June 20, 2025 – Go Berry ice cream for Cristina’s birthday! She is 19!
June 17, 2025 – Lab dinner at Carter’s house. Theint makes everyone hot pot and garlic shrimp. Soo good! Jacob, Theint, Jimmy, Andrea, Carter, Cristina, Stan, and Kat.
June 16, 2025 – Andrea, Theint, and Carter go to the ALPhA conference in Albany. They teach faculty how to run the acoustic trapping experiment.
June 9, 2025 – Welcome to summer Carter Labbers! It is soooo hot! Time for popsicles and catching rays on the roof! left to right: Carter, Kat Martini, Stan Craig ’27, Andrea Yan ’28, Jacob Connolly ’27, Jimmy Lin ’27, Cristina Hayes Mendez ’28, Theint Theint Thu ’26.
May 31, 2025 – Ryan comes back for Reunion! Vietta’s Dad is in the background!!
May 25, 2025 – Graduation! Congratulations seniors: David Brown ’25, Jonathan Xing ’25, and Jai Dreher ’25.
May 8, 2025 – Mug ceremony! David’s advice is: “Everything always works out”. Jonathan says, “Don’t expect anything to work, but be proud of yourself when it does!”. Jai says, “you don’t need to be perfect to start, you just need to grow”.
May 6, 2025 – Last day of BCBP 400 and Stat Mech!
April 15, 2025 – Taxes are due and so are the theses!
February 15, 2025 – BPS Meeting in Los Angeles with Jai, Jonathan, David, and Carter! We see Ryan!
January 24, 2025 – Breakfast and Lunch at UMass
January 9, 2025 – Carter Lab Dinner. Events are karaoke, dancing, and improv.
January 7, 2025 – Carter lab trip to the climbing gym!
December 11, 2024 – Last day of Physics 116!
November 22, 2024 – Twins! Jai and Jonathan!
November 7, 2024 – BCBP symposium thesis talks. BCBP majors back row: Nate, Sujit, Ellie, Jocelyn, Daniel, Brett, Cherry. front row: Claire, Irene, Rachel, Jennnifer, Maristhela, Miriam. But where is David Brown ’25!!
October 18, 2024 – RIP Prof. Jeeyon Jeong. She was an amazing mentor, colleague, and friend. We will miss you.
September 6, 2024 – SURF poster session with Carter, Nabiha, and Charlie.
September 2, 2024 – Carter is promoted to Full Professor!
August 2, 2024 – last day of SURF. If you make it to the end, then you get Boba!
July 26, 2024 – Last week of SURF! Carter, Charlie, and Nabiha go to the AFM at Smith to collect that last bit of data. You can see the DNA origami flexible rods!
July 18, 2024 – Lab hike to the top of Mt. Sugarloaf! Hey where is David Brown? Apparently, if you are Field in Track and Field, you can’t hike! front row: Carter, Clara, Jack. back row: Charlie, Nabiha, Linxi, and Jai.
July 16, 2024 – Carter lab goes to UMass Worcester Dining Hall.
July 11, 2024 – Carter Lab dinner! Events were singing, ping pong, and scattergories. Clara is the judge and she said her team won! Congrats to David, Jai, Clara and Jack! Better luck next time Carter, Charlie, and Linxi.
July 9, 2024 – Alejandra and Isabel win the AAPT-APS-ALPhA award for their work on the “Building a Microscope” lab.
June 28, 2024 – SURF students give their presentations! Welcome to the lab!
June 18, 2024 — Nabiha builds a scribe and clamp in the shop class with Jim Kubasek.
June 13, 2024 – Summer has started! Time to start the training and take data for the thesis! left to right: Carter, Charlie Lewis ’27, David Brown ’25, Linxi Cai ’27, and Nabiha Tahsin ’27
May 25, 2024 – Amherst College Graduation. Congratulations seniors!
May 23, 2024 – Jagu wins the Jeffrey B. Ferguson Memorial Teaching prize!
May 7, 2024 – Last day of classes in BCBP 400!
April 19, 2024 – BCBP majors turn in their theses! Congratulations to Daniel Oo ’24, Alejandra Velasquez ’24, and Isabel Hardy ’24!
April 8, 2024 – Solar Eclipse! Physics and Astronomy Department heads to northern Vermont to see it and brings 30 students!
April 5, 2024 – There is an earthquake in Amherst and President Elliott comes to visit the BCBP Program.
