Research Experience for Undergraduates
Participants, 2005

 

REU Participant		Project Title	Research Advisors
	Tolulope Adesiyun will be entering her junior year at Howard University to continue her studies as a chemistry major. She is from Nigeria but lives in Trinidad and Tobago. When not studying, in class or in the lab she enjoys reading novels, shopping, playing chess hanging out with her friends and watching movies. She enjoys meeting new people and experiencing new, interesting and exciting things.	Electrotaxis of C. Elegans in Time-Varying Fields	Professor Aravi Samuel Chris Gabel Damon Clark
	Jonathan Aguilar just completed his freshman year as a physics concentrator at Harvard University. He enjoys playing soccer and tennis, and would like to learn how to sail and kayak.	Dielectrophoretic Manipulation of Particles with a Modified Atomic Force Microscope Tip	Professor Robert Westervelt Ania Bleszynski Tom Hunt
	Michael Alberter III is a 26 year old attending North Carolina A&T State University.  He has a 21 month old son named Evan and a fiancee named Estrella.  Once he is finished with his summer REU, he plans to return to NCATSU until he finishes his undergraduate degree.  While attending classes, he will simultaneously perform research on electroactive paper with Dr. Craft and thin films with Dr. D. Kumar.  Upon completion he will reassess his options to determine in which direction he will pursue Graduate school.  His guess is that he will be working in nano/material science.	The Effect if TiNiZr Alloy Composition on Martensitic Transformation	Professor Joost Vlassak Xi Wang
	Krystal Barker was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. In high school, she participated in various community service organizations and also ran track. She continues many of these activities as a freshman at Bowdoin College, a small, liberal arts school, one with a strong academic foundation and strong sense of community. She is an assistant teacher/volunteer reader for College Guild, a nonprofit organization that offers free correspondence classes to prisoners. She is also a member of Habitat for Humanity, runs track and played varsity rugby during the fall. She will be the president of the African-American Student Organization next year.	Waveguides Fabrication by Two-Photon Absorption Polymerization	Professor Eric Mazur Prakriti Tayalia Dr. Tommaso Baldacchini
	Anastasiya Batrachenko just finished her sophomore year at Harvard University. This summer she is working with Mary Hughes and Brian Murphy in Professor Lene Vestergaard Hau's laboratory. She enjoys reading, hiking, ceramics and art, music, cultural cuisine, and photography.	Visualization of DNA-Carbon Nanotube Hybrids Using Fluorescent Staining	Professor Lene Vestergaard Hau Mary Hughes
	David Berdy will be entering his sophomore year at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in the fall of 2005. He is majoring in Computer Engineering, and enjoys it very much.  Over the past few months, he has worked at Rose-Hulman Ventures on a project dealing with a high-definition video editing monitor.  He enjoys learning very much and hopea his desire to learn will not only enhance his life, but many others.  Outside of academics, he enjoys playing guitar, watching and playing hockey, and being with his friends and family.	Bifurcations in Electrospinning: Splitting a Polymer Jet	Professor David Weitz Henry Chong Katie Humphry Dr. Dan Blair
	Benjamin Blonder is a rising sophomore at Swarthmore College, and will be majoring in physics and biology. This summer he will be working with Dr. Frank Vollmer and Dr. Peer Fischer at the Rowland Institute on biomolecule detection and surface plasma resonances. In his free time, Benjamin enjoys classical music, biking, and interesting food.	Sensing Applications of Surface Plasmon Resonances	Rowland Institute Dr. Peer Fischer Dr. Frank Vollmer
	Andrea Brock is a junior at Saint Louis University majoring in biomedical engineering and mathematics.  She lived in Madrid, Spain for five months and loves to travel Europe.  In her spare time she enjoys finding unique restaraunts to eat at, reading, and refereeing water polo.	Engineering Angiogenesis to Treat Ischemic Diseases	Professor David Mooney Eduardo Silva Ruth Chen
	Vicki Cheng just finished her freshman year at Arizona State University. As an aspiring Renaissance Woman she is going to major in bioengineering and minor in Chinese and/or Mathematics. In her spare time she enjoys reading, playing piano, swimming, soccer, and eating.	Nanoscale Pattern Generation for Use in Surface Plasmon Resonances	Rowland Institute Dr. Frank Vollmer Dr. Peer Fischer
	This fall, Karen Chow will be starting her junior year as a bioengineering major at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.  Her interests include listening to music, riding bikes, gushing about cute things, eating a lot of food for her size, and shopping at Target.  With her studies in research and bioengineering, she hopes to one day work for the federal government and/or continue her researching career in engineering and biotechnology.	Carbon Isotopic Fractionation in Chloroflexus Aurantiacus: Exploring the Ramifications of Mixotrophy in the 3-hydroxypropionate Cycle	Professor Ann Pearson Suni Shah
