EVENTS

Summer Research Colloquium

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40th Annual SCI Summer Research Colloquium

Friday, August 7th, 2026
Duncan Hall, Martel Hall | Rice University

The Smalley-Curl Institute Summer Research Colloquium began in 1986 as the RQI Colloquium and has been held in August of each year. The purpose of the SCI Summer Research Colloquium is to provide undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers working at Rice with an opportunity to present their most recent work. Researchers from all disciplines are welcome to participate and present their research - even if they are here only for the summer.

Presentations (either talks or posters) are meant to be technical, but also accessible to a mixed audience: Rice students and faculty members, attendees from government agencies, corporations, and neighboring universities. Although the presenters always bring their best professional appearances, the atmosphere is informal and friendly, which makes the Colloquium a great occasion for presenters to hone their communication skills to a mixed audience of scientists, engineers, government, and businesspeople.

(Note: Postdocs and graduate students can also register as judges for the undergraduate poster session.)

Registration

Registration is now closed.

Deadlines

August 2, 2026, midnight - Regular attendee deadline
July 1, 2026, midnight - Oral application deadline (Note: only graduate students and postdocs are eligible to be oral presenters.)
July 11, 2026, midnight - Poster presenter deadline (Not TWIG)

(One can only register as either a poster participant or an oral applicant, but not both)

Poster Dimensions
No larger than 36" x 48" (3' x 4'), preferably less than 4 feet across.

Judging Rubric
Click HERE to understand the judging criteria.

Directions and Parking
Please click HERE for directions to Martel Hall and parking information.

Keynote Speaker

David Sholl (Executive Vice President for Research, Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University)

Program

Click for PROGRAM

Agenda

8:00 am Breakfast and registration (Martel Hall)

8:25 am Introductory remarks (McMurtry Auditorium)

Keynote
8:30 - 9:00 am Professor David Sholl (Executive Vice President for Research, Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University), “How Reliable is the Chemical Engineering and Materials Chemistry Literature?”

Oral Session A (McMurtry Auditorium)
Quantum Platforms and Computing
Session Chair: Hayden Beatty (APGSA Officer, Kono Lab, APP/ECE/MSNE)

9:00 - 9:12 am Chengdong He (PHYA, Jo Group), “Programmable Quantum Dynamics with tweezer-trapped Atoms”

9:12 - 9:24 am Jason Ludmir (CS, Patel Group), “Hardware-Aware Compilation and Execution of Bivariate Bicycle Codes on Neutral-Atom Systems”

9:24 - 9:36am Nicholas DiBrita (APP, Patel Group), “An Assertion-Based Debugging Framework for Fault-Tolerant Quantum Programs”

9:36 - 9:48 am George Tomaras (PHYA, Pagano Group), “Trapped-Ion Quantum Simulator for the Simulation of Coherent and Dissipative Dynamics”

9:48 - 10:00 am Xiang Chen (ECE, Chen Group), “Coherent Control of Single Silicon T Centers via Resonant Optomechanical Crystal Cavities for Scalable Quantum Networks”

COFFEE BREAK
10:00 - 10:30 am

Oral Session B (McMurtry Auditorium)
Quantum Matter and Theory
Session Chair: Tanaya Karmakar (Graduate Student, APP/ECE)

10:30 - 10:42 am Wenjing Wu (APP, Kono/Huang Groups), “Cavity Quantum Fluctuation Melts a Correlated Electron Crystal”

10:42 - 10:54 am Alan Covarrubias (APP, Kono/Alabastri Groups), “Controlling the Topological Phase Transition in HgTe Quantum Wells with a High-Q Photonic Crystal Cavity”

10:54 - 11:06 am Chinmay Giridhar (PHYA, Bulchandani Group), “Detecting Emergent Paraparticles via Spin Correlations”

11:06 - 11:18 am Jonathan Stepp (PHYA, Hazzard Group), “An SU(N) generalization of the Two-Particle Self-Consistent method”

