Summer Research Colloquium

2024 COLLOQUIUM

Friday, August 2nd, 2024
Duncan Hall, Martel Hall | Rice University

Registration is now closed.

The Smalley-Curl Institute Summer Research Colloquium began in 1986 as the RQI Colloquium and has been held in August of each year. The purpose of the SCI Summer Research Colloquium is to provide undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers working at Rice with an opportunity to present their most recent work.

Presentations (either talks or posters) are formal, as in professional international conferences. However, the audience, consisting of Rice students and faculty members, as well as R&D representatives from local companies, is informal and friendly, which makes the Colloquium a great occasion for presenters to hone their communications skills.

Keynote Speaker

Aditya Mohite
Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Professor, Materials Science and Nanoengineering
Director, Rice Engineering Initiative for Energy Transition and Sustainability (REINVENTS)

“The Rise of Halide Perovskites: From Durable and Efficient Photovoltaics, Solar Fuels to Quantum Emitters”

Two-dimensional (2D) halide perovskites are a sub-class of 3D perovskites, which have emerged as a new class of solution-processed organic-inorganic (hybrid) low dimensional semiconductors. They imbibe their properties from four exciting classes of novel materials - quantum wells, atomically thin 2D materials, organic semiconductors, and 3D halide perovskites. There is growing consensus that their physical properties are dictated by the interaction between the organic cation and the inorganic framework, which presents a unique opportunity to tailor their behaviours. Moreover, the 2D perovskites have demonstrated technologically relevant durability in contrast to the 3D perovskites and their synergistic integration with 3D perovskites has demonstrated the path for overcoming the issue of long-term durability in halide perovskite-based optoelectronic devices.

In this talk, I will describe our work over the past five years on 2D perovskites ranging from novel fundamental light-induced structural behaviors and its impact on charge transport, solvation dynamics to control homogeneity of layer thickness and the synergy between 2D and 3D perovskites in achieving durable and high-efficiency photovoltaic devices. Finally, if time permits, I will also present some new results, which offer an exciting prospect for developing arrays of electrically driven single photon emitters.

Sponsors

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Program

Click HERE for the abstract book

8:00 am Breakfast and registration (Martel Hall)
8:25 am Introductory remarks (McMurtry Auditorium)

Keynote
8:30 am Aditya Mohite “The Rise of Halide Perovskites: From Durable and Efficient Photovoltaics, Solar Fuels to Quantum Emitters”

Oral session A (McMurtry Auditorium)
Single Photons, Quantum Squeezing, Quantum Sensing, and Dark Matter
9:00 am – 10:00 am
Session Chair: Gabi Gagliano

9:00 – 9:12 am Adam Johnston (APP/ECE, Chen Lab), “Purcell Enhancement of a Single T Center in a Silicon Nanophotonic Cavity”
9:12 – 9:24 am Kiran Muralidhar Kulkarni (APP/ECE, Kono Lab), “Current Fluctuations and Quantum Squeezing in Landau Polaritons in the Ultrastrong Coupling Regime”
9:24 – 9:36 am Arka Chatterjee (ECE, Huang Lab), “High Purity Single Photon Emission from in situ Carbon Doped hBN Thin Films”
9:36 – 9:48 am Bin Gao (PHYA, Dai Lab), “Shedding Light on Emergent Quantum Electrodynamics in the Quantum Spin Liquid Candidate Ce2Zr2O7”
9:48 – 10:00 am Jaanita Mehrani (APP/ECE, Huang Lab), “Improving Dark Matter (Axion) Detectors with New Materials”

COFFEE BREAK
10:00 am – 10:30 am

Oral session B (McMurtry Auditorium)
Atoms and Molecules for Biology, Materials, and Green Electronics
10:30 am – 11:30 am
Session Chair: Adam Johnston

10:30 – 10:42 am Anupam Mondal (CHEM, Kolomeiski Lab), “Molecular Mechanisms of Precise Timing in Cell Lysis”
10:42 – 10:54 am Viraj Ghosh (BIOE, Vlassakis Lab), “Topographic Biomolecule Nanopatterning on 3D Glass Nanostructures”
10:54 – 11:06 am Md Abid Shahriar Rahman Saadi (MSNE, Ajayan Lab), “Algal Dielectrics for Green Electronic Applications”
11:06 – 11:18 am Chuqiao Shi (MSNE, Han Lab), “Advanced Visualization of Layer-by-Layer Atomic Structure in 2D van der Waals Materials via Multislice Electron Ptychography”
11:18 – 11:30 am Maria Barra (BIOE, Richards-Kortum Lab), “A Rapid and Simple Test to Detect Human Papillomavirus for Cervical Cancer Screening"