	Allan Chu is from the town of Saratoga in northern California. He will be entering his junior year at Harvard College this fall concentrating in Physics and Math. He has done some extensive research in the field of Information Theory in the past. This summer he is going to explore a new interest in nanotechnology under the supervision of Professor Donhee Ham in Carbon Nanotube Manipulation via CMOS-controlled Dielectrophoresis in the hopes of facilitating the development of carbon nanotube-based circuits.	Nanowire Manipulation via CMOS-Controlled Dielectrophoresis	Professor Donhee Ham Mazhareddin Taghivand
	Ely Xavier Colón Jiménez is a mechanical engineering senior student at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez.  He will be graduating with honors in December 2005.  His research interests and experiences have been in electronic nano-material, superconductors and metal matrix composites (MMC). Ely is the goalkeeper of his university’s varsity soccer team and was selected as the most valuable player (MVP) of the season.  He has also studied at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico and still plays the tenor saxophone.  He is the current president of the first Material Advantage Student Chapter of Puerto Rico. After his B.S. graduation he will continue studies at the graduate level to pursue a Ph.D in materials science.	Designing an Air Scanning Tunneling Microscope to Study Two-Dimensional Materials	Professor Cynthia Friend Ryan Quiller
	Alin Cosmanescu just finished his junior year in Electrical Engineering at the Cooper Union. Originally from Tenafly, New Jersey, Alin enjoys running, ultimate frisbee, kayaking, and climbing.	Quantum Computation and Artificial Atoms: Calculation and Experiment	Dr. Michael Stopa NNIN/Computing
	Michael Deceglie is a rising senior majoring in physics with a minor in mathematics at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. His specific interests are in optics and renewable energy.  His hobbies include mountain biking, skiing, surfing, music, and photography.	Optical Antennas for Observation of Fields Excited in Photonic Crystals	Professor Ken Crozier Eric Kort Emre Togan
	Mali Eichler was born and raised around the Boston area and is a rising junior at Clark University in Worcester, MA. Her major is Biology with a concentration in evolution and ecology. As for her future, she hopes to take part in the 5th Year Free Masters Program at Clark and eventually go into research. She is very much interested in nature and anything outdoors. She also enjoys reading, listening to a broad range of music, socializing with friends, and wandering around Boston on nice days.	Two-Color Imaging of the Flagellar Filament in Escherichia Coli	Rowland Institute Professor Howard Berg Dr. Linda Turner Stern
	Shelby Ellery will be a Senior at Cedar Crest College, majoring in Chemistry with minors in Biology and Mathematics. Her principal hobbies are reading, the outdoors, video games, and spending time with family and friends.	Photocorrosion of Iron-Doped Zinc Sulfide Particles	Professor Scot Martin Dr. Xiang Zhang
	Josué (Josh) Goss is a Biology major at Harding University. He enjoys fishing, boating, and rock climbing. In the future, He hopes to travel to Spanish speaking countries to lead or aid in medical missions.. He is a corporal in the United States Marines and has been deployed to Iraq.	Structure/Function of Engineered Two-Dimensional Cardiac Tissue	Professor Kit (Kevin) Parker Dr. Nick Geisse
	Clarmyra Hayes is a sophomore at Harvard University, in Mather House. She is concentrating in physics, and will be working on dielectrophoretic traps in Professor Westervelt's lab. She enjoys swimming, photography, and hiking, and is part of Harvard's Kendo club.	Dielectrophoretic Manipulation of Micron and Nanoscale Objects With a Modified Atomic Force Microscope Tip	Professor Robert Westervelt Tom Hunt Ania Bleszynski
	Rachel Hillmer is a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign studying physics and mathematics. She loves physics because of its artistry--the order it finds within seeming chaos, and the way it mates intuition and logic. In her free time Rachel paints abstract pictures and thinks about the meaning of life. If the weather is nice she enjoys reading literature and poetry beneath quiet shady trees, taking long walks, and playing soccer.	Exploring the Casimir Force Using AFM Techniques	Professor Federico Capasso Jeremy Munday
	Madelyn Ho is a rising sophomore at Harvard, concentrating in Neurobiology.  This summer, she will be researching at the Ingber Lab.  Madelyn is a company member of the Harvard Ballet Company and enjoys teaching kids dance through CityStep.	Stamping Out Rejection: Controlling Cell Organization with Micro-contact Printing	Professor Donald Ingber Dr. Nan (Shannon) Xia
