Summer Research Projects, Department of Physics and Astronomy
If you are interested in research opportunities, please click on the links below. We also encourage you to contact the individual department members associated with the projects for further information about the research.
Program Dates
May 27, 2025 - August 1, 2025Click on the project name for a more detailed description of the project
Project Name: Microscale mechanics of actomyosin networks
Project Mentor: Bekele Gurmessa
Project Code: (BJG-1)
Many intriguing phenomena are of fundamental scientific interest at a cellular scale. For example, several molecular interactions of cytoskeletal proteins can lead to large-scale collective motion of a cell. How can we integrate molecular-level knowledge to predict macroscopic assembly and structural re-organization in cytoskeletal proteins? One way is through exploring the mechanics, structural dynamics, and underlying physics of biological polymers of varying stiffnesses, compositions, and sizes at the molecular level. The cytoskeleton--a complex and dynamic network of biopolymers comprising actin, microtubules, and intermediate filaments--plays a vital role in several cellular processes ranging from the stability and rigidity of biological cells to cell motility and shape change. Central to this multifunctionality are the inherent stiffness of each filament and the myriad binding proteins that serve to crosslink, bundle, and stabilize these filaments. Exploring the mechanics and dynamics of in vitro reconstituted networks consisting of only one of these cytoskeletal components has been the subject of extensive experimental work. However, the role each cytoskeletal component plays in their composite networks' mechanical properties and structural dynamics is yet to be well understood. In this project, we couple optical trapping with advanced imaging to measure the nonlinear viscoelastic response and structural dynamics of in vitro reconstituted microtubules (MTs)--vimentin intermediate filaments (VIFs) composite networks by varying the relative concentration of MTs and VIFs. This project involves many hands-on experiments ranging from developing experimental protocols to creating \emph{in vitro} reconstituted composite networks and characterizing them via optical trapping and laser scanning confocal microscopy techniques. At the end of the summer, the student will develop skills in cutting-edge biophysical research (spectroscopy, advanced imaging, wet-lab handling, data acquisition, and analysis through Labview and Matlab, respectively), which are transferable to any future career (medical school, graduate school, etc.). Previous experiences in wet-lab, optical imaging, and programming in Matlab are desirable but not required.
Project Name: Characterizing Dark Matter
Detector Photosensors
Project Mentor: Abby Kopec
Project
Code: (AMK-1)
Dark Matter particles floating through space may collide with atomic nuclei. We can make an experiment to try to see this process with argon or xenon. These noble elements cause flashes of light and some nearby when they get bumped, and we can see individual photons with photosensors. Recently ordered 10 SiPM photosensors need to be set up and calibrated to photons. Additionally, scintillator-coupled photomultiplier tubes need to be set up with the aim to measure the local muon flux characteristics. This project will create a pipeline for data to go from producing controlled photons, to the photons hitting the sensor, to the signal waveforms being accessible as data arrays in python jupyter notebooks. The student will gain experience with electronics, circuits, and coding with C++, and Python.
Project Name: Building the Dark Matter Detector Apparatus
Project Mentor: Abby Kopec
Project
Code: (AMK-2)
Dark Matter particles floating through space may collide with atomic nuclei. We can make an experiment to try to see this process with liquid argon or xenon. The noble elements have to be in a well-sealed system, with the ability to purify and maintain thermal equilibrium. Work is needed to design and build the gas handling system with a purification loop and integrate all infrastructure to house the experiment's detector, which will need to be cooled to liquify the noble element. Work can also begin to set up the detector for operation and characterization, with the integration of the photosensors. The student will gain experience with vacuum system technology, drafting, and construction of a sensitive particle experiment.
Project Name: Chaotic mixing, swimming microbes, and propagating reaction fronts
Project Mentor: Tom Solomon
Project Code: (THS-1)
There is currently tremendous interest in "active matter" systems in the condensed matter physics and biophysics communities. These are complex fluid systems with components that have an internal energy source that causes spontaneous movement relative to the fluid. Examples include fluids with swimming and flying organisms (e.g., swimming microbes or fish and flying insects or birds), artificial devices that move relative to the surrounding fluid (active colloids, drug delivery devices, or boats/planes), reaction fronts that move relative to the fluid while consuming the reactants (e.g., a forest fire or an industrial chemical process), molecular "motors" in a living cells, growing biological colonies in flowing ecosystems, and the spreading of diseases in a moving population of animals or people.
