> <span><span>jstrauss</span></span> <span><time datetime="2023-10-30T11:08:42-04:00" title="Monday, October 30, 2023 - 11:08">Mon, 10/30/2023 - 11:08</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Every fall at 91ֱ��, <a href="/node/463463">Lab Crawl</a> shines a spotlight on research happening all over campus: across the sciences, but also in the humanities, the arts, the conservatory, and elsewhere. This year, Lab Crawl drew what may be the largest crowd in the event’s illustrious history, with some 500 students and dozens of faculty taking part. Missed out on the excitement? It looked something like this (click to expand any images below)...</p> <p>Explore more scenes from Lab Crawl on <a href="https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB1NRn">91ֱ��’s Flickr page</a>.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">91ֱ��'s annual research open house celebrates the sciences—and much more.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2023-10-30T12:00:00Z">Mon, 10/30/2023 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Communications Staff</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3948">Lab Crawl</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2358">Undergraduate Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2363">Academics & Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25411">Physics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25251">Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=4861">Neuroscience</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/gabriel-moore" hreflang="und">Gabriel (Gaybe) Moore</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/michelle-johnson" hreflang="und">Michelle Johnson</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/mike-miller" hreflang="und">Mike Miller</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/physics-and-astronomy" hreflang="und">Physics and Astronomy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/biology" hreflang="und">Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/art" hreflang="und">Studio Art</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/neuroscience" hreflang="und">Neuroscience</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Lab Crawlers get an insider's look at a science lab on campus.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tanya Rosen-Jones '97</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-flex-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden vertical-spacing--basic field__items"> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-37913" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-cont-img-section paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images photoswipe-gallery"> <div class="o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <div class="image-grid image-grid--single-caption pull"> <div id="obj-31747" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-image-row paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <div class="image-row"> <div class="image-row__images" data-cols="3"> <div id="obj-29961" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <figure> <a href="/sites/default/files/content/figure/labcrawl2023-016.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="3600" data-pswp-height="2400"> </a> </figure> </div> <div id="obj-29963" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <figure> <a href="/sites/default/files/content/figure/labcrawl2023-014_0.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="3600" data-pswp-height="2400"> </a> </figure> </div> <div id="obj-29962" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <figure> <a href="/sites/default/files/content/figure/labcrawl2023-008_0.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="3600" data-pswp-height="2400"> </a> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="figcaption"> <div class="figure__caption"> <p>Neuroscience professor <a href="/node/463859">Michelle Johnson</a> (seated, far left) helps students sign in and secure their passports, which get stamped at each Lab Crawl station they visit. Far right: The Mad Scientist—aka Biology Department Manager <a href="/forrest-rose">Forrest Rose</a>—welcomes students beginning their journey.</p> </div> <div class="figure__credit"> Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones '97 </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-37914" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-cont-img-section paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images photoswipe-gallery"> <div class="o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <div class="image-grid image-grid--single-caption pull"> <div id="obj-31748" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-image-row paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <div class="image-row"> <div class="image-row__images" data-cols="3"> <div id="obj-29970" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <figure> <a href="/sites/default/files/content/figure/labcrawl2023-067.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="3600" data-pswp-height="2400"> </a> </figure> </div> <div id="obj-29971" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <figure> <a href="/sites/default/files/content/figure/labcrawl2023-030.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="3600" data-pswp-height="2400"> </a> </figure> </div> <div id="obj-29972" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <figure> <a href="/sites/default/files/content/figure/labcrawlventuri.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="1800" data-pswp-height="1200"> </a> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="figcaption"> <div class="figure__caption"> <p>Students tour a biochemistry lab with a student guide (left); biology professor <a href="/node/459641">Gaybe Moore</a> leads a demonstration on infection in wax moths (center); photography students experiment with technique in the Venturi Art Building (right).</p> </div> <div class="figure__credit"> Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones '97, Reyna Berry </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-37915" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-cont-img-section paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images photoswipe-gallery"> <div class="o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <div class="image-grid image-grid--single-caption pull"> <div id="obj-31749" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-image-row paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <div class="image-row"> <div class="image-row__images" data-cols="3"> <div id="obj-29973" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <figure> <a href="/sites/default/files/content/figure/labcrawl2023-088.