Feb 29, 2024 – Carter is promoted to Full Professor! Party at the Archives with Hanneke, Hanneke, Carter, de los Reyes, Bardalez Gagliuffi, Jagu, Loinaz
February 12, 2024 – Biophysical Society Meeting in Phikadelphia! We see Ashwin Balaji ’19 and Vietta Kuntz ’23 at the meeting.
January 25, 2024 – Last day of interterm! Jonathan Xing ’25, Daniel Oo ’25, Carter, Isabel Hardy ’24, Paolo Caniguila ’26, Oliver Polachini ’26, David Brown ’25, and Alejandra Velasquez ’24 stay into the night to get data for the Biophysical Society Meeting.
January 25, 2024 – Alejandra Velasquez ’24 takes data using the AFM on flexible rods made out of DNA origami.
January 23, 2024 – Annual trek to the Worcester dining hall for amazing food. Carter, Jonathan Xing ’25, Alejandra Velasquez ’24, Shreya Hegde ’26, Isabel Hardy ’24, and Danio Oo ’24 all stay for two meals!
January 23, 2024 – Carter lab ice skating trip to the Mullins Center at UMass! Alejandra Velasquez ’24, Shreya Hegde ’26, Isabel Hardy ’24, Jonathan Xing ’25, and Paolo Caniguila ’26 recreate the iconic Carter lab photo. We all make it around the ice rink and Isabel dazzles us with her backwards skating and bunny hops.
January 20, 2024 – Carter travels back to her alma mater University of Michigan to give a talk at the CuWiP conference. She meets Dr. Monica Teccio, who was a postdoc at Michigan when Carter was an undergrad.
January 2024 – Acoustic trapping paper makes the cover of the American Journal of Physics! Congratulations to authors: Andrea Boskovic ’21, Kate M. Jones ’21, Alejandra Velasquez ’24, Isabel P. Hardy ’24, and Maya L. Bulos ’21
October 19, 2023 – Thesis students Isabel Hardy ’24, Alejandra Velasquez ’24, and Daniel Oo ’24 present 5-minute flash talks at the BCBP thesis symposium. Ale’s reviving DNA “out of its coffin” with protamine was a big hit!
September 17, 2023 – Buddies! I see these two together everywhere– Daniel Oo ’24 and Michael Liu ’24
September 11, 2023 – Donna Roscoe ’21 wins an award as a graduate student at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona.
September 8, 2023 – Robot Team shows off their Robot which can draw a smiley face at the SURF poster session. Here, they demonstrate that the robot loses battery quickly and then can’t tell where it is, so the smiley face is not very smiley.
September 8, 2023 – SURF poster session. SURF students Oliver Polachini ’26 (below), Rebekah Hong ’26, and Shreya Hegde ’26 present their work.
August 10, 2023 – You think the summer is over, but they didn’t leave! Carter, Isabel Hardy ’24, and Alejandra Velasquez ’24 head to the AFM at UMass wearing matching shirts. How did that happen? Ale’s phone says: “Will work for AFM time!”
August 4, 2023 – Last day of summer. Shreya Hegde ’26, Oliver Polachini ’26, Jai Dreher ’25, Jonathan Xing ’25, Alejandra Velasquez ’24, Isabel Hardy ’24, Rebekah Hong ’26, and Carter
July 23, 2023 – Carter lab and Robot Team head to Barbenheimer. The Barbie movie +the Oppenheimer movie. And that is how movie legends are made… front row: Carter and Clara. middle row: Oliver Polachini ’26 and Venumi ’26. back row: Jonathan Xing ’25, Isabel Hardy ’24, Rebekah Hong ’26, Paolo Caniguila ’26, Renee Liou ’26, Shreya Hegde ’26, Alejandra Valesquez ’24.
July 15, 2023 – Carter labbers rock the SURF pong night!
July 14, 2023 – Carter goes to BFY conference at Chico State. Alejandra Velasquez ’24 and Isabel Hardy ’24 work on the conference paper on how to build a microscope using the MVP–minimum viable product–method. This is when you prototype something simple and then keep prototyping until you get something great! This is a simple prototype of a microscope.
July 10, 2023 – SURF students give their presentations to the group! Oliver Polachini ’26, Alejandra Velasquez ’24, Isabel Hardy ’24, Rebekah Hong ’26, Shreya Hegde ’26, Jai Dreher ’25, and Jonathan Xing ’25.
