The Joint Texas APS meeting (TSAPS) at UTA 2020 Nov. 12-14 (Virtual Event)
Update: Extension for abstract submission to Nov. 5th.
Information for student presentations: 10 minutes for presentation and 2 minutes for discussion.
Schedules for Saturday Nov. 14, 2020
| 8:30 AM-12:00 Noon Keynote Plenary Session |
| Speakers | Hosts |
| Khaledi, Morteza Gholi morteza.khaledi@uta.edu | Wei Chen weichen@uta.edu |
| Alex Weiss weiss@uta.edu | Wei Chen weichen@uta.edu |
| Coleman, James james.coleman@uta.edu | Andrew Brandt BRANDTA@uta.edu |
| Datta, Supriyo datta@purdue.edu | Huda, Muhammad huda@uta.edu |
| Gary Zank garyp.zank@gmail.com | Lopez, Ramon Edgardo relopez@uta.edu |
| T. K. Sham tsham@uwo.ca | Wei Chen weichen@uta.edu |
| Jodi Cooley cooley@physics.smu.edu | Sally Hicks hicks@udallas.edu |
| 9:00-11:00AM Teaching and Education workshops Chairs: Thomas O’kuma and William Newton Contents and Topics |
| Parallel Session 1 1:00-5:00 PM | Parallel Session 2 1:00-5:00PM | Parallel Session 3 1:00-4:15 PM | Parallel Session 4 1:00-5:00 PM | Parallel Session 5 2:00-4:44 PM | Parallel Session 6 1:00-5:00PM |
| Condensed Matter Physics | Medical Physics II | Data Science | Com Space and Astro Physics 1:00-2:30 Materials Physics 2:30-5:06 PM | Medical Physics III | High Energy Physics |
| Hosts & Emails Host: M. Huda; huda@uta.edu Co-Host: S. Barman; sajib@uta.edu | Hosts & Emails 1:00-3:05 PM Xun Jia xun.jia@utsouthwestern.edu Manciu, Felicia S. fsmanciu@utep.edu 3:10-4:58 PM Lumata, Lloyd Lloyd.Lumata@utdallas.edu Slinker, Jason slinker@utdallas.edu | Hosts & Emails | Hosts & Emails 1:00-2:30 Andrew Brandt BRANDTA@uta.edu 2:30 -6:00 PM Jeotikanta Mohapatra jeotikanta.mohapatra@uta.edu | Hosts & Emails Joseph Ngai jngai@uta.edu | Hosts & Emails |
| 6:30-7:30 PM Closing and Award Ceremony |
November 14th Agenda
Agenda for the Morning Opening and Plenary Sessions – Nov. 14
| Time/Date | Activity | Titles | Speakers | Chairs |
| 8:30-9:00 AM Nov. 14 | Opening and welcome | TSAPS Opening and Welcome | Dr. Morteza Gholi Khaledi Dean College of Science Dr. Alex Weiss Chair Department of Physics | Wei Chen |
| 9:00-9:35 AM Nov. 14 | Keynote Presentation | Single-Layer Coupled Quantum Dot Lattices | Dr. James Coleman UT Arlington | Andrew Brandt |
| 9:35-10:10 AM Nov. 14 | Keynote Presentation | Probabilistic Computing with p-Bits: Between a Bit and a q-Bit | Dr. Supriyo Datta Purdue University | Mahammad Huda |
| 10:10-10:45 AM Nov. 14 | Keynote Presentation | The Genesis of Humanity’s Galactic Adventure | Dr. Gary P. Zank University of Alabama in Huntsville | Ramon Lopez |
| 10:45-11:20 AM Nov. 14 | Keynote Presentation | The interplay of synchrotron light and nanotechnology- how it affects our daily life | Dr. T.K. Sham Western University Canada | Wei Chen |
| 11:20-11:55 AM Nov. 14 | Keynote Presentation | Fantastical Dark Matter and Where to Find It | Dr. Jodi Cooley Southern Methodist University | Sally Hicks |
| Parallel Session 1 – Condensed Matter Physics, Nov. 14, Saturday, 2020 |
| Time slot | Speaker | Title | Affiliations |
| 1:00 – 1:25 pm | Mark R. Pederson | Modeling Molecular Magnetic Qubits and Quantum Devices: Applications and Challenges | University of Texas at El Paso |
| 1:25-1:50 pm | Agham Posadas | Oxygen scavenging of SrTiO3 and its implications for oxide deposition | University of Texas at Austin |
| 1:50 -2:15 pm | Jeotikanta Mohapatra | Compaction of Co nanowire assemblies with high energy density | University of Texas at Arlington |
| 2:15-2:40 pm | Varghese Chirayath | Auger Mediated Positron Sticking Induced Electron Spectroscopy (AMPSIES): A novel tool to probe surface localized electronic structure | University of Texas at Arlington |
