Science — ϲ Thu, 23 Mar 2023 16:25:06 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 Eric Schiff /faculty-experts/eric-schiff/ Fri, 08 Oct 2021 13:14:58 +0000 /?post_type=faculty-experts&p=169563 Dr. Schiff serves as the Interim Executive Director of ϲCoE. Dr. Schiff has a long history of leading complex research projects that bring together academics, industry scientists and other partners to discover solutions to society’s energy-related problems. He has been a professor of physics at ϲ since 1981, leading interdisciplinary research groups and collaborating with laboratories from other universities and private organizations throughout the world. He has been a principal investigator for externally funded research projects from government agencies (Department of Energy, National Science Foundation and the Empire State Development Corp.) and corporations (United Solar Ovonic LLC, Boeing Inc., First Solar Inc., and SRC Inc.).

During his time at ϲ, he has spent half-year sabbaticals at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and at Innovalight, Inc., a startup company. From 2014-1017, he served concurrently as a program director at ARPA-E, an agency of the Department of Energy. There he initiated the SHIELD research program of a dozen research projects for development of inexpensive efficiency retrofits for legacy single pane windows. He also supervised a portfolio of additional projects on solar energy conversion and other energy technologies.

Schiff’s own research accomplishments include development of low-mobility solar cell device physics for thin film solar cells such as perovskites, amorphous silicon, and cadmium telluride. His fundamental physics contributions include work on electronic transport and defects in semiconductors as well as on plasmonics. He is co-author of more than 100 refereed research publications with more than 4,000 citations and he is co-inventor on three U.S. patents. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Research Interests

  • Solar cell device physics, especially light-trapping and photocarrier transport effects.
  • Charge carrier transport and recombination in disordered materials (amorphous, porous, nanocrystalline).
  • Deposition processes for thin-film semiconductors.
  • Bonding defects and metastability in amorphous silicon.

Education

1979 Ph.D. in Physics Cornell University

1971 B.S. (honors) Physics and English California Institute of Technology

Awards & Professional Honors

  • Fellow of the American Physical Society
  • ϲ Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence
]]>
Jeffrey Karson /faculty-experts/jeffrey-karson/ Thu, 12 Aug 2021 21:02:49 +0000 /?post_type=faculty-experts&p=124403 Jeffrey Karson is Professor: Tectonics & Magmatism of Rifts and Transform Faults Tectonics & Magmatism of Rifts and Transform Faults in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

His research is focused on the structural and tectonic analysis of rift and transform plate boundaries. investigations of contental extensional terranes, rifted continental margins, Iceland and mid-ocean ridges provide overlapping perspectives on crustal accetion across a spectrum of environments dominated by magmatic construction and mechanical deformation. He uses outcrop-scale data collected from a wide range of research approaches including field geology, drone imaging, and seafloor investigations using submarines, ROV’s, and AUV’s to constrain larger-scale tectonic processes. The cross-pollination of data and processes from different environments helps to provide a more comprehensive understanding of crustal accretion on Earth and other planetary bodies.

Prof. Karson is also one of the leaders of the . The lave pours promote and allow for scientific experiments, artistic creations, education and outreach to the ϲ and City communities.

]]>
Tripti Bhattacharya /faculty-experts/tripti-bhattacharya/ Thu, 12 Aug 2021 20:34:05 +0000 /?post_type=faculty-experts&p=142401 Tripti Bhattacharya’s research focuses on understanding the sensitivity of regional rainfall to global climate change. She uses a variety of methods, ranging from geochemical and biological proxies to climate models. Her work focuses on a paleoclimatic perspective, whereby past instances of climate change can be used as ‘natural experiments’ to understand the response of the atmosphere-ocean system to external forcing. Her current projects include analyzing the role of tropical Atlantic variability in forcing Mesoamerican drought, studying the interactions of the midlatitude westerlies and monsoon systems, and analyzing reorganizations of subtropical rainfall during past warm intervals in Earth history.

