Recent Senior Thesis Projects

2023

Fatema Abidalrahim
Chemical Vapor Deposition Growth and Characterization of WS₂ and MoS₂ Heterostructures (P. Barbara)

Guy Adami
Methods of Mechanical Exfoliation of MoS₂ Using Silver (M. Paranjape)

Adam Bozzone
Dimensionality Dependence of Charge Density Waves in 2H-NbSe₂ and 2H-TaSe₂ (A. Liu)

Yuri Chung
Flash Nanoprecipitation Synthesized Polymer Nanocapsules (E. Van Keuren)

Allison DeRose
Polyethylene oxide (PEO) fiber fabrication and direct templating techniques for polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) structures with directional pores (M. Parajape)

Joseph Farina
Designing and Testing of a Transdermal Drug Delivery System for the Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease (M. Paranjape)

Janet Flitsch
Fabrication of Phototransistors Based on Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (P. Barbara)

Bradley Fugetta
Machine Learning as a Method of Magnetic Hamiltonian Parameter Estimation From Magnetometry Data (A. Liu and G. Yin)

Alissa Keegan
Detection of Glucose and Glycogen in vitro and in vivo through Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer Imaging (E. Van Keuren)

Hansen Lian
Topological Hall Effect and Spin Textures in Magnetic Metals (G. Yin)

Elizabeth Scott
Assessing the Application and Functionality of the Surgical “Transition Knot” for Wound Closure (M. Paranjape)

2022

Victoria Boatwright
Eddy Impacts on Phytoplankton and Biogeochemical Distributions in the California Current System based on Regional Reanalysis (Olmsted)

Harrison Cooley
Development of Pedagogy to Include the Franson Interferometer in Undergraduate Studies (Freericks)

Grace Feagin
Searching For Radio Transients in MeerKAT Data (van der Horst-GWU)

Catherine McCarthy
Ion Specificity and Like-Charge Attraction in Charged Colloidal Systems (Del Gado)

2021

Madison Ascione
Commensal Radio Transient Searches using MeerKAT data (van der Horst-GWU)

Pia Bhatia
Fabrication of a polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic platform for studying the toxicity of metal nanoparticles and metal ions in mammalian cells (Paranjape)

Conrad Cassirer
Rheology of Dense Suspensions (del Gado)

Olivia Certa
Aggregate Formation in Sheared Microrod Suspensions (Blair)

Darren Danaie
MRI Contrast Agents and Image Analysis: Methods for Measuring Impacts of Microplastics on Marine Life (Van Keuren)

Maya Durnal
Piezophilic Adaptations through Site-Directed Mutagenesis of Dihydrofolate Reductases (Ichiye – Department of Chemistry)

Dominique Ebedes
Modelling lipid-to-protein ratios in the stratum corneum (Olmsted)

Paul Heyden
The nonlinear dynamics of stability in modular networks (Egolf)

Sarah Jiang
Methods for Analysis of the SEDISONIC™ Acoustic Analyzer Data to Measure Suspension Stability of APP-103™ in Aqueous Solutions (Van Keuren)

Madeline Saunders
Optical System for Temperature-Dependent Studies of Photoluminescence in Two-Dimensional Materials (Barbara)

Winnie Shi
Superresolution Imaging Using a Rastered Spot (Van Keuren)

Max Thomas
Using the one-dimensional complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (CGL) to model a spatio-temporal chaotic system (Egolf)

Ziyue Zhang
Ground State Phase Transitions in the 2-Site XY Model (Freericks)

2020

Brian Damerau
Soft Gel Reinforcement: Filler Particle Incorporation (Del Gado)

Francis Dragulet
Effect of Ionic Composition on Nanoscale Cohesion in Cement and Clays (Del Gado)

David Fitzpatrick
Analyzing Optically-Dark Short Gamma Ray Bursts (van der Horst-GWU)

James Hunt
Depositing single-molecule magnets onto graphene and other substrates (Barbara)

Mike Rushka
A Completely Algebraic Solution of the Two-dimensional Hydrogen Atom (Freericks)

Andrew Sedlack
Modification of PDMS for long-term hydrophilic stability (Paranjape)

Jack Wathieu
Finding Equilibrium Far-from-equilibrium (Egolf)

