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The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Conference

2015

Articles 1 - 30 of 120

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Molexpl: A Tool For Ab Initio Data Exploration And Visualization, Xueying Wang, Nicolas Onofrio, Alejandro Strachan Sep 2015

Molexpl: A Tool For Ab Initio Data Exploration And Visualization, Xueying Wang, Nicolas Onofrio, Alejandro Strachan

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Density functional theory (DFT) based on ab initio theory, is a powerful method to resolve the electronic structure of atoms, molecules and solids. However, in practical, DFT is limited to few hundreds of atoms. To overcome this limitation, researchers have developed empirical interatomic potentials implemented in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. MD ignores the movements of electrons and describes bonding and non-bonding interaction as a function of the distance between atoms called force fields (FF) or interatomic potentials. These empirical potentials are optimized against large datasets of DFT calculations relevant to describe the interactions between the atoms included in the training …


Quantification Of Analyte Concentration From A Paper-Based Lateral Flow Assay Device Using Reflective Sensors, Megan Z. Chiu, Jacqueline Linnes Aug 2015

Quantification Of Analyte Concentration From A Paper-Based Lateral Flow Assay Device Using Reflective Sensors, Megan Z. Chiu, Jacqueline Linnes

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Paper-based point-of-care (POC) diagnostics is a growing field in global health due to the extreme portability, accuracy, affordability, and ease of use of these tests. Advancements in recent years have led to more accurate detection and improved functionality using multistep molecular diagnostics. Many such assays utilize lateral flow detection strips for visualization of diagnostic results by eye, which limits the results to qualitative Yes/No readouts. This project focused on combining recent developments in paper-based POC diagnostics to develop and optimize an in-house built quantitative paper-based diagnostic reader for lateral flow detection in low-resource settings. Initially different sensors, including photocell sensors, …


Test Rig Design For Compact Variable Displacement Vane Pump, Pratik Chawla, Ryan Jenkins, Monika Ivantysynova Aug 2015

Test Rig Design For Compact Variable Displacement Vane Pump, Pratik Chawla, Ryan Jenkins, Monika Ivantysynova

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Variable displacement vane pumps (VDVP) are one type of positive displacement pumps used in automatic transmission vehicles for lubricating the gears, cooling the transmission and actuating the clutches. Though fixed displacement pumps are widely used, they output a constant effective flow at a given speed. Depending on pump sizing considerations, the pump can be oversized at high speeds because flow demand of the transmission is independent of engine speed. The excess flow returns to the tank through an orifice that causes the oil to heat up, increasing the energy required for cooling and reducing the efficiency of the transmission. A …


Thermodynamic Analysis Of Phenylpropanoid Pathway In Arabidopsis Thanliana, Patrick J. Ioerger, Rohit Jaini, John A. Morgan Aug 2015

Thermodynamic Analysis Of Phenylpropanoid Pathway In Arabidopsis Thanliana, Patrick J. Ioerger, Rohit Jaini, John A. Morgan

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Biofuels represent a renewable alternative to traditional fossil fuels. As dependence on fossil fuels rise so does the importance of improving the production of alternative fuels. Lignin poses one obstacle in the development of such alternative fuels. Its presence strengthens cell walls and hinders degradation of polysaccharides into monosaccharides, increasing cost and time while decreasing efficiency of the process. Lignin is composed of three monolignols, each of which is produced through the Phenylpropanoid pathway; a series of chemical reactions. This work aims to determine which reactions in the pathway are least thermodynamically favorable and thus most limiting. From metabolic mapping …


Detecting Periods Of Flight With High Task Load, James R. Parkinson, Steven J. Landry, Quang Dao, Caitlin Surakitbanharn Aug 2015

Detecting Periods Of Flight With High Task Load, James R. Parkinson, Steven J. Landry, Quang Dao, Caitlin Surakitbanharn

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Tools that predict dangerous working conditions empirically in the cockpit could greatly improve aviation safety. In an effort to lay the groundwork for such tools, this study will investigate whether a link exists between task load and pilots’ control strategies, their biometric data, and their planes’ position data. Using X Plane simulation software, an experiment will be run in which licensed pilots will fly a 3-nautical-mile approach into Mineta San Jose International Airport 4 times, under different task load conditions. During the flight, participants’ pupil diameters will be recorded along with the simulated aircraft position data and cognitive control modes. …


