Posts by Collection

Diffusion-Based Discovery of Ordered Superconductors

Abstract: AI-driven materials discovery pipelines have consistently generated theoretically stable structures which turn out to be disordered solid solutions upon synthesis. This disconnect between computational predictions and experimental realization has been especially prominent in recent attempts in the generation of novel superconductors. To address this, we fine-tune a DiffCSP foundation model on 7,183 superconductors labeled with crystallographic disorder probability, and employ classifier-free guidance to steer generation towards ordered superconductors. We show that generated structures have an 88% chance of having a lower disorder probability than randomly selected structures from an unguided baseline. Candidates are then screened through a multi-stage pipeline which employs machine learning and density functional theory calculations to assess disorder probability, thermodynamic stability, and superconducting properties, with selected structures advancing to experimental synthesis.

Open Quantum Systems Theory and Simulation (NSF-REU at Penn State)

Abstract: Motivated by the possible information to be gained from studying the evolution of ensembles of interacting quantum systems in a cosmological context, we develop a simulation of an idealized quantum circuit. We treat the full circuit as an ensemble of open systems and track the state of these subsystems as correlations between them develop. We use violations of complete positivity on the mappings that evolve subsystems as a diagnosis for entanglement in the circuit and study the domain of positivity for these mappings to determine between which subsystems the entanglement exists at a given time. We additionally define and track thermodynamic properties on the circuit to study how subsystems are able to resist thermalization while the full circuit evolves. This process is carried out for circuits of varying interaction, strengthening our understanding of the impact conditions on these mappings has on the evolution of subsystems.

Gravitational Wave Detector Characterization (NSF-REU)

Abstract: The prompt discovery of gravitational wave events is performed by a variety of matched-filtering search pipelines. Due to the non-Gaussian nature of the Advanced LIGO detector, these pipelines often react to transient noise sources, commonly referred to as glitches, and mistake them for gravitational wave events. Analyzing the properties of these glitches and a pipeline’s reaction to them is thus crucial to improve pipeline efficiency and event validation accuracy. In this study, we perform such an analysis on one of these pipelines, GstLAL, with the intent of providing a battery of tests and models by which a given gravitational wave candidate may be evaluated against to provide a higher degree of confidence in the identification of the event origin in addition to offering a valuable perspective on the responsiveness of this pipeline to instrumental noise.

Correlation Functions in Materials Theory and Cosmology

Abstract: Dislocations are a type of defect or irregularity in the structure of a material that is otherwise ordered and crystalline. These dislocations either extend across the entirety of a material or self-terminate, forming a loop. Dislocation loops are an important subject of research in solid state physics as well as in materials science because they are the fundamental carriers of deformation in metals. Modeling the distribution of these dislocation loops is crucial to understanding material properties, such as predicting the plastic response of metals. Previous research has developed pair correlation functions for dislocation loops, which describe the relative arrangement of pairs of dislocation lines, using a stochastic geometric approach. In this work, we summarize this geometric approach and propose an alternative method based on Fourier analysis for computing these dislocation loop correlations. We discuss the benefits of this proposed method and consider applications to other linear objects such as cosmological defects.

Assorted Undergraduate Research

A collection of additional undergraduate research

Classical Mechanics Notes

Notes written during my undergraduate Taylor Classical Mechanics class

Computational Materials Science Notes

Developing notes on computational materials science

Continuous Generative Models Presentation

A short review of continuous generative models, with their use in materials generation, presented to Hennig group in July of 2026

An Undergraduate Review of Cosmology

Justification of the Einstein Field Equations from Newtonian gravity, derivation of the Robertson-Walker metric, and a review of cosmological models

Density Functional Theory Review

A short review of DFT written for my graduate Quantum Mechanics 1 course

Quant Finance Notes

Notes written during Erdos Institute’s Quantitative Finance summer `26 workshop

Portfolio Comparison Under Different Volatility Measurements

Project developed during Erdos Institute’s Quantitative Finance summer `26 workshop

A First Course in General Relativity Solutions

Solutions to problems in Bernard Schutz’s textbook on general relativity

Quantum Computation and Quantum Information Solutions

Solutions to problems in Nielsen and Chuang’s textbook on quantum computation and quantum information

Solid State Physics Notes

Developing notes on solid state and materials physics

Comparing Chirp Mass and SNR Properties of Gravitational Wave Events in LIGO’s Third and Fourth Observing Run

<Carrying out statistical tests on LIGO’s third and fourth observing runs to determine if the experimental upgrades resulted in the observation of a new population of black holes

Undergraduate Math Thesis

My undergraduate thesis in math, which applies the 3+1 decomposition to Scalar-Tensor-Vector Gravity, and contains a short review of mathematical relativity

Undergraduate Physics Thesis

My undergraduate thesis in physics, which determines how the CMB spectrum changes under the addition of higher-order correlation functions

PINCH: pipeline-informed noise characterization in LIGO’s third observing run

Published in Classical and Quantum Gravity, 2025

We present a method to identify and categorize gravitational wave candidate triggers identified by matched filtering gravitational wave searches (pipelines) caused by transient noise (glitches) in gravitational wave detectors using support vector machine (SVM) classifiers. Our approach involves training SVM models on pipeline triggers which occur outside periods of excess noise to distinguish between triggers caused by random noise and those induced by glitches. This method is applied independently to the triggers produced by the GstLAL search pipeline on data from the laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatory Hanford and Livingston observatories during the second half of the O3 observing run. The trained SVM models assign scores to ambiguous triggers, quantifying their similarity to triggers caused by random fluctuations, with triggers with scores above a defined threshold being classified as glitch-induced. Analysis of these triggers reveals the distinct impact of different glitch classes on the search pipeline, including their distribution in relevant parameter spaces. We use metrics such as the Bhattacharyya coefficient and an over-representation ratio to quantify the consistency and prevalence of glitch impacts over time and across parameter spaces. Our findings indicate that some glitch types consistently produce triggers in specific regions of the parameter space, while others generate triggers that are more widely distributed. We observe that Scattered Light glitches appear differently in the search pipeline before and after a commissioning change, demonstrating how such detector changes appear in the pipeline’s response to certain glitch classes. This method provides a framework for understanding and mitigating the influence of non-Gaussian transients on gravitational wave search pipelines, with implications for improving detection sensitivity and better understanding noise populations.

Talk 2 on Relevant Topic in Your Field

Published: February 01, 2014

More information here

Writing Fellow

Brainard Writing Center, Carthage College, 2022

• Assisted students in over 120 individual sessions, either an hour or half-hour long, from various disciplines, helping students identify their paper’s argument and sharpen their support of it.
• Instructor of record for a one-credit course during Spring 2024 called Writer’s Workshop, where freshmen and students for whom English is not a first language developed their general writing and critical thinking skills.

Adventuring Assistant

Instructor, National Youth Science Camp, 2025

• Gave three day Directed Study on special and general relativity. Notes are linked here.
• Gave seminar on preparing and applying for PhD programs
• Organized and lead hiking, climbing, and overnight backpacking trips

Teaching Assistant

Undergraduate course, University of Florida, Department of Physics, 2025

Lab instructor for PHY 2053, a first semester of algebra or calculus-based physics, depending on the section.