Graduate Students 2013-2014

Nafiseh Khoram
Graduate Assistant, Department of Mathematics
Advisor: Rabia Djellouli

Project Description Summary: The main objective is to calibrate a brain response model using fMRI measurements. This requires the development of an efficient solution methodology for identifying the parameters of the so-called Balloon model. The method is a regularized iterative method equipped with a denoising procedure.

Thesis Manuscript

Christine Rains
Graduate Assistant, Department of Geological Sciences
Advisor: Dayanthie Weeraratne

Project Description Summary: The formation of liquid-metal diapirs in the early Earth has been proposed as an important metal-silicate differentiation mechanism in Earth's formation. These diapirs, which consist of a liquid-metal “nose” and entrained melted-silicate conduit, may also have played a key role in the observed core superheat in the Earth and in the creation of the siderophile enrichment observed in the mantle today. We investigate the physical processes of metal diapir formation using three-component laboratory fluid experiments representing the Earth's solid proto-mantle, a silicate magma ocean formed by shock-induced melting due to a late-stage impactor, and a liquid iron pond created from the core of the melted impactor. We describe the conditions under which trailing conduits of metal diapirs will form and stay open and delineate conduit geometry and diapir shape under different conditions of density and viscosity in each layer.

Shannon Wood
Graduate Assistant, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Sean Murray

Project Description Summary: Study the synthesis and function of polyhydroxybutyrate in the aquatic bacterium Cauobacter crescents. PHB is of interest because it is one of the co-polymers used in the production of biodegradable plastics.