Research Facilities

My research lab is located on the third floor of the Physics & Astronomy Building, and features a number of state-of-the-art pieces of equipment, including those pictured below.


Pictured on the right is an Olympus inverted microscope, used to track the Brownian motion of small particles suspended in complex fluids. These measurements are used to study the micron-scale structure and viscoelastic properties of gels, polymers, and other soft materials. Here undergraduate research assistant Peter Wright works with the microscope.



The instrument on the left is an apparatus for small-angle light scattering built by graduate student Nan Yang. She is using this instrument to study changes in the micron-scale structure of soft materials subjected to strain.



On the right, graduate student Ron Dauphinee and undergrad Peter Wright set up an experiment using the ALV-CGS3 light scattering system. This instrument is used to perform dynamic and static light scattering measurments on a variety of materials. These measurements can provide information about the small-scale viscoelastic properties of soft materials, the dynamics of polymer molecules, or the size of particles in a suspension. Ron's M.Sc. thesis involved measureing the effect of proteins on the growth of mineral crystals important in the formation of kidney stones.



Pictured on the left is Ph.D. student Felix Oppong working with the ARES RHS strain-controlled rheometer. This instrument measures the viscoelastic properties and flow behavior of complex fluids.



We also have a TA 1500ex stress-controlled rheometer, shown here. This gives us another way to study the viscoelastic properties of soft materials.