	Renita Horton is a native of Lexington, MS and has two sisters. She is a senior at Mississippi State University where she will graduate in December 2005 with a degree in Chemical Engineering and minors in Mathematics and Chemistry. She is actively involved in a number of campus organizations such as Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc, National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers, Engineering Ambassadors. the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and the Engineering Student Council. She plans to attend graduate school in either Chemical Engineering or Pharmaceutical Sciences. Her ideal job would be to work in the research and development area of a pharmaceutical company.  During her free time she enjoy traveling, shopping, and hanging out with friends and family. She also loves animals.	The Effects of Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters on the Mechanical Properties of Red Blood Cell Membranes	Professor Howard Stone Dr. Manouk Abkarian Magalie Faivre Dr. Bill Ristenpart
	Alexis Johnson is a rising senior at Augsburg College. She loves to play volleyball. She also likes shopping, sight seeing (especially historical), going to concerts (any type of music), going to museums, and watching sports.	Developing Improved Fluorescent Rhodamine Dyes	Rowland Institute Dr. Jim Foley Dr. Steven Song
	Dominic Lencer is 24 years old and is living in Aachen (Germany), where he studies physics at the RWTH Aachen. For his diploma thesis, he is concerned with properties of phase change media as are to be used in upcoming optical and electronic data storage devices. In his leisure time he likes to cycle, play badminton and board-games and meet friends.	Kinetics of Crystal Nucleation in Undercooled Droplets of Phase Change Alloys	Professor Frans Spaepen Dr. Johannes Kalb
	Christina Lu will be a sophomore this fall at Brandeis University majoring in biochemistry.  In school she is a Community Advisor and is very active in the Asian culture club as well as the ice hockey club.  Her hobbies/interests include reading, jogging, playing the piano, hanging out with friends, and watching movies. This summer she will work with Qiaobing Xu in the Whitesides group to work on the fabrication of nanoshells and nanopyramidal structures.	Fabrication and Characterization of Metallic Nanodisks	Professor George Whitesides Qiaobing Xu Dr. Michal Lahav
	Edwin Macomber is 37 years old and lives in New Bedford, MA. In the past he has been employed as a laborer for stonemasons, plasterers, and carpenters, a furniture mover, a production welder, machine operator, prototype machinist, and assistant mechanical engineer. After graduation from Bristol Community College he  hopes to get a job in a prototype-engineering department, and continue on to get a bachelors in Mechanical Engineering. His interests include the prototyping process, anything mechanical (cars, motorcycles, locomotives), movies, bicycle riding, and music.	Micro Engineering Design of Two-Dimensional Cardiac Tissue	Professor Kit (Kevin) Parker Dr. Adam Feinberg Dr. Mark Bray Dr. Nick Geisse
	Waseem Ansar Malik is a junior at the University of Maryland, College Park majoring in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics. Waseem is originally from Islamabad, Pakistan. He did his high school from IMCB G-10/4 where he spent 10 wonderful years of his life. IMCB G-10/4 provided him with a strong academic background and prepared him very well for undergraduate studies. This summer he is working with Dr. Jiangdong Deng to fabricate Metal Bridges with Nm scale air gaps. In his free time he likes to play badminton, soccer and cricket. He is fond of traveling and likes to do hiking and exploring the wilderness. He plans to do a Ph.D. in electrical engineering.	Building Metal Bridges with Nanometer-Scale Air Gaps by Nanofabrication	Dr. Jiangdong Deng
	Peter McCalla is a rising senior at Morgan State University. He is working with Dr. Bill Ristenpart in the group of Professor Howard Stone this summer. His interests include chess and computers.	Coalescence of Sessile Drops	Professor Howard Stone Dr. Bill Ristenpart Dr. Manouk Abkarian Magalie Faivre
	Matthew McGrath comes to Harvard from the undergraduate physics program at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. As a rising senior there, he is interested in all areas of science in engineering, but his most in-depth work has been in condensed matter and optical physics. Matthew is an avid sailor both at Vanderbilt and in his hometown of Coral Gables, Florida. He also enjoys photography, writing, and travel with his long-time girlfriend Sarah.	Silicon Slope Evolution Under Focused Ion Beam Irradiation	Professor Michael Aziz Bola George
	Jamie Metcalfe just finished her freshman year at Smith College, and will be at the University of Chicago in the fall, majoring in physics. She enjoys classical piano, reading the Onion, and musical theater. She is looking forward to spending the summer in Boston. She just returned from Germany and hopes to return there to study abroad.	Enzymatic Signal Amplification of Molecular Beacons for Sensitive DNA/RNA Detection	Professor X. Sunney Xie Dr. Jeff Jianwei Li Charles Kulwin
