Articles

Having graduated from Skidmore about two weeks ago, one would think I would have plenty of time to update this blog. Fortunately or unfortunately, that is not the case. I have temporarily moved home, spent time finding an apartment for the fall, and am working on modifying my math thesis to submit it for publication. Meantime, I realized I have not put up my previously published articles. So, here they are:
Self Assembly of Janus Ellipsoids (Langmuir, 2012, 28, 3-9)
Encapsulation by Janus Spheroids (Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 6027)

I hope everyone's enjoying the summer. Hopefully, more updates soon.

Research at WHOI

I am currently at WHOI, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, as an intern. I am working with Young-Oh Kwon and Magdalena Andres as well as a graduate student, Derya A Yellin. Derya came up with the idea to use temperature data from scuba divers as an additional dataset when studying near-shore physical processes. She is organizing the creation of a website to create a database of that information. I am working on the analysis of a small dataset to examine the relevant time and spacial scales. We will also be investigating the accuracy of various dive computers' temperature recordings.

In other news, just got my grades back from last semester- 4.0! I was definitely not expecting that, but I am very happy. Oh, I also am up to 9 submitted applications for grad school. Debating applying to Teach for America.
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Published! Update on Janus particle research.

One of the articles I collaborated on this summer (at my REU at Lehigh) is now published as a letter in Langmuir, a physical chemistry journal.

Self Assembly of Janus Ellipsoids

Applying to Graduate School; Warnings

So, I have my final list of graduate programs all put together, my recommenders all have their information, I've put together my resume, started work on my personal statement...the one problem is transcripts. There's a strike of the union workers at l'Universite de Sherbrooke (in Quebec province) where I did my study abroad. So those transcripts are taking up to a month to arrive, which I did not count on. Plus, they cannot currently fax them, so they're taking that long to get mailed to the translation service too. So much for everything being on time, let's hope a note of explanation will help the admissions committee. Anyway, my advice for today is to be prepared early with transcripts and translations if you study at any non-English speaking institution.

In other news, I am not going to grad school in physics because I realized how important it is to me to precisely understand the math involved. I get very frustrated with handwaving explanations and using math I don't fully understand. So I am mostly applying to applied math programs. I want to still look at modeling the physical world, but from a mathematically rigorous position. In fact, I am generally as interested in the math as the physics, and find the math to come more naturally. I am still applying to the MIT-WHOI program in physical oceanography, but I have an internship there for January and will decide then whether that is what I would rather pursue.
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Grad School Apps

Hi all,
If anyone reading this would like to comment on the graduate programs I am examining, please do so in the comments. I am interested in statistical/continuum mechanics, particularly fluid dynamics, colloids, and granular media. I am willing to come at research from the fields of math, physics, or oceanography. Here are the programs I am considering at the moment:
Physics: Duke, Brandeis, UMass Amherst, UChicago, NYU, Clark, Emory, Georgetown U
Applied Physics: Harvard
Mathematics: RPI, NCSU, NYU
Applied Mathematics: Columbia, Brown, NJIT (mathematical sciences, joint program with Rutgers)
Oceanography: MIT-WHOI, looking for another

I want to get this down to 5 math programs, 5 physics, and up to 2 oceanography to actually apply to.

Lehigh REU research: a Brief summary

Below you'll find the 'abstract' we'll be sending to the NSF summarizing my summer work. I did some other stuff besides what's mentioned, and later I'll give more details, but for now I just want to put something up before I leave tomorrow.

Monte Carlo Simulations

A Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is a method commonly used in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics.  While in general MC is just a sampling scheme, it is normally used for importance sampling.  The MC method starts from a given 'position' and takes a random walk, returning information from wherever it travels.  With importance sampling, MC does not take a purely random walk, but instead will take a random step and then check the final position against some requirement. If the final position meets the requirements, the information for that position is recorded as data and a new step is tried. Otherwise, the simulation goes back and takes a new random step.

