2025 KNI SURF-the-WAVE Fellows
The KNI has welcomed its seventh cohort of undergraduate research fellows to Caltech this summer. KNI SURF-the-WAVE (STW) prize fellows participate in a 10-week immersive research experience to pursue a nanoscience-based project. The STW program enables undergrads to investigate a research topic, guided by graduate student, postdoctoral scholar, and/or faculty mentors. This year's SURF-the-WAVE fellows will delve into nanoscience and nanoengineering projects on topics such as: architected metamaterials, atomic layer etching, biomedical electronic devices, shape memory polymers, and lattice-matching crystal films.
In partnership with the office of Student-Faculty Programs at Caltech and its WAVE summer research program, KNI SURF-the-WAVE prize fellowships are awarded to competitive undergraduate students who have an interest in a nanoscience-related field of study. The STW program provides its fellows with bonus opportunities to network and learn more about STEM careers, graduate school and professional development. Learn more about the KNI SURF-the-WAVE program here.
Ann Alekseenko
Hometown: West Lafayette, IN
Home Institution: UC Berkeley
Class Level: Senior
Major: Chemical Engineering with a minor in Data Science
Favorite Hobbies and Interests: I enjoy spending my time playing intramural sports, drawing, practicing bass guitar, and hiking.
WAVE Research Project: "Effect of Composition on Structural, Optical, and Electrochemical Properties of FeWO4 Thin Film Photoanodes"
Photoelectrochemical cells offer a novel way to harness sunlight to drive commercially important chemical reactions such as CO2 reduction and water electrolysis, however anodes for the oxygen evolution reaction have suffered from low efficiencies and chemical instabilities. Iron tungstate (FeWO4) has shown promise as a stable, abundant, and efficient anode, inspiring my summer research to investigate the relationship between the composition and electrochemical properties of FeWO4. During the summer, I will employ structural characterization techniques, spectroscopy, and electrochemical testing to identify the structure, optical parameters, and electrochemical activity of iron tungstate thin films.
Mentor: Harry A. Atwater
Co-Mentor: John Hylack
Henrik Barck
Hometown: Moraga, CA
Home Institution: Harvey Mudd College
Class Level: Junior
Major: Physics
Favorite Hobbies and Interests: In my free time, I enjoy climbing, playing volleyball, and drinking boba with friends. I also love playing music (flute, saxophone, and keys).
WAVE Research Project: The Daraio Research Group has studied the mechanical responses of various polycatenated architected materials. This summer, I'll be exploring the limitations of fabricating these metamaterials on the microscale for potential applications in microrobotics. If time permits, I will try to use atomic vapor deposition to platinum coat the metamaterials and design actuators by introducing electrostatic charges.
Mentor: Chiara Daraio
Co-Mentor: Alice Xiong
Jackson Glass
Hometown: Yorktown, Virginia
Home Institution: The University of Virginia,
Class Level: Senior
Major: Physics
Favorite Hobbies and Interests: Outside of physics, I greatly enjoy baking, cooking, and playing the saxophone. I also enjoy getting outside in nature and hiking.
WAVE Research Project: I will be working on a project utilizing 2 dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). We will work to further develop methods of CMOS-compatible fabrication of 2D TMDs, for semiconductor device applications. In addition, we will investigate Fe-doped TMDs, to determine ferromagnetic properties, and explore potential spintronic applications.
Mentor: Nai-Chang Yeh
Co-mentor: Dan Anderson
Ike Ogbu
Hometown: Brockton, MA
Home Institution: Harvard
Class Level: Senior
Major: Electrical Engineering
Favorite Hobbies and Interests: When I have the time, I like to read philosophy, fold origami, and play video games.
WAVE Research Project: "Energy Harvesting Circuit Design for 14𝜇𝑊 3-D Magnetic Sensor for Biomedical Applications"
Biomedical sensors often face significant tradeoffs between power consumption, sensitivity, and size. The MICS lab previously demonstrated a first-of-its-kind 3-D magnetic CMOS sensor that addresses these challenges and targets applications such as catheter and guidewire tracking during endovascular procedures and in vivo monitoring in the gastrointestinal tract. This project builds on that work by developing a wireless power transfer system for this sensor to enable continuous, safe, and minimally invasive operation.
Mentor: Azita Emami
Co-Mentor: Shengsheng Wang
Jamie Talmor
Hometown: San Jose, CA
Home Institution: Oberlin College
Class Level: Senior
Major: Physics
Favorite Hobbies and Interests: In my free time, I enjoy singing in an a cappella group, songwriting, creative writing, and reading sci-fi/fantasy novels.
WAVE Research Project: Helical trilayer graphene (HTG) is a material composed of three layers of graphene, each layer rotated by an identical twist angle with respect to the previous layer. The material is predicted to have stable topological states, making it a promising avenue to study topological phenomena in quantum materials. This summer, I will investigate HTG experimentally by synthesizing the material, using it to fabricate devices, and using scanning tunneling microscopy to study its properties.
Mentor: Stevan Nadj-Perge
Co-Mentor: Zhenhao Zhang
Devin Tseng
Hometown: Walnut, CA
Home Institution: UC Santa Barbara
Class Level: Senior
Major: Computer Engineering
Favorite Hobbies and Interests: I love hiking and spending time outdoors, playing chess and other board games, playing the piano, and configuring my Linux machine. I also enjoy reading and learning about interesting physics!
WAVE Research Project: "Integrated Electro-Optic Modulators on Thin Film Lithium Niobate"
Electro-optic modulators (EOMs) are devices that modulate the refractive index of an electro-optic Pockels material such as Lithium Niobate (LN) via applied electrical signals. These devices are essential components for on-chip integration of photonic functions such as mode-locked lasers and optical parametric oscillators. This project focuses on designing and fabricating EOMs that optimize key performance metrics such as optical loss and the half-wave voltage.
Mentor: Alireza Marandi
Co-Mentor: Benjamin Gutierrez