Blake M
- Research Program Mentor
PhD candidate at Tulane University
Expertise
Nuclear Physics, Astrophysics, science of historical and modern energy production
Bio
I am a graduate student working towards my PhD in Nuclear Physics at Tulane University. I presently am working on the Beamline 3 project studying Neutron decay. I have previously worked as a research assistant studying beta decay on the He-6 CRES project at the University of Washington. I also work as a physics teaching assistant at Tulane. I consider myself to be knowledgeable about radiation, nuclear reactors, and the standard model of particle physics. Additionally, in the pursuit of my degree, I have experience with teaching about and writing programs for quantum computers, and, in conjunction with a partner, wrote the Wikipedia article on Quantum Game Theory. I am passionate about learning, and am eager to mentor students who feel the same! In my free time I enjoy playing puzzle games and story games that force you to piece together stories, such as Subnautica, Outer Wilds, and Tunic. I am so deeply involved in scientific research that when I attended UW during COVID and couldn't go to class, I took to making working model rocket engines in my parent's garage to launch cardboard rockets thousands of feet into the air!Project ideas
A review of current fusion (or fission) reactor designs
A literature review of current or proposed reactor designs and mechanism in context with their efficiency, energy-density, fuel source, and waste products to recommend a reader (such as someone who writes grants for reactor design) what sort of nuclear energy scientists should seek to build. This would involve a review of theory (including how nuclear fusion or decay works), real data analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and ultimately writing a multiple-section research paper reviewing the subject and, if your research leads you to it, making a formal recommendation.
Simulating a Quantum Algorithm
Quantum computers can only be as effective as their programs. Quantum programming is absolutely required to completely utilize this new technology. Such a project would demonstrate the nature of qubits and gates in order to simulate an algorithm such as Deutsch-Jozsa or Grover’s Search. This project would demonstrate how to apply the algorithms, their inputs and outputs, how to interpret the results, and demonstrate both resource usage between classical versus quantum computers, as well as discuss what sort of computational problems would benefit from quantum algorithms. Students will learn about the fundamental rules of quantum mechanics, and how quantum objects can be operated on to achieve results. Additionally students will learn how to combine quantum mechanics and computer science principles to recreate a simple quantum computer in simulation. This project would involve research papers and a literature review, and tutorials on how to assemble the program.
Developing a Quantum Game
In this project, a student will learn about classical game theory, simple quantum mechanics, and how those can be combined into a quantum game theory. Students will explore the mechanics and implications of quantum games, and the skills to both create such a game and analyze the results of it, including on how to develop an optimal strategy. The student would develop either a review of a game, or an original quantum game and simulate playing it, describing in detail the strategy, payouts, and how this information can be used in the greater body of research and potentially in development in quantum algorithms.