| 2:40 – 5:10 PM | 11 contributed talks | ||
| 2:40 -2:52 PM | Chandra Shahi | Removing Combinatorial Complexity for Systematic Initialization of Electronic Geometries for Fermi L\”{o}wdin-Orbital Self-Interaction Corrections to Density Functional Approximations | University of Texas at El Paso |
| 2:52 – 3:04 PM | Qiyue Wang | $Z_2$ Topology and Edge States of Twisted Bilayer Graphene | University of Texas at Dallas |
| 3:05 – 3:10 PM | Break | ||
| 3:10 – 3:22 PM | Zahra Hooshmand | Control of Spin Ordered Mn$_{\mathrm{3}}$ Qubits: A Density Functional Study | University of Texas at El Paso |
| 3:22 -3:34 PM | Ruchika Dhawan | Si $_{\mathrm{0.97\thinspace }}$Ge $_{\mathrm{0.03\thinspace }}$Microelectronic Devices for Power Generation and Thermal Management | University of Texas at Dallas |
| 3:34 – 3:46 PM | M. Chrysler | Tuning Band-Alignment at a Semiconductor-Crystalline Oxide Heterojunction via Electrostatic Modulation of the Interfacial Dipole | University of Texas at Arlington |
| 3:46 – 3:58 PM | Shun-Chiao Chang | Detecting one-dimensional interacting topological phases by edge-state pinning | University of Houston |
| 3:58 – 4:10 PM | Xiaotao Xu | Synthesis of Atomically Flat La$_{\mathrm{2-x}}$Sr$_{\mathrm{x}}$CuO$_{\mathrm{4}}$ Superconducting Thin Films by Atomic-Layer-by-Layer Molecular Beam Epitaxy | University of Texas at Dallas |
| 4:10 -4:22 PM | Yan Jiang | Molybdenum Disulfide Film Growth by Chemical Vapor Deposition with Facial Treated Substrates | University of North Texas |
| 4:22 – 4:34 PM | Michael McGarry | Millimeter-Wave Permittivity of Integrated Circuit Dielectrics | University of Texas at Dallas |
| 4:34 – 4:46 PM | Hanof Alkhaldi | Computing the Tantalum–Nitrogen Phase Diagram at High Pressure and High Temperature | University of Texas at Arlington |
| 4:46 – 4:58 PM | Ibikunle Ojo | Growth of Monolayer MoS$_{\mathrm{2}}$ on Hydrophobic Substrates as a Method to Prevent Ambient Degradation | University of North Texas |
| Parallel Session 2 – Medical Physics II |
| Program for Day 3, Nov. 14, Friday, 2020 |
| Invited talks (1:00 – 3:05 PM) Chair: Xun Jia, Felicia S. Manciu |
| Time slot | Speaker | Title | Affiliation |
| 1:00 – 1:25 PM | Felicia S. Manciu | Ultrasensitive Detection of Neurotransmitters– a Comparative Experimental and Theoretical Study of Their Dynamics and Interactions | University of Texas at El Paso |
| 1:25 – 1:50 PM | Xun Jia | Intelligent Treatment Planning for Radiation Therapy | UT Southwestern Medical Center |
| 1:50 – 2:15 PM | Jason Slinker | Sensing Biological Activity with Electrochemical DNA Devices | University of Texas at Dallas |
| 2:15 – 2:40 PM | Neil Kirby | Radiation Measurements with a DNA Dosimeter | UT Health San Antonio |
| 2:40 – 3:05 PM | Yujie Chi | Development and Application of gMicroMC for Radiation Induced DNA Damage Study | University of Texas at Arlington |
| Break (3:05 – 3:10 PM) |
| Contributed talks (3:10 – 4:58 PM) Chair: Lloyd Lumata, Jason Slinker |
| Time slot | Speaker | Title | Affiliation |
| 3:10 – 3:22 PM | Ashan Wettasinghe | Detecting Attomolar DNA Damaging Anticancer Drug Activity in Cell Lysates with Electrochemical DNA Devices | University of Texas at Dallas |
| 3:22 – 3:34 PM | Fatemeh Khashami | $^{\mathrm{13}}$C NMR Studies on Intracellular and Extracellular Lactate Production from High-Fructose Corn Syrup Metabolism in Cancer | University of Texas at Dallas |
| 3:34 – 3:46 PM | Marilyn Wells | Making Biofilms Easier to Eat: a Story of Blood, Bacteria, and Bulk Mechanics | University of Texas at Austin |
| 3:46 – 3:58 PM | Jose Guerrero | Combined Theoretical and Experimental Spectroscopic Study of Nordihydroguaiaretic Acid | University of Texas at El Paso |
