Old Projects

Quantum Computer Noise Reduction

Sponsored by Prof. HongWen Jiang

Manager: Grant Mitts 

Contact: grantmitts@g.ucla.edu

Year Completed: 2017-2018

Learning Objectives: Construction, Materials Engineering, Data Analysis

The semiconductor qubit measurements in Prof. HongWen Jiang’s lab are extremely sensitive to their environment. Our apparatus will focus on reducing acoustic interference and include a measuring device to determine the efficacy of our dampening apparatus. In this project, team members will learn to design and construct an apparatus to reduce the noise from his lab’s helium compressor, and analyze data from Prof. Jiang’s experiment with and without their dampener, to improve their final product.

Froot Loop Dispenser

Sponsored by Prof. Mayank Mehta

Manager: Krish Kabra 

Contact: krish97@g.ucla.edu

Year Completed: Closed

Learning Objectives: Microcontrollers, Electronics, Apparatus Design & Construction

Prof. Mayank Mehta’s research focuses on answering the question of how the mind emerges from activities of ensembles of neurons. In order to investigate this, they perform experiments on rats in unusual environments, which includes a symmetric room that has no visual landmarks that a rat can use as a reference point to orient oneself. The purpose of this experiment is to understand how a rat’s brain maps such an environment with no visual aid. As part of the experiment, Froot Loops are dropped into the room at random intervals in random locations to learn how the rat responds. However, there is currently no way of dispensing the loops without having an experimenter within the room, which makes the experiment much more dubious and time-consuming. The goal of our project is to create a dispensing mechanism, and use a microcontroller to operate it, which would eliminate the need to have an experimenter in the room while running the experiment.