June 27, 2023 – Lab hike to the top of Mt. Holyoke to see the summit house. front row: Carter, Rebekah Hong ’26, Isabel Hardy ’24, Oliver Polachini ’26, Shreya Hegde ’26. back row: Jonathan Xing ’25, and Alejandra Velasquez ’24
June 16, 2023 – Twins! Alejandra Velasquez ’24 and Shreya Hegde ’26
June 15, 2023 – Summer! Carter labbers head to the Schupf patio for Crooked stick pops on Thursdays at 1 pm. front row: Alejandra Velasquez ’24, Isabel Hardy ’24, Carter. back row: Jonathan Xing ’25, Rebekah Hong ’26, Shreya Hegde ’26, and Oliver Polachini ’26
June 9, 2023 – Soft Matter Summer School at UMass! Alejandra Velasquez ’24 and Carter take part.
May 28, 2023 – Amherst College graduation! Congratulations seniors!
May 17, 2023 – Congratulations to Hilary Bediako ’19 for graduating from UPenn Med School.
May 7, 2023 – Mug ceremony for seniors! Carter, Isabel Hardy ’24, Vietta Kuntz ’23, and Audrey Orlowski ’23.
April 25, 2023 – Twin sighting! This is not the first time this has happened either! Carter is matching BCBP major Sabina Anderson ’23.
April 24, 2023 – Thesis turn in party in physics! Alison, Vietta, Cailin, Alyssa, Will, and Mahran.
April 16, 2023 – Audrey Orlowski ’23 softball appreciation day for faculty. Carter likes appreciation and big heads…
March 29, 2023 – Twins! Did they plan it? Vietta Kuntz ’23 and Isabel Hardy ’24 show up for BCBP 400 dressed alike!
March 3, 2023 – Vietta Kuntz ’23 randomly spots a poster from Elizabeth White’s ’17 PhD defense at Univ. Chicago. Congrats Elizabeth!
February 19, 2023 – Relaxing at BPS. Rooftop brunch with tacos and shishito peppers. Shishito peppers hava a mild, sweet flavor and then randomly 1 in 10 will be spicy. We ate 7, but did not get a spicy one! Sunset on the Embarcadero with Ryan McMillan ’20! Ryan McMillan ’20 working hard at the Harvard grad recruitment fair. Carter on the plane with Karen Lee ’25 and Alejandra Velasquez ’24. We look amazing after the red eye. Time to get back to school!
February 19, 2023 – First BPS PUI network meetup.
February 17, 2023 – BPS meeting in San Diego! We came, we gave posters, we conquered! ;Left to right: Melanie Huq ’25, Carter, Audrey Orlowski ’23, Vietta Kuntz ’23, Karen Lee ’25, Jake Kim ’23, and Alejandra Velasquez ’24.
February 19, 2023 – Vietta spots Ashwin Balaji ’19 at the Stanford Biophysics grad recruiting event on zoom! Wow, Ashwin, that face!
February 4, 2023 – Vietta Kuntz ’23 got data! Congrats!
January 26, 2023 – Lab party at Carter’s house. Jack and Clara decide the winners of all of the games and so of course Jai Dreher ’25 and David Brown ’25 win. front row: Carter, Melanie Huq ’25, Jake Kim ’23, Jack, David Brown ’25, Alejandra Velasquez ’24, Clara. back row: Jonathan Xing ’25, Michael Liu ’24, Isabel Hardy ’24, Oliver Polachini ’25, Jai Dreher ’25.
January 25, 2023 – Lab data party with Jake Kim ’23, Oliver Polachini ’25, Vietta Kuntz ’23, Isabel Hardy ’24, and Audrey Orlowski ’23. I don’t know if a data party is as good as a real party, but you do get really nice data and the walk home was nice!
January 19, 2023 – Carter Lab bowling. Watch out for Oliver Polachini ’26 and the bowling ball! front row: Carter, Vietta Kuntz ’23, Jonathan Xing ’25, Audrey Orlowski ’23, and Isabel Hardy ’24. Senior picture with Vietta and Audrey. SURF students Joanthan and Oliver need some help while bowling.
January 6, 2023 – BIG Carter lab lunch for stir fry. I don’t know if we picked the best Val day, but we had fun anyway! around the table: Michael Liu ’24, Isabel Hardy ’24, Carter, Alejandra Velasquez ’24, Jai Dreher ’25, Jonathan Xing ’25, Oliver Polachini ’25, Vietta Kuntz ’23, Audrey Orlowski ’23.
December 9, 2022 – Being Human in STEM poster session. Vietta Kuntz ’23 walks us through!
October 28, 2022 – Vietta Kuntz ’23 sees really nice images of Lambda DNA on our ezAFM dubbed Penne!
