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You are here: Home / Curriculum / Pre-First Year Summer Training

Pre-First Year Summer Training

 

In order to integrate students with chemistry, physics, and engineering backgrounds, to train students on the latest research methods, and to jump-start their graduate career, the ChaMP program begins in the summer of the incoming year with three preparatory courses, faculty seminars, instrument training workshops, and lab rotations. Students are supported on graduate research fellowships for the summer.

Typical Pre-First Year ChaMP Summer Program:   July – September of the incoming year

Course Descriptions

Chem/Phys 206 – Advanced Data Acquisition & Analysis
Introduces students to a variety of practical laboratory techniques, including lock-in, boxcar, coincidence counting, noise filtering, PID control, properties of common transducers, computer interfacing to instruments, vacuum technology, electronics, electron microscopy, microfabrication techniques, basic mechanical design, and shop skills. The Laboratory Skills course integrates physics and chemistry students into one class, and develops the skills necessary to excel in modern laboratories.

Phys 207 – Applied Physical Chemistry
Introduction to fundamental concepts in molecular structure and reactivity: theory of bonding, valence and molecular orbitals; structure and reactivity in inorganic chemistry; elements in molecular group theory; nomenclature in organic chemistry; and survey of macromolecules.

Chem 208 – Math Methods
Applications of mathematics to physical and chemical problems. Calculus of special functions, complex variables and vectors; linear vector spaces and eigenvalue problems. Differential Equations.”

Typical Summer Session Schedule
Faculty seminars
Faculty from the Departments of Chemistry, Physics, and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering give presentations in an intimate research setting on cutting-edge research from their groups.
Instrument training workshops
EDS and scanning and transmission electron microscopy at the Irvine Materials Research Institute (IMRI)
Nanofabrication at the Integrated Nanosystems Research Facility (INRF)
Student Machine Shop
Lab Rotations
The summer session concludes with lab rotations in which students work on short research projects in the labs of ChaMP faculty.
Industry connections & career preparation
A workshop at the COVE given by UCI Applied Innovation introduces students to industry environments and career preparation. Applied Innovation is a dynamic, innovative central platform for the UCI campus, entrepreneurs, inventors, the business community and investors to collaborate and move UCI research from lab to market.

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Posts

Prof. Qi Song joins the ChAMP Program

Spring 2025

Qi Song is an Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering

Song’s research interests lie within the discovery of low-dimensional quantum materials through atomic-scale synthesis, spectroscopy characterization, and device development leveraging interface states and emergent quantum effects.

https://engineering.uci.edu/users/qi-song

Prof. Ty Christoff-Tempesta joins the ChAMP Program

Fall 2024

Ty Christoff-Tempesta is an Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering

Prof. Christoff-Tempesta specializes in molecular design to engineer hierarchical properties in soft matter systems, combining organic chemistry, molecular self-assembly, and polymer science to create innovative materials. His group focuses on advancing sustainable materials with circular life cycles, derived from renewable resources, and designed for recyclability or upcyclability.

Current research activities include (1) developing new molecular design principles for sustainable materials, (2) using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy to study nanoscale dynamics and establish design rules for material behavior, and (3) designing functional supramolecular materials that self-organize and scale from nanoscale to macroscale. The lab’s research aims to address critical global challenges, such as providing sustainable alternatives to plastics, improving environmental remediation, and advancing technologies for energy and healthcare applications.

https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/tctlab/

Welcome 2024 ChAMP students!

Prof. Lorenzo Valdevit joins the ChAMP Program

Summer 2024

Lorenzo Valdevit is a Professor and Chair of Materials Science and Engineering

Prof. Valdevit works in the general areas of mechanics of materials, structural materials science and advanced manufacturing, developing analytical, numerical and experimental techniques across multiple length scales. Among his primary research goals are the optimal design, modeling, fabrication and experimental characterization of metamaterials and structures with unprecedented combinations of properties. Current areas of interest are the investigation and exploitation of beneficial size effects in nano-architected materials, the non-linear design of periodic and disordered mechanical metamaterials, and the understanding of the processing / microstructure / properties relations in additive manufacturing (in particular, two-photon polymerization Direct Laser Writing, Direct Ink Writing, Laser Powder Bed Fusion and Cold Spray Deposition).

https://valdevit.eng.uci.edu

Prof. Alvin Yu join the ChAMP Program

Summer 2024

Alvin Yu is an Assistant Professor of Physiology & Biophysics

Many cellular processes that are considered the hallmarks of living systems undergo physical and chemical processes ranging from atomic-scale phenomena, including the quantum chemistry of bond cleavage, to micrometer-sized processes such as the self-assembly of proteins. These processes are innately multiscale and span time and length scales from the molecular to mesoscopic. Alvin Yu’s research group investigates the mechanisms by which biological processes function and elucidates them using theory, computational modeling, and simulations.

https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=7131

Prof. Matthew Sheldon joins the ChAMP Program

Fall 2023

Matthew Sheldon is an Associate Professor of Chemistry

Sheldon’s research group studies fundamental questions about optical energy conversion relating to plasmonic and inorganic nanoscale materials. Experiments are principally designed to identify and optimize unique nanoscale phenomena that are useful for solar energy, as well as related opportunities at the intersection of nanophotonics and chemistry, for broad application beyond the scope of solar energy. Current research activities explore how nanofabricated materials can provide systematic control over the thermodynamic parameters governing optical power conversion. By controllably shaping, confining, and interconverting the energy and entropy of a radiation field, several different classes of light-powered heat engines become possible. 

Prof. Robert Nielsen joins the ChAMP Program

Fall 2023
Robert Nielsen is an Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
Nielson’s research interests include quantum mechanical, microkinetic, and data modeling to understand and control chemical reactivity. His group has recently begun a general effort to replace screening in computational materials design problems with optimization.  The process combines some representation of Schrodinger’s equation, stat mech, kinetic modeling, traditional chemistry ideas and data science.
https://engineering.uci.edu/users/robert-nielsen

Prof. Sabee Molloi joins the ChAMP Program

Summer 2023

Sabee Molloi is a Professor & Vice Chairman of Research, Radiological Sciences

Molloi’s research interests include quantitative aspects of medical x-ray imaging and its applications to cardiac and breast imaging.

Some of his current projects include:

  • Spectral breast CT
  • Myocardial blood flow measurement using CT and its applications to coronary artery disease
  • Pulmonary blood flow measurement using CT and its applications to lung disease
  • Quantification of myocardial mass at risk
  • Detection of ischemic stroke using dual energy CT

https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=3212

2023 Summer BBQ

ChAMP ushered in the new class at our annual summer BBQ on July 14th. Welcome students!

Prof. Elizabeth Lee joins the ChAMP program

Fall 2022

Elizabeth lee is an Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering.

Lee’s research interests lie within the broad field of computational materials and chemistry, particularly electronic and chemical processes in solid-state and nanostructured semiconductors. Her research aims to bring fundamental understanding of how the dynamical arrangement of atoms and their electronic structure impact the material-wide properties during their synthesis, processing, and device operating conditions.

Current research activities focus on three areas: (1) quantum point defects in semiconductors, (2) solid-state interfaces in materials for energy applications, and (3) methodological developments for materials modeling using machine learning approaches.

(https://engineering.uci.edu/users/elizabeth-my-lee)

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