Faculty and Undergraduate Student Research Database

Student can get involved in the following aspects of the project: 1. Development of novel radiation detectors optimized for the magnetic monopole searches. 2. Monte Carlo simulation and data analysis to support the current and planned searches for magnetic monopoles and other particles beyond the Standard Model of physics....

We have several projects that deal with development and testing of biomedical instrumentation. Depending on the project, the students may participate in several related research activities: 1) Sensor design, manufacture and testing. Practical hands-on tasks that often need 3D design skills, working with plastics, resins and other materials. 2) Signal processing and pattern recognition of signals collected by our sensors. The sensors are used in the human studies and the collected data need to be processed to recognize events of interest in the sensor data. Either direction can be used as a credit in research scholars program or for conference paper preparation....

Students can work on the following projects: 1. Novel approaches to simulation of nuclear track detector data for the MoEDAL experiment at the Large Hadron Collider using Generative Adversarial Networks. 2. Position reconstruction of gamma and beta decays in the EXO-200 neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment using Convolutional Neural Networks. Fluency in Python, experience with Linux, and familiarity with deep learning methods and software (PyTorch) are strongly preferred. Access to a GPU computing system will be provided....

The participant(s) will review papers, perform big-data analyses and basic statistical tests, and generate a project report that may potentially be published in a journal....

There are multiple projects that deal with interfacing of sensors to microcontrollers (MSP430, STM32). Skills in hardware and software interfacing are needed. These skills may include: microcontroller programming, PCB design, 3D design, sensor prototyping, smartphone programming, etc. Some of the projects may be taken for class credit in the research scholars program, some are paid positions. The paid positions typically are on time cards, but do not pay for time, but rather for the final result. Previous projects like this resulted in students writing papers and presenting them at various conferences. One project took the second place at student paper competition at IEEE Southeastcon, another took 3rd place (and a $5000 award) at TI Innov...

Advanced computational electronic structure methods will be used to calculate the geometries, vibrational frequencies, energetics, and excited state properties of important compounds of biological interest. Both correlated molecular orbital theory and density functional theory will be used. The focus of the work is on charging of peptides for explaining mass spectrometry results for both cationic and anionic peptides. The cationic work will focus on transition metal ion charging. Both types of studies are relevant to the study of the Human proteome....

The control of chemical transformation via catalysis is both an exceptional intellectual challenge and critically important to the Nation. Catalysis is central to energy production and utilization, to chemical manufacturing, to the minimization of environmental impact, and it has been arguably the single most important agent for sustainable development in the developing world. The revolutions in nanotechnology and high performance computing provide unprecedented new opportunities to elucidate the fundamental principles governing the control of chemical transformation by catalysts. Indeed, the coupling of theory, modeling and simulation with experiment will provide the most profound insights into catalyst behavior and thus enable the design ...

We are interested in developing a fundamental and predictive understanding of actinide chemistry in aqueous solution under conditions relevant to nuclear-waste storage and reprocessing of spent fuel to address aggregate and colloid formation. Intractable, small aggregates in nuclear-waste streams can impair clean-up, forcing a low-level waste stream to be treated as high-level waste, thereby increasing treatment costs. Metal oligomers, aggregates, clusters, nanophases and colloids are ubiquitous in aqueous chemistry. Thought to form via the condensation reactions of hydrolyzed metal ions, intrinsic dissolved aggregates or colloids are generally described as poly-dispersed hydroxides or hydrous oxides with varying stoichiometry and no well-d...

We have a number of occasional paid tasks associated with research. This is a good opportunity to develop design skills. The availability and selection of tasks varies from time time to time. Examples include: - software design: microcontroller programming, Bluetooth stack design, Java/Javascript - electronic design: sensor design, FPGA programming - 3D design: enclosure design and prototyping - manufacturing tasks, assembly - assistance with conducting human experiments and annotation of data...

MOTIVATED, CURIOUS STUDENTS SOUGHT Multiple positions available on a paid, course credit, or volunteer basis for students interested in getting involved in a multi-disciplinary research project relating to human gesture and activity recognition technologies using radar. No prior radar experience required. Depending on student interests and background, specific role in project will be designed and level of responsibility determined. Potential topics include - programming and experimentation with a variety of software defined radio platforms - human kinematic modeling and skeleton tracking using multiple Kinect sensors - machine learning algorithm development for activity and gesture recognition - radar signal processing and radar...