Analysis Of The Fabrication Conditions In Organic Field-Effect Transistors, Rachel M. Rahn, Yan Zhao, Jianguo Mei Aug 2015

Analysis Of The Fabrication Conditions In Organic Field-Effect Transistors, Rachel M. Rahn, Yan Zhao, Jianguo Mei

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Polymer-based organic field-effect transistors have raised substantial awareness because they enable low-cost, solution processing techniques, and have the potential to be implemented in flexible, disposable organic electronic devices. The performance of these devices is highly dependent on the processing conditions, as well as the intrinsic properties of the polymer. Processing conditions play an important role in semiconductor film formation and device performance. These factors may provide an important link between structure and performance. In this study, an empirical analysis tool, Process Scout, was applied to assess processing factors such as polymer concentration and silicon modification. This sanctioned the creation of …


Visualization And Analysis Of Sensory Data, Luke Neumann, Sung Yeon Choi, Brian Olsen, Sungahn Ko, David Ebert Dr. Aug 2015

Visualization And Analysis Of Sensory Data, Luke Neumann, Sung Yeon Choi, Brian Olsen, Sungahn Ko, David Ebert Dr.

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Recently, California has suffered a severe drought, making water a scarce resource to its population. Many viticulturists are based in this area who rely on heavy irrigation to produce a better grape and a better wine. Not just in California, but throughout the nation, irrigation must be applied intelligently for efficient use of water and funding. By taking measurements of physical characteristics of a vineyard over time, one may be able to visualize trends in the data which lend itself to describing preferred growing methods. Wireless sensors can be used to take measurements including moisture, temperature, sunlight, and more. Sensors …


3d Printing Nanostructured Thermoelectric Device, Qianru Jia, Collier Miers, Amy Marconnet Aug 2015

3d Printing Nanostructured Thermoelectric Device, Qianru Jia, Collier Miers, Amy Marconnet

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Thermoelectric materials convert thermal energy to electrical energy and vice versa. Thermoelectrics have attracted much attention and research efforts due to the possibility solving electronic cooling problems and reducing energy consumption through waste heat recovery. The efficiency of a thermoelectric material is determined by the dimensionless figure of merit ZT, which depends on both thermal and electrical properties. Researchers have worked for several decades to improve the ZT, but there had been little progress until nanomaterials and nanofabrication became widely available. Nanotechnology makes the ZT enhancement attainable by disconnecting the linkage between thermal and electrical transport. Printing customized, flexible thermoelectric …


Graphene Field Effect Transistor For Radiation Detection On A Micron To Millimeter Scale, Peter C. Lamm, Robert Speer Bean, Zachary Shollar Aug 2015

Graphene Field Effect Transistor For Radiation Detection On A Micron To Millimeter Scale, Peter C. Lamm, Robert Speer Bean, Zachary Shollar

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Novel technology in radiation detection is critical to advancing radiation detectors for their many applications. Graphene has shown to be able to change its conductivity in the presence of an electric field; this makes it an excellent candidate to be used as a radiation detector for the detection of the charges generated during radiation interactions. Research has been done on making micron scale graphene field effect transistors (GFET) with graphene on a Si/SiO2 wafer, but it is critical that we try to increase the scale. Unknowns persist in scaling graphene to millimeter sizes. This study plans to elucidate any …


Characterizing Strain Accumulation, Residual Stress, And Microstructure Of Additive Manufactured Materials, Hannah K. Woods, Todd A. Book, Catalina Parada, Michael D. Sangid Aug 2015

Characterizing Strain Accumulation, Residual Stress, And Microstructure Of Additive Manufactured Materials, Hannah K. Woods, Todd A. Book, Catalina Parada, Michael D. Sangid

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a rapidly evolving fabrication technology beneficial for its cost-saving potential to produce complex, low-volume shapes. However, AM materials are currently limited to nonstructural applications due to variability in their structural integrity, particularly their fatigue lives. IN718, Ti64, and Al10MgSi specimens manufactured by Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) were characterized based on variation of post-processing techniques and build direction. To understand the impact of each variable, surface roughness, hardness, residual stresses, microstructure, and strain accumulation in response to Low Cycle Fatigue (LCF) were studied. The use of Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) provided grain orientation and grain size …


An Investigation Of The Applicability Of Sugar And Wax Valves For Rapid Molecular Diagnostics, Rui Shen, Jacqueline C. Linnes Aug 2015

