Understanding the Wind-dominated Landforms of Saturn’s Moon Titan Through Earth Analogues

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Jani Radebaugh and Eric Christiansen, Geological Sciences, Shannon Tass, Statistics Executive Summary and Scientific Merit The largest moon of Saturn, Titan, has a thick atmosphere of nitrogen and a pressure similar to that of Earth at the surface. There are winds, strong enough to have produced two wind-dominated landforms similar to those on Earth – […]

Mentoring Astronomy Students Through Extensive Research (MASTER)

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Dr. Michael Joner, Physics & Astronomy Student Participation Post-Baccalaureate Observing Supervisor Michelle Spencer** Undergraduate Students and Observers at West Mountain Observatory Rochelle Biancardi (Steele) *** * Nevyn Tyau Maria Martinez *** ** Emily Ogden Timothy Sitze Gilvan Apolonio Seth Clarke ** * Jared Kruger Jason Trump ** * Aaron Sears Dahlia Maxwell Adam Bugg ** […]

The Development of Individualized Anemia Treatments Using Point of Care Diagnostics to Distinguish Anemia Caused by Infection or Chronic Inflammation

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Dr. Richard Watt, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry Evaluation of Academic Objectives. Background: Anemia that accompanies inflammation is associated with negative outcomes for patients. Early intervention to treat anemia is an important step in improving the quality of life for anemic patients. Our lab proposed to develop simple diagnostic tests using a Lateral Flow Immunoassays […]

Computational Number Theory: Modular Forms

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Paul Jenkins, Mathematics In 2017 and 2018, the following students participated in the BYU Computational Number Theory research group under my direction and produced the following deliverables. 1. Hankun Ko, BYU PhD student in mathematics (PhD 2019 expected) a. Spoke at 2017 Student Research Conference b. Spoke at 2018 Student Research Conference c. Attended 31st […]

Rational design of multifunctional enzyme-like catalysts for assembly-line chemical synthesis

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David Michaelis – Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Evaluation of how well the academic objectives of the proposal were met The main objectives of this proposal was to publish our preliminary findings in peptide catalysis and then submit applications for external funding. Both of these objectives were accomplished during the grant period. In the Fall […]

Applying Acoustic Beamforming in Sub-Arrays to Jet Engine Noise

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David Van Komen, Kent Gee and Tracianne Nielsen, Physics & Astronomy In Jet engine noise is a large and complex area of research due to the intricacies of the variety of different mechanisms that produce noise traveling in different directions. The dominate noise source is called turbulent mixing noise (TMN) which is created by the […]

Magnetron Sputtering for the Production of Stable P-Type ZnO Thin Films

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Colter Stewart and Dr. John Colton, Physics & Astronomy Introduction The principal purpose of my research is to produce stable, long-lasting, reproducible p-type zinc oxide for experimental and commercial use. Semiconductor devices made with zinc oxide (ZnO) have the potential to be a cheaper alternative to those made with gallium nitride (GaN). In addition, ZnO […]

Microbes and Metals: Purifying the Water of Lake Titicaca

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Sara Ludlow, Dr. Gregory T. Carling, Department of Geological Sciences Pollution of Lake Titicaca has become a major threat to the health and lifestyle of the Uru people who use the lake water for their daily needs. Cities along the coast dump untreated sewage directly into the lake introducing dangerous microbial levels of Escherichia coli. Runoff […]

Random Polynomial Interpolation from Known Roots in the Multivariate Case

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Catherine Sawyer, Tyler Jarvis, Mathematics Introduction The purpose of this project was to develop a method by which sets of multivariate polynomials with known roots could be rapidly generated. Generating such polynomials would be of great use in testing root finding algorithms, yet remains an open problem Methodology Polynomial interpolation is a well-studied problem in the […]