Author: George Iskander Mentor: Maria Spiropulu Co-Mentors: Neil Sinclair, Cristián Peña, Si Xie Editor: Hana Kim Introduction An electro-optic modulator modifies an optical signal in response to an applied electrical signal. These modulators are essential components for many applications ranging from internet telecommunications to sensing to quantum information science.1 A Mach Zehnder electro-optic modulator is … Continue reading Stabilization of an electro-optic modulator for quantum communication using a low-cost microcontroller
Interview with Professor Aaron Ames
Interviewer: Sherry Wang Can you give me an overview of your research? Broadly speaking, what I do is study how robots walk. That’s kind of the core disciple we consider in my lab; that is, specifically achieving walking behaviors on robots that are as dynamic and dexterous and fluid as humans walking. So this actually … Continue reading Interview with Professor Aaron Ames
Phenotypic Analysis of Autism-associated mutations in C. elegans
Author: Judy Kim Mentor: Dr. Paul Sternberg Co-Mentor: Sandy Wong Editors: Sherry Wang and Jonathan Chan Introduction Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a large genetic component. Among these rare variants that are related to ASD, missense mutations (a type of point mutation where a single nucleotide change results in a codon … Continue reading Phenotypic Analysis of Autism-associated mutations in C. elegans
Culture Conditions Influence Iridescence in Marine Microbes
Author: J Livingston Mentor: Dr. George O’Toole, Dr. Dianne Newman, Co-Mentor: Lynn Kee Editor: Grace Xiong Introduction Microbiology is the study of microorganisms: how they grow, where they are found, and how they interact with each other and their environment.1,2 The study of microbiology allows researchers to develop a better understanding of the basic processes … Continue reading Culture Conditions Influence Iridescence in Marine Microbes
2017 Issue
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Convolutional Neural Networks as Efficient Emulators for Atmospheric Models
Author: Berlin Chen Mentors: Hai Nguyen, Derek Posselt Editor: Michael Yao Abstract We used Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to emulate the physics of the atmosphere in order to bypass solving partial-differential equations (PDEs) explicitly, which cuts down on computational cost. This is important because in the past, the models used to produce reliable weather forecasts … Continue reading Convolutional Neural Networks as Efficient Emulators for Atmospheric Models
Detection of Volume Changes in Greenland’s Marine Terminating Glaciers
Increased melting of marine-terminating glaciers of the Greenland Ice Sheet could lead to unstable dynamic ice mass loss, further accelerating global sea level rise. To better understand the historical context of the present-day widespread glacier front retreat, we mapped frontal positions for two years, 1994 and 2017, for 146 and 251 major outlet glaciers, respectively. Front position locations were identified using optical remote sensing imagery from the Landsat 5 (1994) and Landsat 8 (2017) satellites. Of the fronts surveyed, we find that 86% retreated between 2017 and 1994 and 62% retreated between 2017 and 2015, when the most recent glacial front positions were recorded. In addition, ice surface elevation differences for four dynamically-thinning glaciers were calculated using data collected from NASA’s Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) mission in 2016 and 2017 by the Glacier and Ice Surface Topography Interferometer (GLISTIN-A). In each case, ice surface lowering was observed in excess of 10 m within the 10km-wide swath of GLISTIN-A near the glacier front. This evaluation of glacier change advances our understanding of ocean-driven Greenland ice mass loss.
