Senior Theses

Pulkit Bansal ’19
The Arrow of Time
Faculty Advisor: Thomas Moore

Chaelee Dalton ’19
Toward Equity: Assessing Pomona College’s Physics and Astronomy Department Climate and the Effectiveness of Pro-Equity Curriculum Integrated into the Foundations of Modern Physics Course
Faculty Advisor: Janice Hudgings

Ian Descamps ’19
Interdisciplinary Aspirations and Scientific Enrichment: Data on the Role and Experience of Physics 41/42​
Faculty Advisor: Thomas Moore

Ricardo Espinoza ’19
Charge-Carrier Transport in Organic Semiconductors
Faculty Advisor: Janice Hudgings

Ivette Fernandez ’19
Evaluating the Community Partnership between Pomona College’s Introductory Electronics Course and the Fremont Academy Femineers
Faculty Advisor: Janice Hudgings

Sal Fu ’19
Small-Scale Tests of ΛCDM Cosmology
Faculty Advisor: Joshua Simon, Jorge Moreno, Gwen Rudie, & Philip Choi​

Adrian Hui ’19
Opinion Dynamics in the Voter Model

Brian Lorenz ’19
Star Formation Rates of 1000 Intermediate Mass 0.3 ≤ z ≤ 0.4 Galaxies in the COSMOS Field
Faculty Advisor: Daniel D. Kelson

Jose Munoz-Lopez ’19
The Niobium Cooper-Pair Mass Anomaly
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

Kutay Nazli ’19
Automation of Table Mountain Observatory 1-Meter Telescope
Faculty Advisor: Philip Choi

Donovan New ’19
Developing a Wearable Piezoelectric Generator
Faculty Advisor: Gordon Stecklein

Ali Wang ’19
A LISA Simulation Program for Gravitational-wave Signals from Spinning Coalescing Binaries
Faculty Advisor: Thomas Moore

Jerry Xuan ’19
Probing the Spin of DH Tau b as a Tracer for Giant Planet Formation
Faculty Advisor: Philip Choi

Kyle Allison ’18
Thermoreflectance Imaging: Noise Analysis, New Algorithms, and Stochastic Resonance
Faculty Advisor: Janice Hudgings

Dallon Asnes ’18
Partial Shading and Thermal Effects in Photovoltaics
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

Eric Cooper ’18
The Aerodynamics of Seed Dispersal in Acanthaceae
Faculty Advisor: Dwight Whitaker

Sofie de Olazarra’18
Fabrication and Characterization of Organic Field-Effect Transistors for Charge Carrier Mapping in Organic Polymers
Faculty Advisor: Janice Hudgings

Octave Duclos ’18
Index of Refraction of Air at Various Humidity Levels
Faculty Advisor: Richard Mawhorter

Dominic Frempong ’18
Developing an Exteroceptive Perception System for AUVs

Ben Gregory ’18
ARPES studies of the model cuprate HgBa2CuO4+δ
Faculty Advisor: Scott Medling​

Mark Hallman ’18
Thermoreflectance Imaging: An Investigation of the Performance of Image Acquisition Algorithms
Faculty Advisor: Janice Hudgings

Kate Hartman ’18
Time-Resolved Spectroscopy of Pulsating Variable Stars
Faculty Advisor: Philip Choi & Rachael Beaton

Alli Ho ’18
Characteristics of the surface wave field from wave buoys off the California Coast
Faculty Advisor: Philip Choi & Sophia Merrifield

Peyton Holm ’18
Physics Measurement Techniques for Quality Control
Faculty Advisor: Thomas Moore

Tyler Jones ’18
Defect Characterization of Organic Photovoltaic Cells
Faculty Advisor: Janice Hudgings

Luke Kim ’18
Spectroscopic Research on Diatomic Molecules
Faculty Advisor: Richard Mawhorter

Will Lamb ’18
An Introduction to the Physics of Solar Cells with an Address of Reverse Bias
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