An Investigation Of The Applicability Of Sugar And Wax Valves For Rapid Molecular Diagnostics, Rui Shen, Jacqueline C. Linnes

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Paper-based Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) of nucleic acids is a low-cost molecular diagnostic method to detect biological pathogens and has been successfully combined with lateral flow devices. This invention is a low-cost visual detection technique of various disease. However, existing assays require multiple user-activated steps and are relatively complicated to use at the point of care due to steps like the heating process. This project aimed to investigate an ideal valve for integrating LAMP onto the lateral flow assay. An ideal valve needs to be able to stop the fluid flow for 20-60 minutes under 65 degree to complete the …


Towards In Situ Measurements Of Platinum Dissolution Using Metallothionein-Based Biosensor, Stephanie Cernera, Hyowon Lee Aug 2015

Towards In Situ Measurements Of Platinum Dissolution Using Metallothionein-Based Biosensor, Stephanie Cernera, Hyowon Lee

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Platinum-based (Pt) electrodes are used ubiquitously in neurostimulation for their high charge capacity and safety. However, Pt electrodes are known to dissolve during stimulation in the presence of chloride (Cl) to form Pt-Cl byproducts. These byproducts may have deleterious effects on surrounding tissue by preventing cell division and causing apoptosis. Several studies have quantified the amount of neurostimulation-induced Pt dissolution in vivo using various analytical methods; however, these approaches require disruptive sampling of tissue. Periodic measurements from a stimulating electrode using an in situ sensor may provide additional insights into Pt dissolution process. To create the sensor for detecting Pt …


Development Of A Parallel Multiphase Lattice-Boltzmann Solver To Study Stokes Number Effects On Particle Trajectories, Lenan Zhang, Anand Samuel Jebakumar, John Abraham Aug 2015

Development Of A Parallel Multiphase Lattice-Boltzmann Solver To Study Stokes Number Effects On Particle Trajectories, Lenan Zhang, Anand Samuel Jebakumar, John Abraham

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Particle-laden flows are important owing to their relevance to many engineering devices such as coal combustors, gasifiers and solar thermochemical reactors. In a recent experimental study by Lau and Nathan [1], it was found that particles in a turbulent pipe flow tend to migrate preferentially depending on their Stokes number (St). Particles with a high St (>10) are concentrated near the axis while those with low St (


Phase Transforming Cellular Materials (Pxcms) Design And Assembly, Nadia N. Aljabi, Pablo Zavattieri, David Restrepo Aug 2015

Phase Transforming Cellular Materials (Pxcms) Design And Assembly, Nadia N. Aljabi, Pablo Zavattieri, David Restrepo

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

We introduce a new class of phase transforming cellular materials (PXCMs) based on locally bistable or metastable unit cells that form periodic microstructures, where the thermomechanical behavior of each unit cell exhibits snap-through type behavior. We propose to explore the capabilities of these new materials to improve structural resistance to damage caused by natural hazards including PXCM in structural members. The main benefits of this material are that it can absorb energy and is reusable. During the first part of this work, a fabrication method for PXCMs based on the assembly material slotted stripes was explored. The 1D unit cell …


Effect Of Helium Ions Energy On Molybdenum Surfaces Under Extreme Conditions, Joseph Fiala, Jitendra K. Tripathi, Sean Gonderman, Ahmed Hassanein Aug 2015

Effect Of Helium Ions Energy On Molybdenum Surfaces Under Extreme Conditions, Joseph Fiala, Jitendra K. Tripathi, Sean Gonderman, Ahmed Hassanein

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Plasma facing components (PFCs) in fusion devices must be able to withstand high temperatures and erosion due to incident energetic ion radiations. Tungsten has become the material of choice for PFCs due to its high strength, thermal conductivity, and low erosion rate. However, its surface deteriorates significantly under helium ion irradiation in fusion-like conditions and forms nanoscopic fiber-like structures, or fuzz. Fuzz is brittle in nature and has relatively lower thermal conductivity than that of the bulk material. Small amounts of fuzz may lead to excessive contamination of the plasma, preventing the fusion reaction from taking place. Despite recent efforts, …


Simulating Low-Frequency Sonic Pulsations To Achieve Thrombolysis, Joseph C. Muskat, Matthew C. Pharris, Charles F. Babbs Aug 2015

Simulating Low-Frequency Sonic Pulsations To Achieve Thrombolysis, Joseph C. Muskat, Matthew C. Pharris, Charles F. Babbs

