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Many UC Davis professors include one or more undergraduates in their research groups. Doing research
as an undergraduate can expose you to a side of physics very different from coursework, train you in
marketable skills from machining to computer programming, and provide a break from problem sets. Usually
a student interested in joining a research group contacts the professor directly. The following list of
faculty and brief research descriptions is meant to make this process easier. All faculty named here
(as well as some who aren't) are willing to work with undergraduates.
Condensed Matter Experiment
Professor Shirley Chiang uses ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling microscopes (STM) for atomic scale observations of individual molecules during chemical reactions on catalytic metal surfaces. Real-space imaging of individual reactant, intermediate, and product molecules will improve the molecular-level understanding of the process, for example by determining the binding sites for the different molecules. The reactivity will also be correlated with the defects, steps, and adsorbates found on the surface. An undergraduate with sufficient programming background could also perform extended Huckel molecular orbital calculations to predict expected STM images of molecules adsorbed on metal clusters. By comparing the observed shapes in the images with the theoretical ones, these calculations aid in molecular identification of species on the surface.
Professor Linton Corruccini has projects available fabricating and characterizing magnetic materials, including x-ray diffraction, magnetic susceptibility and heat capacity, plus associated data analysis.
Professor Kai Liu generally has one undergrad,
usually a junior or senior,in his group, working on synthesis and characterizations of magnetic nanostructures.
Professor Xiangdong Zhu uses optical
techniques to study surface behavior, including biochemical processes. One project uses special robots to
fabricate microarrays of tens or thousands of biologically significant molecules on functionalized glass
slides, and then uses novel optical scanning microscopes to detect and analyze how selected proteins react
with the surface-bound molecules ("targets"). The special optical microscopes are based on detection of
minute changes in optical reflection when a protein reacts with some of the targets. Students may also
help with instrumentation, improving the microscopes' sensitivity or developing additional capabilities.
The project will introduce a physics-oriented undergraduate to some of the issues significant for life
sciences that can be addressed in a condensed matter physics laboratory.
Professor Rena Zieve usually has two or three undergraduates in her group,with room for a new student about every quarter. The emphasis of her projects varies from hands-on (setting up experiments and
other equipment) to taking and analyzing data to computer programming. One experiment investigates how
grain shape affects the behavior of a granular material; presently we are studying avalanches in a rotating
container. A separate measurement tracks the motion of a single quantized vortex in superfluid helium, at
temperatures within one Kelvin of absolute zero.
Condensed Matter Theory
Professor Daniel Cox applies ideas from
condensed matter physics to biologically relevant systems. One ongoing project studies how metal ions bind
to proteins and whether attached ions affect how the protein folds. The particular proteins are those
relevant for mad cow disease and Alzheimer's. The binding sites are identified and modeled. The models can
be compared to experimental data by calculating the resulting binding energies with density functional theory
code.
Professor Warren Pickett's research focuses on the microscopic
description of the behavior of electrons in solids and in nanoscale systems. Specific areas of focus are: the origin
of magnetism in condensed systems; extending extending our understanding of the mechanisms of superconductivity; the behavior of electrons at interfaces between distinct materials.
The projects will be computational with the student running existing codes and also learning to write, debug, and implement new algorithms that will extend our capabilities. In addition to becoming famiiar with scientific programming techniques and practices, the student will begin to learn basic principles of condensed matter physics and materials behavior. Computation will be done primarily on workstations and computer clusters on campus, but may involve the use of supercomputers.
Professor
Sergey Savrasov has undergraduate research projects related
to calculations of electronic structure of various materials and
building material research databases which will then be posted
to the web. The prototype of the database and the software for
the electronic structure calculation is available at
http://www.physics.ucdavis.edu/~mindlab. Students would learn
how to use the material research software (which is Windows-based),
and how to perform calculations of several properties of real
materials using methods of condensed matter theory. The output
for such a project would be the result of the calculation, prepared
in html format with graphics and explanation and posted on the
Web.
Professor Gergely Zimanyi works with undergraduates on topics including solar cells, magnetic recording media, and superconducting vortices. See his website for more information about his research interests.
Cosmology
Professor Pat Boeshaar regularly hires undergraduates to rest and set up software and equiptment such as telescopes and spectrographs. Much of the equiptment will be used for an advanced lab class in astrophysics. Ideally students will have some programming and hardware background, but the job will be a learning experience as well. The most important qualification is an ability to work independently.
Professor Tony Tyson takes on students with programming experience. Students should also have interest and some knowledge of astrophysics (especially cosmology). Experience with image processing
would be a real plus. Possible projects include running simulations for
the performance of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope
(http://www.lsst.org), a large ground-based telescope now under
construction, and analyzing data from the Deep Lens Survey
(http://dls.physics.ucdavis.edu), a detailed multi-year observation of
seven regions of the sky.
Professor David Wittman has ongoing opportunities in observational extragalactic astronomy and cosmology. Generally, projects will consist of analyzing data from large telescopes with considerable room for the student to develop and/or improve the algorithms. See his website for more information.
High Energy Experiment
Professors
Max Chertok,
John Conway,
Robin Erbacher,
Dave Pellett, and
Mani Tripathi all include
undergraduates in their work. The high energy experiment group is involved in major particle physics
experiments at Fermilab (CDF) and CERN (CMS), as well as non-accelerator experiments, Super-Kamiokande and Double Chooz, which study the nutrino sector. With most contributions to construction of the CDF and CMS detectors complete, our current
focus is on analysis and software issues, as well as on future upgrades of the detectors. Super-K has started taking data once again and Double Chooz is under construction. Turning on of the LHC in 2008 is expected to usher in an era of discovery. The group is also involved in detector R&D aimed at the International Linear Collider. Undergraduate students can get involved at all levels, including detector
development, hardware construction, computer system management, programming, and data analysis. Undergraduate
students are integrated into the ongoing effort with projects such as searching for peaks in multi-particle
invariant mass distributions, implementing new algorithms to refine particle identification capabilities,
and designing circuit boards for testing custom electronics circuits and chips.
Nuclear Physics Experiment
Professors Daniel Cebra and Manuel Calderon study collisions
of gold nuclei moving at nearly the speed of light at Brookhaven National Laboratory's Relativistic
Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The collisions create a quark-gluon plasma state of matter which is
similiar to the nature of the universe during the earliest phases of the big bang. Student projects can
include analyzing data from RHIC and preparing for the more powerful Large Hadron Collider at CERN, which
will start taking data in 2008.
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