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="3600" data-pswp-height="2400"> </a> </figure> </div> <div id="obj-29974" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <figure> <a href="/sites/default/files/content/figure/labcrawl2023-076.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="3600" data-pswp-height="2400"> </a> </figure> </div> <div id="obj-29975" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <figure> <a href="/sites/default/files/content/figure/labcrawl2023-152.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="3600" data-pswp-height="2400"> </a> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="figcaption"> <div class="figure__caption"> <p>Machinist <a href="/node/322066">Mike Miller</a> (left) leads a demonstration in the machine shop. Center and right: Lab Crawl stations offer plenty of interesting specimens to examine.</p> </div> <div class="figure__credit"> Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones '97 </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article> <h1>How Biostatistical Analysts Are Born</h1> <p>tapplega — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 18:11:40 +0000</p> <span>How Biostatistical Analysts Are Born</span> <span><span>tapplega</span></span> <span><time datetime="2023-03-01T13:11:40-05:00" title="Wednesday, March 1, 2023 - 13:11">Wed, 03/01/2023 - 13:11</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Ian Dinsmore ’19 studied <a href="/node/25401">mathematics</a> and <a href="/node/25411">physics</a> at 91ֱ�� while earning all-conference honors as a pitcher on the baseball team. By his senior year, he developed a passion for analytics that inspired him to pursue a master’s degree in business analytics from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland. A Pennsylvania native, Dinsmore later returned home to the borough of Danville, where he works as a biostatistical analyst for Geisinger Health Systems—the same company where he completed a pivotal internship as a rising fourth-year student at 91ֱ��.</p> <p>We caught up with Dinsmore recently after he spoke about his career path with current students in a program cooradinated by 91ֱ��’s <a href="/center-engaged-liberal-arts">Center for Engaged Liberal Arts</a>…</p> <p><strong>What does a biostatistical analyst do?</strong></p> <p>My work is varied, but primarily I work with genetic data and electronic health record information to generate phenotypes, which are tested for associations with each other. This can include variants in a specific gene, or generally gene expression tied to changes in health. I also create novel data-analysis pipelines that are aimed at making available health information more effective in preventing disease—whether that’s through machine learning, data organization, or other forms of data management.</p> <p><strong>What do you love most about your work?</strong></p> <p>The most enjoyable part of my job is the creativity and freedom I have in finding solutions to questions from my lab. Working in research, we’re exploring ideas that have not been published and accepted by the scientific community at large, so being nimble in my work to adapt to the problem at hand is exciting. This can include writing code to automate a previously mundane, manual task, to developing a novel technique that can be published as a method for the broader community to use.</p> <p><strong>How did you know graduate school was the right step after 91ֱ��?</strong></p> <p>I knew going into my senior year I wanted to [work] in data analytics, and grad school was an option I knew I would be readily prepared for thanks to 91ֱ��. After my internship, I also knew that I had a lot more to learn in the field of analytics. This led me to looking into graduate programs, and Case Western was a great fit for me with the scholarship I received from the <a href="https://case.edu/weatherhead/academics/graduate/ohio-5-business-collaborative">Ohio 5 Business Collaborative</a> program. Case ended up being a great match, as it allowed me to take the STEM skills and knowledge I had received at 91ֱ�� and apply them to the analytics field.</p> <p><strong>You were a double major and a varsity athlete during your time here. What was it like balancing everything? </strong></p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>Photo credit: Michael Durkin</figcaption> </figure> <p>It was definitely busy! There were times, in my junior and senior years especially, where I had to focus on school and finish homework or projects and miss some social events with my friends. But it rarely was completely overwhelming, and it really prepared me for my current position and work I will pursue in the future. It greatly developed my time-management skills, and looking back, I don't think I would have changed my path at all. I loved my time in both the mathematics and physics departments, and also found great joy representing 91ֱ�� athletics.</p> <p><strong>What role did your 91ֱ�� mentors play in shaping your career path?</strong></p> <p>My professors at 91ֱ�� were critical in shaping my career path. The professors in the physics and math departments—really everywhere at 91ֱ��—were incredibly helpful, encouraging, and challenging. My senior year, I had quite a few discussions with my advisor, [physics professor] <a href="/node/6186">Jason Stalnaker</a>, about my career path, and he was great at providing me with answers and insight to any questions I had. Without the education that my professors provided me, I would not have been nearly as successful at Case or in my current position.</p> <p><strong>What’s your fondest 91ֱ�� memory?</strong></p> <p>My fondest memory is the time I spent together with my classmates and friends, whether that was doing homework or socializing together. I met so many great people at 91ֱ�� that are still my best friends—it truly is a special place. We spent countless hours working together in the Science Center, or working in the libraries around campus. Just having those people I could depend on, by my side through it all, is what I miss most about being at 91ֱ��.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Ian Dinsmore studied physics and math. Then an internship shed light on a new path.