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STEM Tour Session One
Tour of the Intelligent Computing Lab
‘Can machines think?’ the question brought up by Alan Turing has presented several opportunities for research from software to hardware. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have become very popular with the advent of Deep Learning yet at great computational cost. Our research explores ways to make artificial intelligence more computationally efficient without compromising too much accuracy. During this tour, you will see what a computer research lab looks like and an overview of the research process
Tour of Yale's West Campus Analytical Core (WCAC)
Modern Scientific research requires many different resources and instrumentation, many of which are shared among laboratories. Core facilities, like ours, offer research scientists access these special (and often very pricey) machines as well as the support of individuals, like myself, who specialize in using the equipment. I am in charge of one such shared instrumentation center at Yale, and this tour will highlight some of the instrumentation available here so if you are interested in chemical structures, molecules and other cellular and sub-cellular structures this tour will help you understand what it takes to ask questions about these topics!
Here is some information from our website:
West Campus Analytical Core (WCAC) is an open-access facility where researchers learn to operate and collect data on a wide variety of scientific instruments suitable for characterization and structure elucidation of chemical and biophysical samples. We have a primary focus and expertise in the areas of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and we have additional resources in proteomics, optical instrumentation, biophysical instrumentation, and flow cytometry.
Can radioactive isotopes unravel the life of past ice sheets?
I use Osmium (Os) isotopes to reconstruct how ice sheets behaved during recent periods of warming (~500,000 years ago). To utilize Os, I will walk through the appropriate steps in extracting Os from rock samples and measure how much Os is present. This process involves marine cores from the North Atlantic ocean, dry ice and torches, a fleet of toxic chemicals, welding, and a thermal ionization mass spectrometer (TIMS). https://www.gryphengoss.com/
Tour @ Alexion Research- where the magic happens!
A walkthrough the Research laboratories at Alexion where scientists create transformative medicine to patients with rare diseases. We continue to deepen our understanding of rare disease, which began with our pioneering work in complement biology. This knowledge allows us to innovate and evolve into new areas, where there is great unmet need and opportunity to help patients and families fully live their best lives.
Epidemiology and Public Health
This session will introduce students to the wonderful world of infectious disease epidemiology in public health. Though the word 'epidemiology' is commonplace today, the true breadth, need, and impact of this field will be explored. The interconnectedness with medicine will also be discussed.
Discover the invisible universe at Yale's Wright Laboratory!
Victoria Misenti, et al
At this event, participants will get a behind-the-scenes look at the state-of-the-art Wright Laboratory, meet Wright Lab scientists, and discover how Wright Lab researchers can make the invisible visible! The Wright Lab is advancing frontiers of the fundamental of physics through a broad research program in nuclear, particle, and astrophysics. Research includes precision studies of neutrinos, searches for dark matter, investigations of the building blocks and interactions of matter, exploration of quantum science and its applications for fundamental physics experiments, observations of the early Universe, and more. Wright Lab has been transformed to house a unique combination of state-of-the-art research facilities, technical infrastructure, and interaction spaces. It provides critical research support to develop novel scientific instrumentation, and to build and conduct experiments exploring the physics of the visible and invisible Universe. Come see this new, exciting world for yourself! The Wright Lab is advancing frontiers of the fundamental of physics through a broad research program in nuclear, particle, and astrophysics. Research includes precision studies of neutrinos, searches for dark matter, investigations of the building blocks and interactions of matter, exploration of quantum science and its applications for fundamental physics experiments, observations of the early Universe, and more. Wright Lab has been transformed to house a unique combination of state-of-the-art research facilities, technical infrastructure, and interaction spaces. It provides critical research support to develop novel scientific instrumentation, and to build and conduct experiments exploring the physics of the visible and invisible Universe. Come see this new, exciting world for yourself!
Biophysics of Jellyfish Research Lab: physics + materials + jellyfish!
The lab I work in studies "how evolution has produced a diversity of life. We are interested in learning about the actual history of life on Earth as well as the general properties of evolution that have contributed to these historical patterns. The type of questions we ask require field (marine), laboratory, and computational work." I will give a brief tour of the lab including a wet lab portion where I keep the animals I work on (jellyfish) and the physics lab where I conduct my materials science research on the jellyfish!
STEM Tour Session Two
Tour of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History Conservation Lab
Come see the Conservation Lab at the Yale Peabody Museum and hear me talk about what a Natural History Conservator does. I'll show what specimens I'm working on, what needs to be done to each, and why conservation work matters. I will also do a demo of the tools and supplies needed when cleaning a taxidermy mount.