Antonio Leon de la Barra ’18
Perspectives on Determinism
Faculty Advisor: Elijah Quetin

Gabi Mehta ’18
Preliminary Design and Construction of a Real-Time Atmospheric Turbulence Characterization System
Faculty Advisor: Philip Choi

Adam Mitchell ’18
On the Observation and Analysis of Near-Earth Objects Using Synthetic Tracking
Faculty Advisor: Philip Choi

Molly Mosher ’18
Modeling Ice Shelves
Faculty Advisor: Thomas Moore

Alex Nguyen ’18
Construction and Characterization of an Ultrasound Resonance Chamber for the Study of Pycnoclinic Acoustic Forces
Faculty Advisor: John Koulakis, Alma Zook, and Richard Mawhorter

Liam Reese ’18
A Filter for Clean Future: Characterizing a quaternary amine-based resin for practical use in the capture of carbon dioxide for ambient air
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

Rob Simsiman ’18
A Laboratory Manual for the Use of Computational Fluid Dynamics in Ansys Fluent
Faculty Advisor: Dwight Whitaker

Blair Subbaraman ’18
Tanks for the Memories: Constructing a Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) System for Low Reynolds Number Biological Hydrodynamics
Faculty Advisor: Dwight Whitaker

Angela Twum ’18
Shell Galaxies: The Evolution of Shell Number Using the ILLUSTRIS Simulation
Faculty Advisor: Jorge Moreno & Ana Roxana Pop

Jerome Jahn ’17
Numerical Modeling of Terahertz Beam Transmission Characteristics within a Photonic Crystal Fiber
Faculty Advisor: Alma Zook

Sabrina Li ’17
Evolution of Inverted P3HT:PCBM Organic Photovoltaics
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum​

Mark Lozano ’17
Energy Monitoring Systems: Function and Applications
Faculty Advisor: Janice Hudgings

Franklin Marsh ’17
Contact Binary Stars in Survey Data
Faculty Advisor: Philip Choi

Tom Neumiller ’17
Seed Systems: Constructing a Particle Image Velocimetry Tow Tank for Seed Flight Studies
Faculty Advisor: Dwight Whitaker​

Kelli Rockwell ’17
Rebuilding a Tool for Visualizing Electric Fields for the Web
Faculty Advisor: Thomas Moore

Nathan Sandford ’17
Exploring Gas-Phase Metallicity Gradients in Disc Galaxies: A Semi-Analytic Approach
Faculty Advisor: Yu Lu and Philip Choi

Kiran Siebel ’17
Simulating the Motion of Binary Systems of Spinning Massive Objects
Faculty Advisor: Thomas Moore

Liam Toney ’17
Joint body- and surface-wave tomography of Yucca Flat, Nevada using a novel seismic source
Faculty Advisor: Robert E. Abbott

Greta Zhong ’17
Ram Pressure Stripping of Galaxy JO201
Faculty Advisor: Stephanie Tonnesen

Ferrel Atkins ’16
An Overview of Satellite Communications: Topics in Satellite Television
Faculty Advisor: Janice Hudgings

Andreas Biekert ’16
Aiding the Search for New Physics Through the Spectroscopy of Diatomic Molecules
Faculty Advisor: Richard Mawhorter

Hannah Bishop ’16
Fabrication of Plasmonic Nanostructures using Electron Beam Lithography
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

William Buchholtz ’16
Modeling the Evolution of Surface Charge on a Wire-Capacitor Circuit
Faculty Advisors: Thomas Moore and Alma Zook

Jonah Grubb ’16
On the Design and Construction of a Tow Tank and Particle Image Velocimetry System for the Study of Exploding Plants
Faculty Advisor: Dwight Whitaker

David Khatami ’16
A Meshless Approach to Radiation Hydrodynamics Simulations in Astrophysics
Faculty Advisors: Philip Hopkins (Caltech) and Philip Choi