September 2, 2022 – SURF poster session. A rare sighting of Daniel Oo ’24 actually presenting a poster! Carter also stopped by posters for David Brown ’25, Alejandra Velasquez ’24, and Melanie Huq ’25 (above). BCBP profs at the SURF poster session hanging out instead of looking at posters! Jaswal, Ragkousi, Purdy, Wu Orr, and Carter (below).
August 5, 2022 – Last day of the Summer SURF program. Carter, Melanie Huq ’25, Vietta Kuntz ’23, Audrey Orlowski ’23, and Karen Lee ’25 celebrate with Boba Tea at Lime Red. The circles are DNA toroids of course!
July 22, 2022 – Lab hike to the top of Mt. Sugarloaf. Only the brave make it–Alejandra Velasquez ’24, Vietta Kuntz ’24, and Carter! Can someone please explain to Vietta and Ale that fanny packs are back in?
July 21, 2022 – The Carter Lab welcomes Melanie Huq ’25 (top left) and David Brown ’25 (middle right) with a fun outing of escape rooms and VR. Meanwhile, Vietta Kuntz ’23 (front right) and Audrey Orlowski ’23 (front left) begin the long journey to a senior thesis.
June 19, 2022 – Lab lunch with David Brown ’25. Can you see him?
June 4, 2022 – Elizabeth White ’17 comes back for Reunion!
May 20, 2022 – BCBP thesis symposium in the Power House where Lynn Fu ’22 gives a killer talk.
May 20, 2022 – Some old familiar faces! Ruth Mosunmade (left), Emily Ma (middle right), and Ryan McMillan (right) return to the Amherst campus for their long-awaited graduation ceremony, which was delayed due to the pandemic.
February 21, 2022 – BPS Conference
Our awesome lab members traveled to San Francisco to present their hard work. We see here (from left to right) the marvelous Michael Liu ’23 , the exceptional Lynn Fu ’22, the incredible Isabel Hardy ’24, the great Gigi Golden ’24, and the dapper Daniel Oo ’23. We also met two beloved and legendary alumni Ashwin Balaji ’19 and Ryan McMillan ’20.
February 19, 2022 – The Carter Lab travels to San Francisco for the annual BPS conference! Our spectacular Lynn Fu ’22 would win the Undergraduate poster competition with flying colors.
January 12, 2022 -Audrey Orlowski ’23, Lynn Fu ’22, and Carter head to the RNA institute in Albany to take data on the CFM there.
January 6, 2022 – The Carter Lab welcomes Jake Kim ’23 and Ally Velasquez ’23 to the lab with a night of fun board games at Professor Carter’s house.
January 6, 2022 – Sledding with Jake Kim ’23, Vietta Kuntz ’23, and Audrey Orlowski ’23 on Memorial Hill.
June 10, 2021 – The Carter Lab has a nature outing. The lab is busy as Amherst alumni Youna Choi, Donna Roscoe, Andrea Boskovich, and Kate Jones all pass the torch to the other members of the lab for their beautiful projects.
June 7, 2021 – First Day of Summer Science!
Welcome to Gigi Golden ’24 who joins the lab. We celebrate with popsicles and a meeting. No more occupancy limits in the Science Center and no masks outside!
May 30, 2021 – Seniors Graduate.
Youna wins Neuro Thesis prize! Youna is headed to Brown-NIH, Donna to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, Kate to the Lucas Lab at Yale, and Andrea to University of Washington. Seniors got their magnets and their mugs! (Pictured: human toroid!)
May 21, 2021 – Biophysical Journal paper published
This paper by Ryan McMillan ’20, Vietta Kuntz ’23, Luka Devenica ’17, and Hilary Bediako ’19 looks at the spatial distribution of loops to see if electrostatic binding is the physical mechanism that determines loop placement.
May 18, 2021 – Michael is a winner!
Michael Liu ’24 is one of the winners of the Bassett Physics Prize. Congratulations! He joins Vietta Kuntz ’23 and Ryan McMillan ’20 who have also won the award.
February 22, 2021 – Youna wins BPS undergraduate poster competition
Carter lab attends the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting virtually. Youna Choi ’21 was selected as one of a handful of winners of the undergraduate poster competition. Her poster was titled, “DNA Folding by the SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Protein.”
February 11, 2021 – TPT paper on history of Introductory labs is published
This paper looks at the history of the introductory physics lab over the last 200 years or so.