11:18 - 11:30 am Devesh Awasthi (CHEM, Shee Group), “Noncovalent Interaction Energies with Phaseless Auxiliary-Field Quantum Monte Carlo”

Lunch and Poster Session (Martell Hall)
11:30 am Lunch begins
12:00 - 2:00 pm Poster Session (undergraduate, graduate, postdoc, high school)

Oral Session C (McMurtry Auditorium)
Photonics, Sensing, and Control
Session Chair: John Lê (Graduate Student, APP/MSNE)

2:00 - 2:12 pm Siyang Cheng (CHEM, Gustavsson Group), “Implementation of lattice light sheet illumination and adaptable micro- and nanofabrication in single-objective light sheet microscopy”

2:12 - 2:24 pm Umar Arshad (ECE, Alabastri Group), “Engineering Electron-Phonon Temperature Inversion in Metallic Nanostructures”

2:24 - 2:36 pm Aryan Chugh (APP, Lee Group), “Reversible Photo-tuning of Moiré Potential via Monolayer MoS2”

2:36 - 2:48 pm Andres Sanchez (CHEM, Halas Group), “PFAS Detection with Surface-Enhanced Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy, Two Ways”

2:48 - 3:00 pm Hang Qian (ECE, Alabastri Group), “Topology-Optimized Metasurfaces for Noninvasive Deep Brain Stimulation”

COFFEE BREAK
3:00 - 3:30 pm

Oral Session D (McMurtry Auditorium)
Adaptive Materials and Wearables
Session Chair: Mia Cano (APGSA Officer, Sokolov Lab, APP/TMC)

3:30 - 3:42 pm Sujitkumar Bontapalle (CHBE, Verduzco Group), “Smart Polymers: Materials That Sense, Heal, and Adapt”

3:42 - 3:54pm Jiun-Hung Yi (MECH, Wehmeyer Group), “Alignment-Controlled Thermal Transport in Solution-Spun Carbon Nanotube Fibers”

3:54 - 4:06 pm Emilia Mann (MECH, Sanchez Group), “All-Carbon Nanotube Fiber Knits as Programmable Macromaterials”

4:06 - 4:18 pm Hung-Yu (Iris) Lin (MECH, Preston Group), “Self-Sensing by Design: Accurate Thermal Control of Textile Heaters”

4:18 - 4:30 pm Siyi Wang (APP, Sempionatto Group), “Anisotropic Microgroove Architectures for Bubble-Suppressing Soft Microfluidics in Wearable Sweat Biosensors for Epilepsy”

Reception
Poster Session for SCI TWIGS, Alliances, Labs, Centers, and Initiatives (Martell Hall)

4:30 pm Group Photo

4:45 pm Bar opens, and reception begins (appetizers)

4:45 - 6:15 pm Poster Session: Thematic Working Interest Groups (TWIGS), eQMA, RLEMM, LANP, RCCQ, RCQM, and RQI of the Smalley-Curl Institute

5:45 pm Dinner buffet

Award Ceremony (Martel Hall)
6:15 - 6:30 pm Announcements of awards

Awards

ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Platinum Award: Emilia Mann, Vanessa Sanchez Group
Gold Award: Andres Sanchez, Halas Group
Silver Award: Hung-Yu "Iris" Lin, Preston Group
Bronze Award: Aryan Chugh, Haeyeon Lee Group

POSTERS - GRADUATE
Platinum Award: Aosheen Anand, Pasquali Group
Gold Award: Jiezi Zhang, Tao Group
Silver Award: Claudia Agriesti, Taraballi Group, Houston Methodist
Bronze Award: Giulia Zaffaroni, Taraballi Group, Houston Methodist
People's Choice: Divyam Bansal, Halas Lab

POSTERS - UNDERGRADUATE
Gold Award: Katherine Voong, Hansen Group
Silver Award: Clayton Waski, Nagarajaiah Group
Bronze Award: Jesse Lufafa, Kono Group
People's Choice: Chima Obodoechi, Aditya Puppala, Zirong Wang, Rohini Dasgupta, and Srilaasya Thadiboyina, Adams Group