What was a highlight(s) of your summer research experience?

In June, we drove down to LIGO Hanford for the Gravitational Waves Astronomy Northwest Conference, which was an exciting and incredibly interesting experience. I was able to present on my research testing and improving GSpyNetTree (a machine-learning gravitational-wave-vs-glitch classifier), as well as the glitch characterization studies and Data Quality Report (DQR) meta study I was working on. I really enjoyed seeing how my project connected to the work others were doing and especially with how large the LIGO collaboration is, I learned so much about a diverse array of topics. It was wonderful to talk to different people during the social events, especially since everyone was so passionate about their research and gravitational waves as a field. It was also so interesting to see the detector in person – it’s difficult to truly grasp how large and complex it needs to be, and how much hard work continues to go into making this research possible, without being there and seeing the scale of everything. This conference was definitely the highlight of my summer and I’m so grateful I could experience it.

What are some new insights you have about academic research and/or science education and/or industry?

Research is all about persistence! Many aspects of it take time – in my case, I spent much of it labeling thousands of glitches or waiting for my code to run and generate results. Also, it will often be the case that your first idea doesn’t work, and you have to try something new. In some of the glitch characterization work I did, I hypothesized a source for a glitch and later found there was no correlation to it, which meant I had to try again with a new idea. This put me back at square one, but the knowledge I gained along the way was still valuable. Similarly, I came across more research papers than I expected on null results, and sharing the dead-ends people had reached so others wouldn’t end up trying the same thing. This highlights the other main insight, which was the importance of communication. I had multiple meetings a week with different groups in our lab and in the collaboration where we could all share what we were working on and get advice from everyone else. When you’re working on the same thing for a while, and especially when you run into problems, it’s incredibly helpful to step back from it for an hour and hear a new perspective. None of my work would have been possible without the collaboration and support of everyone in the lab.

Ellen worked at TRIUMF’s ION Trap for Atomic and Nuclear Science (TITAN), performing precise mass measurements on exotic nuclei to understand nuclear structure. She conducted a data analysis project on neutron-deficient Cs/Ba isotopes and their isomers and participated in experiments ("beam time"), gathering data, keeping scientific logs, and analyzing data on site.

What was a highlight of your summer research experience?

The highlight of this summer was to be in a working environment that emphasized learning and curiosity above all. Being with other motivated undergraduates, while working closely with graduate students and supervisors who are at the cutting edge of their fields, made the work feel impactful. Alongside our own projects, we were given the chance to attend weekly seminars from TRIUMF employees, who were always excited to share their work with us!

What did you gain from this experience (skills, knowledge)?

Not only was I able to gain technical skills in Python, statistical tests, oscilloscopes, and troubleshooting, but I was also able to learn how to solve problems that have never been solved before (the very nature of research). I managed a multi-month project, using novel concepts and tools for the TITAN team, and worked closely with a team of postdocs and graduate students. All necessary components to doing research!

Surprising facts about this research field:

TITAN, just 1km from UBC, has made huge contributions to mapping the chart of nuclides with precise mass measurements. So exciting to be part of something with that kind of impact!

What did you gain from this experience?

I significantly improved my communication skills, particularly in tailoring presentations to different audiences. At the beginning of the summer, I did not conceptualize that, even in physics, different audiences will have different interests in my work. Only in hearing others’ presentations at TRIUMF did I realize how significant considerations of audience could be in physics. Working at TRIUMF I had the opportunity to present to the entire TRIUMF community, other co-op students, my group, and at conferences. The co-op students wanted to hear about the software infrastructure and interface design, the TRIUMF community cared about how my work contributed to larger analysis, and my group cared about the theoretical motivations. Understanding that, I strengthen my ability to tailor my work for each of those groups and worked with my supervisor to hone my presentation skills. Ultimately, I was able to come second at the Canadian Astroparticle Physics Summer Student Talk (CASST) competition.

What did you learn about working in a team?  

I learned that operating in a team means not just completing work together, but becoming a subject matter expert who can contribute their own knowledge. In undergrad, everybody often brings the same skills and background to projects, so it was exciting to join a team at TRIUMF where everybody contributes their own, different, expertise. As a second-year student, my background in particle physics and machine learning was limited, but working with exceptional mentors helped me build a strong understanding of the physics behind my experiment (ATLAS) and the machine learning techniques used for optimizing reconstruction. By the end of the summer, I felt that I had developed my own subject matter expertise in our analysis and reconstruction software, and believe that I made a meaningful contribution to my group.