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2023-03-01T12:00:00Z">Wed, 03/01/2023 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tyler Applegate</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2360">After 91ֱ��</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2771">Athletics</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25411">Physics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25401">Mathematics</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/jason-stalnaker" hreflang="und">Jason Stalnaker</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/physics-and-astronomy" hreflang="und">Physics and Astronomy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/mathematics" hreflang="und">Mathematics</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">courtesy of Ian Dinsmore</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Building Encouragement for Careers in Science and Technology</h1> <p>anagy — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 17:38:06 +0000</p> <span>Building Encouragement for Careers in Science and Technology</span> <span><span>anagy</span></span> <span><time datetime="2022-11-11T12:38:06-05:00" title="Friday, November 11, 2022 - 12:38">Fri, 11/11/2022 - 12:38</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Abby Tejera Rocha wants young people around the world to feel empowered to pursue careers in STEM fields. One way to do that is to increase the visibility of contemporary scientists and leaders in technology—including women such as herself.</p> <p>A second-year <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/physics-and-astronomy">physics</a> and <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/computer-science">computer science</a> double major, Tejera is a <a href="https://womenawards.globant.com/2022/RisingStar/AbbyTejera">finalist</a> voted to be a “Rising Star” in the <a href="https://womenawards.globant.com/">Women that Build</a> awards program, sponsored by the international tech company <a href="https://www.globant.com/">Globant</a>. The award recognizes and promotes talented women leaders in technology. The Rising Star category distinguishes young women who are starting STEM careers and generating a positive impact on society.</p> <p>A native of Maldonado, Uruguay, Tejera graduated as a GeneXus Analyst from Plan Ceibal, a free training program sponsored by the Uruguayan government. She performed so well that she was hired to tutor an Introduction to Programming class for more than 400 students between the ages of 18 and 30. Then came an offer to work for Globant, where she trained as an Android and app developer, and learned other programming languages.</p> <p>Tejera was 16 when she founded an outreach project called Physic-ally Possible. Her goal was to disseminate knowledge of science and technology in accessible and entertaining ways. She interviewed scientists from all over the world, including the 2017 Nobel<br> Prize winners in physics, who are credited with having detected gravitational waves.</p> <p>She was invited by Uruguay’s Ministry of Education and Culture and other organizations to participate in a series of videoconference interviews highlighting the possibilities for study and work in science and technology, with the aim of encouraging young people—particularly girls—to venture into those fields.</p> <p>Tejera was admitted to 91ֱ�� as an <a href="/admissions-and-aid/arts-and-sciences/early-decision">Early Decision</a> applicant, making her dream of studying at 91ֱ�� College come true. Her commitment to service and mentoring continues at 91ֱ��, where she is a <a href="/bcsl/programs/bonner-scholars">Bonner Scholar</a>, an America Counts leader, a <a href="/undergraduate-research/programs/strong">STRONG</a> scholar, and a student researcher in the lab of Associate Professor <a href="/jillian-scudder">Jillian Scudder</a>, as well as a <a href="/arts-and-sciences/resources-and-support/pal#:~:text=Peer%20Advising%20Leaders%20(PALs)%20are,Year%20Seminar%20program%20(FYSP).">Peer Advising Leader</a>, a member of the <a href="https://www.oberlininclusiveexcellence.org/student-leadership-committee">Student Leadership Committee</a>, and a peer tutor.</p> <p>In the following Q&A, she discusses the importance of awakening vocations, motivating and supporting other young students, and giving visibility to contemporary role models in STEM.</p> <p><strong>How did you hear about the Women that Build awards program? What would this recognition mean to you?</strong></p> <p>I found out about the program when I received an email saying that I had been nominated in the “Rising Star” category of the awards. It was a great surprise, and I’ve been interested in the great work Globant does to recognize and highlight many women from STEM and information and computing technology.</p> <p>Having been nominated—and later finding out that I am a finalist, thanks to a people's vote—is a great joy, and I am very grateful to all the people who support me unconditionally. It is very gratifying and at the same time a challenge to continue learning and improving day by day. I am also very grateful to the entire educational community of 91ֱ�� College.</p> <p><strong>You started volunteering at a young age, and in your first two years at 91ֱ��, you’ve chosen experiences and taken positions that show your commitment to leadership and mentorship. What motivates you to help fellow students? </strong></p> <p>In my country, a program called Plan Ceibal was being implemented to bridge the existing digital gap in elementary schools. My parents were volunteers, and I accompanied them to distribute free computers with Linux and taught students how to use them. I will never forget those first smiles of the children—my peers—when seeing a computer for the first time. </p> <p>I have participated in science camps with people from several countries, and I have created an app to make it easier for young people to find opportunities for science education. I also volunteered with an organization called Ceautismo, which works with children and young people with autism and raises awareness.</p> <p>When I arrived at 91ֱ��, I found an incredible educational community that highly values the work of all students who are committed to society in one way or another. I have had the immense joy of being selected to participate in the Bonner Scholar program, which not only allows me to volunteer in various organizations, but trains us to do it in the best way. I would also like to highlight the great work that the Peer Advising Leaders Program (PAL) does to support all students during our first year at 91ֱ��, and I am really grateful for the opportunity of being a PAL and a member of that wonderful team that guides us.