| Chemistry |
Faculty Advisor |
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A student participating in this project will learn the basic notions of electronic excitation transfer in molecular systems, and perform some basic calculations elucidating this process on quantum mechanical model complexes. |
Jeff Cina |
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Participants will analyze the interactions of metal ions with the RNA biopolymer using chemical and physical methods, with a goal of understanding how RNA can (a) catalyze reactions and (b) bind metal-based therapeutics. |
Vickie DeRose |
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This synthetic organic chemistry project in the Haley lab studies the unusual cyclization reactions of 'azo-ene-yne' compounds. The 'azo-ene-yne' starting materials are easy to make from commercially available materials in 3 steps. Depending upon the choice of reaction conditions, we can favor the formation of either a five-membered ring in the product (kinetic pathway) or a six-membered ring (thermodynamic pathway). Either product can be made in high yield, and both are of interest to medicinal chemists and materials chemists alike. |
Mike Haley |
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This project seeks to develop a toolkit of nanocluster and precursor chemistries comprising more than 15 elements, expanding to most of the abundant, environmentally benign metal atoms. In addition to the challenge of making these clusters that have never been prepared previously, the Center for Green Materials Chemistry uses these clusters as organic-free precursors for the deposition of high-quality oxide thin films. The films have made possible the solution-fabrication of a variety of high-performance transistors and related devices. This project can investigate various aspects of the Center's research, including synthesizing new clusters, examining their solution speciation, and probing properties relevant to film deposition. |
Darren Johnson |
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This project seeks to design molecules and materials that selectively bind/sequester a variety of toxic main group ions. We have prepared small molecules that are able to assemble nanoscale complexes upon treatment with arsenic, mercury, antimony and/or bismuth. The resulting complexes are extremely stable, and the ligand design strategy results in selectivity for the toxic ions. This project will focus on designing new ligands for these self-assembly reactions, and we will use these ligands as coatings for layered materials for water purification/sensing applications. |
Darren Johnson |
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The David Johnson laboratory has developed a synthesis approach that permits us to make new materials that consist of two or more compounds that are interwoven with unit cell control over the thickness of each component layer. Potential summer projects are either focused on the synthesis of new thermoelectric materials, solving the structure of these compounds using a combination of XRD and TEM data, understanding how one dopes these materials to a desired carrier concentration, or extending our ability to collect Seebeck and Hall measurements on films as a function of temperature from 10 to 300K. |
David Johnson |
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Shih-Yuan Liu |
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The biaryl structural motif is commonly found in biologically active molecules. We are developing rearrangement-based synthetic methodologies to generate sterically congested biaryls in an enantioselective fashion. Our rearrangement-based strategy addresses a number of limitations of currently available methods, and will expand the synthetic chemist's toolbox.
We are interested in the development of B-N-containing heterocycles, namely 1,2-dihydro-1,2-azaborines. These are structures that are isoelectronic and isostructural to benzene. Benzene, the epitome of aromatic compounds, has played a pivotal role in our fundamental understanding of the concept of aromaticity. In addition to this educational value, the chemistry and applications of benzene derivatives have become ubiquitous in our daily lives (e.g., plastics, drugs, etc.). We aim to exploit the unique properties of 1,2-dihydro-1,2-azaborines and investigate their potential as benzene surrogates in materials and biomedical research. Our approach combines the broad utility of arenes with the unique elemental features of boron. Areas of exploration include organic synthesis, optoelectronic materials, catalysis, drug discovery, and cancer therapy.
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Understanding the relationship between molecular motion and bulk properties of polymers and membranes is a longstanding and challenging problem. In this project, UCORE students will participate in experiments that probe the fluctuations of individual molecules in polymer films and lipid bilayer vescicles. The goal of these experiments is to understand how different types of molecular motions (translation and rotation) correlate to macroscopic transport properties. |
Andy Marcus |
| Geological Sciences |
Faculty Advisor |
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The UCORE student will be involved in stable isotope analyses of various materials using a variety of techniques - mass spectrometry, laser fluorination, analyses of small amount of gas for its isotopic composition using thermal combustion furnace, autosampler, and a general purpose vacuum line. Student will be trained in various aspects of lab activities starting from mineral selection under the microscope, loading the sample containers, running analyses, data processing. A small independent project will be offered to a UCORE student under the supervision of a graduate student and PI, most likely in carbonate isotope geochemistry. |
Ilya Bindeman |
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The student will work with analog materials (beads, corn syrup, and air) to design, perform, and analyze the results from experiments that help us to better understand the behavior of volatiles (primarily water vapor) in volcanic crystal-rich systems and greenhouse gases (primarily methane) in sub-sea sediments. |
Kathy Cashman,
Alan Rempel |
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(Note: This project is in the department of Geography.)