Neutrinos and WIMPs: elusive particles, important questions
Iris Ponce & Sophia Hollick
The “standard model” of particle physics has a symmetry between matter and antimatter–whenever particles of matter are created in a laboratory, an equal number of antimatter particles are also created. However, observations show the Universe is made of matter and not antimatter, so some process in the early universe must have violated this symmetry.
The neutrino, a mysterious, ghostly particle that passes through most matter in the universe without being affected, yet still has mass, could lie at the heart of the mystery of the early universe.
Another particle which could explain this imbalance is the dark matter weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP), but such a particle still has yet to be discovered! The two experiments shown in this tour attempt to explore these phenomena through direct observation!
Visiting the Birthplace of Quantum Computers
The scientists at the Yale Quantum Institute labs are developing quantum computers. These labs house fridges which lower the temperature down to nearly zero degrees Kelvin. Tour their workspace to observe the technology they use to conduct experiments on superconducting quantum computers.
Skin biology and wound healing
Our skin has an incredible ability to heal itself when injured. How does this process work, and how can we improve it for clinical applications? In my research, I study how the cells of the skin and the immune system work together to heal wounds effective.
Discover the invisible universe at Yale's Wright Laboratory!
Victoria Misenti, et al
At this event, participants will get a behind-the-scenes look at the state-of-the-art Wright Laboratory, meet Wright Lab scientists, and discover how Wright Lab researchers can make the invisible visible! The Wright Lab is advancing frontiers of the fundamental of physics through a broad research program in nuclear, particle, and astrophysics. Research includes precision studies of neutrinos, searches for dark matter, investigations of the building blocks and interactions of matter, exploration of quantum science and its applications for fundamental physics experiments, observations of the early Universe, and more. Wright Lab has been transformed to house a unique combination of state-of-the-art research facilities, technical infrastructure, and interaction spaces. It provides critical research support to develop novel scientific instrumentation, and to build and conduct experiments exploring the physics of the visible and invisible Universe. Come see this new, exciting world for yourself! The Wright Lab is advancing frontiers of the fundamental of physics through a broad research program in nuclear, particle, and astrophysics. Research includes precision studies of neutrinos, searches for dark matter, investigations of the building blocks and interactions of matter, exploration of quantum science and its applications for fundamental physics experiments, observations of the early Universe, and more. Wright Lab has been transformed to house a unique combination of state-of-the-art research facilities, technical infrastructure, and interaction spaces. It provides critical research support to develop novel scientific instrumentation, and to build and conduct experiments exploring the physics of the visible and invisible Universe. Come see this new, exciting world for yourself!
Neurogenetics: molecular mechanisms of mammalian brain development
We are interested in understanding the mechanisms that govern the development of the mammalian brain, and how mutations in genes involved in this process lead to brain pathologies. We use a variety of experimental approaches in model organisms and cell culture to achieve this goal.
Tech Talk Session ONE
Understanding biological principles through theoretical physics
Dr. Isabella Graf
Physics and biology have traditionally been considered as very different fields of research. However, this has drastically changed in recent years and there is a growing number of researchers working at the interface between biology and physics. In this session, I will share my personal view about how (theoretical) physics can help us to understand biological systems and to find principles underlying biological self-organization. I will illustrate this approach with several examples from my own research, focusing in particular on a theoretical feedback motif that might be useful for robust and sensitive sensing and signal integration.
Controlling light at a very small scale
From radio waves to the visible range and all the way to X- and gamma rays, light pervades our surroundings and teaches us much of what we know about the universe. There is a particular frequency region called infrared, that our eyes are not sensitive to, but which provides a wealth of information about chemical composition of elements and their functional properties such as metallic or magnetic. There is great interest to focus this infrared light to very small spots to study molecular size objects, but fundamental principles prevent us to do this with conventional microscopes, even if they are perfectly constructed. We designed tools that can defeat these limits by a large margin so that we can image and interrogate materials at very small length scales. In this process we also make use of strange particles that are half light and half matter to understand basic properties of materials and generate potential applications. In my talk I will tell you how we are able to achieve these things and what we learned so far.
The second quantum revolution: Superconducting circuit based quantum computers
The First Quantum Revolution in the 20th century created transistors, lasers, and atomic clocks. Now, the Second Quantum Revolution takes advantage of quantum mechanics and allows for the creation of more advanced technologies. Learn about quantum computing and the potential of quantum bits to improve computation.