</p> <p><strong>What do you think are the most significant barriers to STEM education for young students, and what can be done to improve it?</strong></p> <p>If we ask young people about their favorite athlete, surely they have a role model or someone who inspires them. On the other hand, ask them to name a scientist who they know or inspires them, it is most likely that they name scientists like Albert Einstein or Marie Curie. In general, most young people can’t name or identify with contemporary women scientists, even though there are many and they are doing great things. This is why making visible the work of contemporary scientists helps to inspire, motivate, and awaken vocations in students who believe it is unattainable.</p> <p>There is still a lot of work to be done to close the race and gender gaps that exist in some sectors. Just looking at the percentages of women who occupy management roles in research teams demonstrates that it is necessary to begin raising awareness and educating at a young age. </p> <p>At 91ֱ��, I found an academic community that offers students lots of amazing opportunities to prepare ourselves for professional experiences and for thriving at STEM. For example, the STRONG Scholars program, the <a href="/undergraduate-research">Office of Undergraduate Research</a>, the Student Leadership Committee, and different resources and groups that contribute to the STEM education and the inclusion and equity in these areas.</p> <p><strong>What excites you about your studies in physics and computer science?</strong></p> <p>Physics, although we do not always realize it, is immersed in every activity that we carry out daily. The discipline contributes to the conservation and preservation of resources, through the approach of the scientific study of matter, energy, time, space, and the interactions of its components. The analysis of these interactions makes it possible to explain the properties and behavior of matter, and to gain an in-depth understanding of nature.</p> <p>Personally, I’m really interested in astrophysics, an area that studies the bodies found in space, their movements, properties, and phenomena, but I am also interested in quantum mechanics and atomic physics.</p> <p>I also love doing research in these areas and am really grateful to all my professors, who with vocation and dedication, provide students with an excellent academic experience. Currently, I am a student researcher with my mentor, Professor Jillian Scudder in the Physics and Astronomy Department of 91ֱ��, giving me the opportunity to be a researcher for her laboratory, and I’m really grateful for this opportunity. This is a great motivation and daily learning experience that lets me prepare myself in the best way possible.</p> <p>I’m also excited about the future of computer science and how this profession can generate a positive impact on society. It’s important to educate people to be creative agents of the digital world and not just consumers. </p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Abby Tejera Rocha has promoted women in STEM since she was a girl. Now she’s earning acclaim from an international tech firm.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2022-11-11T12:00:00Z">Fri, 11/11/2022 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Amanda Nagy</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2363">Academics & Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2367">Science & Math</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2373">Awards and Honors</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2358">Undergraduate Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2381">Bonner Center</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25411">Physics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25321">Computer Science</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/jillian-scudder" hreflang="und">Jillian Scudder</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/physics-and-astronomy" hreflang="und">Physics and Astronomy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/computer-science" hreflang="und">Computer Science</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Abby Tejera Rocha is a second-year physics and computer science major. She is a finalist in an awards program sponsored by Globant, an international tech firm.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Office of Communications</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>No Ordinary Matter: Professor of Physics Jason Stalnaker is Part of Global Effort Testing for Dark Matter</h1> <p>anagy — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 19:11:41 +0000</p> <span>No Ordinary Matter: Professor of Physics Jason Stalnaker is Part of Global Effort Testing for Dark Matter</span> <span><span>anagy</span></span> <span><time datetime="2022-09-06T15:11:41-04:00" title="Tuesday, September 6, 2022 - 15:11">Tue, 09/06/2022 - 15:11</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Professor of Physics <a href="/jason-stalnaker">Jason Stalnaker</a> is part of a worldwide network of scientists searching for evidence of dark matter fields using magnetometers based on alkali atoms. </p> <p>Stalnaker’s lab is one of only three undergraduate-only institutions collaborating in the Global Network of Optical Magnetometers for Exotic Physics Searches, or <a href="https://budker.uni-mainz.de/gnome/">GNOME</a>. The researchers are coordinating experiments with the goal of detecting and collecting data on dark matter—a hypothetical mass that doesn’t emit light but makes up the majority of the universe.</p> <p>Physicists have long known that dark matter exists because of the effect it has on astronomical observations. For instance, it can explain the way stars in a galaxy spin around the center. Dark matter is named so because it is composed of particles that do not absorb, reflect, or emit light. </p> <p>“We have a pretty good understanding of ordinary matter, but if we look out in the universe and we look at the way stars move in galaxies, we see that apparently 80 percent of a matter out there is not made up of the matter that we know of and are familiar with,” says Stalnaker. “It's something that is not basic atoms made up from quarks and electrons. It doesn't interact with or emit light, and we don't see light scattering off of it. We don’t know exactly what it is at this point.”