	Kathy Miu is a rising junior at Harvard College, where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Engineering Sciences with a specialization in Biomedical Engineering. She enjoys badminton, designing websites, overanalyzing movies, and kicking back with her friends. This summer she will be working with Professor Garrett Stanley and HST graduate student Roxanna Webber on the adaptation of Sprague-Dawley rat neuronal firing rates to tactile stimuli. In her spare time this summer, she will also be designing Harvard FAS course websites, working on the Harvard Yearbook, and trying her hand at improving her currently amateurish photography.	Cortical Adaptation to Aperiodic Tactile Stimuli	Professor Garrett Stanley Roxanna Weber
	Emilio Nanni is pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering and Physics at the University of Missouri Rolla. Over the summer he will be working with Professor Mazur. He was born in Miami, Florida and has lived all over the world. He is 18 years old, and hopes to graduate in December 2007. After he graduates he plans on pursuing a PhD in either Physics or Electrical Engineering.	Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering Using Laser Nanostructured Silicon	Professor Eric Mazur Eric Diebold Brian Tull
	Uduak Ntuen was born in Greensboro, NC, and has 3 sisters. Her career aspirations were formed at an early age as she saw her sister struggle with asthma. She is studying Chemical Engineering at North Carolina A&T University, and intends to pursue a doctoral degree in Chemical Engineering and use her training in the pharmaceutical industry to improve existing medications for the betterment of all people.	"X" Marks the Drop:  A Study of the Surface Properties of Microfluidic Devices	Professor David Weitz Katie Humphry Dr. Henry Chong Dr. Dan Blair
	Paula Popescu is a rising junior at Wellesley College, majoring in Physics and Economics. She is an international student, coming from Romania.  For the past year she has been working at the MIT Quantum Measurement group and also working at Wellesley on colloids research. On the Wellesley campus she is actively involved with Slater International, the European Club and the Society of Physics Students organizations. Other passions include ballroom dancing, taekwondo and outing trips . In Romania she has taken horseback riding lessons, and for a couple of years piano lessons. She enjoys traveling and reading when time permits.	Dynamics of Semi-Flexible Polymers	Rowland Institute Dr. Zvonomir Dogic
	Maryann Racine is a rising senior at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology majoring in Chemistry. She enjoys hiking, canoeing, swimming, volleyball, tennis, and soccer. She is interested in applying her background in chemistry to the study of environmental problems and to better understanding environmental systems.	The Effects of Temperature on the Deliquescence of Atmospheric Aerosols	Professor Scot Martin Dr. George Biskos
	Benjamin Ragan-Kelley is completing his second year in the Engineering Physics program at Santa  Clara, with an emphasis in Computation. He has spent much of his time this year doing research for Dr. Betty Young on CDMS(Cryogenic Dark Matter Search) at Stanford.  He also tutors some high school students and SCU underclassmen in physics.  When he is able to find free time, he enjoys doing web development, graphic design, digital film editing/production, and video games, and general computer related endeavours.	Building a Metallic Graphene Transistor	Professor Cynthia Friend James Williams
	Melvin Rivera Quiñones was born in 1985 in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. He is 20 years old and has one brother and one sister. His best feature is to be persistent.  Six words that describe him best are friendly, optimistic, responsible, intelligent, happy and smart. He will be in his fourth year in August and is doing a major in Chemistry.  Some of his goals on the short range are to graduate with a major in Chemistry at Puerto Rico University in Rio Piedras. His goals on the long run are getting married and forming a wonderful family with his ideal partner.  His goal is to be able to help others with his profession.	The Search for Malabaricatriene by GC-MS	Professor Ann Pearson
	Darry Saunders is originally from Waterbury, Connecticut, and just completed her sophomore year at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina, majoring in physics and secondary education. She enjoys dancing, Hip hop music, eating out, and spending time with friends.	Superconducting Zinc Nanowires	Professor Michael Tinkham Dr. John Free
	Ruth Schlitz is a junior at Harvard University, concentrating in Mechanical and Materials Science and Engineering. She will be continuing her work under Professor Michael Aziz, which explores the processes affecting micromachining with a focused ion beam. She is a member of the varsity sailing team, and when she has time enjoys playing the oboe. Hailing from Falmouth, MA, Ruth enjoys going to the beach, eating ice cream, and science – and strongly believes that the three are best enjoyed simultaneously.	Developing a Soft-Edged Coronagraphic Stop with FIB Milling	Professor Michael Aziz
