Materials Research Science and Engineering Center

April 8, 2022

March 18, 2022

February 18, 2022

December 17, 2021

November 12, 2021

October 29, 2021

April 29, 2021

Aldric is a third-year Physics PhD student in the Goode and Kondev Labs at Brandeis University. During Aldric’s talk, he will share his journey from his hometown of Trichy – in Tamil Nadu, India – to Chennai, where he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from IIT-Madras, to his current research at Brandeis. 

Aldric’s research involves computer simulations, mathematics and statistics, cell biology experiments, and the use of fancy microscopes, as he tries to uncover processes by which cells control the size of their subunits/organelles. Understanding how cells make their organelles a particular size would help us understand how we develop body parts of specific sizes.

Brandeis MRSEC YouTube

March 24, 2021

Kanaya Malakar is a Ph.D. student in the Chakraborty Lab at Brandeis University. As a student in the Physics Department, Kanaya studies active matter. Active matter is a field that focuses on the behavior of living systems as a result of the movements of individual components. Examples of active systems are all around us - flocks of birds moving individually but as a group, pedestrians navigating through a crowded street, bacterial colonies, or even in our own cells.

In Kanaya's talk, she shared her journey into science, discussed the colorful field of active matter, and talked about her experience as a female student from India.

Brandeis MRSEC YouTube

February 24, 2021

Youngmin Park is a second-year postdoc at Brandeis. He attended Case Western Reserve University where he earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Applied Math, and attended the University of Pittsburgh for his PhD in Math. Youngmin's research involves neuroscience and using mathematics to understand how brains work.

In his talk, he shared his story of his lifelong struggle with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and how learning to think like a scientist helped him understand the science behind ADHD.

Brandeis MRSEC YouTube

January 21, 2021

Debora Tenenbaum is a fifth-year Physics PhD student at Brandeis University. Born and raised in Argentina, she attended the University of Buenos Aires, where she earned both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Physics. During her undergraduate years, Debora carried on research projects in optics and computational biophysics, and organized science demonstrations for high school students and teachers. For her graduate work, she is using a pretty complicated microscope to study the processes involved in the regulation of gene expression. In her talk, Debora shared insights on her journey into science and the latest on her current research. 
Spanish-language Brandeis MRSEC YouTube

December 17, 2020

November 19, 2020

Dr. Eric Olson is an Ecology Professor who recently retired from Brandeis University. Originally from Wisconsin, Eric completed a bachelor’s degree in geology before working as an environmental educator in South America. During grad school, he was able to study a passion from his youth: butterfly and moth caterpillars. While on a research trip in Central America as an ecology professor,  Eric discovered a “vegetarian” spider that largely feeds on yellow nutrient-rich leaf pellets of a particular kind of acacia tree. 
Brandeis MRSEC YouTube

October 22, 2020

May 28, 2020

March 19, 2020

February 13, 2020

January 30, 2020

December 12, 2019

November 21, 2019

October 17, 2019

How do you remember your favorite song, or the smell that brings you back to your childhood?

Claire Symanski, a doctoral candidate at Brandeis University, is attempting to find
answers to these questions through her research on memory across different regions of the brain. In her experiments, she trains rats to run mazes in order to understand what happens in their brains as they recall familiar cues.

Although Claire got her first taste of lab work while she was an undergraduate at The College of New Jersey, it wasn’t until she left her comfort zone and did some serious “soul searching” that she found the work and scientific questions that inspire her. Claire’s journey in science is about building self confidence, developing her weaknesses into strengths, and following her passions to find work that she loves.

May 30, 2019

Raúl Ramos, who delivered his presentation in Spanish, is a PhD student in Neuroscience at Brandeis University. His work seeks to understand how neurons maintain their stability even in the presence of changes caused by learning.

Raúl completed his undergraduate studies at Texas A&M International University, where he worked on several research projects, among which were studies on the psychological effects of exposure to violence in the media. Today, Raúl will tell us about how he overcame a disadvantaged background and his journey to the world of science.

May 23, 2019

Adrianna's research goal is to create materials that are compatible with the body and can be used to fight cancer or antibiotic-resistant infections.

Adriana is from a small town in Georgia and fell in love with crime shows as a kid. From there, she knew she wanted to pursue a science career, but she was not sure which discipline was the right fit for her because deciding what to do for the rest of your life can be tough! Adrianna will share her ongoing journey in science and show how pursuing a science degree can open doors for a promising future.

