These are mostly old files that I figure I’ll put out there for Google to find, just in case they’re useful to someone.

Research Related

• Removal of Debris from a Cryopreserved Cell Suspension Using Dielectrophoresis
  My final report from my NSF REU after sophomore year in the Hubel lab. From the abstract: The feasibility of using dielectrophoresis to separate live cells from cellular debris in a continuous stream is evaluated. There is currently great interest in removing cellular debris from cryopreserved cell suspensions prior to patient infusion, and dielectrophoresis (DEP) appears to be ideally suited to this task. This paper aims to distill and summarize the relevant theory, to realistically assess the appropriateness of DEP to this project, and to give recommendations for further work. PDF 5.6 MB (!)
• Analytical and Numerical Prediction of Concentration Profiles in Microfluidic Gradient Generators
  In the past several years, microfluidic devices which create chemical gradients by diffusive mixing have been used to study the response of cells to chemical signals. This paper (a final project for a microfluidics class) presents an analytical solution to the mixing problem. First, the 3-D problem is reduced to a 2-D problem by a Taylor Dispersion approximation, and the appropriate smallness parameter is determined. Second, the 2-D problem is solved using a Fourier Series approach. Third, the solution is shown to agree with a numerical COMSOL simulation. PDF .5 MB
• Analytical and Numerical Prediction of Concentration Profiles in Microfluidic Gradient Generators (scaled)
  An earlier version of the paper described above; it uses a different scaling for the Taylor Dispersion problem, but is not as rigorous. PDF .5 MB
• Basic Collagen Info
  “This document summarizes some basic information about collagen, the form it takes in the cornea, and ways that it can be manipulated in vitro, with an eye towards attempting to align collagen gels by spinning them.” From my days in the Orwin lab. PDF 71 KB

Coursework

• The Real Estate Boom: [Ir]rational Exuberance?
  A presentation from a term paper I wrote in December 2005 for an Engineering Economics class. Examining historical national and regional real estate data, and adjusting for inflation, I found that home prices in the majority of the US were “Not beyond the range of generous fundamental analysis.” However, prices in cities like San Francisco and Boston had price increases that were “wholly unsustainable” and “likely due to speculation” and which, considering the history of boom and bust in these regions, “may exhibit serious price declines”. Interesting to look at in hindsight… PDF 440 KB
• Art History Term Paper
  From my semester abroad at the University of Western Australia. The paper discusses conflicting attitudes toward technology in late 19th- and early 20th-century art in the context of industrialization and the First World War. PDF 467 KB
• Poe the Impressionist, and Man of the Crowd as a Modernist Writing
  Do you think that Edgar Allan Poe was the first “impressionist”? According to this paper, I do. PDF 86 KB
• California Electricity Deregulation
  I’m a supporter, for the most part, of deregulating business. So, it bugs me when people point to the California Electricity “Deregulation” as evidence of a need for regulation. If you look closely, this was the exact opposite of deregulation. Or, so I argue in this paper. PDF 499 KB