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Cardiovascular thrombosis may result in critical ischemia to a range of anatomical regions, constituting a leading cause of death in the United States. Current invasive treatments for such arterial blockages often yield blood clot recurrence, resulting in repeated hospitalization of patients. This research aims to show how internally introduced pressure oscillations may be used to initiate thrombolysis. We present a novel computational model for determining the resonant frequency and corresponding deformation of an idealized thrombus. Sinusoidal pressure differences across the thrombus induce axial displacements of frequency dependent amplitude. The maximum peak displacement occurs at a resonant frequency of 73 Hz …


Vast2015 Challenge Two: Event Analysis From Communication Data, Mahesh Babu Gorantla, William Hatton, Jieqiong Zhao, Abish Malik, David S. Ebert Aug 2015

Vast2015 Challenge Two: Event Analysis From Communication Data, Mahesh Babu Gorantla, William Hatton, Jieqiong Zhao, Abish Malik, David S. Ebert

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Social Media is a very good example of a large communication network. Typically, most data generated by social media are embedded with spatiotemporal stamps which hold crucial information than can help law enforcement agencies analyze the intensity of a calamity or chaos. Currently, not much research is done in designing a visual analytics system that incorporates clustering methods to analyze communication patterns. This research seeks to develop an analysis tool that represents such diverse data sets in user-friendly visual forms, to provide insights into the data that will improve the efficiency of event analysis. To analyze this data we have …


Effect Of Carbon Impurity On Molybdenum Nanostructure Evolution Under Helium Ion Irradiation In Extreme Conditions, Nikhil A. Bharadwaj, Jitendra Tripathi, Ahmed Hassanein, Sean Gonderman Aug 2015

Effect Of Carbon Impurity On Molybdenum Nanostructure Evolution Under Helium Ion Irradiation In Extreme Conditions, Nikhil A. Bharadwaj, Jitendra Tripathi, Ahmed Hassanein, Sean Gonderman

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The performance of plasma facing components (PFC) is of great important for the realization of prototype nuclear fusion. Tungsten has been considered as the leading high-Z PFC material for these reactors and tokamaks due to its superior thermophysical properties, high melting point, low sputtering yield, and low tritium inventory. However, its surface deteriorates significantly under helium ion irradiation in extreme (fusion) conditions and forms nanoscopic fiber like structures (fuzz) Recent studies show that the formation of fuzz nanostructure on tungsten can be suppressed by the presence of plasma impurities such as carbon and beryllium. In the present study, the effects …


Implementation Of A Speech Recognition Algorithm To Facilitate Verbal Commands For Visual Analytics Law Enforcement Toolkit, Shubham S. Rastogi, David L. Wiszowaty, Hanye Xu, Abish Malik, David S. Ebert Aug 2015

Implementation Of A Speech Recognition Algorithm To Facilitate Verbal Commands For Visual Analytics Law Enforcement Toolkit, Shubham S. Rastogi, David L. Wiszowaty, Hanye Xu, Abish Malik, David S. Ebert

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The VALET (Visual Analytics Law Enforcement Toolkit) system allows the user to visualize and predict crime hotspots and analyze crime data. Police officers have difficulty in using VALET in a mobile situation, since the system allows only conventional input interfaces (keyboard and mouse). This research focuses on introducing a new input interface to VALET in the form of speech recognition, which allows the user to interact with the software without losing functionality. First an Application Program Interface (API) that was compatible with the VALET system was found and initial code scripts to test its functionality were written. Next, the code …


Assessment Of Critical Technologies For Gas Turbine Engines Using Numerical Tools, Vinicius Pessoa Mapelli, Guillermo Paniagua, Jorge Sousa Aug 2015

Assessment Of Critical Technologies For Gas Turbine Engines Using Numerical Tools, Vinicius Pessoa Mapelli, Guillermo Paniagua, Jorge Sousa

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In 2014 gas turbine engine has reached a market value of 82.5 billion dollars, of which 59.5% are related to aircraft propulsion. The continuous market expansion attracts more and more the interest of researchers and industries towards the development of accurate numerical techniques to model thermodynamically the entire engine. This practice allows a performance and optimization analysis before the actual experimental testing, reducing the time and required investment in the design of a new engine. In this paper, a recently developed open source numerical tool named “Toolbox for the Modeling and Analysis of Thermodynamic Systems” (T-MATS) is used to assess …


