Student Spotlight

CSUF Physics Master Students Attend Princeton’s 2022 Physics of Life Summer School

CSUF first year master’s student studying biophysics, Christian Alistair Dumaup and his peers had the opportunity to attend lectures and perform in labs with scientists teaching at Princeton University at their 2022 Physics of Life Summer School two-week program.

About 20 students participated in the program, all from different countries and research backgrounds from June 6-17. Students started their daily schedule from 9 a.m. to 5 in the afternoon with a lunch break from noon until 2 p.m., using their time to attend lectures, listen to research presentations, and perform labs.

Erick Leyva on the Microscope and Farbod Movagharnemati on the computer during the optics lab at PRinceton University's 2022 Summer Program.

Dumaup said as a visual learner, he really appreciated the optics lab where he was able to see the phenomena discussed in the lecture – such as the fourier-transformation properties of lenses. He said other lectures included microscopy, biomechanics and statistical physics, which were the most relevant to the research he does in the Laboratory for Soft, Living, and Active Matter (SLAM) at CSUF.

Professor of physics and biophysics at Princeton University and director of the program, Dr. Joshua Shaevitz provided lectures on biomechanics and microscopy where Dumaup said were very engaging and provided much insight on choosing the correct microscope setup while working with live organisms.

The university provided students attending the summer program with housing and access to one of the dining halls. The students’ cost of their travel costs was funded by the Natural Sciences Foundation grant, the same funds that go towards funding students’ research in the SLAM lab. Dr. Shaevitz also organized students with a welcome breakfast, dinner and a farewell barbeque, allowing them to network with the professors, grad students, and post docs.

Dumaup said he expressed his interest in applying for the Ph.D. master's program when applying to the summer program. As he attended the summer program, he said he and his colleagues were able to gain insight and valuable information on the process to apply.

Dr. William Bialek, professor of physics and biophysics at Princeton University providing a lecture on statistical mechanics.

Dr. William Bialek, professor of physics and biophysics at Princeton University provided students with lectures based on statistical physics. Dumaup said the information in Dr. Bialek’s presentations were ‘digestible,’ especially for a subject that is known to be difficult to understand.

CSUF graduate student researching in biophysics Erick Leyva, said there were multiple lectures and labs which related closely to the research he does in the SLAM lab. One research presentation he attended was of assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering Dr. Sujit Datta on his work with E. coli in hydrogel matrices.

“I feel like I can say I have strengthened my understanding of physics problems such as how a variety of microscopy techniques work to mitigate the issues caused by the diffraction limit,” Leyva said.

Dumaup said he was exposed to ‘cutting edge research’ by scientists at the forefront of scientific discoveries.

“It meant a lot to me because it inspired me to work more creatively when it came to my own research,” Dumaup said.

CSUF physics graduate student Farbod Movagharnemati who does research on active matter said the lectures involved statistical mechanics and optics, which related directly to the optical tweezer experiments he and his colleagues run at the SLAM Lab. He and students also discussed bacterial movements through hydrogels in a research presentation.

“It really inspired me to try and perform new experiments when I came back from the trip…this program allowed me to meet and connect with budding scientists, and many amazing research groups,” Movagharnemati said.

With time on the weekends to explore the university’s surroundings, Dumaup took the trip to also visit his aunt living 20 minutes from Princeton University, then to New York with a couple of his friends from the SLAM lab and people he met at Princeton. Movagharnemati said he also had free time to go on a kayaking trip and other travel destinations with his friends from the SLAM lab.

“It was a good blend of academic work and leisure time. I was also able to visit Einstein's old residence which was a 10-minute walk from campus and some historical landmarks from the American revolution – which I thought was super cool,” Dumaup said.

The round way trip to the summer program at Princeton University in New Jersey was paid through a grant from the Natural Sciences Foundation. Students earn to attend the program and have a majority of their expenses paid through an application process and a written statement of purpose.

Movagharnemati said that through the recommendations of his research advisor and the SLAM lab’s director, Dr. Wylie Ahmed, he was able to apply for the program. Leyva stated through his application that the summer program would allow him to develop into his research and look further into his career in academia and exploring the state of the field in regard to his discipline.

Leyva found that attending the summer program at Princeton University allowed him to acquire new skills and create a deeper understanding of his research, while also improving his network with people under the same discipline. Movagharnemati said the program welcomes people in biological or physics research, without having done any previous biophysics research.

“I was inspired to apply to the Princeton program because I wanted to go out to get exposed to cutting edge biophysics research,” Movagharnemati said.