April 11, 2019

Bradly Stone is a doctoral candidate at Brandeis University who investigates how internal body states (like being sick) can alter communication between neurons and how we perceive foods. This work helps us understand how an individual’s well-being shapes neural networks and thus guides human behavior.

Bradly’s path into this research has taken time: he first worked for five years in the California biotech industry before even pursuing a higher-education degree. During that time, he used brain imaging to help provide client-focused treatment to people with post-traumatic stress injuries. By studying what areas of the brain were impacted by stress, he became fascinated with the the underpinnings of neural communications and wanted to learn more about localized regions of the brain. Come hear Bradly’s story about how the field of neuroscience drove him to leave California to pursue graduate school in Massachusetts.

March 14, 2019

Katie Kimbrell is a doctoral candidate at Brandeis University who works with rodents to understand how a molecule that alters connections between neurons also affects social learning and memory.

Katie is not only a scientific researcher, but she is also a highly trained fine artist. In fact, she discovered science through her art. After graduating from MassArt with a focus in abstract painting, she became inspired by the point where life becomes abstract, and for her that meant the fascinating world of molecules and cells. Katie’s passion for science grew the more she learned and gained hands-on experience working in a lab at UMass Boston. Come hear her story about how an artistic lens led Katie to love molecules and animal behavior and now complements and contributes to her scientific research.

February 14, 2019

Joey Flyer-Adams is a doctoral candidate in neuroscience at Brandeis University where she uses fruit flies to study how your circadian clock affects your learning and memory. When not messing with fruit fly genetics or fancy microscopes, Joey is a fellow with the Brandeis Science Communications Lab where she is a coach of effective visual, written and oral scientific content. Joey is also the inventor of FlyBuilder, a teaching tool and curriculum that helps students understand the theoretical and practical aspects of working with genetically altered fruit flies.

Not too shabby for a college dropout, right? Come hear Joey talk about how amnesia, art and willful independence helped her forge a nontraditional path, and how her hobbies became assets for a successful scientific career.

January 24, 2019

Chris Konow is a second-year graduate student in the chemistry department at Brandeis University. His research uses chemistry to look at a complicated biological phenomenon in a much simpler way. By studying the impact of growth on the types of patterns and how they form, he can better understand how a zebra got its stripes, a leopard his spots and many other animals’ skin patterns.

The exploratory type of research that Chris performs mirrors the path he took to becoming a doctoral student. Coming from a small farm town, college was a way for him to explore many new places and ideas. Studying chemistry not only allowed him to perform his own research but also provided him the opportunity to travel and see the world in a new way. Chris will share how science has been a vehicle that drove him out of his comfort zone and into many exciting adventures, both in the lab and around the world.

December 5, 2018

Janna Lowensohn is in her third year of graduate school in the physics department of Brandeis University. Her research involves writing DNA sequences and then looking at the ways she can use those DNA sequences as a specialized glue.

While she is pursuing a doctorate in physics now, she originally thought she would become a lawyer fighting for civil rights. In college, a lobbying firm never got back to her about doing an internship with them, so she “settled” on a science-research job instead of living at home for the summer. Her love of lab work quickly made it clear that she would rather be struggling through research than gliding through constitutional law. Janna will share how one scrappy Californian’s first taste of research in Georgia led to an endless need for more data in Massachusetts, and how not having a plan led to a unique and promising career choice.

February 6, 2018

Rey Aguilar Lopez is a second-year doctoral student at Brandeis University. Using genetics, biochemistry and microscopy, Rey researches the change and reconstruction of cellular actin cytoskeletons, a process important for cell division, migration and trafficking. But this was not always the role he imagined for himself growing up in California, despite always being fascinated by the intricacies of life, because his hometown had infinite opportunities to go astray. The journey into science for Rey has been full of hardships, changes of direction and ultimately a realization of what excites him the most and how he wants to get there. He will be sharing how life has challenged him, how he overcame those challenges in spite of the odds, and what dreams and science he pursues today.

January 11, 2018

Herlyne Das is an alumna of Waltham High School and current senior at Brandeis University, double majoring in biology and HSSP (Health Science Society Policy) with a minor in chemistry within the pre-med track. She plans to apply to medical school after this year and become a cardiologist. She is extremely excited to come back to WHS and share her story of how she is invested in giving back to others through a career in medicine, and how at every stage the help she has received was critical to her success.

