Teaching Fellows

PhD student Shawna Hollen works in a low temperature physics laboratory studying how thin films that barely conduct electricity begin to superconduct as they become thicker.  To study how electrons and paired electrons, called Cooper pairs, move around in these films, very low temperatures need to be reached: temperatures that are only 100 millikelvin above absolute zero.  If the secrets of superconductivity can be fully understood, we might be able to transport power without losing energy, and travel on ultra-efficient levitating trains. 

UT is a second year Ph.D. student in Biomedical Engineering, whose research focuses on tissue engineering strategies for nerve regeneration. This year, Ut is bringing science into the second and third grade classrooms at Vartan Gregorian Elementary School, and is really looking forward to seeing the students getting excited about science! Outside of school, she enjoys drawing, traveling, and taking pictures, and her dream journey is to go to the Arctic to take photos of polar bears.

John Macaluso

Erik Taylor

Since a small child growing up outside Austin, Texas Erik has always been interested in the human capability to live in harmony with nature.
Although macrobiotic wild-life is less common in the modern city, microbiotic life still flourishes.  This is no different in the hospital setting. Erik's research is geared towards designing treatments
for antibiotic resistant biofilms on medical devices. Using nanotechnology he is designing novel interfaces to promote natural clearing.

Jaime L. Toney is a graduate student in Geological Sciences. Her research interests include using organic geochemical methods to determine changes in the environment related to climate change.  Jaime places a particular emphasis on understanding how links and mechanisms in the global climate system contribute to the highly variable and abrupt changes of seen of the continents.