Again in 2014/15, we were delighted to be able to offer funding for some of our brightest and best PhD students, Postdocs and Early Career Researchers to visit partner institutions around the world to undertake collaborative research and experiments. Funding was awarded to SUPA by SFC for this programme for the fourth time in 2014/15, and some of the funded visits were:
Christopher Bryce from University of Strathclyde visited Centre de Recherche sur l’Hetero-Expitaxe ses Applications (CNRS –CHREA) in Valbonne, France to work on a project focused on the growth, fabrication and characterisation of advanced GaN-based nanostructures. While there, Christopher had the opportunity to see the operation of the new generation Metal-Oxide Chemical Vapour-Phase Deposition MOCVD reactor from AIXTRON which CNRS-CHREA had just had installed and to work with a number of researchers there. Christopher was compare the characterisation systems at CNRS-CRHEA with those he uses in his project at Strathclyde, and not only has he developed his understanding of the semiconductor growth process and how the technology of the reactors affects the wafers produced, but is hopeful of opening up new avenues of research between the two institutions.
Grace Manahan from University of Strathclyde spent a month at Stanford’s Linear Accelerator Centre at the National Accelerator Laboratory in California where she worked on a project aiming to demonstrate the first proof of principle experiments of the Trojan Horse Plasma Wakefield Acceleration (TH-PWFA). As a result of her visit, Grace has already had one paper accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Accelerators and Beams (
http://journals.aps.org/prab/accepted/bd072MdbY631160f419b23d729c49ba783ec08746) and another in preparation, and University of Strathclyde has been recognised internationally in the field of plasma-based acceleration, and will be involved in a long term collaboration with UCLA and RadiaBeam Technologies and the next upgraded facility of SLC from FACET I to FACET II.
Jairo Mendez Abreu from University of St Andrews spent six weeks at the NRC Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Canadian Government research lab researching the formation of dwarf galaxies through their three-dimensional shape Jairo was able to take advantage of the Canadian access to the 8.1 Gemini telescope and his visit has opened up the possibility of a new collaborative project with researchers in Canada as well as producing a number of papers and giving Jairo the opportunity to deliver a talk at the NRC Herzberg institute entitled ‘Insights into the evolution of SO galaxies using the CALIFA survey’.
In May and June 2015, Filippo Pisano from the Neurophotonics group at the Institute of Photonics (Dept. of Physics, University of Strathclyde) visited the Sher Lab at the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics (University of California Santa Cruz) to advance his research on the functioning of retinal circuitry. His visit had the aim of implementing an experimental procedure for optogenetic characterization of the retinal ganglion cell layer and was successful in implementing and obtaining a proof of principle for an innovative experimental method. Filippo is also working on a scientific publication as a result of his visit.
Yongqiang Qiu from Dundee visited the Materials Research Institute at Penn State University in Spring 2015 to develop high performance 30MHz thin film PZT-based piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (PMUTs). PMUTs have suffered from difficulties in manufacturing high quality and high performance piezoelectric thin films and from the lack of efficient modelling methods, leading to lower performance in practice than in theory. Yonqiang’s visit was successful and since returning to the UK, he has been testing the fabricated wafers developed during the visit. Yonqiang has also published articles on his work in Sensors and is preparing additional articles and conferences.
Also in 2015, Daniel Vogel of University of Aberdeen visited Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, to work on various aspects of multivariate data analysis. Daniel reports that the visit was highly productive and successful, and along with his research partner at Rutgers he has drafted two projects looking at robustness aspects of multivariate methods for physical applications. Daniel has also had the opportunity to attend a number of events at Cornell and Princeton Universities, and has given a presentation at the Research Seminar series at Rutgers.
Also in 2015, Daniel Vogel of University of Aberdeen visited Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, to work on various aspects of multivariate data analysis. Daniel reports that the visit was highly productive and successful, and along with his research partner at Rutgers he has drafted two projects looking at robustness aspects of multivariate methods for physical applications. Daniel has also had the opportunity to attend a number of events at Cornell and Princeton Universities, and has given a presentation at the Research Seminar series at Rutgers.