</p> <h4>Looking for signals </h4> <p>Scientists working on the project believe that dark matter fields should produce a signal pattern that can be detected by magnetometers at multiple stations of the GNOME network distributed around the world, including Germany, Serbia, Poland, Israel, South Korea, China, Australia, and several labs in the United States. </p> <p>“The question is, how do you detect dark matter? One possibility is that the interaction between dark matter and ordinary matter might act like a magnetic field,” explains Stalnaker, whose research is funded by a <a href="https://nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2110370&HistoricalAwards=false">three-year grant from the National Science Foundation</a>. One candidate for dark matter is that it can take the form of a large-scale cosmological structure known as a domain wall. </p> <p>Stalnaker has expertise in building atomic magnetometers—instruments that can measure very small magnetic fields. By spreading the magnetometers across the world, researchers can stream data at the same time and look for correlations between locations. If the Earth passes through some very large structure, the hope is that it will be detected by the GNOME network and produce a signal pattern—a sign of a global dark matter interaction. </p> <p>An article published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-021-01393-y"><em>Nature Physics</em></a> in late 2021 includes three 91ֱ�� undergraduates as coauthors: Sun Yool Park '19, Perrin Segura '20, and Dhruv Tandon '22. All three participated in the honors program in physics and did their research on some aspect of the GNOME project. Stalnaker says the article was an important milestone for the collaboration, as it reports the first limits the GNOME network has placed on a potential dark-matter candidate. </p> <h4>Mentoring future physicists </h4> <p>At 91ֱ��, Stalnaker and his student collaborators are leading a different analysis designed to look for dark matter in the form of axion stars. These axion stars would be large-scale clusters of dark matter particles. Segura and Tandon both worked on this effort for their honors theses. </p> <p>“This is a great project for students because they have been able to take control of the analysis, and they get to do really cool things,” Stalnaker says, noting that his former students graduated with highest honors and are now working toward graduate programs in physics. Stalnaker’s students also have opportunities to present their data at conferences and GNOME collaboration meetings. </p> <p>Park, a PhD student at the University of Colorado at Boulder, was the lead student in the construction of the first generation of the magnetometer. “She was the driving force behind getting it up and running. It’s really quite impressive,” says Stalnaker.</p> <p>Segura, a PhD student at Harvard, did her honors thesis on developing an algorithm to look for a dark matter candidate. In 2019, she accompanied Stalnaker to a GNOME collaboration meeting in Germany, where she presented on her data analysis routine. </p> <p>Ehsan Nikfar is a rising sophomore who is working on the axionstar analysis, and Eduardo Castro Muñoz, a rising senior, is working on a project related to GNOME, the <a href="https://vimeo.com/737550063/95527f75e5">Search for Non-Interacting Photon Experiment</a> (SNIPE).</p> <p>Nikfar, an international student from Herat, Afghanistan, joined Stalnaker’s lab as a scholar in 91ֱ��’s <a href="/undergraduate-research/programs/strong">STRONG program</a> (Science and Technology Research Opportunities for a New Generation), which provides early research opportunities with faculty mentors. Nikfar says that collaborating with his faculty mentor has given him experience in solving real-world problems. </p> <p>“At first, it was very challenging for me to do research because I lacked a plethora of skills,” says Nikfar, a computer science and physics double major. “Professor Stalnaker was very supportive in my first year and patiently taught me the necessary skills.”</p> <p>Castro Muñoz, a physics and Hispanic studies major from Copiapó, Chile, says his work on the dark matter experiments and data analysis has made him a better computer programmer. </p> <p>“I’ve fallen in love with physics. After graduating from 91ֱ��, I want to join a PhD program and keep learning about physics,” Castro Muñoz says.</p> <p>Scientific research isn’t a solitary pursuit, and the investment in training young scientists is mutually beneficial for faculty and students. </p> <p>Stalnaker says the nature of dark matter is one of the most important questions in fundamental physics, and “it has been exciting to work on figuring it out with 91ֱ�� undergraduate students.” </p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">An effort to understand dark matter is underway in an 91ֱ�� physics lab.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2022-09-07T12:00:00Z">Wed, 09/07/2022 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Amanda Nagy</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2363">Academics & Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2367">Science & Math</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2358">Undergraduate Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25411">Physics</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/jason-stalnaker" hreflang="und">Jason Stalnaker</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/physics-and-astronomy" hreflang="und">Physics and Astronomy</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">From left, Sun Yool Park '19, Perrin Segura '20, Eleda Fernald '22, and Dhruv Tandon '22 work on the magnetometer for the GNOME research collaboration.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Jennifer Manna</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-flex-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden vertical-spacing--basic field__items"> <div class="field__item"> <div id class="o-flex--video-embed"> <h2>SNIPEs and Where to Find Them</h2> <div class="video-embed-field-provider-vimeo video-embed-field-responsive-video"> </div> <p>Rising fourth-year physics major Eduardo Castro Munoz and his mentor, 91ֱ�� professor Jason Stalnaker, conducted summer research intended to shed light on a little-known facet of our universe. Along with fellow physics student Ehsan Nikfar, they took to the woods to capture information about dark photons, which could provide evidence supporting the existence of dark matter. All of which helps explain the study’s playful acronym: the Search for Non-Interacting Photons Experiment, or SNIPE.