Letters and Dedication

LETTER FROM THE ADVISER

Welcome to Volume 16 (the 2020-21 issue) of the Northwestern Undergraduate Research Journal! NURJ is an annual student-produced print and web-based publication funded by the Offices of the President and the Associate Provost.

We are very grateful to President Morty Schapiro and Associate Provost Miriam Sherin for their continuing generous support, especially during these challenging times.

During the past three years, NURJ has been led by an extraordinary group of student Editors whose dynamism and vision has been breathtaking. Using the successful print edition of NURJ as the foundation, our Editors have greatly expanded the reach of NURJ to generate a multiplicity of online and print publications, far beyond what was conceived at the beginning of this journal in 2003. The NURJ staff now exceeds 70 undergraduate students.

Our NURJ Editors have even taken a leading role in organizing a new national organization of undergraduate collegiate publications, the Society of Undergraduate Humanities Publications (SUHP). From January 7-10, 2021, NURJ hosted the 2nd Annual SUHP Conference. This conference took place entirely on Zoom with feature panels open to any student, anywhere, interested in research journalism. Panels organized by our Editors included noted academics and professionals having deep and diverse experiences in research publication and using research and journalism to catalyze change in their communities.

Please note that all of these developments originated with our Editors, not me. The wonderful growth of NURJ has been completely organic!

As readers of NURJ Volume 16 and as online visitors to thenurj.com, you will experience the results of the Editors’ year-long efforts: excellent Northwestern undergraduate student research published in a professional manner.

This is my final “From the Adviser” letter, since after 37 years on Northwestern faculty’s and 18 years as NURJ’s founding faculty adviser, I am retiring. I relinquish the adviser role with the assurance that the dynamism of NURJ and its excellent positive impact upon the Northwestern community and beyond will continue.

Best regards, Allen Taflove, Professor Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering McCormick School of Engineering Northwestern University

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

Dear readers:

The NURJ started the 2020–2021 academic year riding a wave of immense growth from the previous year. Our work in the fall began with an online publication highlighting undergraduate research in global health — apt for the current climate. With it, the goal was clear for the next three quarters: to shatter any glass ceiling set for student publications. In addition to adding a multimedia component to the recently established NURJ Online, we saw the creation of the NURJ Talks podcast, NURJ Archives Special Edition, and both The 1851 Project online and Of Many Strands print collaborations with The Yale Historical Review. We also expanded the reach of our social media and hosted events for the broader undergraduate research community, including the Society of Undergraduate Humanities Publications international conference. We continued projects close to our heart, such as NURJ x EXPO and NURJ x CAURS. These were made possible by our long-time partnership with the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) and our newest Northwestern collaborators at the University Archives and Libraries.

Even in such tumultuous times, the intellect and vigor that each of the 70 NURJ members brings to the table continues to be apparent. The journal you currently hold in your hands is a product of their, and our, commitment to uplifting some of the brightest voices of undergraduate research in the nation. Here, we present a selection of honors and departmentrecommended senior theses from 10 different fields, many sharing ever-pertinent themes of equity and justice. This volume also includes nine feature stories that reflect the diversity of research at Northwestern. In addition to this publication, we invite you to explore Northwestern University’s archives through the NURJ Archives Special Edition. You can also learn more about Northwestern and Yale’s histories of racial (in)justice through the Of Many Strands collaboration (available in print and online at thenurj.com).

As always, we would like to thank President Morton Schapiro and Associate Provost Miriam Sherin for their generous sponsorship and continued guidance. We would also like to thank Dean Sarah Pritchard, Dr. Peter Civetta, Dr. Megan Wood, Liz Hamilton, Chris Diaz, and numerous other faculty, staff, and student researchers at Northwestern University for all their support. Lastly, we want to extend our deepest gratitude to our exceptional faculty adviser Professor Taflove. Since he founded the Journal 18 years ago, Professor Taflove has guided scores of NURJ journalists in the pursuit of scholastic excellence. We would not be where we are today without his guidance, wisdom, or generosity. Although Maia will be graduating this Spring 2021, Shreya will return as Editor-in-Chief alongside Jenna Greenzaid, who is certain to continue elevating the NURJ and with it, undergraduate research.

Sincerely, Maia Brown and Shreya Sriram Editors-in-Chief

This — and every — edition of the NURJ would not have been possible without the guidance of our beloved, late faculty adviser, Dr. Allen Taflove. Professor Taflove passed away in April 2021 after 18 years of leading the NURJ with unparalleled wisdom, kindness, and grace.

Professor Taflove was unwavering in his passion for and dedication to both Northwestern and research. After receiving his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from N.U., he became a professor at the University in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In his 37 years of teaching, he pioneered numerous approaches, methods, and algorithms in computational electrodynamics. He was also recognized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Amateur Radio Hall of Fame, among many others. He was an author of more than 27 articles or chapters in books and 152 journal papers. His book, “Computational Electrodynamics: The Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method,” is the seventh-most cited book in physics.

Professor Taflove recognized the ups and downs but overwhelmingly “great good fortune” of his prolific career. In April 2020, he told the NURJ that, “I would call myself extremely fortunate to have attained tenure at Northwestern University, which has allowed me to … pursue long-term advancements in solving Maxwell’s equations and supercomputers, even when initially that was thought to be silly and unproductive. I have lived to see the day when these techniques are used everywhere.”

But above all, Professor Taflove will be remembered for his immeasurable care and compassion for students. In addition to advising budding journalists at the NURJ, he advised 24 doctoral students, five postdoctoral fellows, and many generations of undergraduate students.

“These former students were a huge, huge highlight of my career,” he recalled. “I would have told a 26-year-old Allen [that] … you will leave a legacy, not only in research, but also of students who you have mentored and instructed who will go on and start to instruct and mentor their own students.”

Professor Taflove’s wonderful mentorship was pivotal to the NURJ from the very beginning. He was the one who proposed the establishment of the NURJ to the Office of the President, which has funded our organization ever since. As the organization continues to grow, we will fondly remember Professor Taflove as an incredible source of sagacity, support, and guidance. We were incredibly lucky to have had him advise and mentor us for years, and will work to hold his memory with the NURJ for years to come.

With gratitude, The students of the NURJ