October 5, 2017

Inspired by the wonders of space since high school, Kelsey is curious about the most fundamental questions in the universe. She studied space physics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and then began her research career by studying electric propulsion at NASA/Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and worked on mapping the plasma plume from the ion thrusters. She is now a fourth-year physics doctoral student in the Experimental High Energy Group at Brandeis University. At Brandeis she works on the ATLAS detector at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) and studies the smallest objects in the universe in order to answer some of the most basic questions in nature. In her talk, Kelsey will share what first inspired her to go into science and what still excites her about physics.

December 4, 2017

Gabe Bronk is doctoral student in physics at Brandeis University, where he does research in computational biophysics. Gabe finds biophysics awe-inspiring since biophysics research unveils how the simple laws of physics cause life to exist. Gabe will discuss how computer simulations are used to study biology and how students can get involved in this hot new field of research when they go to college. Gabe will also describe what a random walk is and demonstrate how to create a sample simulation.

November 2, 2017

PhD candidate Joyce Rigal will share how science was the motor that brought her from Mexico to the U.S. As a Mexican-American and first-generation college student, science has been the dream, the goal and the one constant that has opened every door. She is now a second-year doctoral student in the Molecular and Cellular Biology program at Brandeis University. Before graduate school, she lived and worked in Mexico and had the opportunity to have research experiences in topics ranging from biofuel production using algae to studying genes potentially involved in multi-drug resistance in tuberculosis. She is now doing research at the molecular level to determine the connection between stress and aging using the common fruit fly. Her dream is to become a science college professor and help students achieve their goals.

May 9, 2017

Emmanuel J. Rivera-Rodríguez is a second year doctoral student at Brandeis University. He studies sleep and how it is affected by genetic changes in the brain. He completed his undergraduate and master's degrees from the University of Puerto Rico, where he researched sleep, learning and memory using insect models that included fruit flies, honey bees and wasps. During his talk, he will share his journey as a first-generation student going into scientific research and what it means to him — particularly as a Hispanic student — to pursue graduate studies so far from home.

March 30, 2017

Dr. Achini Opathalage is a postdoctoral research associate in the physics department at Brandeis University. She conducts experiments to characterize bio-materials made from proteins. She earned her doctorate in physics at Brandeis University and completed her bachelors degree in physics in Sri Lanka, a country in South Asia. Achini is going to talk about her journey to becoming a material scientist.

Professor Paul Miller will talk about his journey to becoming a neuroscience professor after considering careers as a teacher, priest(!) and physicist. At each step along the way, he was guided by his curiosity to learn and his drive to do work that is important and valuable to people.

While he initially trained in physics, he later switched and retrained in neuroscience and now studies how neurons coordinate to help us learn, think and make rational decisions. He became a professor because he “didn’t like being told what to do by others;” he aimed for a career where he would be his own boss. He finds that working as a university professor allows him to have a lot of flexibility in what he spends his time doing: investigating and studying problems in neuroscience that interest him, advocating for sustainable practices to combat climate change, writing a book and even choosing what he teaches. Being a professor allows him to “change jobs” without needing to ever change a job again. And most importantly, he is able to keep learning new things.

December 8, 2016

Physics PhD candidate Joia Miller will talk about moving from rural Wisconsin to study the physics of soft materials at Brandeis University. She will describe how she had always been passionate about literature and theatre but realized how amazing physics could be during high school. She then had the opportunity to explore all three interests at a small liberal arts college before choosing physics as her area of focus and moving to Waltham to earn her PhD. Joia studies materials that are between the liquid and solid phases but not quite either. Specifically, she studies how tiny changes in the interactions between the particles in the material can lead to interesting differences in the behavior of the material. She'll talk about how this control is useful for physics research and for developing new materials for commercial use.

October 6, 2016

Dr. Eric James will share the story of his unusual path to becoming a neuroscientist. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Dr. James has served as a United States marine, firefighter/EMT and primary school teacher, and will share how these diverse careers were the spark for his passion for neuroscience research and scholarship. He will talk about his research and work with student-mentoring organizations and focus on the skills and concepts that help in college and beyond. As an undergraduate, Dr. James studied psychology and biology at St. John’s University, and went on to complete his doctorate in neuroscience at Brown University where he studied brain development and neurodevelopmental disorders using tadpoles. In his current position as a postdoctoral research associate at Brandeis University, Dr. James uses the nervous systems of crabs to study how circuits in the brain function and adapt to change.