Janus Particles and Spheres

So, posting about the project right away didn't happen because deciding on the project didn't happen and then coding didn't happen. But now it all has!

I'm working in theoretical statistical mechanics with Professor Jim Gunton at Lehigh. More specifically, this summer the research group is studying anisotropic (orientation-dependent) Janus particles.

Really awesome physics simulator

I was sent this link last summer, and the videos blew my mind. In case the link's not working for you, it goes to an article about Lagoa Multiphysics, a 3D graphics program. Now, I know next to nothing about how physics simulations are done for videos (video games, movies, and all that), but based on how complicated physics is for a two-body system, it blows my mind that people are able to get such realistic models for such complicated motions. I'd love to see the approximations used for all this stuff. Oh, and if you're the type who wants to do this kind of work, friends of mine at RPI have complained enough about programing the physics for a computer game that I'm pretty sure studying there would be a good first step.

Calculus of Variations

     I am currently taking a class in the calculus of variations.  I find it an odd course, since it is taught in French, each class is almost entirely lecture, and we have neither a textbook nor any graded homework.  Regardless of my personal confusion as to the pedagogic methods (well, except the French- that's because I'm at a French-speaking university), I have learned quite a bit about the calculus of variations. My first introduction was in my mechanics class, through Taylor's Classical Mechanics, and while I found the Euler-Lagrange equation as covered in my class useful, the generalizations I have learned this term could have been and could continue to be useful.

Coulomb Pucks Introduction

My part of the first research project I have been part of was called “Electric charge memory design using finite element methods in Java”.  I worked on this during the summer of 2010 and continued work during that fall term, until I got too busy with my coursework (around the end of October).  This project is led by Professor Andrew Skinner and has involved other students in previous years (currently, spring 2011, my friend Lyle is working on another piece).  I was examining the electric field of a conducting cylindrical disk with rounded edges and a cylindrical central opening.  The majority of the research involved programming and evaluating a numerical model of the electrical potential and electric field in order to gain an understanding of the relationship between the radius of curvature and electric field at the edges of the conductor.  Several particular designs of these disks, “Coulomb Pucks”, were also evaluated.  The goal is for the disks to hold charge as steadily and long as possible when chemically coated with an insulating layer on the exterior surfaces.  The intended application of the final product is to demonstrate and examine electrical properties in physics courses.  An additional product is the program which calculates the fields of the puck which can be re-purposed for a charged conductor of any shape, and can then be applied to future research in the field.

More information on this product will be put on another page, accessible from the right panel; from there, click on "Home" in that panel to get back to the main page (yes, that may seem obvious, but one of these days my grandmother may want to read this, or yours).

Physics and Philosophy Review

Modern physics, the realm of physics containing relativity and quantum theory, set the scientific world buzzing during the first half of the 20th century.  Since it also allowed the creation of the atomic bomb, the entire world became concerned with the matter.  Werner Heisenberg, who played an important role in the development of modern physics (you know- the Heisenberg uncertainty principle) and won a Nobel Prize for his work, considers the philosophical impact of modern physics in Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science.  This book compares the conceptual understanding of reality through the lenses of quantum physics and major philosophers’ formulations.  

Statics of Granular Materials

Hello,
One of the first things I'm going to try to put together on here is an introductory text on granular materials. Everything I know at the moment is based off an independent study I did in the summer of 2010, but as it fascinates me I imagine I will learn more and add to the text.  I am putting it up as a page, so you can get to it from the right- it's beneath "Home". I apologize for the awkwardness of the page, as it is just one giant document, but once I learn how to program internal links, there will be a table of contents at the top. A note on use: you are welcome to use the information and to quote me, but cite your source; if you are using the material when teaching, please send me an email (I just want to know, you are welcome to use it this way); if you are making/plan to make money off of it, get in touch asap so I don't sue/plan to sue you: this is my work, and I'm sure we can come to an agreement.