What are some surprising facts about your research field and/or project?

We have never see an individual Higgs boson! We call events with Higgs bosons ‘Higgs Candidate’ events because at the individual event level it is impossible to tell if an event includes the Higgs boson. To detect the Higgs boson, we define candidate events and compare the frequency of candidate events to the standard model predictions for a given events frequency. Through this comparison we can determine whether the Higgs boson belongs in the standard model.

Name your favorite Physics tech!

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has to be my favorite physics tech. The fact that it accelerates particles to 99.999999% of the speed of light and collides bunches of 10^11 particles every 25 nanoseconds is mind-blowing. As someone working on data from the ATLAS experiment, I am constantly amazed by how the LHC enables research at the high energy frontier. 

Youssef worked at TRIUMF Canada's particle accelerator as his FYSRE First Year Research award summer experience.

What was a highlight(s) of your summer research experience?

I think the highlight of my summer research experience was the environment that I got to be a part of. Working at TRIUMF meant that I was surrounded by, and contributed to, cutting edge research in so many domains. Being around like-minded individuals who also were interesting as people was definitely beneficial towards my growth and learning. At TRIUMF, there were lots of opportunities to discuss and ask questions about others' research. It was simply a very enriching learning experience.

What was the most challenging part of your research?

My research project was part of a much larger project called the SBC (Scintillating Bubble Chamber). This is a dark matter search project that aims to find and study dark matter particles. This was a collaboration between TRIUMF, SnoLab and Fermilab. My project specifically was on investigating how the background radiation and alpha-n reactions from the set-up itself can give us false positives on dark matter particles (due to their weak interactions being similar to that of neutrons). As you can probably see, this can get pretty complicated and I had to really focus on learning the material including reading lots of textbooks and papers on particle physics and astrophysics to be able to genuinely contribute to this research. There was also the installation of Geant4 which was a pain but thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Pietro Giampa and Gary Sweeney, I managed to get it under control in no time.

What are some surprising facts about your project?

There's this famous fact on NASA's website: "It turns out that roughly 68% of the universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 27%. The rest - everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter - adds up to less than 5% of the universe." Keeping this fact in mind, I was really surprised to find that we are still conducting dark matter searches and how much more there is to know about the universe!

How do you think this experience will help you in your developing career?

This experiment really opened my eyes to the idea of particle and atomic physics and how these really old fields are still seeing advancements to this day. I think without this experience, I would have been quite lost on what I want to do in the future.

What did you gain from this experience?

Other than the obvious astrophysics and particle physics knowledge that I gained through this experience, I gained a lot of software skills. Since my role was a simulation one, I got to work with Python, C, C++, and Geant4 libraries. There are also communication skills. I learned about working in a team, communicating about deadlines, presenting research articles and research papers. There is a lot of preparation behind the scenes into getting a research paper published at a conference or at a research journal.

Name your favorite Physics tech!

Although I didn't get to work with it, a particle accelerator, especially the one at TRIUMF is an engineering marvel that I think everyone at UBC should visit one day.

What tips would you offer students who are interested in applying for summer research experiences?

Resilience is so important in research. Whether it is resilience in the applying stage, or resilience in your research, being able to sit down and really focus down on information (especially at the beginning of the experience) is the most important thing you can do. Be sure to enjoy what you do and be a sponge for information!

Sajjan worked as a science teacher for the Department of Physics & Astronomy's "Phenomenal Physics Summer Camps", on UBC campus.

What was a highlight(s) of your summer research experience?

Being able to work and talk about physics in a passionate and high-energy setting was a blessing! Not only were the kids I taught engaged, but I was encouraged to think up new and exciting ways to teach well-known physics concepts. Successfully workshopping a lesson that ends in smiles all around was definitely a highlight because I felt my own understanding was becoming more complete, while at the same time, I was giving those who didn't know as much an opportunity to see the world through the eyes of a physicist.

What did you gain from this experience?

I learned a lot about how we engage with Physics not just academically, but also in our day to day lives. It's hard to step out of our bubble of academia to see things from a different perspective, and getting to teach really showed me how easy it can be to get the wrong idea about concepts such as kinematics and density interactions. Getting this opportunity sharpened my communication and organizational skills, as well as showed me how important certain concepts are to our understanding of how the world works. Seeing the flaws in our arguments usually takes more than one person, and I found myself brushing up on the basics quite often to patch up arguments that we see as hand-wavey, but for others might look incomplete or complicated.

What are some new insights you have about academic research and/or science education and/or industry?