| 3:58 – 4:10 PM | Nil Pandey | A Facile Synthesis Method of Copper–Cysteamine Nanoparticles and Investigation of ROS Production for Cancer Treatment | University of Texas at Arlington |
| 4:10 – 4:22 PM | Youfang Lai | Investigating Water Radiolysis in FLASH Radiotherapy Using GPU-based Fast Monte Carlo Simulation Package | University of Texas at Arlington |
| 4:22 – 4:34 PM | Bong Han Lee | Manganese-Nitrogen and Gadolinium-Nitrogen Co-doped Graphene Quantum Dots as Bimodal Magnetic Resonance and Fluorescence Imaging Nanoprobes | Texas Christian University |
| 4:34 – 4:46 PM | Qing Wang | The effect of 13C nuclear spin density on 13C dynamic nuclear polarization signal and relaxation at cryogenic temperature | University of Texas at Dallas |
| 4:46 – 4:58 PM | Harsh Arya | Electromagnetic Focusing System for Nano-scale Radiobiological Studies with MeV Range Multi Ions | University of Texas at Arlington |
| Parallel Session 3 – Data Science |
| Program for Day 3, Nov. 14, Saturday, 2020 |
| Invited talks (1:00 – 2:50 PM) Chair: Amir Shahmoradi |
| Time slot | Speaker | Title |
| 1:00 – 2:15 PM | Claus Wilke University of Texas Austin | Data Visualization Techniques |
| 2:15 – 2:50 PM | Amir Shahmoradi University of Texas Arlington | Data Science Competencies Education |
| Break (2:50 – 3:00 PM) |
| Contributed talks (3:00 – 4:15 PM) Chair: Shashank Kumbhare |
| Time slot | Speaker | Title |
| 3:00 – 3:15 PM | Timothy Burt | Classification of Spin States in a 3D Ising Model: A Deep Learning Approach |
| 3:15 – 3:30 PM | Joshua Osborne | A Probabilistic Approach to Estimating the Unknown Redshifts of 1366 BATSE Catalog Long-duration Gamma-Ray Bursts |
| 3:30 – 3:45 PM | Paul Terman | The Search for Lightly Ionizing Particles in the Large Underground Xenon Experiment |
| 3:45 – 4:00 PM | Rushikesh Patil | A case study of a period when there was no correlation between ACE data and data from THEMIS B/C upstream from Earth |
| 4:00 – 4:15 PM | Christopher Bryant | How unbiased statistical methods lead to biased scientific discoveries: A case study of the Efron-Petrosian statistic applied to the luminosity-redshift evolution of Gamma-Ray Bursts |
| Parallel Session 4 – Com Space and Astrophysics 1:00-2:36 Materials Physics 2:40-5:40 PM |
| Combined Astrophysics & Space Physics – Nov. 14 Chair: Andrew Brandt |
| Time | Speakers | Institution | Talk Title |
| 1:00 PM | Rebecca Preston (Lustberg) | Texas A&M-Commerce | Bayesian inference of neutron star crust properties using neutron skin constraint |
| 1:12 PM | Cristhian J. A. Garcia-Quintero, Mustapha Ishak, and Orion Ning | UT Dallas | Current constraints on deviations from General Relativity using binning in redshift and scale |
| 1:24 PM | Patrick Flint Morgan and Dr. William Newton | Texas A&M-Commerce | Using Nuclear Data to Calculate the Amount of Crust-Core Coupling During Pulsar Glitches |
| 1:36 PM | Amber Stinson and Dr. William Newton | Texas A&M-Commerce | Cracking a Neutron Star Crust |
| 1:48 PM | Chelsi Nelson | UT Arlington | Magnetopause Crossing During Morning and Evening Hours Occurring in Geomagnetic Storms |
| 2:00 PM | Christian-Andrew Bagby-Wright | UT Arlington | Fate of Plasmasphere Material: Is Recirculated Material a Significant Contributor to the Ring Current? |
| 2:12 PM | |||
| 2:24 PM | Khandaker Sharmin Ashrafi | Baylor University | Determining the plasma conditions inside the sheath using dust grain as probes |
| Materials Physics Nov. 14 Saturday – Chair: Jeotikanta Mohapatra |
| Time slot | Speaker | Title | Affiliations |
| 2:40 -2:52 PM | Esther J. Ocola | Intramolecular π-Type Hydrogen Bonding in 2-Cyclopenten-1-ol | Texas A&M University, College Station |
