Simon’s Rock Students Win Award for Summer 2015 Research
by Harold M. Hastings
Congratulations to Simon’s Rock students June Yang '13, Maisha Zahed '13 and Nicholas
Vandruff '14 for their prize-winning research presentation (2nd out of 14 teams) at
the New York State Section of the American Physical Society meeting September 11 at
Vassar Co
llege. Their research entitled “Synchronizations of Oscillations in Chemical, Electrical,
and Mathematical Excitable Media” studied the dynamics of chemical, electrical, and
mathematical analogues to important components of our own biology: the cardiac electrical
system which drives our heartbeat and the nervous system and the brain.
June, Maisha, and Nicholas discovered some new dynamics associated with the onset of oscillations and their synchronization which may have potential applications to both the study of ocular migraines and epilepsy, and to the design of future neuron-like computers.
Faculty Michael Bergman, Patty Dooley, Harold Hastings and David Myers advised the
prize-winning Simon’s Rock Team in internships last summer. They were joined by student
Sofia Rafikova '13, part of the 2014 prize-winning team, who also served as advisor/coach
on the research presentation.
The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation provided partial support through a Senior Scientist Mentorship to Professor Hastings. We anticipate that this research will continue next summer.
Photos
Top Left: June Yang (L) and Nicholas Vandruff (C) explaining the electronics and mathematics research to an eager and interested audience.
Bottom Right: Maisha Zahed (L) explaining the chemistry research to an eager and interested audience.