I learned that Physics is a science that is home to many people! While the stereotypical physicist can be thought of as someone who works in a lab, scribbling madly at a chalkboard, we can't discount the physicists that turn theory to physical experiments, make observations into well-authored publications, and ignite the spark of curiosity in those that will come after us. All are equally important not just to a certain sub-field of science, but for the overall health of the science that will be conducted after us. Academic research can take many shapes and forms, so make the most of an opportunity even if it isn't exactly what you thought; if it's anything like my experience, you might just find yourself in a better place than you started.

Marek worked at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, on UBC campus.

What was a highlight of your summer research experience?

The highlight of my summer research experience was being able to develop a new approach to MRI brain image segmentation, CAQE (Clustering for Anatomical Quantification and Evaluation). With several quantitative MRI metrics at my disposal, I was able to use unsupervised machine learning approaches to create images of the brain and its components that combined information from several metrics, where specific segments share physical characteristics among each other. This opens a door with promising potential in particular with MS research.

This process gave me great insight into the scientific process: performing many repetitive steps, constantly searching for new ideas, going back to start over, and finally being able to finish with some beautiful figures to look at!

What did you gain from this experience?

MRI research is an immensely rich field, and to fully appreciate it requires knowledge in a wide variety of subjects, from linear algebra and Fourier analysis to neuroanatomy and quantum mechanics, to only name the tip of the iceberg. This USRA gave me the opportunity to learn the basics of how MRIs work and MRI safety, learn the anatomy of the brain for identification on images, and had a particular focus on machine learning methods. I also learned to write my very own abstract under the supervision of Dr. Shannon Kolind and Sharada Balaji, and had the opportunity to present it to other researchers in the field.

In summer 2023,  Alexis worked with a senior PhD student studying the biophysics of supercoiled DNA and the structural transitions that occur under different circumstances, with comparison to a theoretical model based in statistical mechanics. She learned and used molecular biology and fluorescence microscopy techniques to examine the structure and dynamics of DNA plasmids, and her methods produced good quality results and provided a basis for further experimentation. She also had the opportunity to present a research poster at multiple conferences such as SBME and Frontiers in Biophysics. 

What was a highlight(s) of your summer research experience?

The highlight of my summer was getting to learn a variety of molecular biology and optical techniques and eventually getting to plan and run my own experiments to probe the structural transitions of DNA. I really enjoyed getting to experience how research happens in a real lab setting, and witnessing the importance of working as a team to connect theory and experiment in order to better understand a physical system. Biophysics research is very interdisciplinary and it was exciting to be able to combine knowledge and techniques from different fields. 

I also appreciated the opportunity to attend and present at various conferences in different departments and see the variety of interesting research being done at UBC. Overall, my experience this summer solidified my goal of doing research in the future, and I would definitely recommend UBC USRAs to any physics student interested in trying research!

Mitchell worked under Dr. Samantha Lloyd and Dr. Andrew Robertson at BC Cancer, with an American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), Summer Undergraduate Fellowship. 

How would you summarize your summer?

Thanks to the American Association of Physicists in Medicine’s Summer Undergraduate Fellowship Program I was able to have a fantastic summer at BC Cancer with Dr. Samantha Lloyd and Dr. Andrew Robertson. While given the opportunity to work on my own project, I also had the opportunity to shadow medical physicists performing clinical duties. This included but was not limited to creating and updating patient treatment plans, creating/adjusting plans for high/low dose rate (HDR/LDR) brachytherapy, and both quality assurance and treatment on surface guided radiation therapy (SGRT) units. This program ultimately helped solidify my decision to pursue postgraduate studies in medical physics, and also allowed me to make connections with many friendly and welcoming individuals already in the field who were willing to help me on my journey to be a clinical medical physicist.

Tell us more about your specific project:

This project, "Development of quality assurance techniques to assess skin tone effects in surface-guided radiation therapy", investigated the failings of imaging reference systems relating to shades of skin colour. The objectives were to assess BC Cancer Vancouver's SGRT systems' abilities when imaging the possible range of patient skin tones and to disseminate techniques on optimizing image settings and environments so other SGRT clinicians could benefit.  

Alice worked under Dr. Mona Berciu in theoretical condensed matter physics at the Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute. She studied FeAs (high-transition-temperature superconductors) and their dynamics including whether certain mechanisms are responsible for high temperature superconductivity in iron chalcogenides, and if lasers could both verify this scenario and possibly manipulate superconductivity.