January 30, 2021 – Carter Lab enjoys a break in the snow! It is the first time the lab is back together in-person since the pandemic.
January 11, 2021 – Interterm starts
Michael Liu ’24, Daniel Oo ’24, and Isabel Hardy ’24 join the lab and are awesome! Interterm is really long because we don’t start classes until Feb. 15, but students end up having to quarantine twice!
December 2020 – Ryan is an Apker Finalist
Ryan McMillan ’20 is a finalist for the American Society of Physics Apker Award, which is an award for the best thesis from an undergraduate physics student.
September 2020 – Lab opens!
After being shut down since the second week of March, the Science Center and the lab are back open!
June 8, 2020 – Summer Research begins
Summer is completely virtual as the Science Center and Lab are closed! Welcome to the lab Genaro Torres ’22, Joanna Idrovo ’23, and Vietta Kuntz ’23! They will be working with the O’Hara Labbers on a summer training project.
April 21, 2020 – Ryan gets NSF and Fulbright!
Ryan McMillan ’20 has won a prestigious NSF fellowship for graduate work. This is the first time Amherst has had an undergraduate winner. Ryan also got a Fulbright to work on DNA origami in the Dietz Lab in Germany. Congrats to Ryan!
NAR paper accepted!
Protamine bends DNA into a loop. Now this exciting find by the Carter Lab will be in NAR. Congrats to Obinna Ukogu ’18, Adam Smith ’17, Luka Devenica ’17, Hilary Bediako ’19, Ryan McMillan ’20, Emily Ma ’20, Ashwin Balaji ’19, Robert Schwab ’13, Shahzad Anwar ’14!
March 13, 2020 – The BCBP and Physics departments have their farewell parties on Thursday, and there is even an impromptu graduation with social distancing. Ryan McMillan is headed to Harvard, Emily Ma will be the Amherst Q Fellow before going to medical school, and Ruth Mosunmade is going to do a postbac at Elms College. Pictured are Ryan McMillan ’20, Carter, Ruth Mosunmade ’20, Lynn Fu ’22, and Emily Ma ’20.
February 17, 2020 – Donna Roscoe ’21 wins the Undergraduate Poster Session at the BPS meeting. She gets to go on stage before the national lecture and receive her award. Emily Ma ’20 and Kate Jones ’21 were also finalists.
Febuary 15, 2020 – The Carter Lab heads to the Annual Biophysical Society Meeting in San Diego. Carter and O’Hara both go and bring 15 Amherst Students from the O’Hara, Carter, Jaswal, and Bishop labs.
January 23, 2020 – Hilary comes back for Fink Symposium! We go to El Comalito.
January 23, 2020 – TPT paper accepted! Carter’s paper on the history of the physics lab course over the last 300 years or so is accepted in TPT. It should be published in Fall 2020.
January 21, 2020 – Interterm is here! Time to work with all of your Carter Lab buds and get some R&R. This year we go sledding and have hot cocoa. Then Emily brings a surprise Birthday cake for Ryan. Carrot cake, yum!
November 11, 2019 – Talk at Princeton. Carter goes to Princeton to give the Biophysics seminar. She meets up with Andy Leifer and Josh Shaevitz while there.
September 6, 2019 – Donna Roscoe ’21 presents her poster at the SURF poster session. She wins best poster! She is the 4th Carter Labber to take home a prize at the poster session. She joins Elizabeth White ’17, Hilary Bediako ’19, and Emily Ma ’20 who have also won!
July 19 & 25, 2019 – Robot Team presents their robots. The first robot can do the pick-and-place race, and the second robot, Darlene, can build a paper tower! Pictured are Megan Lyster, Mina Lee ’22, Josh Burns ’22, Flanagan Waldherr ’22, Carter, Lynn Fu ’22, Ajay Sarathy ’21, and Eva Lau ’19.
July 23, 2019 – AAPT SM19 at BYU. Carter gives a talk on her historical work looking back at laboratory classes from the 1700s to today. Lab classes have been the same for the last 100 years. It is time for an update!
July 12, 2019 – Last day for seniors. We take some last group pics (Donna Roscoe ’21, Emily Ma ’20, Ryan McMillan ’20, Hilary Bediako ’19, Ashwin Balaji ’19, and Peter Cho ’19). Then the seniors decide we are now signing the door and playing “Time to Say Goodbye” as they walk through. There were tears all around. Good luck next year!
