Cluster Life
Catch up with the latest labs, lectures, and field trips!
Photo by Allison Cheng
2. Nanochemistry & Nanotechnology
In the third week of COSMOS, Cluster 2 shifted its focus from learning about the various nanoparticles and their properties to the electrochemical applications of nanoparticles. Prof. Chen introduced us to different battery types and explained their unique properties. Through this, we gained insights on why some batteries have a short lifetime and some upcoming technologies, such as zinc-air batteries, that could be better for the environment. Additionally, we learned about fuel cells and electrocatalysis and got to watch a fuel cell powered car in action.
Although we did not watch any videos on Oppenheimer this week, we still had a lot of fun during the afternoon lectures with Prof. Terrill. We got to learn about all the different cubic lattice structures of a crystal, and modeled them using a solid state model kit. The kit allowed us to get a better understanding of the lattice structures. While some of us worked on creating water crystals, some of us made our own models and we even tried stacking all the marbles in the kit to create a tall tower. Despite the disarray caused by the scattered beads of toppled towers, our cluster members persisted in experimenting with various formations. The activity served as a break from our typical lectures and provided a more engaging and hands-on learning experience. Additionally, we enjoyed our lecture on Mossbauer Spectroscopy, during which many of us were able to shoot the laser at Prof. Terrill.
This week's labs were out of the ordinary as we got to make hand cream and sunscreen and test the electrochemistry of certain metals. During our first lab of the week, we combined different chemicals to create a very smooth and luscious hand cream. Although we were warned to use at our own risk, some of us decided to apply our toxic cream. In the following lab, focusing on electrochemistry, we tested different metals and compared their conductivity, specifically measuring milliamps per square centimeter. Aside from lectures and labs, our cluster sang Viva La Vida during most of our cluster meetings this week, which has now become our cluster theme song, and created posters for the COSMOS Olympics.
By Shrijani Buruganahalli
|
|
Though we were busy collecting data for the insect groups’ project, we began to analyze the mammal results produced from camera traps we set the prior week. We poured through the pictures and videos captured through the wildlife cams, admiring the surplus of deers, juncos, ravens, and, of course, squirrels that populated the campus. Each sighting was carefully recorded in a spreadsheet, and used by the mammal groups to build their posters.
Amidst the rush to finalize the data for our posters, Cluster 3 managed to get a break on Tuesday, when we visited the UCSC Arboretum and spent the morning learning from interns about how to do scientific illustrations. We all enjoyed making watercolor paintings of vegetation that caught our eyes, carefully bringing out all their complex features onto the page – this relaxing endeavor brought about a much-appreciated calm before the chaos. We ended Friday exhausted by the chaotic week, and incredibly proud of all we accomplished.
By Kinley Renger
|
4. Quantum Information Science Engineering
Fortunately for everyone’s sanity, lectures aren’t the only activity I’ll be covering in this issue. We kicked off our third week by visiting a scanning electron microscope (SEM) lab, where we observed samples with a resolution of nanometers and engraved Prof. Jairo Velasco’s face with gallium ions. On Tuesday, we met the SEM’s rival at the Velasco Lab: the scanning tunneling microscope (STM), which operates with quantum tunneling. Other stations at the Velasco Lab were graphite exfoliation, an introduction to atomic force microscopy, and more.
|
5. Video Game Design
Cluster 5 had a jam-packed third week at COSMOS, highlighted by field trips and final projects.
We started off by choosing our groups for our final projects and beginning the brainstorming process by documenting our ideas and creating a basic framework for our game design.
On Tuesday, we had the opportunity to listen to a COSMOS Game Design alumni talk about the challenges of organizing a game-jam, or a game development competition. We conversed about the importance of finding sponsors and setting concise yet descriptive rules for our games.
The next day, we had our first field trip to the Computer Science History Museum in Santa Clara. There we were able to see one of the first computers, the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer), with its many vacuum tubes used for electrical switching. Additionally, we were able to explore ancient video game consoles and even try out a few of the games! Our day concluded by watching the IBM 1401 data processing unit operate live.
|
Cluster 6 kicked off the week with a team-based simulation of the energy market, where groups both failed and succeeded in turning a massive profit. One group concluded the first day with negative profit in fact, but quickly turned it around after learning from their errors to eventually become the runner-ups in the whole competition. The winning group was given the opportunity to describe their strategy to the class and explained how they had exploited the overzealous bidding of other groups to ensure maximum profits.
The conclusion of the energy market game marked the final departure of Professor Yihsu Chen, and Professor Yu Zhang continued his lectures on electricity and renewable energy sources, going into depth on such technologies as concentrated solar power.
Course Assistant Jing Xiong began our labs this Wednesday as well, introducing us to circuitry through hands-on learning. We also explored the basics of machine learning, which we used to forecast hourly energy demand.
