Research

I am primarily interested in experimental nuclear and particle physics. Throughout my undergraduate career, I worked with four diverse research groups and developed a deep interest in complex and often interdisciplinary physics research problems.

I joined Professor Brad Filippone at Caltech's Kellogg Radiation Laboratory in September, 2021. My experimental senior thesis project involves construction and characterization of the B₀ magnet system for the future neutron Electric Dipole Moment (nEDM) experiment, which will be located at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oakridge National Labs in Tennessee. The goal of the nEDM@SNS experiment is to search for evidence of CP violation and new, beyond standard model physics.

Check out more information about nEDM@SNS: https://nedm.ornl.gov

My work with the Daniels Nonlinear Lab at NC State University investigates how granular materials respond to low-impact forces in low-gravity environments. I designed and built a novel apparatus for subjecting granular media to low effective gravities. Using photoelastic techniques, we can image and analyze the patterns of glowing force chains which form in the material during the impact. These force chains contain information about the magnitudes and directions of all interparticle forces.

The study of granular materials in low-impact, low-gravity scenarios is a relatively new field with diverse applications to geophysics, planetary science, and spacecraft landing mechanics. Our experiment serves as an analog for a 2D cross-section of the surface of an asteroid or small moon--which allows us to study the surface dynamics of these relatively unexplored bodies in the laboratory.

With the Kirschvink Group at Caltech, I am studying the interaction of radio-frequency radiation with biogenic magnetite nanoparticles. Many organisms ranging from bacteria to birds synthesize biogenic magnetite crystals in special organelles called magnetosomes. Our lab theorizes that biogenic magnetite is an important component of animal magnetosensory systems, which allow animals to navigate via earth's magnetic field. My research focuses on the transduction of incident RF into heat by magnetite crystals in animal cells and the impact of this heating. Heat generation via magnetic nanoparticles in tissues is an important and growing topic in the biomedical community due to its use in hyperthermia cancer treatments and relevance to traumatic brain injury events.

Motivated by observational data from NASA's Juno spacecraft, this project investigated the stability of Jupiter's polar cyclones. We discovered that the stability of many-cyclone configurations in the rotating reference frame of a planetary atmosphere is dependent on the presence of anticyclonic "shielding" material. I designed and ran the simulations with a numerical 2D shallow water model and coauthored our paper in PNAS.

Read the paper: https://www.pnas.org/content/117/39/24082