Micelles represent an important example of nanoparticles with the ability to host nonpolar molecules in water. Understanding the effect of salts on micelle diffusion is important for enhancing particle insertion into porous materials in the presence of salt brines with application in enhancing oil recovery and soil remediation. In this poster, the effect of two salting-out salts (sodium sulfate and magnesium sulfate) on the diffusion of a non-ionic micelle (tyloxapol) is examined. Micelle diffusion coefficients were experimentally determined in aqueous salt solutions using dynamic light scattering at 25 ˚C. Our experimental results show that the micelle diffusion coefficient is approximately constant until a critical salt concentration is reached. After this concentration, micelle diffusion was found to decrease significantly, and this behavior reflects a corresponding increase in micelle size. To explain our experimental results, we introduce a two-state equilibrium model showing that relatively large surfactant aggregates become thermodynamically more stable than micelles at high salt concentrations. The results of our model were also used to examine the effect of salt gradients on micelle diffusion.

Adamantyl H-phosphinate esters were first introduced by Yiotakis et al. as a protecting group in the synthesis of phosphinopeptides. Gatineau et al. later found adamantyl H- phosphinate esters to be useful in the synthesis of P-stereogenic compounds. Phosphorus compounds have a broad range of applications ranging from pharmaceuticals to agricultural products, making them an area of interest in synthetic chemistry. However, methods for the preparation of P-stereogenic compounds that achieve high enantioselectivity are limited. Gatineau et al. discovered that adamantyl H-phosphinate esters serve as precursors that facilitate this preparation, which they attributed to the ability of the esters to resist racemization when displaced with organometallics. However, their methods were limited by the necessity of chlorophosphine starting materials. In this project, we aimed at developing novel synthetic methods for the preparation of adamantyl H-phosphinate esters which are not limited in terms of available reagents and are less expensive than current known methods. EDC, PivCl, and T3P were utilized in the esterification reactions. Methods were developed to prepare these esters in good yield on a multigram scale without the need for chromatography. An alternative method to the esterification of H-phosphinic acids was also employed that involved the preparation of adamantyl hypophosphite and its conversion into a variety of H-phosphinate esters. However, adamantyl hypophosphite was shown to have limited reactivity.

Artificial photosynthesis utilizes controlled photochemical reactions to store light energy from the sun as chemical potential energy (that of new chemical bonds). This study describes the fabrication and study of nanostructured BiVO4 photoanodes to optimize the capture and conversion of light energy to chemical potential energy. BiVO4 is a promising n-type semiconductor due to its ability to absorb a portion of the visible light spectrum. Moreover, BiVO4 is an eco-friendly material which exhibits an optimal conduction and valence band edge position to perform water oxidation. Research has suggested that the oxidative performance of bismuth vanadate films is based on both the overall surface area and presence of grain boundaries which can alter the chemical conductivity of the photoanode interface. Specifically, this work aims to alter the porosity and structure of the BiVO4 film by controlling the concentration of polymer additive, polyethylene glycol (PEG), used as a templating agent in the precursor sol-gel. Changing the PEG concentration should affect both the surface porosity and film thickness. The application of the film involves a simple liquid-phase, dip-coating deposition which is easily reproducible. We hypothesize that an increase in surface area and porosity of the photoanode interface will result in an increase in overall photocurrent generation. These nanostructured photoanodes were used to measure the oxidation of the stable radical, (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxyl (TEMPO), via photoelectrochemical analysis. Our findings provide insight into a simple yet effective fabrication procedure of photoanodes for use in renewable solar chemical applications.

Our product seeks to provide a teacher-driven computer programming education platform that allows users total anonymity in communication and grading. The purpose of this software is to provide educators the ability to assign students both in class programming contests that are graded on a time-to-completion basis and to facilitate both guided and collaborative communication about programming and computer software. This product was initially designed to be used in university’s Intro to Programming classes where the professor recognized that students, especially females, were hesitant to participate due to a perceived lack of knowledge of the topic. In any situation, asking questions can be beneficial, and this platform will provide students the ability to ask their peers and professors questions without the fear of negative reflection on their knowledge or understanding. 
The Platform is built on a custom serverless architecture utilizing Amazon Web Services (AWS). The Platform hosts a publicly accessible web portal, API layers for integration and data manipulation, and database and object storage solutions for data management and storage. Our choice in using AWS gave us the ability to implement pre-built and managed security solutions for our project. The security of our users information is offloaded immediately to a managed AWS service to minimize potential penetrations.
During the course of the project, we enhanced our time management skills and learnt how to collaborate and communicate within a team. Ultimately the research project will be considered a success if the application promotes better communication and learning within the classroom.

Day traders typically spend most of their day looking at graphs to try to find specific patterns and changes in the market. The chance of making a rewarding investment could be gone while traders try to figure out whether the pattern is good or bad. This tedious and time-consuming job can be made easier and quicker. Our team members, David Greenwell, Alfredo Perez, Zhengwei Zhou, Ahn Nguyen, and Kyle Conte have been working hard to build an algorithm to find one of the best possible market patterns called the three-bar pattern. This three-bar pattern is a pattern one might see in the market, and it shows a turning point in the market. Our client Dr. Zhang, a day trader, was interested in a way to find this pattern in real-time, on a select few stocks. With the help of Dr. Ma, Dr. Wei, and Dr. Kadiyala, our sponsors, we have created the algorithm and are working on implementing a web application for it.