Alice extended the old static calculation by adding a time-dependent perturbation from the laser, to estimate if its effects would be large enough to be detectable. Calculations will continue into December 2022 culminating in a publication based on her results, explaining how measurements should be carried out and what observations are expected. Alice is now starting her final year in the UBC EngPhys program.

What did you gain from this experience?

I learned a lot of physics, and in particular how to express concepts orally, graphically, or through formal mathematical equations. I gained a much deeper understanding in quantum mechanics and perturbation theory, and in particular how one can use second quantization to describe a large system such as real materials. I also saw how numerical techniques can support our modelling and identify some of its limitations. Last but not least, I met a lot of talented students and researchers at the QMI and at M2S, and many of my conversations with them have been extremely enjoyable.

What was a highlight from the summer?

I was fortunate to attend the Mechanism and Materials of Superconductivity (M2S) Conference. I spoke to many researchers from around the world, learning about the frontier of superconductor research. Not only did I learn a lot of theory that differs from our work, I also saw experimental evidence that can link to different models and provide insights into theoretical research. The conference also took away a lot of the intimidation towards speaking with researchers and led to lots of insightful discussions.

Has your experience changed your ideas of what your future career may be?

Prior to this internship, I did not consider theoretical physics as something I was smart enough for, especially given my engineering background. However, Mona and her group have been extremely patient and supportive of my questions, and introduced me to a challenging, impactful, yet not impossible problem that gave me a lot of confidence with research. There was a steep learning curve, but this is certainly a rewarding experience. Now I am thrilled to pursue theoretical condensed matter physics for my graduate studies!

What tips would you offer students who are interested in UBC USRA (NSERC, SURE, Work Learn) research experience?

First, don't be scared to ask questions. I challenged myself this summer to ask at least two questions at group meetings and poster sessions, and I was pleased that people are so passionate in telling me about their work! Secondly, when you are reading a paper or a textbook, prioritize understanding the physics concept, and then jump into the detailed calculations. Often times, asking your supervisor "what is the high-level goal of this paper" goes a long way in understanding.

Jay worked with Dr. Sabrina Leslie in the Michael Smith Laboratories at UBC to investigate the dynamics of supercoiled DNA plasmids using Convex Lens-induced Confinement (CLiC). Although Jay has only completed the first year towards her undergraduate degree, her curiosity and passion for science led her to quickly understand complex biological processes and meaningfully contribute to the lab’s research.

What was a highlight(s) of your summer research experience?

A highlight of my summer research experience was learning from experts as they talked about biophysics and their research. Along with the fascinating conversations I had with senior members of the Leslie lab, I also had the opportunity to present a poster at the Frontiers in Biophysics conference where I met biophysicists from various labs and institutions. Learning about all the groundbreaking research being done is incredibly inspiring!

What are some new insights you have about academic research?

One of my many takeaways from working in the Leslie Lab is the importance of perseverance in academic research. I learned first-hand that scientific experiments don’t always give meaningful results on the first try. This summer I was fortunate to perform a variety of procedures, some of which were new to the project I was working on (such as genetically modifying plasmids). The new procedures often didn’t initially work as planned, so I had to troubleshoot our methods by further adapting the protocols. Although it could be disappointing to not see results at first, it was important to persevere and continue on because after several iterations of the procedure we would get meaningful results, resulting in even greater learning than expected

Kye worked with Dr. Jess McIver investigating methods of data analysis for LISA, the upcoming space-based gravitational-wave observatory. He developed a workflow for extracting the parameters of binary systems emitting continuous gravitational waves from data with noise, glitches, and gaps using simulated data based on results from the LISA Pathfinder mission. Kye's results will inform future glitch mitigation methods for LISA data analysis. 

What was one the highlights of your summer research?

A highlight of my summer research experience was attending the Gravitational Wave Astronomy Northwest conference at LIGO Hanford (where my picture is from). 

What did you find challenging?

The most challenging part of my research was probably deciphering the jargon I had never heard before from the dozens of papers I read at the start of summer to form an understanding of gravitational wave astronomy and data analysis. 

What did you find surprising?

Something I find pretty surprising about gravitational wave astronomy is how precise our instruments are, and how well our data analysis methods can detect signals through noise. With our instruments and data analysis, the kinds of displacements we're measuring are similar to the distance to the nearest star (Proxima Centauri) changing by about the width of a human hair. 

How do you think this experience will help develop your career?