Freeze-Drying Silica Based Aerogels Using Cryoprotectants And Eutectic Solvent Mixtures, Alyssa R. Bass, Shane Peng, Jeffrey Youngblood Aug 2015

Freeze-Drying Silica Based Aerogels Using Cryoprotectants And Eutectic Solvent Mixtures, Alyssa R. Bass, Shane Peng, Jeffrey Youngblood

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Silica based aerogels have unique properties, including good thermal insulation and convective inhibition. A sol-gel process can be used to produce semi-opaque, monolithic gels, which can then be dried to produce aerogels. Multiple drying methods are available industrially, however, these methods require high temperatures and pressures, specialized equipment, and are time consuming. This project aims to experimentally study the possibility of a new method for drying wet gels through a freeze-drying process, with the use of cryoprotectants, eutectics, and polymers to inhibit and control ice formation and growth during drying. Silica wet gels were produced using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), ethanol, water, …


Optimization In The Simulation Of Jammed Polyhedral Particles, Joseph W. Mynhier, Ishan Srivastava, Timothy S. Fisher Aug 2015

Optimization In The Simulation Of Jammed Polyhedral Particles, Joseph W. Mynhier, Ishan Srivastava, Timothy S. Fisher

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Energy loss due to poor transport properties in electrically and thermally conducting materials, such as battery electrodes and thermoelectric composites, contributes to the energy inefficiency of electronic devices. For conductive materials composed of granular materials, particle-particle contact topology strongly governs the efficiency of energy transfer. Although there is a large body of existing work on the arrangements made by granular materials comprised of spherical particles, less is known about the mechanically stable arrangements of granular materials made of convex polyhedra. This project seeks to create a computer simulation of the solidification of convex polyhedra from a diffuse state into a …


Buckling-Driven Force Generation Of Cell Cortex, Pranith Lomada, Wonyeong Jung, Taeyoon Kim Aug 2015

Buckling-Driven Force Generation Of Cell Cortex, Pranith Lomada, Wonyeong Jung, Taeyoon Kim

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Actomyosin cortex, a thin network underlying cell membrane, is known to generate a large portion of tensile forces required for various cellular processes. Recently, theoretical studies predicted that buckling of actin filaments breaks symmetry between tensile and compressive forces developed by myosin motors, resulting in tensile stress at a network level. However, the significance of the filament buckling of the cortex has yet to be demonstrated either computationally or experimentally. Here, buckling-dependent stress generation of the cortex-like actomyosin network was investigated using an agent-based computational model consisting of actin filaments, actin cross-linking proteins (ACPs), and molecular motors. First, a wide …


Development Of A Shape Memory Polymer Soft Microgripper, Marshall Tatro, David J. Cappelleri, Wuming Jing Aug 2015

Development Of A Shape Memory Polymer Soft Microgripper, Marshall Tatro, David J. Cappelleri, Wuming Jing

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The ability to control microrobots by means of magnetic fields has become of increasing interest to researchers. These robots’ ability to reach places tethered microrobots otherwise could not leads to many possible applications in the body, such as delivering drugs to targeted locations and performing biopsies. This study shows the use of shape memory polymer (SMP) to wirelessly actuate a microgripper to be used by a controllable microrobot to achieve these functions. Many smart materials were analyzed in order to find the material that most effectively would accomplish wirelessly gripping, manipulating, and releasing a microobject. Multiple microgripper designs were designed, …


Evaluation Of Head Impacts On Football, Hockey & Lacrosse Helmets, Goutham N. Sankaran, Eric Nauman Aug 2015

Evaluation Of Head Impacts On Football, Hockey & Lacrosse Helmets, Goutham N. Sankaran, Eric Nauman

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Despite improvements in helmet design over the years, traumatic brain injury cases (TBI) from heavy contact sports have increased drastically. Newer understanding of said cranial injuries has granted scientists and engineers the capability to develop acceleration measuring devices to precisely quantify and simulate real life impacts. In this research, various football, lacrosse and hockey helmets were stricken on a head form using an impulse hammer that measures transient accelerations. Once data was collected, specifically defined metric plots were generated that provided a normalized analysis of all the helmets’ mitigation abilities. These plots revealed that the lowest translational acceleration metric hailed …


Optimal Surfactant Selection For Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery In Low Temperature, Low Salinity, High Hardness Reservoirs, Christian D. White, Ryan A. Mulvenna, Rituraj Borgohain, Cliff Johnston, Bryan Boudouris Aug 2015

