Computation and Metal-Organic Frameworks: Tools of the Trade
Nickolas Gantzler

Metal-organic Frameworks (MOFs) have exploded in popularity over the past few decades due to their high internal surface area and chemical customizability. MOFs are made of inorganic ions or clusters of ions, often called nodes, coordinated by organic "linker" molecules. Their extreme modularity presents a combinatorial problem that is well suited for computational investigation. Under the umbrella of computational materials discovery, I research fundamental adsorption properties of MOFs. In this talk, I will discuss the software and techniques I employ for in silico construction and high-throughput screening of MOFs.

Nickolas Ganztler is a graduate student in Physics working with Cory Simon (Chemical Engineering) and David Roundy (Physics).
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How I Started doing PER (and how the pandemic modified that)
Christian Solorio

The focus of this talk will be my experiences getting started in Physics Education Research (PER). PER is a growing sub-field of physics that researches how students learn physics and how instructors teach physics. In 2018, the NSF awarded Oregon State University's PER group a grant to investigate upper-division quantum mechanics. One of the goals of this investigation was to identify how the knowledge of discrete spin systems might help student’s understanding of continuous quantum systems. Leveraging computation, where wavefunctions are necessarily discretized, is a promising strategy of exploring this. I will detail how I generated a research question related to quantum mechanics and computation and then discuss the experimental design for this research which included in-class observations (before the University began Emergency Remote Teaching due to the pandemic) and remote interviews over Zoom during the pandemic. I will describe the process for analyzing the qualitative data I have gathered. Finally, I will talk about what my research looks like going forward.

Christian Solorio is a graduate student in Physics working in the Physics Education Research Group