Undergraduate Researchers

More than 900 undergraduate researchers have worked in our lab over the 30 years since we came to UCSB.  There are many opportunities for undergraduates to get involved in serious research, and publish papers in professional journals before they graduate. Here are some of our recent graduates and current undergraduate researchers:

Jonathan Madajian (Class of 2018) Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering. Lab Manager. Research: Phased laser arrays, vacuum chambers, finite element analysis, and electronics design for planetary defense, interstellar propulsion, and remote composition analysis. Currently working in industry. In Lubin’s lab, my chief aim was always enabling our researchers. To that end, I mentored dozens of students, organized initiatives, and spent countless hours cobbling resources together to produce annual conference papers. Because of this, I have an overview of the lab’s numerous projects and am frequently the point-of-entry for prospective researchers. I still help out when time permits.
Alexander “Sasha” Cohen (Class of 2019) Physics Department, College of Letters & Sciences. Research: Phased laser arrays, vacuum chambers, telescope systems, data acquisition/analysis My work pertains largely to the mechanical design and construction of dynamic and static systems relating to radio telescope CMB anisotropy experiments, phased laser arrays for planetary defense and directed energy propulsion, and vacuum chambers for ablation and spectroscopy experiments.
Jessie Su (Class of 2019) Physics Department, College of Letters & Sciences. Research: Laser ablation of meteoric material; spectroscopic analysis of vaporized meteoric material
Roert Salazar (Class of 2018) Physics and Environmental Science, double major, College of Letters & Sciences. Research: Deployable structures; origami models of photon sails for directed energy propulsion Beginning in January 2017, I will be furthering the development of a laser propelled sail for an interstellar spacecraft that can maintain stability during acceleration while minimizing mass and maximizing reflectivity. Since these sails could be scaled up to accommodate more propulsion and larger payloads, transporting them to orbit where they could be accelerated to the stars would require stowing them to small compact sizes. And for that, an origami solution would likely be advantageous. Website: Origami for an Interdependent World
Harry She (Class of 2018, University of Aukland, New Zealand). Bachelor of Engineering (Honors) specialized in Software Engineering and Bachelor of Science majoring in Physics. Research: Aerospace engineering, software applications, data streaming, data analysis/mining, CubeSats. I do various software related tasks, including working on the laser and Greenpol code, and the design, analysis, and development for the Wafer Scale Spacecraft (WSS) here at UCSB as part of our NASA program to develop systems for future long duration deep space missions. I am the contact for Rocket Lab and the University of Auckland for collaborations and launch discussions.
Noah Polek-Davis (Class of 2018) Dept. of Geological Sciences, Climate and Environment Emphasis I’m presently researching the energy of hurricanes in the hopes of mitigating their destructive potential, possibly using directed energy.
Other members of the Lab Crew

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