2023 Community College Internship (CCI) Program Participants & Projects
Student: Matthew Dacany
Mentor: Derek Mendez
Project Title: Simulations of X-ray diffraction data
Project Description: X-ray crystallography is a technique used by biologists to study the structure of macromolecules, by analyzing resulting diffraction patterns from focusing X-rays on a crystal containing the molecule of interest. These diffraction patterns take the form of images; we can learn about the structure of the macro-molecule by using reconstruction algorithms to analyze these images
Student: Rebecca Gloyer
Mentor: William Colocho
Project Title: 2023 Linear Accelerator Coherent Light Source Availability Reports
Project Description: This digital poster describes the results of the 2023 Linear Accelerator Coherent Light Source (LCLS) Availability Reports project. The LCLS is a laser that is used in many forms of scientific research, and thus easy access to and data analysis on its availability status are necessary to both organize when and where the experiments are taking place and investigate areas where availability could be improved, thus improving reliability. Currently, this is a manual process where employees have to create a Comprehensive Accelerator Tool for Enhancing Reliability (CATER) report and separately input the same information in the LCLS Google Calendar, leaving room for errors and time ineffectively spent. While technical roadblocks led to lacking testing of this project’s actual automation ability, I took existing code to edit and improve efficiency, better streamlining the process of automating
Student: Ava Schaeffer
Mentor: Scott Kaminski
Project Title: Modeling and Simulation of Vacuum Systems
Project Description: This project report consists of two projects: the first project to develop skills and experience in working with vacuum system modeling and simulation, and a second more-complex main project. The former is of a spherical vacuum chamber used to test different types and brands of vacuum equipment. The purpose of the project was to learn how to create an accurate vacuum simulation using Molflow, since the pressure within the chamber is mathematically symmetrical and uniform. Producing a simulation that echoes this result would show that the simulation created is accurate to the real model. Additionally, it would provide much-needed models for the chamber, since none existed. The experience gained from this project provided the skills needed for the more complex main project, which was involved with the cryogenic radio frequency (RF)-pump X-ray probe project, or Cryo-RFX for short. This system was designed to use X-rays to analyze what happens to superconducting materials as they transition in and out of a superconducting state, while also being exposed to an electromagnetic field. This simulates the environment these materials would be in when installed in a particle accelerator.
The goal of the project was to determine a ratio between the gas pressure measured by the gauge on one end of the mechanism and the gas pressure by the sample on the other side. A negative solid model of the system was developed and a simulation created in Molflow, which determined that the pressure at the sample is double the pressure at the gauge.