2019

Ganzorig Batbold
Silk Fibroin and its Potential as a Carrier for Lung Surfactant (Paranjape)

Jeremy Canfield
Calculating f-Electron Density of States in the Falicov-Kimball Model (Freericks)

Michael Chanen
Engineering of Submicron Fibers that Mimic Conductive Neuronal Axons (Paranjape)

Geoffrey Fitzgerald, Jr.
Simulating Quantum Chemistry with Quantum Computers (Freericks)

Aisha Khatib
Observation and time characterization of hexamethylbenzene-chloranil charge-transfer complexes through a continuous-flow apparatus (Van Keuren)

Roman Kosarzycki
Formation, Production, and Characterization of Optoelectronic Cocrystals and Polymers (Van Keuren)

Carl Kryillos
Assessment and Development of an In-Vivo Transdermal Assay of Chlorine Ions Using Thin Ionophoric Membranes (Currie)

Ian Macmillan
Brownian Thermal Noise in AlGaAs and Its Implications for LIGO’s Sensitivity (Currie/Gregg Harris – AU)

Lianna McFarlane-Connelly
Epitaxial growth of Perylene: TCNQ co-crystals on Graphene for Organic Photovoltaics (Van Keuren)

Max Magid
Analysis of Macropolymer Solutions Flowing Through a Contraction (Olmsted)

Grace Maglieri
Optimization of Particle Dispersion through Parameters Calculated from Solvatochromic Dye-Particle Interactions (Van Keuren)

Zachary Olson
Computational Characterization of viscoelastic flow past a cylinder to describe the hydrodynamic attachment model for giardia lamblia (Urbach)

Andrew Paliotta
Strong-Coupling Corrections to Collective-Mode Frequencies in Superfluid 3He-B (Serene)

Matthew Park
Targeted deep sequencing in pre-clinical and clinical oncology (Dzakpasu/Wellstein-GUMC)

Rachel Resnekov
An Examination on Calcium Ion Mobility Through Calcium-Silicate-Hydrate Gel (Del Gado)

Benjamin Stein-Lubrano
Modularity, Stability, and Chaotic Dynamics in Networks (Egolf)

2018

Caitlin Beattie
Effect of shear on chiral nematic ordering in cellulose nanocrystal suspensions (Urbach)

M. Isabel Binamira
Charge transfer and exciton formation in transition metal dichalcogenides (Barbara)

Thomas Kiely
Quantum Simulators with Trapped Ions: Two Examples (Freericks)

Alexander Morales-Sanz
Characterization by Bulk Rheology of a Novel Fibroin/Alginate Hydrogel (Urbach)

Brian Piatigorski
Fluid flow fields in the hydrodynamic attachment of Giardia lamblia to grooved substrates (Urbach, Elmendorf)

Patrick Soltis
Effect of bending rigidity on gel mechanical response (Del Gado)

Christian Stiker
Detection of Pre-Nucleation Clusters in a Organic Solution of Fluorophores using Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (Van Keuren)

Max Waxman
Exploring the applications of statistical mechanics within the spatiotemporal chaos of the 1D complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (Egolf)

2017

Caswell Bennett
Characterizing Mixing Efficiency in 3D Printed Vortex Mixers for Nanoprecipitation (Van Keuren)

Elizabeth Borowiec
Disrupting Protein-Protein Interaction Networks in Ewing Sarcoma (Toretsky (GUMC), Blair)

Nicholas Chapman
Algorithms for Efficient, Real-time Particle Identification (Rubin (GMU), Egolf)

Steve Devere
A Class Mascot’s Effect on Student Learning (Elmendorf, Anderson) 

Shuyang (Harry ) Han
Two Dimensional Coulomb Crystals in Oblate Paul Trap (Freericks)

Clare Kelly
Microrheological Studies of Viscous Fluids and Chiral Nematic Suspensions of Cellulose Nanocrystal (Urbach)

Emeline Kong
Synthesis and Characterization of Miscible Polymer Blend Nanoparticles (Van Keuren)

Heraclitos (Max) Lefcochilos-Fogelquist
Substrate Effect on the Formation of Charge Density Wave Phase in Single-Layer 1H-TaS₂ (Liu)

