THE WORSTER RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP
Made possible by a generous gift from the Worster family, the Symposium showcases the achievements of six Undergraduate-Graduate student teams who conducted research in Physics during Summer 2024.
The Application deadline is April 11, 2025. All applications will be considered, while preference will be given to Junior applicants.
Supported Projects in 2024:
Toward Quantum Logic Spectroscopy of Radium-Bearing Molecular Ion
Huaxu Dan, Advised by Haoran Li (PI: Andrew Jayich)
Exploring Nature at Every Scale with a Unified Geometry of Effective Field Theories
Andrew Fee, Advised by Yu-Tse (Alan) Lee (PI: Nathaniel Craig)
Mighty Molecular Motors: Measuring the Macroscopic Forces of Contractile Actomyosin Gels
Jasper Reid, Advised by Remi Boros (PI: Zvonimir Dogic)
Studying Measurement with Bose Einstein Condensates in Optical Tweezers
Samyuktha Ramanan, Advised by Jared Pagett (PI: David Weld)
Towards Probing Dynamics in Multilayer Graphene
Siyuan Xu, Advised by Ben Xie (PI: Chenhao Jin)
Constraining Star Formation History for Young Low-mass Merging Galaxies
Annabella Yang, Advised by Zixuan Peng (PI: Crystal Martin)
Older Projects:
An Optoelectronic Imaging System for Organoids
Samantha Herman, Advised by Eve Bodnia (PI: Dirk Bouwmeester)
A Geant 4 Source of Thermal Neutrons
Logan Joesph. Advised by Ryan Zhang (PI: Hugh Lippincott)
Constraining the high-z Intergalactic Medium Thermal State with Neural Network Emulator for the Lyman-a Forest Flux Autocorrelation Function
Linda Jin. Advised by Molly Wolfson (PI: Joseph Hennawi)
Acousto-Optic Modulator Driver for Quantum Degenerate Gas Experiment
Xuanwei Liang. Advised by Quinn Simmons (PI: David Weld)
Realizing Many-body Localizations with 2D Semiconductors
Zihan Zhang. Advised by Richen Xiong (PI: Chenhao Jin)
High Granularity Silicon Planes in LDMX and CMS Experiment
Yuxuan Wang. Advised by Liam Brennan (PI: Joe Incandela)
Worster Application Instructions
The Worster Summer Research Fellowship application deadline is approaching.
A complete application consists of the following items, all included in one PDF file (with the exception of #5 if the letter is to be kept confidential) and in the following order:
1. Brief (≤ 2 pages) description of the research project and how the undergraduate student will participate. This is to be prepared by the graduate student.
2. CV of the graduate student, specifying their progress toward their degree and any prior mentoring experience.
3. Brief (≤ 2 pages) statement from the undergraduate regarding his/her/their professional goals and any prior research experience. It is anticipated that fellowship awardees will pursue senior honors thesis during the 2024-2025 or 2025-2026 academic year and express their intent to do so. In addition, undergraduate promise, experience, and GPA in their major will factor into the decision for funding. Please put your name in the top corner of your document. All applications will be considered, while preference will be given to Junior applicants.
4. Transcript (from Gold) of the undergraduate student.
5. Letter of support from the graduate student's thesis advisor. The letter should demonstrate a commitment to supervise the project and be actively involved. If this letter of support is to be kept confidential, it should be sent by the thesis advisor to physics-advisers@ucsb.edu.
- Send the complete PDF file to physics-advisers@ucsb.edu. Be sure to name the file as follows: Undergraduate Student's Last Name_Graduate Student's Last Name_Faculty Advisor's Last Name.
