Use Your Summer to Excel

EQUATE will  advance knowledge on topics related to quantum materials, technologies, and computation. These new technologies will revolutionize fields such as information technology, medicine, metrology, and cryptography, with an impact on security areas such as defense and banking. High school researchers will use their scientific skills to create a wide range of new materials that can revolutionize quantum computing. Students will learn to grow and characterize new materials according to their structure, transport, and magnetic properties.  Other high school researchers will build and use new technologies such as Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) microscopy to find better ways to characterize materials or determine new applications such as non-invasive detection of neuron activity in animals. This is an exciting field with numerous projects and applications. Use this opportunity to find your place in the quantum revolution!

Animals encounter many challenges and their continued survival often relies on their ability to learn and remember these interactions. A variety of factors ranging from personality type, learning environment, stress, to genetics can influence cognitive capabilities (e.g. learning and memory). However, there is only a limited understanding of how these factors interact to contribute to differences in learning and memory between individuals. Overall, our NSF-funded project seeks to understand how an animal’s personality type constrains learning and memory capabilities and the underlying neurobiological and genetic mechanisms. We are looking for Young Nebraska Scientists to assist in conducting experiments aimed to investigate what external factors influence learning and memory. It will involve learning how to design and implement computer-assisted cognition assays and analyses using zebrafish.