Our students culminate their studies with a Master’s thesis or project. Below is a collection of abstracts from previous MIS theses or projects.

Sample Abstract 1

Optical gradient index media have the property where the spatial variation of the index of refraction is continuous along the direction transverse to the optical axis. Many emerging technologies in optics require gradient index components, and a firm understanding of the physics of light propagation in these components is required. Presented here are the mathematical foundations used to analyze light propagation in planar quadratic index profile waveguides One transverse direction is used in this analysis, and light propagation is seen to have periodic behavior. Also presented here is a comparison of ray bundles and wave intensities in quadratic index waveguides, with the intent to use this machinery to further ray chaos theory.

Sample Abstract 2

A novel approach is proposed to forecast the likelihood of climate-change across spatial landscape gradients. This hybrid approach involves reconstructing past precipitation and temperature using the self-organizing map technique; determining quantile trends in the climate-change variables by quantile regression modeling; and computing conditional forecasts of climate-change variables based on self-similarity in quantile trends using the fractionally differenced auto-regressive integrated moving average technique. The proposed modeling approach is applied to states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah) in the southwestern US, where conditional forecasts of climate-change variables are evaluated against recent (2012) observations, evaluated at a future time period (2030), and evaluated as future trends (2009-2059). These results have broad economic, political, and social implications because they quantify uncertainty in climate-change forecasts affecting various sectors of society. Another benefit of the proposed hybrid approach is that it can be extended to any spatiotemporal scale providing self-similarity exists.

Sample Abstract 3

Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWNTs) have attracted much attention as a candidate material for future nano-scale ‘beyond silicon’ devices. However industrial scale operations have been impeded by difficulties in separating the metallic and semiconducting species. This paper addresses the use of  highly inhomogeneous alternating electric fields, dielectrophoresis, to isolate SWNT species in scaled systems. Both numerical and experimental methods will be discussed.