</p> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Charles Boissavy ’22 Named a 2022 Young Botanist Award Winner</h1> <p>anagy — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 14:10:05 +0000</p> <span>Charles Boissavy ’22 Named a 2022 Young Botanist Award Winner</span> <span><span>anagy</span></span> <span><time datetime="2022-06-09T10:10:05-04:00" title="Thursday, June 9, 2022 - 10:10">Thu, 06/09/2022 - 10:10</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Charles Boissavy ’22, a <a href="http:///arts-and-sciences/departments/biology">biology</a> major and <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/physics-and-astronomy">physics</a> minor, is one of 25 outstanding graduates in the country to receive special recognition from the Botanical Society of America with a 2022 <a href="https://botany.org/home/awards/awards-for-students/bsayoungbotanistawards.html">Young Botanist Award</a>. </p> <p>Nominees are selected based on their research accomplishments and recommendation from a faculty advisor. The award comes with a certificate of special achievement, complimentary student membership in the Botanical Society of America, and recognition in the Plant Science Bulletin.</p> <p>This summer, Boissavy will present his research on Phacelia, also known as scorpion weed, in collaboration with Longman Professor of Biology <a href="/mike-moore">Mike Moore</a>.</p> <p>“I plan to use this opportunity to learn more about the kind of research I can do while making connections with the botanical sciences community,” says Boissavy, a resident of Los Angeles. </p> <p>Boissavy’s research involves understanding the evolution of plants that grow on unusual soils—in this case, gypsum—in the scorpionweeds, which is a large group of flowering plants in western North America. He has discovered that all of the species that grow only on gypsum are part of a single diverse group within the genus, and may have discovered a yet undescribed species.</p> <p>In addition to working in Moore’s plant systematics lab, Boissavy helped analyze element concentrations in soil samples from Cuba with Associate Professor of Geosciences <a href="http://z/amanda-schmidt">Amanda Schmidt</a>. As part of his post-graduate plans, Boissavy intends to continue doing research in plant evolution.</p> <p>“To me, the Young Botanist Award reflects the hard work I’ve put into my research and gives me confidence that I have a future in the botanical sciences,” Boisaavy says. “Getting this award also fuels me with inspiration and motivation to keep following my passion of working in botany.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Nominees are selected based on research accomplishments and recommendation by faculty..</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2022-06-14T12:00:00Z">Tue, 06/14/2022 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Amanda Nagy</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2373">Awards and Honors</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2363">Academics & Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2367">Science & Math</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25251">Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25411">Physics</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/mike-moore" hreflang="und">Michael (Mike) Moore</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/biology" hreflang="und">Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/physics-and-astronomy" hreflang="und">Physics and Astronomy</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Charles Boissavy ’22 conducted research with Professor of Biology Mike Moore.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Courtesy of Boissavy</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Jakob Faber ’21 Receives Fulbright Research Fellowship at McGill Space Institute in Montréal</h1> <p>anagy — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 15:51:08 +0000</p> <span>Jakob Faber ’21 Receives Fulbright Research Fellowship at McGill Space Institute in Montréal</span> <span><span>anagy</span></span> <span><time datetime="2021-06-09T11:51:08-04:00" title="Wednesday, June 9, 2021 - 11:51">Wed, 06/09/2021 - 11:51</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>This fall, May graduate Jakob Faber will begin a nine-month research fellowship collaborating with astrophysicists to better understand the source of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) at the McGill University Space Institute in Montréal, Canada. </p> <p>For Faber, a physics and philosophy major with a concentration in astrophysics, entry into the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (<a href="https://chime-experiment.ca/en">CHIME</a>) with Professor <a href="https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-019-03749-0/index.html">Vicky Kaspi</a> is an aspiration come to fruition. Encouraged by his 91ֱ�� mentor, Emeritus Professor of Physics <a href="/dan-stinebring">Dan Stinebring</a>, Faber was first introduced to the CHIME/FRB collaboration during a summer research fellowship following his second year.</p> <p>“I got to know Professor Kaspi as a supportive and inspiring advisor, as well as her team of remarkably talented grad students and postdocs, many of whom have remained close collaborators and friends over the past two years,” says Faber, who went on to do research related to FBRs with a group at the University of California-Berkeley the following summer, and has continued that work this past year. Ultimately, “CHIME/FRB is a collaboration that I have always hoped I would go back to.”</p> <p>Faber says he is primarily interested in trying to answer a question that seems simple yet is anything but: What causes Fast Radio Bursts? In lay terms, FRBs are extragalactic radio signals. The CHIME telescope, located in southern British Columbia, has detected many of these bursts, and astronomers are using it to determine the origin of the signals. </p> <p>“Understanding the astrophysical origins of Fast Radio Bursts is both incredibly fascinating and incredibly difficult,” says Faber. “My research will mainly consist of furthering the model- and data-driven theoretical efforts that are being made to leverage CHIME’s wealth of observations—making up one of the greatest data sets in modern-day astronomy—in testing and constraining our best astrophysical models for FRB progenitors and their emission physics.