Harm reduction and HIV prevention research
In this section, I will give a brief overview of the concept and principles of "harm reduction", which is a set of practices to minimize harm and improve the help of people who use drugs. Harm reduction offers tools to deal with the current overdose crisis in the United States. I will describe some of the harm reduction work we do at Yale as well as some of the research studies I'm involved in that look at ways to improve HIV prevention among people who inject drugs.
Physics of Circles, Spheres, and their Surprisingly Many Applications
The symmetry of the circle makes it a useful tool for lots of interesting scientific questions. By using circles in computational models, we can learn more about the bubbles formed by a propeller, the glass in your window, and even the cells in your body. This talk will be a peek in to the field of soft matter physics and walk through the fun research I have done with 2 dimensional circles, 3 dimensional spheres, and hyper-spheres in even higher dimensions!
Supermassive black holes at the dawn of cosmic time - how do you study them?
My research focuses on finding the most massive and powerful black holes very early on in the history of the Universe. To do so, I use data from NASA satellites in space as well as telescopes on the ground. Contrary to what you may think, I (unfortunately) do not spend all day looking through a telescope eyepiece searching for these monsters. In this session, I will give you an overview of what a typical workday looks like for an astrophysicist and what opportunities this career can offer.
Searching for Dark Matter with HAYSTAC
You, me, and the rest of the visible universe only make up 5% of the universe's mass/energy density. The other 95% is made up of dark matter and dark energy -- forms of matter and energy that we have yet to observe directly. The Haloscope At Yale Sensitive to Axion Cold dark matter (HAYSTAC) is an experiment at Wright Lab that is searching for a dark matter candidate known as the axion. Axions are theoretical particles that may constitute dark matter. In this talk, we will introduce the interesting problems that dark matter poses in physics today and will discuss the HAYSTAC experiment.
Biomimetic approach to regenerate new hair follicles
I am currently studying the regulators of hair follicle regeneration in mouse models. I use a combination of genetic mutants, high-resolution single-cell sequencing analysis and live imaging to answer the question of when and how the stem cells that are critical for hair follicle regeneration are specified. The ultimate goal is to establish a biomimetic method to create new hair follicles on demand.
Battling COVID-19 with robots and a library of chemicals
Sheila Umlauf, Dr. Yulia Surovtseva & Laura Abriola
High-throughput screening is often how potential medicines are identified. Let us show you how the drug discovery process works at Yale Center for Molecular Discovery. We will introduce you to the materials, robotics and expertise used to rapidly test hundreds of thousands of drug-like molecules for biological activity. Our contributions to the battle against coronavirus will be highlighted.
Skin biology and wound healing
Our skin has an incredible ability to heal itself when injured. How does this process work, and how can we improve it for clinical applications? In my research, I study how the cells of the skin and the immune system work together to heal wounds effective.
Biophysics of Jellyfish
I work both on the biology side and the physics side, utilizing specific physics instruments to answer some of biology's biggest questions about jellyfish and why they are squishy!
The Mysteries of Designing Helicopters
This session will focus on the technical aspects of designing helicopters, what goes into the designs, how to design a part, 3D modeling (CAD), and other fun tools I use as a design engineer at Sikorsky.
Tech Talk Session TWO
What skills do you need to be a natural history conservator?
What does a Conservator do? What skills do you need to become one? Come join me in my lab, where we'll discuss these skills and how to put them in practice.
Physics of Circles, Spheres, and their Surprisingly Many Applications
The symmetry of the circle makes it a useful tool for lots of interesting scientific questions. By using circles in computational models, we can learn more about the bubbles formed by a propeller, the glass in your window, and even the cells in your body. This talk will be a peek in to the field of soft matter physics and walk through the fun research I have done with 2 dimensional circles, 3 dimensional spheres, and hyper-spheres in even higher dimensions!
Mathematical Research: Theorem and Proof
Most people don't know what research in mathematics entails. Do mathematicians crunch really big numbers all day? Do they plug values numbers into the same equations over and over again? No! In this talk I will discuss the building blocks of mathematics--definitions, theorems, and proofs--and how researchers create new mathematics using only their imaginations and a chalk board.
Towards Robust Quantum Technology
Dr. Shruti Puri
Unlike the modern day computing devices which are based on classical boolean logic, fundamental principles of quantum mechanics form the operating system of a quantum computer. Such a quantum operating system could perform computations previously thought to be impossible. Here I will discuss the promise of quantum computers and the grand challenges that researchers are working to overcome to make this revolutionary technology a reality.