July 10, 2019 – Robot Team/Carter Lab BBQ. Pictured are Emily Ma ’20 and Clara. In the group photo we have (Back row) Flanagan Waldherr ’21, Ajay Sarathy ’21, Peter Cho ’19, (Middle row) Emily Ma ’20, Ryan McMillan ’20, Lynn Fu ’22, Mina Lee ’22, Hilary Bediako ’19, Ashwin Balaji ’19, (Front row) Jack, Clara, Carter, and Donna Roscoe ’21.
July 3 2019 – The Carter Lab celebrated July 4th in style, heading to Six Flags for the day. Pictured are Peter Cho ’19, Hilary Bediako ’19, Ryan McMillan ’20, and Ashwin Balaji ’19.
June 28, 2019 – McCray’s Petting Zoo and Ice Cream shop! Robot Team and Carter Lab head over to pet animals while eating ice cream. I think only New Englander’s smell manure and think “Time to eat some ice cream!” Pictured are (back row) Ajay Sarathy ’21, Flanagan Waldherr ’21, Peter Cho ’19, Josh Burns ’22, (front row) Emily Ma ’20, Lynn Fu ’22, Donna Roscoe ’21, Mina Lee ’22, and Eva Lau ’19.
June 19, 2019 – Move Beneski lab to the New Science Center. After 2 hours of work, take a break at The Lone Wolf! Item 3: Use Donna’s SURF $ to buy everyone brunch. Yum! Pictured are Ryan McMillan ’20, Ashwin Balaji ’19, Hilary Bediako ’19, Peter Cho ’19, and Emily Ma ’20.
June 13, 2019 – ALPhA NERD. We had our ALPhA New England Regional Meeting at Holy Cross in Worcester. There we realized that our Regional Director has the awesome title of being the ALPhA NERD!
May 16, 2019 – AJP editorial published. Carter published an editorial in AJP on building a research lab, not starting one. Main takeaway is that new professors should start small and build the resources in the lab gradually over time – electronic notebooks, student training, student experience, all can be built over time!
May 10, 2019 – 2019 Magnet Ceremony – Ashwin Balaji ’19, Hilary Bediako ’19, and Peter Cho ’19 put their magnet on the fridge for posterity and nab their Carter Lab mugs.
May 9, 2019 – Carter Lab hike to Mt. Toby. We are small, but mighty! After the seniors leave the lab this summer it will just be Carter, Donna Roscoe ’21, Emily Ma ’20, and Ryan McMillan ’20 in the lab. So we hiked, we bonded, and now we are ready to kick some DNA booty this summer!
April 26, 2019 – Ryan McMillan ’20 wins a Goldwater Fellowship. Congratulations to Ryan!
March 6, 2019 – March meeting here we come! Armed with posters and elevator pitches, the students head to the APS March Meeting in Boston. While there we eat Hot Pot and do an escape room. So fun!
March 2019 – Moumita Dasgupta has taken an assistant professor position in Augsberg University in Minnesota. Lab celebration!!
January 24, 2019 – The Carter Lab heads to Blues, Booze, and BBQ in Springfield, MA for our annual Interterm Dinner.
January 11, 2019 – Carter Lab Spaghetti Dinner and Game Night.
January 8, 2019 – Interterm is always so much fun. We welcomed new comers Youna Choi ’21 and Donna Roscoe ’21. We all went skating at the Mullins Center. Andrea’s camera was found to take the best pictures. The one of us all holding on to the wall is awesome!
July 30, 2018 – Blue smoke certified! Very first Robot team creates Arnold, a robot pentathlete. Robot team is Devin Epstein ’21, Ingrid Shu ’20, Donna Roscoe ’21, Allan Phillips ’20, Abdoulaye Sanago ’17E, and Ellen Mutter ’17. Pictured here with Brian Crepeau our head of electronics.
July 24, 2018 – What a summer! The last summer in Merrill. We have two great new students (Andrea and Kate) and are looking foward to the amazing work of our senior thesis students (Ashwin, Hilary, and Peter).
July 20, 2018 – Carter gives a talk at Single Molecule approaches to Biology Gordon conference at Mt. Snow.
July 11, 2018 – The Carter Lab says goodbye to Obinna with one last lunch at the works.
July 9, 2018 – Everything is working! Carter Labbers stay into the wee hours of the morning to take data. Looks like fun…
July 3, 2018 – It’s a fight to the death! Well maybe not to the death, but definitely for bragging rights as the Carter Lab takes on the Carter Design Challenge Team (the Mammoth Makers) for the paint ball crown. The Mammoth Makers end up winning (though the results may have been skewed as Carter was on their team). Ruth Mosunmade and newbie Andrea Boskovic put in amazing performances for the Carter Lab.