Jerry Martinez ’16
Automotive Radar Systems: Status and Future Developments
Faculty Advisor: Janice Hudgings

Melina Mastrodimos ’16
Delineating the Evolution of Organic Molecular Synthesis
Faculty Advisor: Philip Choi

Madeline McGaughey ’16
A Review of the Development and Current Status of Quantum Key Distribution
Faculty Advisor: Alfred Kwok

Tatsu Monkman ’16
Mapping the Galactic Orbit of an Extremely Low Metallicity Star
Faculty Advisors: Philip Choi and Josh Simon (Carnegie Observatories)

Vicente Robles ’16
Exploring the Dynamics of Optical Thermocavitation Bubbles Using Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence
Faculty Advisor: Dwight Whitaker

David Sharfi ’16
Designing, Implementing, and Testing A Lesson Plan for Static Equilibrium in Introductory Mechanics
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

Scott Tan ’16
Signatures of the Soft Phonon in Impedance Spectroscopy of Barium Titanate Nanoparticle Colloidal Solutions
Faculty Advisor: Janice Hudgings and Graham Krahn

Carson Witte ’16
Diatomic Molecular Spectroscopy of Potassium Iodide
Faculty Advisor: Richard Mawhorter

Erika Carlson ’15
A Photometric Investigation of Stellar Populations in the Dwarf Galaxy NGC 6822
Faculty Advisors: Philip Choi and Barry Madore

Alexander Cole ’15
Non-commutative Geometry and Information Scrambling in Matrix Theory Black Holes
Faculty Advisor: Vatche Sahakian

Dillon Dong ’15
Studying Star Formation in Nearby Galaxies with 33GHz Radio Interferometry
Faculty Advisors: Eric Murphy and Philip Choi

Benjamin Girodias ’15
Ultracold Atoms in Line-World: Bose-Einstein Condensates in a Quasi-One Dimensional Gravito-Optical Surface Trap
Faculty Advisor: Dwight Whitaker

Fernando Ortega ’15
Using Single Qubit Control to Reduce Decoherence in Quantum Information Networks
Faculty Advisor: Richard Mawhorter

Jonathan Wong ’15
Analysis of Equisetum Arvense Spores (contact the Physics Department to view)
Faculty Advisor: Dwight Whitaker

Dalton Bolger ’14
KAPAO Prime: Construction, Calibration, and Integration of the Pomona College Facility Adaptive Optics Instrument
Faculty Advisor: Philip Choi

Claire Dickey ’14
The Low-Mass Luminosity Function in Globular Clusters
Faculty Advisor: Philip Choi

Meredith Durbin ’14
The Mid-Infrared RR Lyrae Period-Luminosity Relation
Faculty Advisor: Alma Zook

Zachary Glassman ’14
High Resolution Spectroscopy and Isotope Invariant Analysis of Diatomic Molecules
Faculty Advisor: Richard Mawhorter

Dulcie Head ’14
Modeling Diffusion in Amorphous Thin Film Tantala and Amorphous Thin Film Fused Silica
Faculty Advisor: Alma Zook

Annie Hedlund ’14
High-Mass Stars in NGC 6822: The Ultraviolet as a Tool for Identification
Faculty Advisor: Bryan Penprase

Benjamin Hoober-Burkhardt ’14
The Use of Gamification to Teach the Cosmic Distance Ladder
Faculty Advisor: Bryan Penprase

Mira Howard ’14
The Pianist’s Touch: An Investigation into the Scientific Veracity of the Pianist’s Touch
Faculty Advisor: Alma Zook

Joseph Long ’14
Seeing Clearly with KAPAO: Measuring Performance with Data Analysis Tools for Adaptive Optics
Faculty Advisor: Philip Choi

Charles Owens ’14
An Analysis on the Degradation of Organic Photovoltaic Cells
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

Eric Puma ’14
An Overview of CVD Graphene Growth, Characterization, and Transfer
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

