Dearest Readers,
Over the past 16 years, the Chicago Area Undergraduate Research Symposium has cultivated a community of undergraduate students in the Chicagoland area from all academic disciplines who share the common goal of advancing academia through research. It has grown to become one of the largest annual undergraduate research conferences in the county, bringing together undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and representatives from industry and graduate and professional schools. Through poster presentations, oral presentations, and roundtable discussions, we are proud to share the impressive breadth and depth of research being conducted in our community.
Despite facing uncertainties and challenges due to COVID-19, we continue our mission: to accommodate the emphasis on interdisciplinary research, which our university partners across the city of Chicago espouse, and to provide and preserve avenues of communication among undergraduates, their peers, and their prospective graduate mentors. With the help of dedicated members of our interschool board and the Northwestern Undergraduate Research Journal, we are proud to present the NURJxCAURS Special Edition Vol. 1.
First, we would like to thank all the members of our community that have made this opportunity possible: our dedicated interschool board, Dr. Peter Civetta, and Bryce Mathis O’Tierney. Second, we would like to thank the NURJ for their help, dedication, and expertise. Finally, we would like to thank our institutional sponsors for their continued support: Roosevelt University, Loyola University Chicago, Illinois Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, DePaul University, and the University of Chicago. On behalf of the Chicago Area Undergraduate Research Symposium, we congratulate all of you and wish you every success with your future endeavors.
Sincerely,
Maya Fitzgerald and Chang Xu
Co-Directors, CAURS
Dear readers,
The past few months have been a whirlwind of uncertainty, disappointment, and loss. But they have also been filled with avid political discourse, collaborative scientific efforts at the highest level, and remarkable shows of compassion. The formation of solid, evidence-based knowledge is most critical in tumultuous times such as these.
The Northwestern Undergraduate Research Journal (NURJ) has always sought to bring the best ideas from Northwestern’s undergraduate researchers to the table. Nothing, even a pandemic, will halt us in this endeavor.
Social distancing guidelines prevented the Chicago Area Undergraduate Research Symposium (CAURS), the premiere Chicagoland undergraduate research event, from hosting its annual conference in person this year. The NURJ will always be committed to supporting our fellow undergraduate researchers, across Chicago and the world, with whatever means we can provide. Right now, support for our community of researchers comes in the form of a special edition of our Journal, in collaboration with CAURS and the student researchers whose work merits recognition.
We are delighted to present this special edition to you. Within it, there are more than 30 works from students in the Chicago area for your reading. We are humbled by the opportunity to provide our platform and resources to our fellow student researchers. In doing so, we have forged a new bond within our research community that we hope will be fruitful for years to come.
We would like to thank all of CAURS’ contributors and Inter-School Board for their contributions to this special edition. We would also like to thank our faculty sponsor, Prof. Allen Taflove, for his continued support despite this year’s obstacles. Finally, we would like to thank the Office of the President at Northwestern for their continued financial support. Without these resources, none of our work would be possible.
In the face of fear and doubt, we have hope and inspiration. Please read, enjoy, and be inspired.
All our best,
Sarah Tani
NURJ Design Managing Editor
Tony Luo
NURJ Web Development Managing Editor
Jonic Zhehao Zhu
NURJ STEM Managing Editor
CAURS 2020 Inter-School Board
Soumya Jhaveri
NURJ Development Associate Managing Editor-Brand
Chicago Area Undergraduate Research Symposium
Maya Fitzgerald
Co-director
Maya is a rising senior at DePaul University majoring in biological sciences with a cellular and molecular concentration. She is the president of DePaul’s Pathways Honors Society and the treasurer for the Pre-medicine Undergraduate Mentorship Program. Maya is interested in the development of new therapeutics involving gene editing. She previously interned at Paragon Biosciences where she assisted in the creation of development plans through the completion of regulatory and clinical trial intelligence reports. Maya is currently interning at MATTER in its Partnerships department. Following graduation, she plans to pursue a PharmD and an MBA and work in biotechnology. Outside of school, Maya likes going to concerts and hanging out with friends.
