Stony Brook Young Investigators Review Staff 2015 - 2016 Editor-in-chief Ashwin Kelkar ’16
Layout Editor-in-chief Samuel Lederer ’17
Managing Editors Anirudh Chandrashekar ’16 Amanda Ng ’18
Layout Editors Dana Espine ’18 Sarah Lynch ’17 Arun Nallainathan ’18 Abrar Taseen ’19
Associate Editors Aaron Gochman ’18 Ayman Haider ’18 Nicole Olakkengil ’19 Sahil Rawal ’19
Webmasters Scott Carson ’18 Lisa Jakubczyk ’16
Copy Editors Rachel Kogan ’19 Jenna Mallon ’18 Julia Newman ’19 Lillian Pao ’18
Executive Committee Eleanor Castracane ’16 Alec Guberman ’17 Sarima Subzwari ’18 Stanley Toyberman ’18 Photographer Sarima Subzwari ’18 Taylor Ha ’18 Advisor Dr. Peter Gergen
Writers
Justina Almodovar ’18 Shipra Arjun ’16 Meghan Bialt-Decelie ’19 Shannon Bohman ’19 Cerise Carey ’16 Michelle Goodman ’18 Taylor Ha ’18 Jessica Jolley ’16 Samara Khan ’19 Richard Liang ’18 Rohan Maini ’16 Sarah McTague ’18 Hannah Mieczkowski ’17 Julia Newman ’19 Lee Ann Santore ’19 One Seo ’17 Elizabeth Shaji ’18 Karis Tutuska ’18
Letter From the Staff Dear Reader, In one of his many famous talks, Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman was asked to explain what fire was. His response has become a quintessential example of the fundamental nature of science. By applying heat to a source of carbon, molecules can collide at certain kinetic rates in order to drive a chemical reaction called combustion. The fire itself can only be explained by subatomic physics and chemistry. Wood, man’s ready-made carbon source, can extend this analogy further. Wood stores carbon as a result of photosynthesis, a biological process in which plants consume carbon dioxide and release oxygen. With a heat source, the carbon in the wood can react readily with the oxygen it released in the atmosphere to drive the combustion reaction and create fire. In a way, fire epitomizes the harmony of science, the heart of nature. So it is only natural that Stony Brook Young Investigators Review (SBYIR) adopts a fiery shield as its new logo; fire to embody the sciences and ignite in the undergraduate population an investigative spirit, and a shield to show SBYIR as the bearer of the torch that we hope will shine the light into the labs on our campus. We hope to encompass all sciences as we highlight the exciting and comprehensive undergraduate research that occurs on the Stony Brook campus. Since its conception, SBYIR strove to provide undergraduates with an outlet to express their research interests and share them with their peers. It is our mission and hope that by presenting you with the pressing research of today, we can instill in you the drive to pursue the research of tomorrow. In this sixth issue of SBYIR, you will find discussions in fields ranging from atomic imaging to linguistics, from the rigors of space travel to the rigors of computational image processing. Inside you will also find an interview with Dr. Craig Evinger, a neurobiologist whose research could lead to fascinating discoveries in movement disorders. In addition, you will be able to hear about Stony Brook’s own undergraduate, Sarah McTague, discuss her time across the Atlantic researching the effect of ocean properties such as acidity and temperature on jellyfish. The creation of this issue could not have been possible without the help of our incredible staff and writing team, who diligently worked throughout the year to showcase their work today. In addition, without the help from our generous donors, whose names we will not forget, this issue would never have been published at all. We intend to continue our upward trajectory to showcase student research at all levels, make science accessible to the general public, and demonstrate the elegance and beauty of scientific inquiry. Finally, we would like to thank you, the reader, for whom all this is for. Welcome to SBYIR. We sincerely hope you enjoy.
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