Study past climate change, changing forest composition, and forest fires over the past 14,000 years from lake-sediment cores. The lab work may involve sampling from the sediment cores, determining organic content of the sediment, chemical processing of sediment for pollen analysis, isolating and identifying plant macrofossils, and measuring magnetic properties of the sediment. Go into the field with hosts to the Cascades to collect more sediment cores. |
Dan Gavin |
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Sample and analyze groundwater in Willamette Basin to evaluate the distribution of arsenic in the area; conduct a field experiment to investigate the processes that lead to arsenic contamination. |
Qusheng Jin |
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This project is concerned with unraveling the dynamics of the most recent eruption of Mount St. Helens and seeing what it has to teach us about the behavior of faults. Magma froze about 0.5-1 km underground and was pushed up in a series of solid spines that sheared along their margins to form gouge with surface textures similar to those found along tectonic faults that are prone to earthquakes. The UCORE Fellow will help to analyze these surface textures using stereo images and lab samples, to further improve our understanding of the mechanics of volcanoes and faults. |
Alan Rempel |
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In steep, erosional landscapes, bedrock is converted into soil before it is transported into channel networks and taken away as sediment. The timescale that soil resides on slopes before entering channels is referred to as the 'residence time' and can be quantified by optical analysis of soil samples. Because residence time correlates with erosion rate, we can generate maps of erosion rate through extensive soil sampling and analysis. UCORE Fellows will spend 2-3 weeks doing fieldwork (driving forest roads in the Oregon coast range and collecting soil samples) and then drying, crushing, sieving, and pressing the samples for photographic and spectral analysis. UCORE students will gain Geographical Information and GPS skills along the way. |
Josh Roering |
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The purpose of this project is to analyze basaltic glass pillow rims from submarine basalts erupted along the Juan de Fuca Ridge, offshore of the Pacific northwest. The student will learn to prepare glass samples and analyze them using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. The data will be used to help understand how these basaltic lavas formed. |
Paul Wallace |
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Subduction of the oceanic Juan de Fuca plate under the west-moving North American plate off the coasts of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia has profound implications for earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest. During lock phase, the leading edge of North America is locked against the Juan de Fuca plate, and the coast flexes upwards. During infrequent, large earthquakes ('Cascadia events') North America breaks loose and the coast both moves westward and drops. Comparing historic water level data, observed for at least a hundred years, to present-day data ('tide data') offers a way to track how the Cascadia coastline is flexing over time in response to North America/Juan de Fuca convergence. This project involves setting out, calibrating and helping monitor water level gauges ('tide gauges') in rivers and estuaries emptying directly into the Pacific ocean. The project will involve overnight trips to the Oregon and Washington coast and the Puget Sound. |
Ray Weldon,
Dean Livelybrooks |
| Physics |
Faculty Advisor |
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The student will learn chemical fabrication of thin nanostructured silver films. Together with a graduate student, they will conduct spectroscopic studies of these structures in the presence of a luminescent organic dye. |
Miriam Deutsch |
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Radiating shock waves arise and play important roles in the emission from astrophysical systems ranging from compact x-ray binaries to protostellar systems. We study the stability properties of radiating shock waves in high-speed, strongly magnetic plasmas with emphasis on how the instabilities affect the observable properties of the systems. |
Jim Imamura |
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Cellular membranes are complex two-dimensional fluids whose material properties are poorly understood. Using membrane-anchored nanoparticles, microscopy, and image analysis, we will examine the viscosity of model membranes. |
Raghu Parthasarathy |
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Dan Steck |
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Construction and experiments with laser light bouncing around in a 'vase-shaped' optical cavity, which will allow us to study escape phenomena in chaotic systems. These phenomena are related to complex, interesting effects including pulsing and fractal formation that arise in laser ionization experiments, but that can't be studied in those systems due to lack of precise control.
Characterization and improvement of a laser wavemeter, or an instrument for precision measurement of laser wavelength, based on a scanning Michelson interferometer.
Design, construction, and improvement of microcontroller-based laboratory instrumentation. This includes timing and control electronics that interface to computers via standard network protocols (e.g., using microcontroller boards in an instrument that serve web pages with the instrument status). This is a good project as an introduction to modern laboratory and microcontroller electronics.
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Monitor, analyze, and archive solar radiation and PV system performance data from the SRML network. Assist in building and testing PV lab kits. Tasks will vary from performing routine maintenance to calibrating instruments and analyzing the calibrations and performance of PV systems. There is a possibility of participating in a calibration field trip to one or more of our sites. |
Frank Vignola |
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The project includes the fabrication and characterization of deformed silica microspheres and the use of the microspheres as an optomechanical resonator. |
Hailin Wang |