I think this experience will help me develop my career because I gained a lot of experience researching and performing data analysis, I learned more about what parts of research I enjoy, and I had chances to network with physicists in the field. I learned a lot about gravitational wave astronomy and data analysis. I am now much more confident in the use of Fourier transforms as analysis tools, I understand and can apply Bayesian Analysis to data in order to estimate parameters, and I feel much more confident in my understanding of signal processing. 

What would you recommend to other students interested in USRA experiences?

For other students, I would recommend getting as much programming experience as you can and getting used to teaching yourself new programming languages or libraries off of the internet. The vast majority of the project I worked on was figuring out how to implement the data analysis algorithms I came up with, both with code I programmed myself, and with the libraries that had been designed by others doing research on gravitational waves. In my experience, this is true for a lot of other physics projects as well. 

As part of the UBC LIGO GSpyNetTree team, Annu's project focused on generating the training sets for a convolutional neural network used to distinguish between glitches and signals. After training the model, Annu conducted validation studies looking at how robust the algorithm’s predictions are to data with persistent noise features subtracted, as well as exotic glitches not included in the training set. Annu's results will steer the production architecture of GSpyNetTree, a key tool for validating candidate gravitational wave signals during the next LIGO-Virgo observing run, expected to begin in March 2023. 

What was a highlight(s) of your summer research experience?

The highlight is when I went to the conference at the Hanford LIGO detector. It was amazing to collaborate with the international team. As many other students were also simulating gravitational wave signals, I got many questions about these at the socials and it was really great to discuss the pros/cons of it. 

What was the most challenging part of your research?

I personally had no experience with machine learning (let alone CNN’s) but my whole project revolved around this topic. This was challenging as I had to learn everything from scratch! However, this was incredibly eye-opening and by the end of the 4-month period, I definitely felt a lot more comfortable with the basic concepts.

What are some surprising facts about LIGO?

LIGO has won 3 Nobel Prizes!!! Also, LIGO has multiple detectors: LIGO (Hanford, Livingston), Kagra, etc.

What did you gain from this experience?

I learned a lot about machine learning. This was my first exposure to the subject, so I first built up the foundation and then learned how to apply these concepts to CNN’s specifically. 

What did you learn about working in a team? 

I learned A LOT about the importance of meetings/updates. We had about 3-4 meetings a week and being able to discuss problems/solutions with the UBC LIGO team was very helpful as at least someone will have encountered a similar problem at some point. 

What are some new insights you have about academic research and/or science education and/or industry? 

In addition to the amazing skills and knowledge that you gain from such positions, you also amass a huge amount of connections to people with your fields. I feel as though this is just as valuable. Further, with these connections, you can bounce ideas off other people (with a potentially different background/perspective). 

Has your experience changed your ideas of what your future career may be?

It confirmed that I would be very happy working in a field with machine learning. It is an amazing topic with limitless applications.

Name your favorite Physics tech.

Whiteboard! I love working through problems on the board and discussing the solutions with others. Therefore it is my favourite physics tech. 

What tips would you offer students who are interested in UBC USRA?

Email a BUNCH of professors. It’s best to talk about the research with the professor beforehand to showcase your interest in the topic.

What did you gain from this experience?

To begin with, I have gained the basic theoretical background for solid-state physics and Density Functional Theory (DFT). Moreover, I’ve learned how to use VASP and CLEASE to run DFT calculations, Cluster Expansion (CE), and Monte Carlo Simulation. Learning about the above theory combined with applying it to study Spinel structures was a very interesting experience to have. I was especially happy to apply my previously gained knowledge from my Quantum Mechanics course.

Has your experience changed your ideas of what your future career may be?

Definitely! I’ve never taken any courses related to Condense Matter Physics (CMP) before, so I didn’t know much about it. Through my work experience at QMI, however, I have not only learned about CMP, but have also become interested in studying CMP in depth. Now, CMP has become one of my potential research fields in graduate school, and I’m grateful that I’ve had an eye-opening opportunity to work at QMI this summer.

Dean worked with Drs Michael Hasinoff and on MC simulation studies for the new DarkLight experiment at TRIUMF. He also analyzed the timing data from the prototype fast trigger scintillator using the CERN ROOT software package. He did a superb job. 

What was a highlight(s) of your summer research experience?
My research this summer addressed two details in the design of the DarkLight@ARIEL experiment: improving the design/analysis code for the scintillator triggers to minimize the time resolution, and programming Monte Carlo simulations to optimize spectrometer parameters and produce sensitivity and exclusion estimates. Working in these two different areas offered exposure to the extensive collaboration required to coordinate and manage large scale experiments, and provided many opportunities to learn from experts in the field. Working beside leading physicists from other institutions around the world (Mainz, Stonybrook, MIT, etc.) was definitely a highlight of my summer.