| 2:52 – 3:04 PM | Sima Lotfimaragloo | Positron induced double electron emission from bilayer graphene | University of Texas at Arlington |
| 3:04 – 3:16 PM | BREAK | ||
| 3:16 – 3:28 PM | Hussain Alathlawi | Effects of Hydrogen Passivation on the fullerene derived Si30C30 clusters | University of Texas at Arlington |
| 3:28-3:40 PM | Vida Nooshnab | Photoconductive Control of High Order Localized Surface Plasmon Modes in Au-Si-Au Nanodisk Stacking | University of Texas at San Antonio |
| 3:40 – 3:52 PM | Emil Penafiel | Morphological Effects on the Plexitonic Interaction in Au@MoSe2 Nanodisk Dimers | University of Texas at San Antonio |
| 3:52 – 4:04 PM | Lauren Henderson | Altering Magnetic Properties of Iron Filament PLA Using Magnetic Field Assisted Additive Manufacturing | Texas State University |
| 4:04 – 4:16 PM | Christopher B. Marble | Probing Hydrogen Bonding in DMSO-Water Solutions Using Hyper-Raman Spectroscopy | Texas A & M University |
| 4:16-4:28 PM | Rudin Kraja | Computational Modeling of the Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) of Periodic Silver Nanosphere Arrays | University of Texas at San Antonio |
| 4:28 – 4:40 PM | Bishal Marasini | Calculations of Stone-Wales and Divacancy Defect Formation Energies in Graphene and Carbon Nanotubes: A Density Functional Theory Study | University of North Texas |
| 4:40 – 4:52 PM | Chris Howard | Using a novel approach to estimate packing density and related electrical resistance in multiwall carbon nanotube networks | University of North Texas |
| 4:52 – 5:04 PM | BREAK | ||
| 5:04 – 5:16 PM | Brianna Western | Anomalous Hopping Conduction Discovered in N-Type a-Si | University of North Texas |
| 5:16 – 5:28 PM | Alina Valimukhametova | Graphene Oxide Photoluminescence Quenching by Electric Field Tuning | Texas Christian University |
| 5:28 – 5:40PM | Alyson Laskowski | Ultracold Collisions of Alkali Atoms | Trinity University |
| Parallel Session 5 – Medical Physics III |
| Contributed talks Medical Physics SESSION III – Saturday Nov. 14 (2:00 – 3:24 PM) Chair: Joseph Ngai |
| Time slot | Speaker | Title | Affiliation |
| 2:00 – 2:12 PM | Fatemeh Khashami | Western Blot Studies of Key Enzymes in Glucose and Fructose Metabolism in Cancer | University of Texas at Dallas |
| 2:12 – 2:24 PM | Asiye Asaadzade | $^{\mathrm{13}}$C NMR Spectroscopic Studies of Glutamine Addiction and Metabolism in Cancer | University of Texas at Dallas |
| 2:24 – 2:36 PM | Wirya Feizi | 13C NMR studies of metabolism of 13C-ethyl acetoacetate in pancreatic cancer cells | University of Texas at Dallas |
| 2:36 – 2:48 PM | Mukesh Tumbapo | Computational Studies of Monolayer Silicene for DNA Base Detection | University of Central Oklahoma |
| 2:48 – 3:00 PM | Diego Andrade Garcia | SOURCES OF IMAGE TEXTURE VARIATIONS IN TOMOGRAPHIC BREAST IMAGING | University of Houston |
| 3:00 – 3:12 PM | Ananya Mondal | Force-extension statistics of biomolecules under inhomogeneous forces | University of Houston |
| 3:12 – 3:30 PM | Break |
| Contributed talks in Medical Physics SESSION III – Saturday Nov. 14 (3:30 – 4:44 PM) Chair: Joseph Ngai |
| Time slot | Speaker | Title | Affiliation |
| 3:30 – 3:42 PM | Damon Sprouts | Inverse Treatment Planning using a deep Neural network based Virtual treatment planner (VTP) in Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for Prostate Cancer. | University of Texas at Arlington |
| 3:42 – 3:56 PM | Liyun Wang | Bacterial mechanosensing of substrate stiffness during biofilm initiation: a tale of two steps (and two sensors). | University of Texas at Austin |
| 3:56 – 4:08 PM | Chelsea Sanchez | Carbon-13 NMR Spectroscopy of Aberrant Beta-Galactosidase and Arginase Activities in Cancer$\backslash $cf0 | University of Texas at Dallas |
