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About The Department
Faculty Research
Student Research
Dr. Barney Bales
Research in the Center for Supramolecular Studies: The title of a recent book, "The Colloidal Domain. Where physics, chemistry, biology, and technology meet," describes well the area of interest in our lab. The colloid domain occupies the interest of perhaps the most diverse group of scientists in the world. Colloids are interesting to study from purely a basic research perspective because they pose some questions that arouse ones curiosity. We are particularly interested in colloids that form spontaneously in water. Ordinary soap provides a good example of such colloids. Soap dissolves in water, forms colloids in which oil is soluble, which carries away the oil from a dirty pair of hands. Soaps, detergents, and components of the biological membrane are a few examples of molecules that have a dual personality. One end of the molecule is soluble in oil while the other end is soluble in water. This dual personality allows these molecules to go into solution in water, but once there, they often self-assemble to form larger structures. One such structure is the so-called micelle. Our research strives to understand the physical properties of micelles.
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Dr. Duane Doty
In the Low Energy Nuclear Laboratory Professor Doty's students measure background radiation in the environment. This form of radiation is important since we live in it and cancers and genetic mutations are caused by it. The students identify the type and source of the gamma rays and find where they are weaker and stronger. Other students try to model the observed radiation using computers. Many students from Dr. Doty's lab go on to earn the Ph. D. degree at advanced Universities or easily find employment at local technical installations.
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Dr. Donald Jacobs
My current research interests centers on understanding protein flexibility, stability and folding using theoretical and computational tools of statistical physics. The focus of my molecular biophysics group is to accurately characterize protein conformational flexibility. We study structure-flexibility-function relationships and investigate correspondences between flexibility and stability. The scientific significance of this research is potentially far reaching, with many applications in protein engineering and drug design. Locating flexible regions may assist in predicting conformational changes induced upon binding of a substrate. Specificity in function may be related to rigid regions that act as templates for molecular binding. Algorithms for docking and simulation of long-time motions may be improved by using quantitative measures that characterize intrinsic conformational flexibility. The flexibility measures may become a useful finger-printing system whereby they could facilitate high throughput bioinformatic studies.
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Dr. Stephen Walton
Dr. Stephen Walton's main research interests are solar variability, solar magnetic fields, and image analysis. Dora Preminger, Dr. Gary Chapman, and he have co-authored a recent paper presenting new models for the variation in the solar energy output based on images taken with the telescopes at the San Fernando Observatory. Previously, he has written on computer techniques for the automatic identification of solar features such as sunspots on large data sets and the rapid estimation of solar magnetic fields. His most recent project, carried out jointly with Dr. Matthew Penn of the National Solar Observatory, is observations of the Sun using a new infrared camera at SFO.
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Jose A. Ceja
Advisor: Dr. Stephen R. Walton
A NEW WAY OF MAKING SOLAR MAPS
A study of sunspots' polarized light in the visible and infrared bands can provide insight into the Sun's most interesting characteristic: its magnetic field. Such analysis yields maps of the magnetic field properties of sunspots, aiding the overall study of the Sun’s global field. Even though I use the same data that has been used for years at the San Fernando Observatory, I analyze it with a "new" method which can yield a more complete look of what goes on in these solar active regions. My research is funded by an NSF grant.
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Barbara Falkowski
Advisor: Dr. Ryoichi Seki
SIMULATING COSMIC RAY SHOWERS
Currently I am working on the CHICOS (California High school Cosmic ray Observatory). The goal of this project is to investigate very high energy cosmic rays, and possibly discover their source. My part in this project is to calculate the variation of a distribution of particles caused by a cosmic ray hitting the atmosphere at a given energy. I am doing this using a computer program which simulates the "air showers" caused by cosmic rays. Air showers are cascades of fast moving elementary particles that result from the collision of a cosmic ray with a molecule in the atmosphere.
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David Miccolis
Advisor: Dr. Cristina Cadavid
PHOTOSPHERIC SOURCES FOR HEATING OF THE SUN'S CHROMOSPHERE
After many years of study the Sun still has its secrets. One such mystery is the mechanism for transporting heat from the Photosphere (visible layer) to the outer atmosphere. We are analyzing a data set consisting of a 9 hour sequence of near simultaneous, high resolution and high cadence intensity images in the Photosphere and Chromosphere, together with magnetic images of lower resolution and cadence. We find that discrete darkening events in the Photosphere are precursors of brightenings in the Chromosphere 2 minutes later. The timing and coupling of Photospheric events and Chromosphere heating appear to be regulated by a pre-existing 4 minute oscillation of the solar atmosphere. At the time of the events, there is evidence of power in waves with periods 1-8 minutes. The magnetic field behaves as a passive tracer of horizontal photospheric flows that converge on the Photospheric events, suggesting that the waves are purely acoustic.
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Mayra Tovar
Advisor: Dr. Nicholas Kioussis
PROPERTIES OF INTERMETALLIC SURFACES
In my research project, I will be studying the properties of intermetallic surfaces. The intermetallic to be studied will be either Ni3Al or NiAl. In order to observe such properties, I will add water to the surface to see how oxidation changes those properties. It is believed that oxidation can act as a protective layer, making the material a stronger one. Carrying out tests of total energy versus number of k-points and energy cutoff for energy minimization is done mostly at zero temperature. However, nonzero temperature tests might also be performed; it has been observed that the mechanical strength of Ni3Al increases with temperature, contrary to other materials.
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