Chang Xu
Co-director
Chang graduated with dual bachelor degrees in Physics and Computer Science from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in 2020. He was involved in doing research since his freshman year. During the summer of 2018, he did the Lee Teng Internship at the Argonne National Laboratory on beam stabilities at Advanced Photon Source (APS). Understanding the importance of presenting ideas and demonstrating the achievements for a researcher, he first participated in CAURS in 2016 as a volunteer right after knowing about it. He has been a member of the inner-school board since then. He was one of the co-directors for CAURS 2020.
Sana Basheer
ISB Member
Sana is a senior at Illinois Tech pursuing a dual B.S. in Biochemistry and M.S. in Biology. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the IIT Undergraduate Research Journal, serves on the IIT Undergraduate Research Council, and is a Peer Scholar at the Academic Resource Center. Sana is part of Dr. Xiang's lab where she studies a pro-apoptotic protein's implications on various cancers and neurodegenerative disorders. After graduation, Sana plans to attend medical school. In her free time, she loves baking, hiking, and reading.
Maritha Wang
ISB Member
Maritha is a senior at the University of Chicago double majoring in Physics and Chemistry. She serves as the co-Editor-in-Chief of Scientia, UChicago’s undergraduate research journal, and also helps run an after-school science club for middle school students. Additionally, she works in Prof. Sihong Wang’s group in UChicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, where she is developing stretchable skin-inspired electronics. After graduating, she will pursue a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford, towards a career in research. She enjoys cooking and playing the piano in her free time.
Smriti Singh
ISB Member
Smriti is a junior at DePaul University studying physics/aerospace engineering. She has researched methanol maser variations. Other research interests include, reducing friction at the nanoscale, and neutrino oscillations in a vacuum. After graduating, she hopes to attend grad school for aerospace engineering. She also enjoys dancing, playing the violin, and spending time with her friends!
Tyler Shimada
ISB Member
Tyler is a rising junior at Northwestern University, where he is pursuing a major in chemical engineering. Tyler is currently conducting research on the effects of different hospital antibacterials and surfaces on chlorhexidine concentration over time. After graduation, he plans to attend medical school. In his free time, Tyler enjoys swimming and fishing.
Nicolas Clarisse
ISB Member
Nick recently graduated from DePaul University with a BS in Physics. Beginning Fall 2020, he will begin his graduate studies in Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he plans to do research in Quantum Information Science. In his spare time Nick enjoys rock climbing, weight training and music.
Justine Shih
ISB Member
Justine is a rising fourth-year studying neuroscience and music at the University of Chicago. While at UChicago she has served as co-president of UChicago Science Olympiad, hosting invitationals and science enrichment workshops for hundreds of middle and high school students. She is currently in the Hansel Lab, developing a project to study the primitive nervous systems of marine glass sponges, and in the summers, she has worked at the Institute of Biomedical Science at the Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan, researching chronic pain. Outside of science, Justine is a part of the University Symphony Orchestra, the performance group The Underground Collective, the Taiwanese American Student Association, and is an award-winning singer-songwriter. After graduation, she plans on pursuing a Ph.D in neuroscience and going into research.
Lily Liu
ISB Member
Lily is a third-year studying Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Chicago. She serves on the board of the Society of Women in Math, which seeks to foster a community for women in pure math, applied math, and statistics. She also works as a teaching assistant in the Math Department and sings in the University Women’s Ensemble. Lily is interested in dynamical systems research and would like to study fluid dynamics and pattern formation. She plans to pursue a PhD in Mathematics, working towards a career in research. In her free time, she enjoys running and reading comics.
Northwestern Undergraduate Research Journal
allen taflove
NURJ Faculty Adviser/Professor
Allen Taflove received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Northwestern University in 1971, 1972, and 1975, respectively. Since 1988, he has been a full professor in Northwestern’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Over the past 48 years, Allen has pioneered theoretical approaches, algorithms, and applications of finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) computational solutions of the fundamental Maxwell’s equations of classical electrodynamics. FDTD has emerged as a primary means to solve the largest and most complex science and engineering problems involving electromagnetic wave phenomena, devices, and systems from ultralow frequencies to visible light. His major publication, Computational Electrodynamics: The Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method, has been ranked the 7th most-cited book in physics, currently with more 20,000 Google Scholar citations. Allen is a Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the recipient of the 2014 IEEE Electromagnetics Award, and a Fellow of The Optical Society (OSA). Currently, he is conducting petaflops-scale computational microscopy applications of FDTD in support of research at Northwestern led by Biomedical Engineering Professor Vadim Backman dealing with the detection and potential treatment of early-stage human cancers.