</p> <p>“When a burst of radio waves travels through the interstellar medium (the stuff between stars in the galaxy) and the intergalactic medium (the stuff between galaxies), it encounters electrons and magnetic fields that cause it to scatter, almost like a laser beam shining through fog, and change in characteristic ways, both in intensity and polarization,” Faber explains. “One of the things we would like to do is separate the features imposed by the medium through which a burst is passing from the features inherent to the source. By trying to ‘undo’ the effects of the intervening material, we can not only better understand the medium but we can, in some sense, place ourselves an entire galactic distance (or even an intergalactic distance) closer to the source—thereby making it easier to identify its properties.” </p> <p>Following the nine-month Fulbright fellowship, Faber will begin a PhD in astrophysics at the California Institute of Technology. </p> <p>Over the past three years at 91ֱ��, Faber <a href="/news/emeritus-professor-physics-dan-stinebring-forefront-gravitational-wave-research">collaborated with Professor Stinebring on several projects</a> that involved major research conferences and international travel, including a project to understand how radio waves behave as they travel through interstellar space. The pair used large radio telescopes to observe pulsars, seen as highly energetic pulses of radio waves in the sky. </p> <p>Outside of science, playing chamber music was a significant part of Faber’s 91ֱ�� experience. As a violinist, he played with the Margnité Quartet. “I owe that entirely to the mentorship that I’ve received from Dean Chris Jenkins and the Verona Quartet in the conservatory.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">An aspiring astrophysicist, Faber will gain access to the emerging field of Fast Radio Bursts.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2021-06-09T12:00:00Z">Wed, 06/09/2021 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Amanda Nagy</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2373">Awards and Honors</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2367">Science & Math</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2363">Academics & Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25411">Physics</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/physics-and-astronomy" hreflang="und">Physics and Astronomy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/philosophy" hreflang="und">Philosophy</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Jakob Faber '21</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Jonathan Clark '25</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-flex-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden vertical-spacing--basic field__items"> <div class="field__item"> </div> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Exploring Interstellar Waves</h1> <p>ygay — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 03:45:58 +0000</p> <span>Exploring Interstellar Waves</span> <span><span>ygay</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-10-12T23:45:58-04:00" title="Monday, October 12, 2020 - 23:45">Mon, 10/12/2020 - 23:45</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Branched flow is a behavior of waves that have been observed on the widest range of physical scales imaginable, from radio waves shooting across the Milky Way down to tiny wiggling electrons, explains Faber. “When the medium is disordered in such a way that it contains random, smooth variations, like a landscape of mountains and valleys, the wave will begin to divide into multiple, focused beams that resemble the branches of a tree.”</p> <p>According to Faber, a thorough understanding of the behavior of branched flow can help researchers to answer questions about both the medium through which the waves are passing and the source of the waves, potentially allowing them to predict—or if the system is small enough—control the paths these branches take. The ultimate goal would be for branched flow to fundamentally tie together systems found in every corner of the natural world.</p> <p>“Branched flow as a field is still very young,” admits Faber. “One of the most pressing questions today is: Does branching also appear in the propagation of light, specifically radio waves, emitted by astrophysical sources? If so, this would greatly benefit our understanding of interstellar space and bring a new lens to the field of radio astronomy.” </p> <p>During the past three years, Faber has worked with Professor of Physics <a href="/node/6191">Dan Stinebring</a> to understand how radio waves behave as they travel through interstellar space. The pair used large radio telescopes to observe pulsars, seen as highly energetic pulses of radio waves in the sky. By observing pulsars, Faber and Stinebring could ask: Is the medium between Earth and the pulsar the special type of randomly smooth medium needed for branched flow to occur? </p> <p>“The answer, for now, is probably, but of course that’s a terribly unsatisfying thing to hear,” says Faber, a physics major with concentrations in astrophysics and philosophy. “That is why I’ve decided to pursue this question as my honors project. </p> <p>’’If the answer turns out to be yes, then we will have a new toolkit for modeling radio wave propagation in the interstellar medium. And that will be crucial to identifying and correcting for its influence on pulsar signals, thereby bringing us a galactic distance closer to the astrophysical objects we observe every day.”</p> <p>Although Faber’s project did not yield conclusive results, time spent discussing possible ways to go about simulating branched flow in the interstellar medium with a professor at Harvard University and Stinebring was productive. Faber was also able to identify a host of branched-flow-related systems and crossovers from quantum mechanics to acoustic oceanography, geophysics, and radio astronomy. </p> <p>“A consequence of this culture, not unlike branched flow, is the divergence of research fields that are effectively trying to understand the same concepts,” says Faber. “I came to realize early on in the summer that, unbeknownst to most researchers in radio astronomy, the problem of simulating radio wave propagation in the interstellar medium is entirely analogous to some wave-propagation problems on Earth, such as the propagation of microwaves in the atmosphere or even sound waves in the ocean.”