Physics students win awards

The Physics Department recently held its annual Student Research Symposium in Memory of Professor Stephan Berko. At the symposium, the undergraduate speakers describe their senior thesis honors research as the final step in gaining an honors degree in physics. The graduate student speakers are in the middle of their PhD research, and describe their progress and goals.

The prize winners are nominated and chosen by the faculty for making particularly noteworthy progress in their research. Here are the Berko prize winners for 2015:

Undergraduate Prize Winners:

Adam Wang
Title: “Controlling Coupled Chemical Oscillators: Toward Synchronization Engineering and Chemical Computation”
video

Jacob Gold
Title: “Inhibitively Coupled Chemical Oscillators as a Substrate for Logic Gates and Larger Circuits”
video

Graduate Prize Winners:

Lishibanya Mohapatra
Title: “How cells control the size of their organelles?”
video

Feodor Hilitski
Title: “Measuring mechanics of active microtubule bundles, one filament at a time”
video

Other Physics Prize winners this year:

Cesar A. Agon Falkoff prize
Hannah Herde Falkoff prize
Matthew Cambria Physics Faculty prize
Stefan Stanojevic Physics Faculty prize

Undergraduate Lab Tours Begin

Are you an undergraduate interested in gaining research experience by working in a lab at Brandeis? Not sure how to find a lab to work in?

The Biology Undergraduate Department Representative (UDRs) have created the Lab Tour Program. The first tour was held on Monday, April 13th. Lead by Biology junior, Sarita Biswas ’16, undergraduates toured the Dorothee Kern, Daniel Oprian and Chris Miller labs. Although a Biology major, Sarita has worked in Kern’s Biochemistry lab for nearly a year. During the tour, students were shown lab equipment and specialized research rooms (cold room, autoclave room) in the Volen Center. Throughout the tour, Sarita discussed the research that is being done in the labs.

Following the tour, Rashieda Pugh ’16 (UDR) and Sarita sat down with the students. Sarita discussed the kind of projects that she has worked on in the past year. Both Sarita and Rashieda shared their experiences in finding a suitable lab to work in, how they find a project to work on once in the lab, and the time commitment during the summer and academic year.

Some of the many questions asked:

  • Will there be a someone there to guide me? There is always a graduate student or postdoc mentoring you.
  • How do you find a lab to work in? Review the faculty webpages, find research that interests you and then email the professors. Do not write all the professors a generic email about opportunities in their lab. It’s unlikely to work. Take the time to find out what kind of research goes on in each lab. Target labs in which you have a genuine interest. Be prepared to show up in person and talk intelligently about research projects with the faculty member. Be prepared to emphasize what you have to offer – skills acquired in courses or other jobs, your dedication and willingness to apply yourself, your reliability and punctuality, your ability to communicate clearly and concisely, etc.
  • Is lab research considered an internship? Yes, it is very much like an internship.

Their advice is that there are a lot of labs here at Brandeis and a lot of ways to find rewarding research experience in a lab!

The Lab Tour continues on April 16th.

MRSEC Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (2015)

The Division of Science wishes to announce that, in 2015, we will offer  MRSEC Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships for Brandeis students doing undergraduate research, sponsored by the Brandeis Materials Research Science and Engineering Center.The due date for applications  is February 24, 2015,  at 6:00 PM EST.MRSEC Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships will provide $5000 in stipend support to allow students to do summer research in MRSEC labs (housing support is not included). Students who will be rising Brandeis sophomores, juniors, or seniors in Summer 2015 (classes of ’16, ’17, and ’18). No prior lab experience is required. A commitment from a Brandeis MRSEC member to serve as your mentor in Summer 2015 is required.The Division of Science Summer Program will run from May 26 – July 31, 2015. Recipients are expected to be available to do full time laboratory research during that period, and must commit to presenting a poster at the final poster session on July 30, 2015. Five positions are available.The application form is online (Brandeis login required). Questions that are not answered in the online FAQ may be addressed to Steven Karel <divsci at brandeis.edu>
 
 

JBS Offers “Bio-Inspired Design” Course

Maria de Boef Miara, Lecturer in Biology at Brandeis University, will be leading a course titled Bio-Inspired Design this summer (June 1 thru August 7, 2015). Bio-Inspired Design is part of the Justice Brandeis Semester (JBS). JBS combines courses and experiential learning to provide complete, immersive experiences so students can deeply examine a specific area of study.

Bio-Inspired Design is designed for students from a wide spectrum of disciplines, but may be particularly appealing to students in Biology, Biological Physics, Environmental Studies or HSSP areas. This is a 10-week course providing 12 credits.

Students in Bio-Inspired Design will spend the summer working with biologists, engineers and artists in a variety of settings. They will explore intriguing life forms and develop the quantitative tools needed to work at the intersection of form and function.

Research Support for Undergrads: Computational Neuroscience Traineeships for 2015-16

The Division of Science wishes to announce the availability of Traineeships for Undergraduates in Computational Neuroscience through a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Traineeships will commence in summer 2015 and run through the academic year 2015-16.

Please apply to the program by February 24, 2015 at 6 pm to be considered (NOTE DATE CHANGE). If applying after Feb 24, be sure to contact divsci at brandeis dot edu to inquire about the availability of training slots.

Traineeships in Computational Neuroscience are intended to provide intensive undergraduate training in computational neuroscience for students interested in eventually pursuing graduate research. The traineeships will provide a $5000 stipend to support research in the summer, and $3000 each for fall and spring semesters during the academic year. Trainees are appointed for at least a year and up to two years, depending on satisfactory progress.  Current Brandeis sophomores and juniors are eligible to apply. In addition, to be eligible to compete for this program, you must

  • have a GPA > 3.0 in Div. of Science courses
  • have a commitment from a professor to advise you on a research project related to computational neuroscience
  • have a course work plan to complete requirements for a major in the Division of Science
  • intend to apply to grad school in a related field.

The curricular requirements are listed on the program website.  The application form is online (Brandeis login required). Also, see Frequently Asked Questions.

Division of Science Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (2015)

 

The Division of Science wishes to announce that, in 2015, we will again offer Division of Science Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships for Brandeis students doing undergraduate research.  These fellowships are funded by generous alumni and corporate donations.

The due date for applications  is February 24, 2015,  at 6:00 PM EST (NOTE DATE CHANGE).

Division of Science Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships will provide $5000 in stipend support to allow students to do summer research (housing support is not included). Students who will be rising Brandeis sophomores, juniors, or seniors in Summer 2015 (classes of ’16, ’17, and ’18), who in addition are working in a lab in the Division of Science at the time of application, are eligible to apply. A commitment from a Brandeis faculty member to serve as your mentor in Summer 2015 is required.

The Division of Science Summer Program will run from May 26 – July 31, 2015. Recipients are expected to be available to do full time laboratory research during that period, and must commit to presenting a poster at the final poster session on July 30, 2015.

The application form is online (Brandeis login required). Questions that are not answered in the online FAQ may be addressed to Steven Karel <divsci at brandeis.edu>.

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