Science in a Flash is a Natural Sciences event that highlights some of our exceptional graduate and postdoctoral students and graduate research in our School. These five-minute talks give a glimpse into the exciting work in the School’s portfolio. Our first Science in a Flash event was held during Homecoming 2017 and featured 7 outstanding presentations given by our exceptional graduate and postdoctoral researchers.
From L-R: Jason Ling, Emily Thomas, Laura Carter, Emily Schultz, Tom VandenBoom, Dayne Swearer and Jamal RorieÂ
Thank you to each of our student presenters for your superb presentations, and congratulations to the Judges Choice award winner Dayne Swearer and the Audience Choice award winner Tom VandenBoom.Â
Jason Ling is a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in astrophysics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy under the supervision of Andrea Isella. Jason’s research focuses on understanding the characteristics of planets outside of our solar system, which includes revealing the details of their formation.
Emily Thomas is a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in biochemistry and cell biology in the Department of Biosciences under the supervision of Jonathan (Joff) Silberg. Emily is a synthetic biologist who designs tools that make studying proteins easier. She adds tags to proteins as they are made inside a cell of interest in order to identify what cells are producing the tagged protein. This lets her study proteins inside a cell without isolating it from its environment.
Laura Carter is a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in earth science in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences under the supervision of Rajdeep Dasgupta. Laura uses high pressure – high temperature experiments to explore the geochemical reactions that occur when magma interacts with rocks in the Earth’s crust prior to a volcanic eruption.
Jamal Rorie is a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy working with team leader Paul Padley. Jamal is searching for evidence of dark matter in muon pair data at the Compact Muon Solenoid detector, one of two large detectors built on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
Emily Schultz is a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology in the Department of Biosciences under the supervision of Tom Miller. Emily is a population biologist who focuses on how environmental variation and species interactions affect population dynamics. She looks at groups of populations that are geographically distinct but still have some contact with the aim of understanding how different environments affect population growth rates.
Tom VandenBoom is a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in mathematics in the Department of Mathematics under the supervision of David Damanik. Tom studies mathematical models of quantum mechanical phenomena that describe the fundamental mechanisms at work when wave-particles interact with conductive media.
Dayne Swearer is a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in chemistry under the supervision of Naomi Halas. Dayne's research uses nanostructured materialsto harvest sunlight to drive chemical reactions of societal and industrial importance. He focuses on developing technologies that may one day harvest the power of the sun in ways beyond traditional solar cells.