We are conducting a wide range of experiments to test universally-applicable theories of "invariant manifolds" that predict invisible barriers that stop the motion of active tracers in laminar (smooth) fluid flows. In particular, we are studying the motion of reaction fronts and swimming bacteria/algae/shrimp in laboratory- and microfluidic-scale fluid flows. We are also studying "deterministic chaos" in these systems that can have a significant effect on the spreading of active impurities and on processes such as the "blooming" of reactions and colonies of microbes in a fluid flow, similar to algae blooms in the oceans.
There is a lot of hands-on work involved in these projects, including the designing, building and testing of the experimental apparatus, constructing and working with microfluidic devices, mixing chemicals for the reactions, culturing of bacteria or algae, microscopy, and doing numerous experimental data runs. The experimental work also involves a substantial amount of computer-aided image analysis, almost exclusively on Linux workstations running a program called IDL. We also frequently conduct numerical simulations of the phenomena, also with IDL. Although experience in computer analysis is useful, it is not required as long as the student involved is willing and eager to learn IDL.
Project Name: Development of Atomic and Induction Coil Magnetometers
Project Mentor: Ibrahim Sulai
Project Code: (IS-1)
In my lab, we are interested in developing sensors to measure magnetic fields at the femto-Tesla level (i.e. 10−15 Tesla). For scale, the earth's magnetic field is over 10^8 times larger at 50 micro Tesla level. The motivation for making measurements of such small fields is to probe effects arising from physics beyond the standard model -- that is from particles that have been theoretically proposed to help explain some outstanding questions in physics such as "axions", and "dark photons". This summer, we will be working on two magnetometer designs: a cesium atomic magnetometer, and an induction coil magnetometer.
Atomic magnetometers work on the basis of the interaction of the atomic spin and the background magnetic field. In our lab, we work with atomic spins in Rubidium, Cesium and Helium-3. Using resonant laser light, we can read out the atoms' interaction with the magnetic field. The goals of this project are to investigate ways of amplifying the signal using optical cavities, as well as to learn about the behavior of systems having different a mixture of species which may interact with each other. An induction coil magnetometer works on the basis of the Faraday effect, which states that a time varying magnetic field will induce a current in a coil.
Using low noise electronics, we plan to measure fields at the femto-Tesla level using both atomic magnetometers and the induction coil magnetometer. In addition to electronics, this project also involves work in optics, hardware development (machining, 3D printing etc), and signal analysis.
Project Name: Spectroscopy of Palladium Atoms and Ions
Project Mentor: Ibrahim Sulai
Project Code: (IS-2)
Palladium has six stable isotopes -- five of which have nuclear spin of zero. A consequence of this is that there is no nuclear magnetic interaction between the electrons and the nucleus and so the atomic structure of five of the six isotopes is significantly simplified. We are interested in determining the energy levels of some narrow transitions in the neutral and singly ionized palladium. The narrowness of the transition is related to the Heisenberg principle, as the excited states are long lived, and hence we call them metastable.
We are able to determine the energy levels with high precision and this precision will allow us to search for (or constrain) subtle signatures of physics beyond the standard model that arise in interactions between neutrons and electrons. Last year, we developed a metastable atom source. This summer, we will excite the atoms with an external light source in order to obtain their absorption spectra. We also plan to investigate transitions in palladium ions – and work on developing an ion trap system that will allow us to acquire spectra from samples containing few ions. The work involves electronics, hardware design and optics.
How Red Dwarfs Generate High-Energy Particles (2 positions open)
Project Mentor: Jackie Villadsen
Project Code: (JV-1)
Red dwarf stars, which are smaller and cooler than the Sun, are 3/4 of the stars in the universe and they are home to most of the nearby Earth-sized exoplanets. However, these small stars have strong magnetic fields that lead to violent magnetic explosions on the stellar surface, known as flares. In a stellar flare, the magnetic field around the star suddenly snaps into a lower energy state (magnetic reconnection), and the rapidly changing magnetic field causes charged particles (electrons and protons) to accelerate to relativistic speeds, which result in a temporary increase in light from the star. The goal of this research is to understand the population of accelerated particles around red dwarfs, which is part of the "space weather" environment that impacts exoplanets. To do this, we will study radio waves emitted during flares, since radio waves trace the properties of the accelerated electrons. In this project, you will take the lead on analyzing radio telescope observations of one of 7 nearby red dwarfs; these data have already been collected using the Very Large Array. You will learn to use Linux, Python, and specialized astronomy software to create radio-wave images of the area around the star, then create graphs of the brightness of the star versus time to look for flares. You'll also compare the radio-telescope observations to optical-telescope observations from NASA's TESS satellite, to see how flare energy (from optical) relates to high-energy particle properties (from radio).