Emily Yang ’14
Fabrication, Characterization, and Stability of Inverted P3HT:PCBM Organic Photovoltaics
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

Daniel Contreras ’13
KAPAO: Design and Assembly of the Wavefront Sensor for an Adaptive Optics Instrument
Faculty Advisor: Philip Choi

Carolyn Cross ’13
Slinging Spinning Seed Substitutes: An investigation into the explosive seed dispersal of the Acanthaceae
Faculty Advisor: Dwight Whitaker

Gretta Ferguson ’13
An Outdoor Assessment of Organic Solar Cell Performance
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

Rylan Grady ’13
Tidal Deformations of Sea Ice in Shallow Arctic Regions
Faculty Advisors: Alma Zook and Aleksey Marchenko (UNIS)

Kevin Ludlum ’13
Optimizing Flywheel Design for use as a Kinetic Energy Recovery System for a Bicycle
Faculty Advisor: Alfred Kwok

Lorcan McGonigle ’13
KAPAO: Design and Simulation of the Static Optical and Mechanical Systems
Faculty Advisor: Philip Choi

Colin Mitchell ’13
Measuring the Air Speed in a Wind Tunnel
Faculty Advisor: Alma Zook

Benjamin Murphy ’13
Investigations Into Anomalous Spectroscopic Effects in GE124 and Recommendations for Alternative Materials
Faculty Advisor: Alfred Kwok

Jonathan Raiman ’13
Wireless Electricity and Impedance Matching
Faculty Advisor: Gregory Ogin

Sam Whitehead ’13
A Computational Analysis of Inertial ParticleTransport from Peat Moss Vortex Rings
Faculty Advosor: Dwight Whitaker

Maira Amezcua ’12
Quantum Optics
Faculty Advisor: Alfred Kwok

Emily Chang ’12
A Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis of the Spore Dispersal of Sphagnum Moss
Faculty Advisor: Dwight Whitaker

Eric Dodds ’12
Progress Toward BEC Through Optimization and Measurement of a Compressed Magneto-Optical Trap
Faculty Advisor: Dwight Whitaker

Xinyi Guo ’12
Applications of Gravitational Microlensing
Faculty Advisor: Ann Esin (HMC)

Matthew W. Hasling ’12
An Investigation into Graphene Growth and Transfer Methods
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

Zack Lasner ’12
Toward BEC’s, the Bee’s Knees: A Computational Investigation of Non-ergodic Evaporative Cooling
Faculty Advisor: Dwight Whitaker

Will Morrison ’12
Building KAPAO-Alpha: A Prototype Adaptive Optics Instrument for Pomona College’s 1-meter Telescope at Table Mountain Observatory
Faculty Advisor: Philip Choi

Leonardo Rosetti ’12
The Designing, Building and Testing of an Azimuth-Altitude Dual Axis Solar Tracker
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

Catherine Wilka ’12
Analysis of Low-Metalicity Damped Lyman Alpha Systems Using Quasar Absorption Line Spectroscopy
Faculty Advisor: Bryan Penprase

Alexander L. Baum ’11
High Resolution Rotational Spectroscopy Study of the Zeeman Effect in the 2Π½ Molecule PbF
Faculty Advisor: Richard Mawhorter

A. B. Boyd ’11
Antimatter Annihilation in the Early Universe
Faculty Advisor: T. A. Moore

Jenna deBoisblanc ’11
Synthesis and Characterization of P3HT:PCBM Organic Solar Cells
Faculty Advisors: David Tanenbaum and Alma Zook

Amanda Ghassaei ’11
The Design and Optimization of a Crank-Based Leg Mechanism
Faculty Advisors: Phil Choi and Dwight Whitaker

Devin Matthews ’11
Quiet Cooling for the OBVA High Resolution Flight Simulator
Faculty Advisor: Alfred Kwok

Benjamin Pollard ’11
Growing Graphene via Chemical Vapor Deposition
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