LUNCH & Poster Session: Undergraduate (Martel Hall)
11:30 am Lunch begins
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Poster Session

Oral session C (McMurtry Auditorium)
Ultracold Atoms and Molecules, Quantum Simulation, and Quantum Dynamics
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Session Chair: Monisha Vijay Kumar

1:30 – 1:42 pm Visal So (PHYA, Pagano Lab), “Trapped-Ion Quantum Simulation of Electron Transfer Models with Tunable Dissipation”
1:42 – 1:54 pm Yi Lu (PHYA, Killian Lab), “Dynamics in SSH Model with Rydberg Synthetic Dimensions”
1:54 – 2:06 pm Jonathan Stepp (PHYA, Hazzard Lab), “Ultracold Molecules and the Attractive SU(N) Fermi–Hubbard Model”
2:06 – 2:18 pm Zhichao Li (APP/ECE, Naik Lab), “Enhancing Non-Hermitian Sensor for High Sensitivity and Detectivity”
2:18 – 2:30 pm Sayak Guha Roy (PHYA, Slagle Lab), “Reweighted Time-Evolving Block Decimation for Improved Quantum Dynamics Simulations”

COFFEE BREAK
2:30 pm – 3:00 pm

Oral session D (McMurtry Auditorium)
Nanomaterials, Nanoparticles, Plasmonics, and Photocatalysis
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Session Chair: Obinna Onah

3:00 – 3:12 pm Lucas Eddy (APP/CHEM, Tour Lab), “Flash Joule Heating Upcycling of Waste Materials”
3:12 – 3:24 pm Ken Ssennyimba (APP/PHYA, Natelson Lab), “Thermal Emission and Plasmonic Heating from TiN Nanojunctions”
3:24 – 3:36 pm Carolyn Graverson (CHEM, Jones Lab), “Uncovering Ligand Binding Mechanisms on Au Nanoparticles via 31P Nuclear Magnetic Resonance”
3:36 – 3:48 pm Parmeet Dhindsa (CHEM, Halas Lab), “Light-Driven Dehydrogenation of Propane Using Al@TiO2 Core-Shell Nanoparticles Decorated with Dynamic Pt Single Atoms and Clusters”
3:48 – 4:00 pm Andrea Schirato (ECE, Alabastri Lab), “Quantifying Ultrafast Energy Transfer from Plasmonic Hot Carriers for Pulsed Photocatalysis on Nanostructures”

RECEPTION & Poster Session: Graduate Students, Postdoc, TWIGs (Martel Hall)
4:00 pm Reception begins (hors d'oeuvres; bar opens)
4:15 pm – 6:00 pm Poster Session

DINNER & Award Ceremony (Martel Hall)
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Oral awards will be announced Friday night; poster awards will be later announced via email.

Awards

ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Platinum Award, presented by Syzygy: LUCAS EDDY, TOUR GROUP
Gold Award, presented by Toptica: MARIA BARRA, RICHARDS-KORTUM GROUP
Silver Award, presented by Clarkson: JAANITA MEHRANI, HUANG / KONO GROUPS
Bronze Award, presented by Syzygy: M.A.S.R. SAADI, AJAYAN GROUP

POSTERS - GRADUATE AND POSTDOC
Platinum Award, presented by Clarkson: PRATHAMESH KULKARNI, MACKINTOSH GROUP (G25)
Gold Award, presented by Toptica: YIGAO YUAN, HALAS GROUP (G39)
Silver Award, presented by Clarkson: FAIZ MANDANI, MOHITE GROUP (G49)
Bronze Award, presented by Syzygy: AUTUMN BRUNCZ, HUANG GROUP (G46)
People’s Choice – AUTUMN BRUNCZ, HUANG GROUP

POSTERS - UNDERGRADUATE
Best Undergraduate Award, presented by Clarkson: HUSICK BENNETT, KILLIAN GROUP (UG21)
Runner-up, presented by Syzygy: HUAIJIN SUN, KONO GROUP (UG11)
People’s Choice – ARIEL MA, RICHARDS-KORTUM GROUP


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