Lauren Mason – Page 12

Congratulations to Fort Lewis College, University of California Irvine, and Florida International University for Receiving Awards and Recognition from the NSF COVID-19 Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Challenge

Congratulations to Fort Lewis College, University of California Irvine, and Florida International University for being awarded and recognized in the NSF COVID-19 Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Challenge.

Fort Lewis College received $25,000 from the National Science Foundation in the four-year STEM undergraduate category of awards.
UC Irvine received $15,000 in the STEM Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar category of awards.
Florida International University received honorable mention.

Fort Lewis College, a Native American serving, non-tribal institution, awards more undergraduate degrees to Native American students than any other college in the U.S. Prior to COVID-19, first-to-second year retention rates among native students increased from 55% to 67% between 2015-2019; however, for the 2020 first-year cohort there was a 20% decline to 47%. The short-term impacts of COVID-19 revealed challenges in student academic preparedness. Many of the challenges have been exacerbated among Native American students, all of whom are pursuing STEM degrees, and at a stage where college readiness is critical. The Fort Lewis College Taking Action submission describes three evidence-based and system efforts (first-year launch course, foundational mathematics support, and holistic student support services) to increase student success, retention and ultimately in the long-term, conferral of STEM baccalaureate degrees.

At the University of California, Irvine (UCI), 20% of the student population is Hispanic, Latino, or Pacific Islanders. Surveys demonstrated that COVID exacerbated the already existing challenges for many of these students working as teaching assistants, especially with pivoting to remote learning. In support of these students, the UCI developed three different initiatives. Fellowships were provided for students to conduct contact tracing. A Summer Fellows program was also developed to train graduate students in inclusive pedagogy, with a focus on cultural competency, and innovative technologies. Assessment of the program demonstrated improved outcomes for undergraduate students from underrepresented populations taught by Fellows. In addition, UCI offered funding for summer research to graduate students from underrepresented populations who had a record of participation in DEI activities such as mentoring other students from underrepresented populations. Support for Graduate Inclusive Excellence Fellows continued in 2021 and is expected to continue in the future. All of these initiatives are undergoing iterative improvement through assessment and evaluation.

Congratulations to Gordana Dukovic for Being Selected as a Finalist for the 2022 Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists

The Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences announced 31 finalists today for the 2022 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists, the world’s largest unrestricted prize honoring early-career scientists and engineers. From that exceptional group, three winners—in life sciences, chemistry, and physical sciences & engineering—will be named on June 29, each receiving $250,000 as a Blavatnik National Awards Laureate. The honorees were chosen from a highly competitive pool of 309 nominees from 150 leading universities and scientific institutions from 38 states across the United States.

Optimizing Workflows for Machine Learning Analysis of Electron Microscopy Data

The increasing ability to perform high throughput electron microscopy has created a need for robust, automated analysis that appears addressable by machine learning (ML) tools. Approaches such as convolutional neural nets (CNNs) are finding increased application in scientific data analysis tasks, including analysis of electron microscopy imaging data. However, electron microscopy data varies significantly from natural images. To provide robust ML analysis for increasingly large and complex electron microscopy datasets, we have performed experimental and simulated studies to examine how experimental variation should be included in a training dataset for robust performance and maximum accuracy across workflows. We have also analyzed the role that network architecture plays, and present methods to increase performance of lightweight networks. Ultimately, our tools advance performance of ML workflows that can shed light on structural variation and correlation of large populations of nanomaterials from imaging data.

Congratulations to Kaitlyn Kukula for Receiving the Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award & the Don Rabern Service Award from Fort Lewis College

Kaitlyn Kukula received the Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award and the Don Rabern Service Award from the Physics & Engineering Department at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. Kaitlyn has been training in research as an undergraduate student in Prof. Yiyan Li’s lab at FLC.

UC Berkeley researchers awarded Pew Innovation Funding

The Pew Charitable Trusts has announced the 2020 grantees of the Pew Innovation Fund which supports research collaborations among alumni of their biomedical programs. This year, six pairs of researchers will partner on some of the most complex questions in human biology and disease. From neuroscience and virology to biophysics and computational biology, the 2020 Innovation Fund teams are combining their expertise to explore a variety of research areas.

Pew Scholars Polina Lishko, from the University of California, Berkeley and Buck Institute for Research on Aging and Ke Xu, from the University of California, Berkeley and a Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator, will collaborate to investigate the role of steroid hormones in Alzheimer’s, a disease affecting more than 5.8 million Americans aged 65 or older in 2020.

Variational methods in computational microscopy

Many Microscopy techniques have been developed to explore atomic structures of material and biological specimens at a nano-scale. Coherent Diffractive Imaging (CDI) and Atomic Electron Tomography (AET) are the most powerful among these techniques. Mathematics, especially variational optimization, also follows and supports microscopy, helping to solve various image processing problems such as deblurring and denoising. In our latest research, variational methods can help obtain super-resolution ptychography images, marking a substantial improvement in computational microscopy and bypassing the resolution limit. While sub-pixel shifting and structured probes are two crucial keys to the super-resolution problem, total variation and l1 regularization play a significant role in reconstruction. In another research project, we explore the magnetic vector fields created in the vacancy between atoms of a magnetized material. Our analysis shows that the vector tomography needs in-plane rotation and constraint support to guarantee reconstruction. The sparsity inducing l1 minimization is the right tool to generate highly accurate support. Our variational methods have successfully solved a wide range of image processing problems. We will continue to utilize these techniques again in our upcoming research.

