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DISCLAIMER: Due to non-disclosure policies regarding unpublished laboratory research and design, information is omitted to preserve confidentiality. The information is owned by their respective organizations, and are not to be plagiarized in any way.
Theranostics with Radiation-Induced Ultrasound Emission Lab, or TRUE Lab, run by Dr. Liangzhong (Shawn) Xiang, gave me the opportunity to participate as an unpaid undergraduate assistant starting in Fall 2021 at UCI. I studied mainly under Siqi Wang, who at the time is a Senior Graduate student working towards his Ph.D. My lab pioneered and works with X-ray-induced Acoustic Computed Tomography (XACT) and other imaging technologies.
Under Siqi, I was given many tasks that ranged from small tasks such as making a lab coat rack, cleaning the hot plate and dishware, to larger important setups such as installing a moving rail to the top of an X-ray lead box, creating agar phantoms, and setting up the DAQ, pre-amplifier, and amplifiers for x-ray based ultrasound tests.
I was also tasked to read a few scholarly papers, instrumentation manuals, and tutorials. Over this experience I got to learn about proper lab etiquette, work with very costly instrumentation, and how to improvise and use the tools accessible to me.
Note: I can only show certain pictures due to respect of privacy for the work that we do in the lab, and over time I will have acquired new skills and done new things.
In Fall 2021, my coworker Sean C. and I applied for the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. We were selected as a UROP Fellow for the 2021-22 academic year, in which we will be conducting an experiment to improve transducer calibration for XACT Imaging in Cancer Research. It is my pleasure to work with Sean for the next two quarters on this project!
I also participated in the UROP Project Pitch Challenge for the UROP Spring 2022 Symposium. You can view all of the progress on the UROP 2022 Project page!
Beginning Winter 2022, I filled in for Siqi's research for the month's of January and February. By becoming more involved in the research process, I was able to troubleshoot and help solve some issues with hardware. I became the undergraduate hardware technician for our Dual Modal and XACT based systems, and continued to brief and lead other undergraduate students in various tasks and lessons. I began working through my LabVIEW code for my UROP project, supervised by Siqi.
Starting Spring 2022, my priorities shifted a lot. My focus was no longer on Siqi's research, and now was turned to my UROP project. Separately, I began to design an instruction manual for the Dual Modal System. I began to mentor four other undergraduates in computer-aided design (CAD) using SolidWorks, 3D-printing objects in the lab to help organize objects, or for custom making holders for various transducers and sensors.
During Summer 2022, I plan to being to study under Siqi directly to continue focusing on his research and towards the lab's major goals. I am assisting Siqi in running experiments, editing reports and an upcoming publication, and mentor a new undergraduate who began working with us this summer.
I also was fortunate to assist in an experiment hosted by the BELLA Lab from the Berkeley National Laboratory! Check out the small collage here.
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