Jon O’Neill
Optimizing Electrospun Piezoelectric Polymers (Paranjape)

Nicholas Quirk
Challenges in Developing Graphene Terahertz Detectors and Emitters by Photolithography (Barbara)

2016

Christa Choy
Formation of Polymer Blend Nanoparticles via the Nanoprecipitation Method (Van Keuren)

Dylan Cutler
Developing JavaScript Applications to Teach Quantum Mechanics to Non-Scientist (Freericks)

Andrew Green
DVB & BMEP Nanoparticle Mechanical Properties (Van Keuren)

Daniel McCusker
Investigating the Electrical Properties of the Organic Charge Carrier PTZ:TCNQ (Van Keuren)

Patrick Stocklin
Applications of Image-Analysis & Canny Edge Detection in Manganese-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (Van Keuren)

Chris Tiede
Densification and Gelation of Calcium-Silicate- Hydrates in the Presence of Spatial Gradients (Del Gado)

Jack Treado
Phase Separation of Proteins and RNA in the Cell Nucleus (Olmsted)

Thomas Voreyer
The Study of the Relationship of Crystalline Growth and Solvent Use (Van Keuren)

2015

Lindsey Allcock
Encouraging student ownership of learning in early physics education (Blair, Elmendorf)

R. Nick Baker
Dry spinning of PMMA and PGS: Applications for retinal stem cell implantation (Paranjape)

William Duncan
Physical properties of hydrophilic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) (Paranjape)

Daniel Dylewsky
An exact analytical treatment for spin squeezing of phonon-coupled Ising spins in an ion trap (Freericks)

John Kerin
Effects of finite temperature on the restructuring dynamics of a model colloidal gel network under oscillatory shear (Del Gado)

Luke Marrinan
Investigation of the diffusion properties of tetracene-TCNQ particles by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (Van Keuren)

James McGinnis
Fabrication of piezoelectric nanogenerators using electrospun PVDF (Paranjape)

Andrew Stromberg
A quantification of total internal reflection microscopy and its applications in cell biology (Urbach)

Alexander Zajac
Stability and electronic properties of two-dimensional molybdenum-disulfide-based alloys (Liu)
Trends in self-reported confidence in early high-school physics (Blair, Elmendorf)

2014

Michael Berardo
Fabrication of a Glucose Oxidase/Polypyrrole and Palladium Two-Electrode System for Sensing Glucose (Paranjape)

Helen DeCelles-Zwerneman
Creating Suspensions of Flagella of the Salmonella typhimurium Bacteria (Urbach)

Jana Dodson
Nematic Order on Curved Liquid Crystal Surfaces (Blair)

Alexander Fragapane
Polarity Control as a Function of Atomic Layer Number in MoS₂ Field Effect Transistors with Palladium Contacts (Barbara)

Michael McAneny
The Effects of Anharmonic Couplings and Defects on the Normal Modes and Spin-Spin Interactions of Trapped Ions (Freericks)

Dionysios Koroulakis
Quantified Response of PDMS to Cyclic Applied Stress (Blair)

2013

Jennifer Brown
Parametric excitations of lattice hard-core bosons in a time-dependent harmonic trap (Rigol)

George Burton
Characterization of organic nanocrystal charge transfer complexes and their application in optical and electronic devices (Van Keuren)

Clark Esty
Finding equilibrium statistical mechanics in spatiotemporal chaos (Egolf)

Matthew Joseloff
The behavior of colloidal rods at the oil-water interface (Blair)

Andrew Jreissaty
Quantum distillation and trapping in the two-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model (Rigol)

Brian Rost
Behavior of ideal rigid helices in shear flow (Urbach)

2012

Christopher Ballard
Explorations of the statistical mechanics of spatiotemporal chaos in the 1D complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (Egolf)

Tristan Deppe
Layered MoS₂ field-effect transistors (Barbara, Paranjape)

Dana Mastropole
Design, fabrication, and testing of solid state flexible micro-electrode arrays for the study of hypoxia induced seizure, traumatic headaches, and electrical mapping of nervous brain activity in ambulatory rats (Currie)

William Starshak
Collagen network response to applied cyclic stress (Blair)

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