andrew cao
Editor-in-Chief, 2018, 2019
Andrew Cao ’20 is a graduating senior majoring in Journalism and minoring in Art, Theory and Practice. He joined the journal in 2017 as an Outreach Manager and became the Editor-in-Chief in 2018. Under Andrew’s leadership, in collaboration with Emily, who became the Co-EIC in 2019, the NURJ has grown to 65 members across eight teams, and has solidified our newest digital branch, the NURJ Online. Andrew received the Cogsci Fellowship in 2018 and the Polisci Fellowship in Summer 2019, and interned at Edelman in Fall 2019. Andrew is going to his home country China to work in the journalism sector, and hopes to come back to the United States after several years for law school.
emily suen
Editor-in-Chief, 2019; Managing Editor, NURJ Online, 2018
Emily Suen ‘20 is a graduating senior majoring in Neuroscience. She is currently one of the Co-Editors-in-Chief of the NURJ. Emily joined the Journal as an editor during her freshman year, before working to establish NURJ Online as the Managing Editor. Outside of the NURJ, she is involved in research with the John Rogers Group, creating wireless skin-interfaced biosensors for use in the neonatal intensive care unit. Recently, Emily has also become a web designer for Professor Amisha Wallia, on a project focused on empowering patients with the skills and knowledge to manage their own diabetes. Outside of research, she loves baking and spending time in nature. Upon graduation, Emily will be continuing her education at NU Feinberg School of Medicine. And, of course, she will continue to be an avid member of the research community!
jonic zhu
Managing Editor, NURJ (STEM) 2020; Managing Editor, NURJ x Expo; Associate Managing Editor, NURJ (STEM), 2019
Jonic Zhehao Zhu ‘22 is a sophomore majoring in Chemistry and pursuing the Segal Design Certificate. He serves as the Managing Editor for the NURJ’s STEM team. Since entering Northwestern, he has been working with Prof. Emily Weiss in the Chemistry Department on artificial photosynthesis and photochemistry. Jonic loves boxing and running, and works on several photography projects on his own time.
Sarah tani
Managing Editor, NURJ (Design) 2020; Associate Managing Editor, NURJ (Paper Design, Online Design), 2019
Sarah Tani ‘22 is a sophomore majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Linguistics. She is the incoming Managing Editor of the NURJ (Design) and previously served as the Associate Managing Editor of the NURJ (Paper Design, Online Design) in 2019. Last summer, she completed a URAP with Prof. Jillana Enteen, studying changes to websites related to Transgender-related medical tourism in Thailand. She presented an analysis of the methodology of this project with a poster presentation at the Chicago Colloquium on Digital Humanities and Computer Science in November 2019. Sarah hopes to pursue the field of Computational Linguistics after graduation, but in the meantime is focusing on her B.A. and research at the undergraduate level.
Tony Luo
Managing Director, NURJ Web Development, 2020
Tony Luo ‘23 is a freshman majoring in Computer Science and possibly Statistics. Apart from being the head of Web Development with the NURJ, Tony is a part of the research team in NU Blockchain Group that focuses on the use-case of decentralized apps in clinical research. After graduation, Tony envisions himself working in the software industry or pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors. Outside of research, Tony loves cooking and is a chef at Northwestern Culinary Arts Club – Cookology.
Siying luo
Associate Managing Editor, Design, 2020
Siying Luo, Class of 2023, is undecided in WCAS. She joined the Journal in fall 2019, and has since been promoted to AME of Design. She is interested in science and hopes to start research when she returns to campus.
Soumya jhaveri
Associate Managing Director, NURJ Development, 2020
Soumya Jhaveri ’23 is a freshman majoring in Neuroscience and Journalism on the Pre-Med track. She joined the NURJ this year as a part of the STEM team. Soumya began her interests in research in high school with independent projects on diversity in journalism and teenage entrepreneurial characteristics. She is currently a research assistant in the Amato Lab through the URAP program working on microbiome research with both non-human and human primate samples. Soumya is interested in exploring how better design and communication can be used to enhance healthcare. After graduation, she hopes to work in scientific journalism or a health startup for a year before attending medical school.