Optimal Surfactant Selection For Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery In Low Temperature, Low Salinity, High Hardness Reservoirs, Christian D. White, Ryan A. Mulvenna, Rituraj Borgohain, Cliff Johnston, Bryan Boudouris

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Based on the environmental properties of a crude oil reservoir, only 20-30 % of oil product can be recovered using primary and secondary extraction methods. The remaining stranded oil can only be recovered via various enhanced oil recovery methods. Chemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR) uses specialty chemicals to extract trapped oil in rock layers by generating in-situ microemulsion in the presence of reservoir brine and oil. In this case study, phase behavior tests are conducted for microemulsion formation between the surfactant solution and the oil. The phase behavior tests model reservoirs with low temperature and low salinity. In order to …


Selective Protein Labelling To Visualize Cellular Differentiation, Andrew J. Witten, Tamara L. Kinzer-Ursem Aug 2015

Selective Protein Labelling To Visualize Cellular Differentiation, Andrew J. Witten, Tamara L. Kinzer-Ursem

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Protein post-translational modifications serve to give proteins new cellular function, spatial localization, or enzymatic activity. Myristoylation is a common post-translational modification where the enzyme N-myristoyltransferase adds myristic acid onto the N-terminus of a variety of proteins. In this work we use a myristic acid analog, 12-azidododecanoic acid (12ADA) to facilitate the implementation of azide-alkyne cycloaddition reactions on myristoylated proteins. Selective protein labeling methods such as these are useful in research because they can be used to help determine the biological function of this protein lipid modification and can be extended to study disregulated protein myristoylation in disease states. To validate …


Quantum Modeling Of Thermodynamic Properties Of Warm Dense Aluminum, Nicholas Termini, Gennady Miloshesky, Ahmed Hassanein Aug 2015

Quantum Modeling Of Thermodynamic Properties Of Warm Dense Aluminum, Nicholas Termini, Gennady Miloshesky, Ahmed Hassanein

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Warm dense matter is attracting a lot of attention in the scientific community, due to its formation during intense laser-matter interaction and inertial confinement fusion. However, there is no accurate solution to mapping out the thermodynamic properties of warm dense matter. Experimental data are also incredibly scarce making computational models an incredibly useful tool. This paper provides equation of state (EOS) data for aluminum at specific densities within the warm dense matter regime. The EOS data were calculated using quantum molecular dynamics, which was performed by the computational package QuatumEspresso. EOS were determined by collecting and recording pressure after achieving …


Determining Glucose Isomerization Mechanisms On Lewis Acidic Beta Zeolites Using Isotropic Tracer Studies And 1h Nmr, Jacklyn N. Hall, Michael J. Cordon, Rajamani Gounder Aug 2015

Determining Glucose Isomerization Mechanisms On Lewis Acidic Beta Zeolites Using Isotropic Tracer Studies And 1h Nmr, Jacklyn N. Hall, Michael J. Cordon, Rajamani Gounder

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Biofuels synthesized from biomass sources are becoming necessary for sustainable production due to their significantly lower net CO2 production than fuels synthesized from fossil-based carbon sources such as petroleum. Catalytic pathways for the primary biomass-to-biofuels reaction pathway include the isomerization of glucose to fructose, which can be catalyzed by either Lewis acids or bases. Isolated metal atoms and metal oxide particles on Beta zeolites serve as active sites that catalyze this reaction through a Lewis acid 1,2-intramolecular hydride shift or by a Lewis base proton transfer mechanism, respectively. The Lewis acid mechanism has proven to have higher fructose selectivity …


Synthesis And Characterization Of 2d Atomic Layers, Adam Charnas, Gang Qiu, Peide Ye Aug 2015

Synthesis And Characterization Of 2d Atomic Layers, Adam Charnas, Gang Qiu, Peide Ye

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

As electronic devices have continued to become smaller, a pressing need has developed for new technologies in order to surpass current size constraints. As such, 2-dimensional materials have become a topic of great interest in experimental device research. Monolayer black phosphorus, or phosphorene, is one such 2D material which shows significant potential as a p-type semiconductor. Phosphorene exhibits a number of unique and desirable electrical properties such as a layer-dependent band gap, high carrier mobility, and anisotropic conductivity. An investigation into optimal growth of black phosphorus, the precursor material to phosphorene, as well as characterization of phosphorene-based devices will be …