Understanding biological principles through theoretical physics
Dr. Isabella Graf
Physics and biology have traditionally been considered as very different fields of research. However, this has drastically changed in recent years and there is a growing number of researchers working at the interface between biology and physics. In this session, I will share my personal view about how (theoretical) physics can help us to understand biological systems and to find principles underlying biological self-organization. I will illustrate this approach with several examples from my own research, focusing in particular on a theoretical feedback motif that might be useful for robust and sensitive sensing and signal integration.
Neutrinos: the ghost-like particles
In this session, you will hear more about particles that are everywhere but that we don't see because they are very antisocial. You'll learn what these neutrinos can tell us about the Universe, and why they are antisocial.
The lab group I work with, the Maruyama group, is exploring several topics in nuclear and particle astrophysics ranging from studying properties of neutrinos to a search for dark matter. With CUORE, we are looking for a process called neutrinoless double beta decay. If such a process is observed, it would mean that neutrinos are their own antiparticles, and may hold the clue to why we live in a Universe of matter, and not antimatter. The experiment is located at the Gran Sasso National Underground Laboratory in Italy. We are using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory to study fundamental properties of neutrinos using nearby supernovae.
Human-Robot Interactions
We study the interactions between robots and humans. This field is called, Human-Robot Interactions (HRI). The focus of HRI includes robots designed to interact with humans socially (e.g., tutoring robots), hardware designed to assist people with disability (e.g., the exo-skeleton), or robots designed to assist human in industry settings. Join this session to hear more about our research into HRI!
Trial and Error: Physics Edition
If you're interested in pursuing physics, you've come to the right place! As I've gone through a physics undergraduate degree and am now in a PhD program, I've picked up some valuable pieces of advice along the way that have helped me get to where I am. Learn what you can do while still in high school, and how to keep your motivation strong while attending undergraduate and graduate programs.
Using machine learning to fill in gaps on the tree of life
Dr. Shubhi Sharma
Virtually every field of science has entered a big data era. Ecology (the study of environment and organisms) is no exception. With the help of citizen scientists, remote sensing technology and fieldwork technicians, we have a massive amount of data on where species are and the habitats they live in. On the other hand, due to forces like habitat destruction and climate change, we are also currently losing species to extinction. Species are going extinct so fast, that this has been labelled the Sixth Mass Extinction (the dinosaur extinction we're all familiar with was the fifth). Even though we have amassed incredible amounts of data, we're losing species to extinction before we can study them! In this talk, I'm going to demonstrate how we can use techniques from machine learning to predict where a species with missing data lives. In this way, we can leverage the power of machine learning and big data to fill in the gaps of what we don't know about our biodiversity and improve conservation plans before it vanishes!
Investigating Milky Way Satellite Galaxies
In this session, I will present an overview of my research analyzing small, satellite galaxies that orbit around the Milky Way. I'll cover some background information on the Milky Way system and explain my current research on Willman 1, an ultra-faint Milky Way satellite.
Quantitative Risk Assessment in Aviation Safety
Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) is the process of assessing hazards using statistical techniques such as life data analysis to quantify the risk associated with those hazards, and to evaluate the effects of mitigating actions. These computations require a higher level of mathematical education and training, and sometimes specific programming skills or expensive software applications. QRA also requires extensive time-consuming data collection, and the data is not always readily available. However, QRA is based on the application of sound mathematical principles and it can be very accurate and useful in predicting risk. In aviation, a more data-driven approach to safety risk management is required in order to achieve the expected level of safety. This session will introduce participants to the overview of a QRA process and the application of mathematical/statistical principles in performing the QRA. The QRA process will also be illustrated through a real life case study.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp
Smashing the proton
Ordinary matter is made up of atoms. Atoms are made up of protons, neutrons and electrons. While electrons cannot be further broken up, protons and neutrons are made up of "quarks" and "gluons". However, quarks and gluons are never found in isolation, which makes studying them a challenging task. One way of studying them experimentally is by smashing protons traveling close to the speed of light against each other, and see what comes out. In this talk, I will discuss what we have learned about quarks, what we still don't understand, and how my research relates to these questions.
Program verification: Is your algorithm working?
When designing (and coding) software, it is important to show that the algorithm is working in the way it was intended. Is the program doing what we designed it to do? Is the program correct? Are there any bugs? These are important questions that we address using a process called program verification.
Program verification is the process of determining if the program is correct. We will explain the need to formal verification in modern software and provide success stories of formally verified modern software. To better understand how the verification process is working and what does it even mean that the program is correct, we will illustrate it on the half-adder (a simple circuit for adding two numbers).