Research - Overview

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

The perplexed violin maker: A modern violin maker tests a newly made violin back plate by examining the vibration modes of the material. These nodes are made evident by Chandli patterns, arrangements of sand particles formed when the plate is vertically vibrated at one of the plate's resonant frequencies.

Research experience

Having spent eight years conducting research, I have acquired a broad technical background which includes:

  • my graduate work in surfactant dynamics where I experimentally probed the coupled dynamics of a fluid and its surfactant monolayer coating
  • an undergraduate study in relativity where I theoretically studied the relativistic harmonic oscillator and relativistic corrections to the klystron
  • an undergraduate study in protein crystalography where I experimentally studied the effect of different solutions on the crystal formation of FTHFS.
  • a research experience for undergrads studying material science where I experimentally and theoretically studied the electronic and phononic properties of perovskite crystals and YBCO.
  • a summer internship studying Martian geology where I analyzed data in the search for a fault line and later for the search for water.

Interests

My research interests are broad and include:

Academic
  • Two-dimensional materials
  • Surfactant and surface transport
  • Mixing and turbulence
  • Non-Newtonian rheology
  • Atmospheric physics
  • Plasma physics
  • Quantum fluid dynamics
  • Quantum hydrodynamic analogs
  • Quantum information and computing
  • Fundamentals of quantum mechanics
Applied
  • Systems analysis
  • Image analysis and computer vision
  • Imaging methods and apparatus development
  • Automation and control systems
  • Optical systems
  • Mars and the possibility of a manned mission
  • Oil spill dynamics and cleanup
  • Pulmonary surfactant replacement therapy
  • Material characterization
  • Klystron design and operation
  • Musical instruments

Expertise and Skills

In order to fully realize my past research experiences, I have garnered a broad skill set. These skills include:

  • Knowledge base
    1. Surface physics: Marangoni effects in fluid-dynamical systems, surface rheology, wetting phenomena, Langmuir monolayer structure, phase transitions, order parameters, adsorption/desorption dynamics
    2. Continuum mechanics: Fluid mechanics, rheology, waves, Faraday waves, non-linear phenomena, Stokes flow, lubrication theory, mixing dynamics
    3. Scientific literature: Mendeley reference manager, Web of Science, Google Scholar
    4. Electronics: chapters 1-4 and 6 of The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill
  • Laboratory methodologies
    1. Data handling: acquiring, managing, archiving, and backing up large datasets taken with multiple instruments
    2. Surface physics: monolayer visualization methods, depositing and spreading Langmuir monolayers, mixing surfactants before and after deposition
    3. Optics: fluorescence imaging, Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy, uniform illumination
    4. Chemistry: pipetting, labeling, chemical storage, pouring, mixing, dilution, degassing
    5. Control systems: PID controllers
  • Laboratory equipment
    1. Surface physics: Langmuir troughs, clean rooms
    2. Optics: lasers (class III a,b), lenses, mirrors, irises, filters, polarizers, birefringent materials, beam splitters, LEDs, optical bread boards, topographic imaging systems
    3. Electronics: oscilloscopes, power supplies, signal generators, voltmeters, soldering (surface mount and through hole), transistors, LEDs, relays, RLC hi/low/notch/Butterworth filters, Op Amps, 555 timers, accelerometers
    4. Fabrication: mill, lathe, drill press, vertical and horizontal band saw, grindstone, tap and die, circular saws, press brake
    5. Vacuum/cryostat systems: vacuum chambers, roughing pumps (10-4 Torr), optical cryostats, liquid nitrogen and helium, plasma chambers (O2 plasma cleaning applications)
  • Designs and builds
    1. Electronics: regulated power supplies, signal phase shifters, isolation circuits, schmidt triggers, computer controlled transistor switches, tank circuits, a self-sensitive strobe light, Infra-red sensitive triggers, analogue computing, H-bridges for driving stepper motors, and electronic musical instrumentation
    2. Technical drafting: alignment structure for achieving uni-axial linear sinusoidal vibrations, containers for controlled fluid dynamics experiments, optical control pieces (e.g. LED mounts, custom optical mounting framework, camera mounts, irises, etc.)
    3. Mechanical systems: high-precision linear motion with PID controlled acceleration
  • Computational software/skills
    1. Programming languages: LabVIEW, MatLab, Mathematica, Python, AWK, and C
    2. Markup languages: Latex, Beamer, markdown, html, css
    3. Media preparation software: Open Office, Inkscape, Final Cut Pro X, Image Magic
    4. Misc *nix, widows, and mac operating systems, *nix command line, github and repository management
  • Computational methods
    1. Image analysis: PIV, background removal, linear and non-linear contrast enhancement, Hankel transforms (shape finding), centroid tracking algorithms, Fourier filtering, 2-D Cartesian and polar auto and cross correlation algorithms, wide angle aberration correction, edge detection, image overlay
    2. Scientific visualization: Vector graphics preparation, 2-d and 3-d data visualization and animation rendering
    3. Optics: ray tracing, ray casting, and ray marching methods
    4. Inverse problem solvers: the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, the Gauss-Newton algorithm
    5. Numerical solvers: Matlab's built in PDE solver with Neumann and Dirichlet boundary conditions