]]>
Brittany Kmush /faculty-experts/brittany-kmush/ Tue, 03 Jul 2018 14:56:21 +0000 /?post_type=faculty-experts&p=134315 Brittany received her PhD from Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her dissertation was entitled, “Risk factors for antibody loss after Hepatitis E virus natural infection and vaccination.” She earned a master of science in infectious disease epidemiology from the Bloomberg School at Johns Hopkins University and holds a bachelor of science in biochemistry from the University of Rochester where she graduated cum laude. Her areas of specialization include epidemiology, global health, infectious diseases, vaccines, nutrition, immunology and environmental exposures particularly within the context of risks for infectious diseases, and Hepatitis E virus.

In addition to a series of graduate research assistantships at Johns Hopkins, she was a student investigator at the Centre for Child and Adolescent Health, Dhaka, Bangladesh and the National Institute for Diagnosis and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China where she Implemented a study examining the persistence of antibodies after hepatitis E virus infection.

Her professional portfolio includes participation on numerous research grants, including an award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where she was a student investigator on the project, “Determinants of Immunological Persistence of Hepatitis E Virus Antibodies.” The purpose of the study was to determine antibody persistence after Hepatitis e virus and vaccination in South Asia.

]]>
Jonathan L. Preston /faculty-experts/jonathan-l-preston/ Fri, 24 Feb 2017 20:53:34 +0000 /?post_type=faculty-experts&p=115203 Assistant Professor Jonathan L. Preston is a certified speech-language pathologist whose research involves causes of and treatments for speech sound disorders with a focus on persisting articulation errors and childhood apraxia of speech. His work includes visual feedback treatments for speech, including ultrasound imaging of the tongue. His work also involves speech sound errors, phonological processing, neurolinguistic basis of speech, language and literacy difficulties. He has also done work on the neurobiological basis of speech sound disorders in children.

Dr. Preston directs the Speech Production Laboratory with the mission to develop, evaluate, and disseminate neurolinguistically-motivated and evidence-based assessments and treatments for speech sound disorders. Dr. Preston is also a faculty member of the .

]]>
Karen A. Doherty /faculty-experts/karen-a-doherty/ Thu, 23 Feb 2017 18:31:02 +0000 /?post_type=faculty-experts&p=115056 Dr. Karen A. Doherty specializes in speech perception in the hearing-impaired, psychoacoustics and amplification, with a specific interest in age-related hearing loss.

More recently, Doherty has expanded her research to include studies of innovative signal processing strategies, which may increase the benefit individuals with hearing loss can derive from amplification. In addition, Doherty has been on the forefront of researchers demonstrating the increased mental effort for understanding speech that is required when individuals with hearing loss do not wear hearing aids.

Dr. Doherty is a Gerontology Faculty Affiliate since 2007 and is also a member of the  and the

]]>
Kari A. Segraves /faculty-experts/kari-a-segraves/ Thu, 23 Feb 2017 17:58:51 +0000 /?post_type=faculty-experts&p=115053 Dr. Kari Segraves is an evolutionary ecologist and researches how species interactions increase biodiversity. Understanding biodiversity requires more than identifying the number of species on earth and Dr. Segraves’ research examines how species interactions govern the dynamics of communities, ecosystems and species diversity. Her research and  uses a broad combination of approaches including experimental ecology, field observations, molecular phylogenetics and population genetics to understand the role that interspecific interactions play in creating diversity.

]]>
Douglas A. Frank /faculty-experts/douglas-a-frank/ Thu, 23 Feb 2017 17:12:29 +0000 /?post_type=faculty-experts&p=115042 Professor Frank studies and explores factors that regulate the structure, species composition, biodiversity and energy, and nutrient metabolisms in terrestrial ecosystems. Since 1988, he has researched the effects of grazing ungulates, such as elk, bison, and pronghorn, on the grasslands of Yellowstone National Park, which is home to highly coevolved plant-grazer-soil microbe systems.

He and his team investigate important interactions among these trophic levels, which, in turn, facilitate energy and nutrient flows in Yellowstone grasslands and foster stability of this ecosystem that experiences high chronic levels of grazing.

The Frank Lab utilizes field and laboratory experiments. In the field, he and his team erect ungulate enclosures to create an un-grazed treatment and then compare plant growth and soil processes in grazed versus un-grazed grasslands. In the lab, experiments are conducted in the greenhouse or environmental chambers to determine how mycorrhizae, nutrient availability, and soil microbial composition and diversity may mediate the effect of grazing on plant growth.