Alexander Rudy ’11
Advancing Adaptive Optics for the KAPAO Instrument
Faculty Advisor: Philip Choi

Joel Shuman ’11
Optimizing and measuring properties of a magneto-optical trap in a dilute rubidium-87 gas
Faculty Advisor: Dwight Whitaker

Daniel Beeler ’09
Survey of Extended Lyman-_ Emission Near z > 3 Radio-quiet Quasars
Faculty Advisors: Bryan E. Penprase and Michael Rauch (OCIW)

Scott Berkley ’09
The Fabrication and Characterization of Organic Solar Cells
Addendum
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

Caroline Fernandez ’09
Designing a Dome-Flat Screen and Projector for the Table Mountain Observatory
Faculty Advisor: Alma Zook

Kevin Kelley ’09
Construction of a Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscope to Study Lipid Domain Composition via Raman Spectral Imaging
Faculty Advisor: Alfred Kwok

Daniel Sedlacek ’09
Aerogel Synthesis and Application
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

James Wendt ’09
Computer Generated Holography
Faculty Advisor: Alma Zook

Alex Zylstra ’09
Improving atom trapping and evaporative cooling in a Bose-Einstein condensation experiment through laser power stabilization
Faculty Advisor: Dwight Whitaker

Lua Del Campo ’08
The Biomechanics of Ballistochory in Impatiens pallid
Faculty Advisor: Dwight Whitaker

Ian Frank ’08
Shaping Graphene An Alternative Approach
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

Bryant Foresman ’08
Acoustical Measurement of the Human Vocal Tract: Quantifying Speech & Throat-Singing
Faculty Advisor: Alma Zook

Gordy Stecklein ’08
Bridging the Gender Gap in Quantum Physics
Faculty Advisor: Thomas Moore

Kristen Petrillo ’08
A Study of Interacting and Companion Galaxies: Implications for Cosmology
Faculty Advisor(s): Philip Choi & Barry Madore (OCIW)

Erica Nelson ’08
H I Line Profiles of Galaxies: Tilted Ring Models
Faculty Advisor(s): Philip Choi & Barry Madore (OCIW)

Anand Murugan ’07
Fuzzy Blackholes
Faculty Advisor: Vatche Sahakian (HMC)

Rachel Paterno-Mahler ‘07
Determining the AGN Fraction of Galaxy Groups
Faculty Advisor: Philip Choi & John Mulchaey (OCIW)

Ajoy Vase ’07
The Effects of Material Treatments on the Surface Properties of Polymeric Biomaterials
Faculty Advisors: Elizabeth Orwin and David Tanenbaum

C. L. Wainwright ’07
The Effects of Spin-Orbit Coupling on Gravitational Wave Uncertainties
Faculty Advisor: T. A. Moore

Gordon Whyburn ’07
A Simple Organic Solar Cell
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

Brett T. Close ’07
Solar Energy Research and Development in California
Faculty Advisors: David Tanenbaum and David Menefee-Libey

John Koulakis ’06
The Viscous Catenary
Faculty Advisor: Catalin Mitescu

James McFarland ’06
Investigation of Carbon Nanotube Growth Using a Nozzle CVD Method
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

Eric Fraser ’05
Deep-UV Light Emitting Diodes: An Experimental Investigation of Characterization and Optimization Techniques
Faculty Advisors: Richard Mawhorter, David Tanenbaum, Charles Taylor, John Kaeding, and Shuji Nakamura

Regina C. Carns ’04
Patterning Polymer Thin Films: Lithographically Induced Self Assembly and Spinodal Dewetting
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

R. Matthew Ferguson ‘03
Steps Toward the Creation of a Carbon Nanotube Single Electron Transistor
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum

Michael Tonkinson ’02
Design and Construction of a Polymer Light-Emitting Diode Based on PEDOT/PSS
Faculty Advisor: David Tanenbaum