On Friday, our cluster went on an on-campus field trip, where we explored UCSC’s natural gas cogeneration plant that supplies half of the campus’s electricity while producing the same emissions as an idling car. After a tour of the plant, we had the opportunity to visit Professor Zhang’s lab, where we met one of his students, who described her experience in academia to us.
Cluster 6 has been through an exciting and interesting week, and we are looking forward to sharing our projects next week!
|
Next, we peeked into the Ecological Aquaculture facility, where UCSC researchers are finding sustainable ways to manufacture fish feed and reduce phosphorus levels in discharge water. We also checked out Professor Weiss’ fog collectors. They employ a machine emitting infrared radiation so that when the beams hit fog droplets, the collection box is signaled to suck moisture in. At that point, the sun had fried our brains; we sprayed each other with a hose and looked at the chickens before mounting the bus.
We also conducted an LD50 study using Daphnia magna (freshwater zooplankton). We made serial dilutions of 2% sea salt and waited for the little guys to die. On Wednesday, we made veggie and PBS buffer smoothies and plated 5 dilutions to analyze bacterial concentrations in the vegetables.
Finally, we took our Friday field trip to the wharf. There, we took zooplankton samples with the help of lovely volunteers from the Pacific Plankton Project, and got to look at the zooplankton under microscopes at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. After an incredible week, Cluster 7 is ready for our last academic chunk at COSMOS!
By Ana Cabrera
|
9. Building Blocks of Life: Molecular and Cell Biology
In the third week of COSMOS, Cluster 9 completed their lab project! This final week of lab work started with every member of Cluster 9 running gel electrophoresis to test multiple colonies of previously plated bacteria for the intake of plasmids. This aimed to test if the colony contained the correct gene inserts (which were inserted into the plasmids) for each student. Once this was verified through gel analysis, each student prepped their samples to be sent to UC Berkeley to be sequenced to conclude our portion of lab work that is contributing to a greater research paper to be published in coming years.
In afternoon lectures, Dr. Wang continued his teaching on developmental biology. The week started out with student presentations on a paper that highlighted the importance of 𝛽-catenin in early-stage axis development in embryos. Following this students learned about the development of skin and hair, somitogenesis, orogenital development, and the development of limbs.
The highlight of Cluster 9’s week was having our professor, Dr. Wang, lecture to the full program at Friday’s discovery lecture. We greeted him with the chant “Cluster 9, we’re Barbie dancers, Dr. Wang gives the best lectures!” In this lecture, he highlighted his own research he does at UCSC with a lecture on “How to Maintain an Organ: Stem Cells and Cancer,” which addressed his lab’s research on prostate cancer.
By Carly Ackerman
|
As the program nears an end with week 3, Cluster 10 begins making preparations for the poster projects and presentations with a tight Friday deadline. Thankfully, we were given a lot of time to practice and work on the research in class with both Monique's and Professor Mike Oye’s assistance (since they’re both very acquainted with all the topics). By doing one part each day, everyone’s posters were captivating and on time. Day one was dedicated to research; day two was for presenting; day three was getting graphs and images; day four was wrap-ups and a mock final presentation. While we were busy completing our posters and slide presentations in Professor Mike Oye’s class, we continued learning new information such as band gaps at temperature equilibrium and recombination with Professor Nobby Kobayashi. Arsenic and boron are the leading players in our class discussions, replacing the previous MVPs – hydrogen and oxygen. Along with Arsenic and boron, P-N Junctions are still very relevant as the equation n*p = n^2 starts appearing everywhere.
Overall, we have much to look forward to next week, as we will be presenting the presentations that we agonized over this week. In the upcoming week, our labors will finally come to fruition.
By Valerie Huang
|
12. Exploring the Structure of Quantum Materials
This week, Cluster 12 delved further into the world of quantum mechanics, getting more comfortable with solving equations and using lab devices. We started the week with two field trips in one day!
The morning involved a virtual tour of the Spallation Neutron Source at the Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee. Dr. Feng Ye, who is a part of the lab’s research, told us all about how the Spallation Neutron Source worked and its importance in American history. We got in-depth explanations of nuclear fission, but we were unfortunately not given enough info to build our own neutron source.
In the afternoon, Cluster 12 traveled across the road from our usual classroom in the Science and Engineering Quad to Professor Jin Zhong Zhang’s lab in the chemistry building. There Prof. Zhang gave us a brief lecture on spectroscopy, both absorption and emission, and how it can be applied in learning more about different materials. We then ventured down to his lab where his graduate students showed us his brand new laser and his wet lab.
In our own labs, we continued using DLS to identify our gold nanocrystals and continued to synthesize new nanocrystals preserved in aliquots.
We finished up our posters at the end of this week so they can be printed and ready in time for the presentations next Friday. This next week, we look forward to finalizing our slide decks for our oral presentations and an all-day field trip to the SLAC National Accelerator Lab.
By Lily Schroeder
|