COMPETITION HIGHLIGHTS ORIGINAL RESEARCH OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING STUDENTS
Three UH students won top honors at the 30th Semiannual Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston (TcSUH) Student Symposium. The symposium series highlights original, multidisciplinary research efforts of undergraduate and graduate students.
The winners included one student from the Cullen College of Engineering and two students from the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. First place went to Jason Shulman, a doctoral student in physics; second place went to Barry Craver, a doctoral student in electrical engineering; and third place went to Girish Nathan, a doctoral student in physics.
Competitors gave fifteen-minute research presentations, followed by a brief question and answer period. A faculty panel judged each presenter on originality and quality of research, quality of presentation and skillful use of visual aids.
"I have always been interested in science, and in particular, the fundamental laws of nature," said Shulman, whose project leader is UH Professor of Physics and T.L.L. Temple Chair of Science Paul C.W. Chu. "Physics was a natural choice for my field of study. My research focuses on the dielectric properties of nanosystems. We have observed several important features that only exist in the nanoscale. These novel properties have the potential to impact fields ranging from communications to charged carrier gases."
Craver, whose project leaders are Professor of Electrical Engineering John Wolfe and Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering Dmitri Litvinov, said, "I am fascinated by the complexity of fabricating integrated circuitry at nanometer dimensions. Recently, we have developed Atom Beam Lithography, which uses a beam of energetic atoms to print nanometer sized features. With this new technique we will fabricate extremely small magnetic devices for applications in data storage and ultra-high sensitivity magnetic and biological sensors."
"From the time when I was a child, the patterns I observed held a certain fascination for me. I remember wondering about how and why they were formed," said Nathan, whose project leader is Professor and Associate Chairman of Physics Gemunu Gunaratne. "It was indeed a good fortune for me to be able to work with experts in the field, like my advisor Gunaratne. A childhood dream has been realized in a sense, since I work on pattern formation and on trying to understand why patterns really form, which is where a lot of my scientific curiosity began!"
The Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston (TcSUH) is internationally recognized for its multidisciplinary research and development of high temperature superconductors (HTS) and related materials. For more information about TcSUH, please visit:
http://www.uh.edu/admin/media/nr/2006/01jan/010906tcsuh.html