As a Loyola student, you have the opportunity to work alongside our talented professors to partner in collaborative research. Learn more about some recent research and projects currently underway.
Recent and Forthcoming Publications on Fracking
Professor Ladd’s research has yielded many publications and invitations to speak, which include:
Ladd, Anthony E. (forthcoming). “Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss: The Continuing Hegemony of Fossil Fuels and Hydraulic Fracking in the Third Carbon Era.” Humanity and Society.
Ladd, Anthony E. 2014. “Environmental Disputes and Opportunity-Threat Impacts Surrounding Natural Gas Fracking in Louisiana.” Social Currents 1(3): 209-228.
Senior Capstone Projects
All majors in French, Latin American Studies, and Spanish prepare a senior Capstone project which is presented, normally during their last semester at Loyola. Projects vary greatly, from literary analysis, to concerts, to social research--or whatever makes sense with the student's background and interests!
Nanomaterial Synthesis
Dr. Heinecke’s research interests focus on nanomaterials synthesis and their applications in biomedicine and electronic devices. She is interested in 1) developing cationic nanomaterials as a platform for multivalent display of host defense peptides as novel antibiotic agents and 2) building defined molecular assemblies of these small materials for electron transport properties. This type of multidisciplinary research will afford students the opportunity to learn a wide variety of scientific techniques.
Epidemiology and Control of Chagas Disease
Dr. Patricia Dorn and a team of undergraduate researchers focuses on understanding the epidemiology and control of transmission of Chagas disease, a leading cause of heart disease in Latin America, caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is known as the "kissing bug."
Effects of Rouseau Cane on Coastal Wetlands
For almost a quarter century, Loyola University New Orleans biologists and ecologists Donald Hauber, Ph.D., Craig Hood, Ph.D, David White, Ph.D., and several undergraduate honors students, have studied the origination and effects of the common reed known locally as Rouseau Cane on the marshes and coastal wetlands of southeast Louisiana.
Quantum Optics
Experiments using light quanta – photons – have proven to be very effective probes of a large range of phenomena, including quantum entanglement. This phenomenon has long fascinated scientists, and exemplifies the mystery and ‘weirdness’ of quantum physics. It also points the way towards the possibility in the future of extremely powerful quantum computers.
In the Quantum Optics Lab in the Physics Department at Loyola University we are in the process of setting up an experiment to explore quantum entanglement, in particular by testing something known as Bell’s theorem.
Students are involved in all aspects of the work, from putting together and aligning optical components, to building electronics, to using computers to acquire, analyze and model the data.
Synthetic Organic Chemistry
Dr. Stephenson focuses on the synthesis of sensors based on supermolecular interactions, utilizing synthetic organic chemistry to form useful new materials; in other words, his main interest is in studying the interaction of molecules in order to make biocompatible sensing materials. Specifically, Dr. Stephenson's projects work to synthesize and study new sensors based on xanthene dyes such as rhodamine B. The sensors are formed by modifying existing dyes to have specific functions.
Physical Chemistry
Dr. Lynn Vogel Koplitz studies non-covalent interactions in crystals using synthesis, crystal growth, X-ray diffraction, calorimetric and computational methods. Undergraduate students in her research group also collaborate with other scientists at Loyola, Xavier and Tulane to determine properties of a model set of organic salts. Their discoveries can be used in the fields of crystal engineering, supramolecular design, and drug/target interaction.
Organic Superconductor Synthesis
Nearly one-tenth of all electrical power is lost as it travels from the electric generators to the final consumers. A superconducting power grid would eliminate this wastage and have tremendous economic and environmental benefits. The best intermetallic superconductors have achieved Tc’s (the temperature at which superconductivity occurs) as high as 100 K, which allows them to operate at liquid nitrogen temperatures, but they are brittle, dense solids—a serious shortcoming for power cables. In contrast, organic materials tend to be lighter in weight and more pliable than inorganics.
Biophysics
Biophysics studies complex properties of living organisms using physical methods. It is a bridge between biology which investigates life in its variety and complexity and physics that searches for first principles, simple mathematical laws characterizing natural processes. Biophysicists study life phenomena at different levels, from atoms and molecules, through cells, organs, organisms, to ecosystems.
Biophysics Lab in the Physics Department at Loyola University is devoted to cellular biophysics, and specifically to physical mechanisms of membrane transport, such as ion channels. Ion channels are proteins in cellular membranes that control the exchange of ions between a cell and its surroundings. It is known that ions such as potassium, sodium, or calcium play a fundamental role in important physiological processes, e.g. neuron signaling or muscle contraction.
Biophysics research combines experiments, computations, and theoretical analysis. Student researchers in the Biophysics lab can choose between doing experiments (preparing biological samples, performing patch-clamping experiments) and computational work (analysis of raw experimental data generated from patch-clamping experiments, simulation of ionic currents, and building models of channel gating kinetics).