</p> <p>While working on the branched flow project, Faber completed an internship at the University of California, Berkeley. This semester Faber is at 91ֱ�� College.</p> <p><br> </p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-10-12T12:00:00Z">Mon, 10/12/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yvonne Gay</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Jakob Faber ’21 spent the month of August exploring ways to broaden the scope of branched flow with the goal of introducing work that has been done in radio astronomy and radio geophysics into the field.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2402">Winter Term</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2367">Science & Math</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25411">Physics</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/physics-and-astronomy" hreflang="und">Physics and Astronomy</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Jakob Faber ’21.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Anokha Venugopal</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Rainie Heck Receives NSF Graduate Research Fellowship</h1> <p>anagy — Mon, 11 May 2020 18:12:28 +0000</p> <span>Rainie Heck Receives NSF Graduate Research Fellowship</span> <span><span>anagy</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-05-11T14:12:28-04:00" title="Monday, May 11, 2020 - 14:12">Mon, 05/11/2020 - 14:12</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Rainie Heck, a senior mathematics and physics major, has received a <a href="https://www.nsfgrfp.org/general_resources/about">National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship</a>, an award that supports graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees in the United States.</p> <p>Fellows benefit from a three-year annual stipend of $34,000, along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees, opportunities for international research and professional development, and the freedom to conduct their own research at any accredited U.S. institution of graduate education they choose.</p> <p>Heck has been accepted into a graduate program at the University of Washington, where she plans to pursue a PhD in mathematics. </p> <p>“I am really excited to be part of such a great program, and while there I plan to also take advantage of UW’s strength in data science and computer science and to strengthen my background in these areas,” says Heck, who is from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. “Longer term, I plan to work in industry and become involved in the deep mathematics behind subjects such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.”</p> <p>With the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, Heck will not have to work as a teaching assistant during her three years of graduate studies—a critical benefit that allows more time and freedom to focus on coursework and research. </p> <p>“I plan to take advantage of that extra time to become involved in research earlier in my PhD than I might otherwise be able to do, both by working on projects that interest me and also by taking extra reading courses to learn about new subjects,” she says. “I am also very interested in the international funding and internship opportunities for NSF fellows, and I plan to take advantage of those during and after my PhD.”</p> <p>Heck was a recipient of the prestigious <a href="/news/third-year-rainie-heck-wins-2019-goldwater-scholarship">Goldwater Scholarship</a> in 2019. In spring 2019, she studied abroad in Hungary with the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics program. She is interested in number theory, geometry, and combinatorics, and she has worked on three research projects in these areas. </p> <p>During the summer of her second year, Heck completed a NSF research experience for undergraduate students (REU) at University of California Berkeley and wrote a paper about connections between geometric and algebraic properties of hyperbolic three manifolds.</p> <p>For her honors project at 91ֱ�� with Assistant Professor of Mathematics <a href="/benjamin-linowitz">Ben Linowitz</a>, she studied geometric and topological properties of a particular type of hyperbolic surface called an arithmetic hyperbolic surface. “The really interesting thing about this project is that these types of surfaces relate closely to number theory, so I was able to use a lot of techniques from number theory to answer geometric questions.”</p> <p>Last summer, Heck worked on a project in algebraic combinatorics through an REU at the University of Michigan with Professor Anna Weigandt. “We studied how combinatorics can be used to determine the diagonal Groebner geometry of matrix Schubert varieties. I have been fortunate enough to work on projects in an array of areas, and I have really enjoyed the interdisciplinary nature of all of these projects.”</p> <p>Heck is a member of the varsity women’s tennis team and a member of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society. She has also worked as an <a href="/clear/owls">OWLS tutor</a> and grader for a variety of math and physics classes.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-05-14T12:00:00Z">Thu, 05/14/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Amanda Nagy</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2373">Awards and Honors</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2363">Academics & Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2367">Science & Math</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25401">Mathematics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25411">Physics</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/benjamin-linowitz" hreflang="und">Benjamin Linowitz</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/mathematics" hreflang="und">Mathematics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/physics-and-astronomy" hreflang="und">Physics and Astronomy</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Senior Rainie Heck has received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Courtesy of Rainie Heck</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> </main></body></html>