June 12, 2018 – The Random Walk Game. The Carter Labbers and the Mammoth Makers get roped in to making up a game to demonstrate a random walk. The goal is that this game could be played at schools during Biophysics week to promote biophysics. Abdoulaye Sanogo ’19, Hilary Bediako ’19, and Andrea Boskovic ’21 are the first winners of the game.
June 4, 2018 – Tears were shed as Luka left the lab to go on to bigger and better things–Emory! One last group pic before he leaves. At least Obinna is back to lead the lab.
May 12, 2018 – Good luck Moumita! Moumita will be taking the Visiting Assistant Professorship at Smith College next year. The physics department has a party for her and the Carter Lab students crash it and eat all the desserts!
May 4, 2018 – Carter and Trapani head to the Rowland Institute for the CVZM meeting. Carter’s powerpoint slides show all x’s instead of pictures, but with some quick thinking she saves the day. Other highlights include the World of Beers for lunch and the amazing RoLi Lab of Drew Robson and Jennifer Li.
February 2018 – Luka and Carter go to the Biophysical society meeting in San Francisco. We bump into Elizabeth White (Carter Lab alum) and Jess Morgan (Physics 117 alum from Smith) who are now both in Biophysics at U Chicago. We ride the trolley and go to China town. Carter attempts to order in Chinese! There is also a Perkins lab reunion with Tom Perkins and Gavin King. Pictured are Luka Devenica ’17, Jess ’17 (Smith), Elizabeth White ’17, and Carter.
January 19, 2018 – Happy 20th Birthday Ryan McMillan ’20! Ryan’s mom sends a cake to the lab for him. The Carter Labbers scarf it down. Turns out Ryan’s Birthday is the following week and another cake shows up! The Carter Labbers are going to get fat if this keeps up.
December 19, 2017 – Older Carter Labbers go out, including alums Elizabeth White ’17 and Luka Devenica ’17, as well as Peter Cho ’19 and Bishop Grimm ’18. O’Hara, Goutte, and Carter realize that they are the first women tenured in their departments (Chemistry, Biology, and Physics, respectively.)
December 19, 2017 – Carter gets tenure! The champagne was flowing all day and night when president Biddy Martin announced that Amherst would be tenuring Carter and Hanneke in Physics. Elizabeth White ’17 comes back for the party along with Luka Devenica ’17, Bishop Grimm ’18, Hilary Bediako ’19, and Peter Cho ’19.
August 9, 2017 – Luka Devenica ’17 and Carter go to the SPIE meeting in San Diego to enjoy some rays, some science, and some sushi. Luka does a good job presenting his poster.
July 27, 2017 – Carter bumps into Kathy Perkins and Karen King at the AAPT meeting. (Left to Right)
July 4, 2017 – For the Fourth of July the Carter Lab heads to Six Flags. Obinna goes on his first roller coaster, and Carter lets Luka watch her kids. It is very hot so everyone enjoys the water rides! Way to go risk-takers. Pictured are Carter, Jack, Luka Devenica ’17, Yilikal Sarka ’21, Obinna Ukogu ’18, Emily Ma ’20, Ryan McMillan ’20, and Ruth Mosunmade ’20.
June 2017 – Amherst hosts the first bi-annual ALPhA Regional Conference. We had 25 instructors come to Amherst to hear about best practices for laboratory physics. They each gave a 5 minute slam talk, particpated in break out sessions, attended workshops, and networked over lunch and dinner.
May 2017 – Amherst BCBP majors hold their symposium. The seniors give amazing talks and Cathy Stillerman sets up a great dinner for everyone in BCBP. Congratulations to our seniors who are graduating: Adam Smith ’17, Luka Devenica ’17, and Elizabeth White ’17!
March 6, 2017 – DNA Folding Review Out! Seniors Adam Smith, Luka Devenica, and Elizabeth White, along with junior Obinna Ukogu have published a paper in MPLB. My favorite figure shows how DNA folds in sperm
January 2017 – Lab dinner at Goten in Sunderland, which is a hibachi place. The food was awesome. (Left to Right) Ryan McMillan ’20, Elizabeth White ’17, Obinna Ukogu ’18, Carter, Moumita Dasgupta, Peter Cho ’19, and Adam Smith ’17.
January 2017 – Carter wins NSF CAREER award! The Carter Lab has been awarded a 5 year grand for $500k to study DNA folding. Specifically, for “Investigating reconfigurable DNA self-assembly at the molecular scale.”