Ripples in Space-Time: Nano-Imaging Functional Materials at their Elementary Scales

Functional materials—like molecular electronics, biomaterials, light-emitting diodes, or new photovoltaic materials—gain their electronic or photonic properties from complex and multifaceted interactions occurring at the elementary scales of their atomic or molecular constituents. In addition, the ability to control the functions of these materials through external stimuli , e.g., in the form of strong optical excitations, enables new properties in the materials, making them appealing for new technological applications. However, a major obstacle to overcome is the combination of the very fast time (billionths of a second) scales and the very small spatial (nanometer) scales which define the many-body interactions of the elementary excitations in the material which define its function. The extremely high time and spatial resolutions needed have been extremely difficult to achieve simultaneously. Many physicists have, therefore, struggled to visualize the interactions within these materials. In a paper recently published in Nature Communications, JILA Fellow Markus Raschke and his team report on a new ultrafast imaging technique that could solve this issue.

Imaging and controlling chirality and topology in magnetic thin films

Magnetic systems exhibiting chirality have gained significant attention over the past decade. From enabling the efficient movement of magnetic domain walls to stabilizing the topological magnetic quasiparticles known as skyrmions, chirality and chiral interactions may play a central role in the next generation of magnetic memory and computing schemes. The possible responses of chiral magnetic systems to stimuli such as magnetic fields, electrical currents, light, and thermal gradients is at the forefront of thin-film magnetismresearch [1]. I will briefly introduce the underlying interactions that give rise to chiral magnetism, the emergence of topology and discuss some of the surprising systems where chirality and topology are emerging. I will focus on the various techniques that can be combined to image and understand the three-dimensional magnetic structures that emerge.
[1]. Hellman et al., Reviews of Modern Physics 89, 025006 (2017).

Postdoctoral Position for Ultrafast studies of Quantum Materials

Kukreja group at UC Davis is currently hiring for a postdoctoral position focused on ultrafast optical pump
probe studies of quantum materials.

Position Overview: The position will involve research projects focusing on understanding the role of
electronic and magnetic degrees of freedom in quantum materials and their dynamical behavior under
laser excitation. Low temperature optical pump probe setup at Kukreja Laboratory will be utilized to
access fundamental timescales to study the evolution of electronic and magnetic order at femtosecond
to picosecond timescales across phase transitions, while time‐resolved x‐ray diffraction at synchrotron
sources will be utilized to study structural evolution. In order to investigate the ultrafast behavior as a
function of sample ground state, thin films samples will be carefully tuned using parameters such as
epitaxial strain, anion stoichiometry and cation doping.

Candidates interested in optical pump probe or time‐resolved x‐ray studies of complex oxides and
magnetic materials are strongly encouraged to apply. In addition, the position will also involve further
extending and developing the optical pump probe laboratory, and handling large x‐ray scattering datasets
obtained at user facilities such as National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS II), Advanced Photon Source
(APS), Advanced Light Source (ALS) and Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) and LCLS II,

Project Overview: Quantum materials have emerged as potential candidates to realize energy‐efficient
computing for ever‐increasing technological demands of the internet of things, big data, and cloud
computing. Quantum materials display strong correlations between their spin, charge, orbital, and lattice
degrees of freedom, which results in a rich variety of electronic and magnetic properties. Emergence of
novel quantum states under non‐equilibrium conditions in quantum materials challenges the limits of
understanding at microscopic length scales and ultrafast time scales. However, fundamental
understanding of the role of nanoscale disorder and fluctuations in quantum materials is impeded by the
lack of experimental methods which can access both characteristic lengthscales and timescales. This
project will utilize optical pump‐probe and coherent x‐ray methods to overcome this knowledge gap to
develop spatio‐temporal understanding of complex oxides. These studies will enable mapping of the
domain dynamics and correlations as a function of emergent electronic and magnetic ordering in strongly
correlated systems. These studies will lead to development of a complete overview of electronic,
magnetic, and structural properties of quantum materials with time scales down to the ultrafast regime
and atomic resolution, to unravel nanoscale disorder in quantum materials and its evolution upon optical
excitation.

Congratulations to Naomi Ginsberg for Receiving the Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Award for Later-Career Faculty

The Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Awards are administered by the Graduate Division in collaboration with the Graduate Council of the Academic Senate, funded by a generous bequest from the estate of Carol Soc, a former employee of the Graduate Division. The mentoring awards were a part of the Sarlo Awards Teaching for Excellence program, established in 1997 to honor outstanding faculty at outstanding Northern California colleges and Universities.

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About Lauren Mason