Tran T
- Research Program Mentor
PhD candidate at University of California San Diego (UCSD)
Expertise
cosmology astrophysics, computational physics (coding), physics, math
Bio
I am a graduate student in the physics department at UC San Diego as a SLOAN Scholar. My research leans more toward astrophysics, with a focus on instrumentation cosmology. I have been building and integrating parts of a telescope together, testing its operation before deploying to site. The telescope will be observing the Cosmic Microwave Background, the oldest light in the universe, and study the history of the early Universe. I got my B.S degree also in physics at UC Los Angeles, where I worked on observational astrophysics and analyzed spectroscopic data of active galaxies. Outside of research, I enjoyed reading novels to relax. Recently, I have been into yoga and meditation. After a busy day of working and using my brain, it was nice to sit down and meditate, letting my brain relax. Before covid, I enjoyed traveling and hiking.Project ideas
Modeling the motion of a bungee jump
Bungee jumping can be quite an intense activity but the physics behind it is “simple” and pretty. Bungee jump is an example of simple harmonic motion (SHM), one of the most simple and widely used models of oscillatory motion. In fact, you see SHM all the time in everyday life from the motion of a pendulum or swing to the vibration of a string instrument. In this exercise, we will explore how to computationally model these oscillator motions. Prerequisites Some background in calculus and coding skill in Python is strongly recommended.
Looking back into the Universe through the spectrum of the oldest light
Have you ever wonder how the universe began? What shapes the galaxies, our milky way, or even yet, the earth that we live on? In an attempt to answer all of these questions, we can look back in time to 13.8 billion years ago and study the oldest light in the universe: the Cosmic Microwave Background or CMB for short. The CMB appears in the microwave region of the electromagnetism spectrum. To put it into perspective, the microwave that you used to cook has the same wavelength as the CMB. This project can be as simple as a historical dive into what is the CMB and what it has revealed about the structure and formation of the early Universe to something more computationally intensive, where the student can explore CMB maps and power spectrum from various different current experiments (e.g. Planck) and the possible science cases that we can do with the CMB. Prerequisites Basic background in physics and coding experience (Python) if want to go with the computational route.