Moira Miller

Experience

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  NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

  Jun 2014 - Jul 2014

  Intern
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  Virginia Tech

  Jun 2015 - May 2018

  Undergraduate Research Assistant

  •Worked with Giti Khodaparast and graduate students from the physics department in her experimental condensed matter laboratory. Helped design and set up pump-probe laser system and gather data. Studied multiferroic materials in nano and bulk, including BiFeO3 and BaTiO3 alloyed films and nanorods. •Worked with Duncan Farrah from the astronomy department to use an N-body particle simulator, Enzo, to study the influence of dark matter on early galaxy development. •Investigated galaxy evolution, focusing on infrared galaxies, and created a website for the extragalactic research group, led by Sara Petty. Show less

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  University of California, Davis

  Jun 2017 - Aug 2017

  National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates

  •Worked with Valentin Taufour in the physics department. His group focuses on the synthesis and characterization of new materials with unconventional physical properties. •Grew crystals and studied their topological and magnetic properties. Sealed elements under vacuum in quartz tubes with a natural gas/oxygen torch and using furnace and vapor transport techniques to grow single crystals. Used X-ray diffraction and magnetization measurements to characterize compounds. Performed liquid nitrogen transfers twice a week to two instruments. •Reported detailed band structure of Hf2Te2P and provided experimental evidence for a predicted strong topological surface state above the Fermi level, a which had never before been observed experimentally. Show less

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  University of Washington

  Jun 2018 - Aug 2018

  National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates

  •Fabricated two-dimensional van der Waals structures in David Cobden’s group to investigate the electrical properties of WTe2, and then gathered and analyzed data (including Atomic Force Microscopy) o Discovered ferroelectric switching in a 2D metal, previously not seen due to electron screening. • Mentored and taught other students how to make these devices and received machine shop certification.Published in Nature with over 630 citations.

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  National Renewable Energy Laboratory

  Jan 2019 - May 2019

  Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship

  •Worked with Adele Tamboli and Celeste Melamed in their group researching an alternative material to traditional silicon solar panels, ZnSnN2. Theoretical calculations have predicted that the optical and electronic properties of a specific alloy composition between ZnSnN2 and ZnO should be ideal for PV applications, which I synthesized by RF sputtering thin films. •Characterized using 4 point probe, Hall effect instrument, UV-Vis spectroscopy, ellipsometry, X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, Rutherford Back Scattering, and Auger spectroscopy. o Independently did all characterization except RBS and Auger. •Incorporated oxygen into the growth to tune the material’s electronic properties, and see if these changes agreed with the current theoretical calculations. Show less

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  Colorado School of Mines

  Aug 2019 - now

  Graduate Research Assistant

  •National Renewable Energy Laboratory: Brook Tellekamp's group. Molecular Beam Epitaxy growth for green light LED solid state lighting project. Experience with high vacuum systems and sample prep/characterization.• Colorado School of Mines: Eric Toberer’s thermoelectric group. Synthesizing and characterizing novel thermoelectrics; validating connection between theory and experiment, focus on high-throughput techniques.