]]>
Sandra Hewett /faculty-experts/sandra-hewett/ Wed, 22 Feb 2017 20:35:12 +0000 /?post_type=faculty-experts&p=114993 Dr. Sandra Hewett, Professor of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences,  studies the molecular and biochemical processes that occur after a brain injury and the role of astrocytes in the inflammatory response to brain injury. Astrocytes are star-shaped cells that play a significant role in neuronal signaling and provide physical and nutritional support for neurons. It’s an area of research that has not been widely studied, and one in which Dr. Hewett has made a significant impact. She has been honored with the Donaghue Investigator Award from the Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation, the American Heart Association’s Established Investigator Award and the American Society for Neurochemistry’s Jordi Folch Pi Memorial Award, among others.

 

]]>
Duncan Brown /faculty-experts/duncan-brown/ Tue, 14 Feb 2017 16:42:07 +0000 /?post_type=faculty-experts&p=114107 Research Interests
Gravitational-wave astronomy and astrophysics.
Searching for gravitational waves from compact binary coalesence in data from the LIGO and VIRGO observatories.
Numerical relativity and its implications for gravitational wave detection.
Third-generation gravitational-wave detectors.
High-performance computing

Awards & Professional Honors
Research Corporation Scialog Fellow, 2015
Fellow of the American Physical Society, 2014
Cottrell Scholar, 2010
ϲ Meredith Teaching Recognition Award, 2010
Kavli Frontiers Fellow, 2009
National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2008

Selected Publications
Abbott B P et al., Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger, Phys Rev Lett 116 061102 (2016).
Hannam Mark, Brown Duncan A, Fairhurst Stephen, Fryer Chris L, and Harry Ian W, When can gravitational-wave observations distinguish between black holes and neutron stars?, Astrophys J Letters 766 L14 (2013).

Singer Leo P, Cenko S Bradley, Kasliwal Mansi M, Perley Daniel A, Ofek Eran O, Brown Duncan A, et al., Discovery and redshift of an optical afterglow in 71 square degrees iPTF13bxl and GRB 130702A, Astrophys J Letters 776 L34 (2013).

Babak S., Biswas R., Brady P. R., Brown D. A., Cannon K., et al., Searching for gravitational waves from binary coalescence, PhysRev D87 024033 (2013).

Brown Duncan A, Harry Ian, Lundgren Andrew, and Nitz Alexander H, Detecting binary neutron star systems with spin in advanced gravitational-wave detectors, Phys Rev D86 084017 (2012).

Abadie J et al., Search for Gravitational Waves from Low Mass Compact Binary Coalescence in LIGO’s Sixth Science Run and Virgo’s Science Runs 2 and 3, PhysRev D85 082002 (2012).

]]>
Charles T. Driscoll /faculty-experts/test-charles-t-driscoll/ Mon, 29 Aug 2016 15:40:41 +0000 http://sunews.leibowitz.co/?post_type=faculty-experts&p=103810 Professor Driscoll’s research largely involves characterization and quantifying the impacts of air pollution, such as acid rain, mercury, elevated concentrations of carbon dioxide and associated effects of changing climate and land and water disturbances on the structure and function of ecosystems. Much of his work has focused on forest and associated aquatic resources, including studies at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, NH and the Huntington Forest in the Adirondacks, NY. Recently he has been part of a team quantifying health and ecosystem co-benefits associated with a national carbon standard for power plant emissions.

He also examine effects on wetlands, the Great Lakes, urban ecosystems, coastal waters and the open ocean. Over the past 35 years, he has advanced new analytical techniques, established and maintained long-term measurements and experiments, and developed a series of research and predictive models that simulate transformations of major chemical elements in forest vegetation, soil and surface waters in response to air pollution, climate and land disturbance. Beyond theory, he is interested in testing ‘in situ’ strategies to reverse the damaging effects of acid rain and mercury contamination and eutrophication. Current research includes using models, field experiments and measurements to examine: ecosystem effects of changing climate and acidic, nitrogen and mercury deposition; the effectiveness of “green” water infrastructure in storm water management; and ecosystem restoration.

 

 

]]>