Another highlight was the opportunity to have a real impact on the development of experiment. The extensive testing of the trigger prototypes will inform design decisions for the final scintillator trigger.  The preliminary findings from the Monte Carlo simulations will influence further improvements to the experiment and provide valuable projections for the experimental results.

What are some new insights you have about academic research?
This summer was my first opportunity to gain practical, hands on physics experience outside of a classroom setting.  One part of physics research that was unexpected was the pace at which progress was made.  As a student, most of our work is scheduled, timely, and of a particular level of difficulty.  Conversely, research is more organic and sporadic.  Often work which seemed easy on the surface required significantly more time and effort to achieve results and progress, than the work which initially seemed more challenging.  Personally, I found this unpredictability to be exciting and allowed me to thoroughly enjoy my summer experience.
 

Aryanna worked with Dr. Harvey Richer to prepare a complete catalogue of white dwarf stars in our region of observation with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and to predict what infrared properties of these stars should be. *the JWST launched successfully on 25th December, 2021.

What was a highlight(s) of your summer research experience?

A highlight of my term was having the opportunity to work as a researcher within a collaborative group. It was great seeing and taking part in the cooperation between scientists trying to solve astronomical questions. Having the help and knowledge of both faculty and grad students was incredibly helpful in completing my own work.

What was the most challenging part of your research?

A challenge I faced involved fitting models to an anomalous white dwarf spectrum that had an incredibly large infrared excess. It was exciting having discussions with experts trying to work together to figure out what sort of system could describe the data.

During Dante's summer at the UBC Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute, he worked with Dr. Ke Zou to investigate removable capping layers for ferromagnetic Fe3GeTe2 films grown with Molecular Beam Epitaxy in the lab. The lab has been testing various materials as potential protection layers for Fe3GeTe2.

What was a highlight of your summer research experience?

One of my biggest highlights was the exposure I got to an abundance of industry-standard condensed matter tools that will be helpful in my future research. I used methods including Reflective High-Energy Electron Diffraction, Quartz Crystal Microbalance, Atomic Force Measurement, and X-ray diffraction and was also exposed to Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, and Angle-Resolved Photo-Emission Spectroscopy systems. All these specialized tools were used to help characterize and quantify nanometer-thick films grown in our ultra-high vacuum Molecular Beam Epitaxy system which was also an exciting (and very large) piece of technology to work with. 

Gurleen worked with Dr. Alannah Hallas to investigate the structural stability in LiNiO2 and whether variations in the crystal structure at very small length scales could explain some of the observed properties in these materials.

What was a highlight(s) of your summer research experience?
A highlight of my summer research experience is that I got to have a part in guiding the direction of my research project. My supervisors were very supportive and allowed me to pursue ideas that I had thought of, which was exciting!

What was the most challenging part of your research?

The most challenging part of the research was understanding the theory/physics behind the instrumentation we use to measure our samples. It’s quite straightforward to measure what you need to measure, but to understand what is happening inside the machine is a bit of a learning gap. It feels great once you finally understand what is going on!

What are some surprising facts about your research field and/or project?

One surprising fact about my summer project is the amount of chemistry knowledge I needed! To make the LiNiO2 crystal I would use chemistry, but then to study it I would use physics, which I think is a neat mix! 

How do you think this experience will help you in your developing career?

This experience completely motivated me to pursue graduate studies in this field. I was already thinking of doing this, but I did not really know what to expect from a lab environment. This experience was very insightful and helped me realize that I love experimental physics and would like to study various kinds of materials in graduate studies.
What did you gain from this experience (i.e., what skills? What knowledge?)

From this experience I gained a working knowledge about the lab environment and a lot about how to apply what I learned in class. It’s very fascinating when you come across concepts you are so familiar with in class and then being able to apply them in various ways in the lab.

What did you learn about working in a team?

I learned that the ‘team’ environment in academia is very important. The upper year students have an abundance of knowledge that can only be learned through experience, and having them guide you while they share what they have learned throughout their careers is invaluable to an undergraduate student.  

What are some new insights you have about academic research and/or science education and/or industry?

A new insight that I have about the above fields is that they are all very connected. It is very possible to work within the industry while staying in academia, or you can solely pursue academia, or you can even gain a strong industry position if you decide to leave graduate studies. This just depends on your goal, but it is definitely possible to change fields. You are not just stuck to one path once you choose it.

Has your experience changed your ideas of what your future career may be?

