Author: Luke LamitinaMentor: Dimitri MawetEditor: Adèle Bastürk Abstract Since the first detection of a planet beyond our solar system [1], exoplanetary study has become an emerging field of research due to its contribution towards the knowledge of our own planet as well as its significance towards the knowledge of whether life on other worlds is…

Author: Stella Baldwin Mentors: Dr. Victoria Orphan, Dr. Daniel Utter  Editor: Suchitra Dara Abstract The factors controlling microbial diversification remain relatively unknown, particularly in deep sea environments like methane seeps. Here, sediment-dwelling anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME) pair symbiotically with sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) to fuel the anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) and other biologically productive processes. ANME-2b are…

Author: Eleanor RichardMentors: Yuchen Han, David HsiehEditor: Patryk Kozlowski Abstract Cuprates are a class of materials that have generated interest for their strongly correlated degrees of freedom, including spin and charge. This strong correlation can yield exotic quantum phenomena, the most famous example being high-temperature superconductivity in quasi two-dimensional cuprates. We investigated the properties and dynamics…

Author: Andrea ChenMentor: Dr. Selva MarroquinEditor: Ann Zhu Abstract Marine sediment chemistry has been employed as a geochemical tool to provide us insights into the ocean’s redox state through time, helping to develop a framework for understanding Earth’s history. Sulfur isotopes (δ34S), commonly buried in its reduced form as pyrite (FeS2), is hypothesized to be…

Author: Nuha AkhtarMentors: Mohammad Mirhosseini, Hao TianEditor: Stephanie Chen Abstract Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) have become the ideal candidate for studying quantum behavior of macroscopic objects with the capability to be confined near the surface in compact resonators, excited and detected coherently through microwave electronics, and have its properties engineered based on the material of…