| 4:08 – 4:20 PM | Christina Pospisil | Mathematical Models for Living Forms in Medical Physics Submodel 1: The Information Processing from Teeth to Nerves | University of Texas at Dallas |
| 4:20 – 4:32 PM | Zilei Chen | Growth Characteristics of Pseudomonas Biofilms in Different Types of Gels | University of Texas at Austin |
| 4:32 – 4:44 PM | Mara Eccles | Experimental Method Development and Analysis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Surface Attachment | University of Texas at Austin |
| 4:44 – 4:56 PM | Suzy Lidstrom | The role of physics in understanding consciousness | Texas A&M University |
| Parallel Session 6 – High Energy Physics |
| HEP Schedule – Nov. 14th |
| Start Time | Stop Time | Speaker | Talk Title | Affiliation |
| 1:00 | 1:12 | Grant Parker | Searching for Non-Standard Interactions Through IceCube Neutrino Fluxes | UT Arlington |
| 1:14 | 1:26 | Sumit Ghosh | Explaining $(g-2)_{\mu,e}$, the KOTO anomaly and the MiniBooNE excess in an extended Higgs model with sterile neutrinos | Texas A&M University |
| 1:28 | 1:40 | Sagar Sharma Poudel | Cosmogenic neutron background for liquid argon based dark matter searches | University of Houston |
| 1:42 | 1:54 | Sebastian Torres-Lara | Implementation of Future Liquid Noble Dark Matter Detectors into The SuperNova Early Warning System | University of Houston |
| 1:56 | 2:08 | Frank Malatino | Development of x-ray detection method for the HUNTER Collaboration | University of Houston |
| 2:10 | 2:22 | Sadman Ahmed Shanto | Machine-Learning Assisted Muon Tomography | Texas Tech University |
| 2:24 | 2:36 | Karla Silva | The NEXT Experiment | UTArlington |
| 2:38 | 2:50 | Bailey Tallman | Fermi-LAT gamma ray observations — potential support for a multicomponent dark matter scenario | Texas A\&M University |
| 2:52 | 3:04 | Drue Lubanski | AMS-02 observations of antiprotons and Planck limits on dark matter annihilation — potential support for a multicomponent dark matter scenario | Texas A\&M University |
| 3:06-3:18 Break |
| 3:20 | 3:32 | Abhijit Chakraborty | Near-horizon aspects of acceleration radiation detected by an atom in a free fall into a black hole | University of Houston |
| 3:34 | 3:46 | Roshan Mammen Abraham | Neutral Current Neutrino Interactions at FASER$\nu$ | Oklahoma State University |
| 3:48 | 4:00 | Jacqueline Baeza-Rubio | Properties of two-electron topologies for neutrinoless double beta decay in xenon gas | UT Arlington |
| 4:02 | 4:14 | Adil Hussain | Radiation-hardness Studies of Cerium-doped Fused-silica Optical Fiber | Texas Tech University |
| 4:16 | 4:28 | Gareth May | REBCO-based dipole optimized for an ultimate-energy hadron collider | Texas A&M University |
| 4:30 | 4:42 | John Rabaey | A neutron intercepting silicon chip | University of Dallas |
| 4:44 | 4:56 | Karen Navarro | Developing of Ba ion source and data analysis for NEXT search for neutrinoless double beta deca | University of Texas at Arlington |
| 4:58 | 5:10 | Nicholas Byrnes | Development of an Optical Time Projection Chamber in Gaseous Xenon | UT Arlington |
| 5:12 | 5:24 | Peter Hedlesky | Investigation of Neutron Flux resolution and Efficiency of the Neutron Intercepting Silicon Chip | University of Dallas |
| 5:26 | 5:38 | Adrian Thompson | Axion-like Particles in the Laboratory | Texas A&M University |
| 5:40 | 5:52 | Leslie Rogers | Mitigation of Backgrounds from Cosmogenic 137Xe in Xenon Gas Experiments using 3He Neutron Capture | University of Texas in Arlington |
| 5:54 | 6:06 | Joaquin Grefa | QCD Equation of State and Phase Diagram from Holographic Black Holes | Univ Houston |
| 6:08 | 6:20 | Gh Saleh | Photon, a new atom (Primary building blocks of Electrons, Protons and Neutrons) | Saleh Institute |