Michelle Tampa Flores

This project asks, how can agriculture work for both people and in the environment? Through field, greenhouse, and lab work, this research explores how diversified farming practices influence soil health, particularly arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and wild bee communities. In the field, my graduate student mentor and I are working with small-scale farmers of color embedded in the monocultural landscape of Californias San Joaquin Valley and investigating how their farming practices influence soil and pollinator health. In the greenhouse, we are conducting greenhouse experiments to determine the mechanistic connection between […]
Wendy (Fanghui) Wan

Superconductors are materials where quantum mechanical interactions between the constituent electrons induce a state with zero electrical resistance. They are often used in MRI machines and precision magnetometers. However, their applicability is hindered by the requisite cryogenic temperatures. Therefore, the discovery of novel superconductors that operate at higher temperatures is of tremendous fundamental and practical interest. This project focuses on inducing superconductivity in a class of materials called the delafossites, some of which have been theoretically predicted to host superconductivity under certain conditions. I will work closely with my graduate […]