	Ofer Shopen	Time-Dependent Adhesion in Organosilicate Glass Coatings	Professor Joost Vlassak Youbo Lin
	Hillary Smith is entering her senior year at Bryn Mawr College where she is a double major in physics and chemistry.  She is preparing for graduate studies in physics or materials science, so she is excited about the opportunity to gain research experience with Dr. Michael Burns this summer.  Hillary recently presented a poster at the ACS Conference in San Diego.  Her poster detailed her work with lipid bilayers at Harvey Mudd College through an REU program last summer.  When Hillary isn’t doing science, she enjoys playing the violin.  She is an active member of the Bryn Mawr College Chamber Music Society, a group of faculty and student musicians.	Electromigration in Single-Crystal Copper Whiskers	Rowland Institute Dr. Mike Burns
	Matthew Smith is in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. His home is in Hampden, MA, and he graduated from Minnechaug Regional High School. His hobbies include playing basketball, exercising, video editing, and graphic design. He also performs the high jump on the track and field team at Johns Hopkins. His favorite food is steak and his favorite color is green.	Nanometer-Thick Dielectric Films Deposited by Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition	Dr. Erli Chen Dr. Ling Xie
	Jennifer Talbot just finished her freshman year at Cedar Crest College in Pennsylvania. A native of New Hampshire, she is majoring in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. In her spare time, Jennifer likes to read, draw people, play video games, and design web pages.	Macroscopic Models for Microtubule Buckling	Professor David Weitz Cliff Brangwynne
	Abbie Tippie will be entering her senior year at Colorado State University.  She is majoring in Electrical Engineering with a concentration in Optoelectronics and a minor in Physics.  She plans to continue her study of Optics in graduate school. Abbie enjoys staying involved on campus by leading Bible studies, DJing a weekly radio show, volunteering and fostering her love of music through choir, percussion and piano.	Whispering-Gallery-Mode Microdisk Optical Biosensor: Fabrication and Characterization	Dr. Erli Chen Dr. Jiangdong Deng
	Winnie Tsang is a rising sophomore at Johns Hopkins University studying biomedical engineering. She lists as her long range educational and career plan as becoming a MD-PhD and starting a corporation for world-cooperative research and healthcare. She enjoys camping, hiking, biking, some rock climbing, rowing, and canoeing. She also finds lectures, readings, plays, and concerts (of all kinds), ethnic foods, and foreign films to be enjoyable. Recently, she's been fascinated by glass-blowing and would very much like to learn how.	Synaptic Ultrastructural Reconstruction Using Serial Electron Microscopy	Professor Jeff Lichtman Dr. Richard Schalek
	Anita Gopal Unnithan will be entering her senior year at East  Carolina  University where she is majoring in Chemistry.  Anita is currently involved in undergraduate research in Mass Spectrometry under Dr. Allison Danell at ECU.  Upon graduation, Anita plans to attend medical school and pursue a career in Pediatrics.  A true fan of community service, she enjoys volunteering at WakeMed Cary Hospital of Cary, NC as well as tutoring at various centers in Greenville, NC. A native of Raleigh, Anita also enjoys reading, playing the piano, basketball, good music, cooking, eating great food, physics, and loves to share a good laugh!	Mechanical Properties of Fluidic, Aggregated, and Gelated Emulsions	Professor David Weitz Dr. Chanjoong Kim
	Rosa Veguilla Rosado grew up with her two older brothers and her parents in the neighborhood Villas de Castro Caguas in Puerto Rico. She is currently 22 years old and coursing her bachelor’s fourth year at the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras Campus for a bachelor’s in Chemistry with second concentration in Math. She is an Honor student and active member of the ACS. She is part of the RISE program since last January working with Fernando González in a Biochemistry laboratory.	Temperature Dependence of the Deliquescence Relative Humidity of Inorganic Aerosol Particles	Professor Scot Martin Dr. George Biskos
	Molly Ward is an Applied Math and Chemistry Concentrator at Harvard University. A member of the Harvard Women's Varsity Swim Team, she holds 5 school records.	DNA Structural Analysis Through FRET	Rowland Institute Dr. Amit Meller
	Sara Warzecka will be entering her junior year at the University of Arizona this fall where she is majoring in Biochemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Creative Writing. She enjoys cooking, attempting to play ultimate frisbee, a newfound love of rock climbing, volunteering with friends, sleeping in on weekends, and spending time with good people.	Control of G Protein Signaling and Rap1 Activation by Mechanical Forces Applied to Integrin Receptors	Professor Don Ingber Dr. Alexandrine Derrien