As a physics student, Ayana dreamed of presenting her research at the American Physical Society March Meeting, which she learned about from her professors. Each year, it brings together nearly 10,000 physicists and students from industry, universities, and major labs throughout the world.

During her off-campus study at New Mexico State University in 2013, Ayana worked on two experimental condensed matter projects under the supervision of Dr. Stefan Zollner. Although her main task was to determine different optical properties of Germanium (Ge) grown on Silicon (Si), she was also able to build a theoretical model to support her experimental data. Similar work was completed for a Nickel Oxide (NiO) sample in order to explore the band structure of this material. She later obtained approval from Dr. Zollner to submit the abstracts of her work to the 2014 APS March Meeting. They were accepted, and she traveled to Denver with the help of the Honors Program; the Department of Computer Science, Engineering, and Physics; and the Fran Frazier Student Travel Scholarship.

Ayana gave two oral presentations at the APS March Meeting, which was held at the Colorado Convention Center from March 3rd to March 7th. The first, titled “Strain measurements of Ge epilayers on Si by Spectroscopic Ellipsometry”, introduces a theoretical model used to explain the different optical properties of the semiconductor Germanium, which is widely used in electronics such as cell phones. The second presentation, “Dielectric function of NiO and Si from 25 meV to 6 eV: What’s the difference?”, discusses how full-zoned band structure can be used to explain the small absorption peaks detected by a second derivative analysis of the NiO spectrum conducted by spectroscopic ellipsometry.

For Ayana, this experience was one of the best so far from both an academic perspective and a career perspective. She thoroughly enjoyed her time in the picturesque Rocky Mountains and looks forward to presenting her research at another APS conference in the future.