Yes, I would like to stay in academia but if I had the chance, I would love to work in an industry position and see what that is like as well. This experience has solidified what I had already been planning for the direction of my future career, which is quite relieving! 

Name your favorite Physics tech (machine, system, lab, etc.)

My favourite physics tech for this summer must be the PPMS (Physical Property Measurement System).

What tips would you offer students who are interested in UBC USRA (NSERC, SURE, Work Learn) research experience?

One tip which was the key for getting me this position was having initiative. If I had not taken the initiative to send Dr. Hallas an email saying I loved her presentation (she was presenting at McMaster University) and would be interested in working in her lab, I would not be here. It is important to be a little bit outgoing and make sure you communicate what your interests are, since no one will know unless you tell them!
 

Julian worked with Dr. Jess McIver to detect time series anomalies in gravitational wave data in order to detect novel, unclassified transient noise events (glitches) using the Temporal Outlier Factor method.

What was the most challenging part of your research?

The most challenging part of this project (and also most of the other research projects I've been a part of) was the onboarding phase, where I had to get a grip on the theory as well as the goals and scope of the project as quickly as possible. For my work with the UBC Gravitational Waves group, this was especially difficult because the mathematical basis for the theory supporting my project was rooted in a branch of math that I had never seen before; additionally, my project's interplay with the rest of the LIGO data analysis ecosystem was quite multi-faceted and complex in its own right. If not for the close support 
of my supervisors, I would definitely not have gotten nearly as far as I did over these four months.

What are some new insights you have about academic research and/or science education and/or industry?
The true scale of the LIGO collaboration is mind-boggling to me. When I was working at TRIUMF with Hyper-Kamiokande, we had correspondence with researchers in Japan, but LIGO is on a whole other level entirely. I slowly began to glimpse the extent of my relationship with the collaboration through meetings at larger and larger scales, but even through all the calls and conferences I know I've barely scratched the surface. At the risk of sounding corny, the fact that so many people came together to make a project this big come to fruition gives me hope for mankind.

Keshav worked with Dr. Allison Man to investigate the metallicity content and gas motions of a candidate group of lensed galaxies by developing Python scripts to conduct measurements on hundreds of galaxy spectra.

What was the most challenging part of your research?

The field of Astronomy is vast, very vast. Not having much knowledge beforehand posed a challenge. There are many parameters and factors that influence physical processes and phenomena and you've got to learn how to identify what information is useful and what isn't to your project. It can be a little tricky to do this when there are many things that you don't even know that you don't know. But it's also what makes the process beautiful, there are so many questions to be asked and unknowns to delve into.

How do you think this experience will help you in your developing career?

As a student interested to work in the field of data science, working in the field of Astronomy proved to be an invaluable experience. I learned to build an understanding of an entirely new field of knowledge in a short time span. Working in an environment where my colleagues and I analyze data from cutting-edge Instruments, from different continents gave me invaluable experience. I learned how research is done and was able to identify aspects of the work that I enjoyed, which would certainly inform my decisions on the kind of work I would like to do in the future.  

Rio worked with Dr. Robert Raussendorf on quantum questions on error correction and fault-tolerant computing, including investigating the source of the computational power/advantage that quantum computers have over classical computers.

My research this summer was broadly trying to address the question of where quantum computers get their power. The scheme of measurement-based quantum computation provided the ideal playing field to answer this question, being that in this picture the computational power is focused on the initial resource state (which can be thought of the flexible canvas on which the computation can take place). I used techniques borrowed from condensed matter theory to extract properties about these resource states. I also worked with other members of the quantum information group in trying to demonstrate theoretical results about measurement based quantum computing experimentally. Currently available quantum hardware is still quite noisy and not yet large scale, so we are hard at work developing techniques to gleam out signals from the noise in this limited medium.

I think the most surprising part of the summer was finding out that the advantage of quantum computing is still not fully understood; it is exciting that amidst all the quantum hype that this remains an open problem in the field. It was also extremely interesting talking to different people in the QI research group and finding out about the various approaches that were being taken to attack this problem, and the diverse scope of physical/mathematical fields involved. This summer certainly has exponentiated my interest in quantum information, and I am excited to continue pursuing it this year and into the future. 

Sarah worked with Dr. Sabrina Leslie in the UBC Michael Smith Laboratories to study nanoparticles, specifically by using single particle confinement microscopy to investigate biophysical properties.

What are some surprising facts about your research field and/or project?