November 8, 2016 – On election night, Carter gives a physics colloquium at Hilary Clinton’s alma mater, Wellesley.
October 2016 – Carter’s graduate thesis results are published in a methods text. Paper is Okoniewski et al., Methods in Molecular Biology, which should come out in January 2017.
September 2016 – Hilary wins SURF poster competition. Hilary Bediako ’19 won “Best All Around” poster at Amherst’s SURF poster session for her poster on how protamine folds DNA. Congratulations!
August 12, 2016 – Last of the Dog Days of Summer, What a summer! Newcomers Peter Cho ’19, Hilary Bediako ’19, and Moumita Dasgupta (Amherst’s Teaching Fellow) do an amazing job.
August 2016 – Lab Flood! The Beneski lab floods and shutdowns experiments for 2 weeks. Luckily, Luka Devenica ’17 is around to take care of everything!
June 2016 – AFM workshop at Harvard. Elizabeth White ’17, Luka Devenica ’17, Adam Smith ’17, Peter Cho ’19, Bishop Grimm ’18, Hilary Bediako ’19, and Carter head out to Cambridge. Workshop participants are Laura Wessels (Xavier), Jose Vithayathil (UPenn), Liang Zeng (UT), Xuemei Cheng (Bryn Mawr). And, of course Kent Schuyler from Nanomagnetics brings all the AFMs!
June 2016 – Read all about it! The Journal of Physiology has published Eileen’s paper about the mechanics of the larval zebrafish startle response. Great work!
May 9. 2016 – Carter Lab Brady Bunch! Nucleic Acids Research (NAR) accepted Carter’s paper on the direct observations of the helicase RecBCD unwinding in DNA.
May 21, 2016 – Ji Hoon Graduates! Congratulations to Ji Hoon Lee ’16! Ji Hoon is thinking about going to physics grad school to do theory work.
April 5, 2016 – Carter gives the physics colloquium at Clark and meets Moumita’s graduate thesis advisor Arshad Kudrolli.
March 2016 – Carter has been elected to the Board of Directors for the Advanced Laboratory Physics Association (ALPhA). Look for her to plan an upcoming New England Regional meeting for ALPhA in June 2017.
February 2016 – Stuff Matters! The Carter lab has decided to read Stuff Matters by Mark Modownski as a part of the book club this semester.
February 2016 – Carter gives Panel Discussion at Biophysical Society Annual Meeting and runs the Conference’s Networking event. After which, she sees Marco Catipovic ’14!
August 2015 – Obinna Ukogu ’18 and Carter are featured in the new video short on what life is like during the SURF program at Amherst.
July 22, 2015 – Summer students present in Maryland. Adam Smith ’17 and Obinna Ukogu ’18 presented posters and led a workshop at the BFY and AAPT summer meeting. Number one lesson learned: Preparation is key!
March 2015 – AFM paper submitted to AJP. Congratulations go to Luka Devenica, Clay Contee, Raysa Cabrejo, and Matt Kurek for submitting their paper on imaging bio samples with AFM to the American Journal of Physics!
April 2015 – Carter wins Cottrel College Science Award! Carter gets two year grant from the Research Corp to fund the lab’s DNA folding research.
February 10, 2015 – Elizabeth White and Professor Carter duck out of the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting to go to the aquarium.
February 2015 – Elizabeth White ’17, Luka Devenica ’17, Matt Woop ’16, and Carter go to the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in Baltimore. We spot Marco Catipovic ’14.
February 9, 2015 – We saw Marco Catipovic ’14 at the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in Baltimore!
December 2014 – Luka Devenica ’17 and Carter travel to Bridgewater State to take data with Prof. Ed Deveney.
June 2014 – Summer: a time for lazy days and hard core research. Give a big welcome to newcomers Luka Devenica, Elizabeth White, and Matt Woop. Looks like we also didn’t quite get rid of Marco yet!
June 5, 2014 – FRC talk highlights Clay’s AFM work. Profeessor Carter gives a talk at the Gordon Research Conference on Physics Education about Clay’s thesis work.
May 25, 2014 – Marco Catipovic and Clay Contee have graduated after a great year of thesis research. Marco is headed to graduate school at Harvard and Clay goes to UMass. Good luck!
August 20, 2013 – In a paper just published in PNAS, a collaboration that includes Professor Carter looks at the behavioral algorithm that help fly larvae avoid light. Figure from Kane et al., PNAS, 2013.
July 2013 – