Isaac N
- Research Program Mentor
MA/PHD candidate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Expertise
electromagnetic physics, physics, numerical methods, astronomy, planetary science, sensor systems/circuitry
Bio
Hello, I'm Isaac! I study planetary science, researching magnetic fields in the solar system and what they can teach us about how planets and moons form and evolve over time. I do this with computational models using electromagnetic and fluid physics, as well as using real spacecraft data to inform the modeling process. I have had experience mentoring high-school students and have been a teaching assistant for undergraduate-level students. I'm from Fort Worth, Texas. I love to play basketball, soccer, and flag football in my spare time, as well as playing chess. I also enjoy going to concerts and going to the movies.Project ideas
A Tour of the Solar System
This topic is comparative planetology, with a project entailing a review about a process or phenomenon that occurs in the solar system at each planet. This could be studying the magnetic, atmosphere, or chemical environment at each planet using spacecraft observations, data analysis, and physical modeling. You will learn how to read scientific studies, run computer simulations of physical environments (using electromagnetic physics, fluid mechanics, etc), perform data analysis on real spacecraft data, and synthesize this information into a research paper.
Sensor System Development
This topic is building the architecture and design of a sensor system, where you will see how sensor systems are developed from design to application. You will learn the basics of circuitry, interfacing sensors with a microprocessor, communication protocols, and writing software to interact with the sensor system. This system could be used to measure the weather, the near Earth-space environment, or other physical processes happening all around us. We will also learn about the physics governing the system we are measuring, so we can create models of our expected measurements. The end product will be a working software package and sensor system, which can be synthesized in writing a research paper.
Fluid Mechanics Physics and Simulations
This project would be a fluid mechanics study. We would start from the fundamental physics governing fluid mechanics and work our way up to using computational modeling to simulate fluid flow in the presence of different objects, with applications to different types of engineering and astronomy. This project will allow you to work through physical derivations of the system, solve analytical differential equations, and write software and/or work with open-source frameworks, with the end product being a research paper.