As someone who has really only studied in purely physics fields, it was really surprising (and refreshing!) to see the amount of physics that is utilized in more biologically inclined subjects as well, such as the concepts underlying the fundamentals of particle tracking with lipid nanoparticles.

What did you gain from this experience?

Due to my relatively rudimentary knowledge in coding and script writing, my computer science knowledge definitely improved by leaps and bounds while working at this lab. Not only was I able to learn about a completely foreign subject to me (particle tracking), I was able to explore and relate my existing math/physics knowledge including Brownian motion and random walks. 

Front row: Dr. Daniel Berard (postdoc), Sarah Wang (undergrad student), Dr. Sabrina Leslie (PI), Sylvia Zhang (undergrad student)

Back row: Dr. Talon Chandler (postdoc), Cinthia Shaheen (grad student), Albert Kamanzi (Postdoc), Cameron Hastie (grad student) and Rebecca Johnson (undergrad student)

Seraphim worked with Dr. Jess McIver on improving the ability to safely distinguish between noise transients (glitches) and real astrophysical events in gravitational waves detector data by using Gravity Spy.

What was a highlight(s) of your summer research experience?

Getting to present at so many events to a wide range of audiences was an incredible experience. The practice I got and the new connections I made were of huge value to me as I start out my career as a researcher. Another highlight from my project was the immediate results I was able to see; the feeling that my work could have a genuine impact on future LIGO observing runs has made me very proud of the work I was able to do this summer.

How do you think this experience will help you in your developing career?

I think this was the perfect opportunity for where I am in my career. I got to experience researching a well-defined problem both on my own and in collaboration with scientists from UBC and other institutions. I felt that the support I received from my mentors this summer has given me a solid impression of what research is like and will help me decide how I will shape my career looking forward.

What did you gain from this experience (i.e., what skills? What knowledge?)

I spent a lot of time writing programs and preparing material for presentations during my summer project. I think both of those skills will be very valuable regardless of which career path I end up in. However, I think the most valuable skills I learned, were about how I could be a better researcher. I learned that even the most insignificant seeming details may have the biggest impact on the project and that being patient with results is a key part in being an effective researcher. 

Timothy worked with Dr. Allison Man to investigate why some galaxies have stopped forming stars at early cosmic epochs by measuring dust continuum emissions of a sample observed with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array.

What was a highlight(s) of your summer research experience?

Distant massive quiescent galaxies are challenging to detect, but they are essential to answer why galaxies stop forming stars. I was very excited to inspect and analyze images of these galaxies taken by Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Our group was very fortunate to have potential continuum detections that led to molecular gas mass and dust mass measurements of our sample galaxies.

What was the most challenging part of your research?

Maintaining a clear, high-level perspective of the project was challenging while focusing on the daily research tasks, such as debugging code, documenting the progress, preparing talks, and drafting papers.

How do you think this experience will help you in your developing career?

I have discovered that I am intrigued by why galaxies stop forming stars and how do they evolve. I am also very grateful to get to know a very supportive and resourceful supervisor and connect with brilliant minds in the research field. 

What did you gain from this experience (i.e., what skills? What knowledge?)

I gained a deep understanding of interstellar medium physics and its relationship with galaxy evolution. Furthermore, I have developed image processing techniques. Most importantly, I got to know myself better and sharpened my scientific communication skills.

What did you learn about working in a team?

I found that it is more healthy for the team to grow if the team members are genuine in discussing the project and giving feedback.   

What are some new insights you have about academic research and/or science education and/or industry?

I think the future of academic research will become more data-driven; it raises challenges for researchers to work with Big Data and obtain findings and discoveries with robust analysis. I also think that current science education could consider putting more effort into training students to know how to ask questions and communicate scientific ideas, as well as how to apply their knowledge to the world outside of academia.

Has your experience changed your ideas of what your future career maybe?

I plan to gain industrial working experience, especially in the data science industry, before going back to academia to pursue a career in astrophysics.   

UBC Physics & Astronomy received 9 NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards and 2 Dean of Science Summer Research Awards this year.

UBC Physics & Astronomy received 10 NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards and 3 Dean of Science Summer Research Awards this year.

UBC Physics & Astronomy received 16 NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Awards this year. This is what some of the students said about their experiences:

UBC Physics & Astronomy received 15 NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Awards in 2007.
This is what some of the students said about their experiences:

This is what some of the students said about their USRA experiences in 2006:

17 NSERC and 3 UBC summer scholarships were awarded.
This is what some of the students said about their work:

19 NSERC and 5 UBC summer scholarships were awarded. This is what some of the students said about their work: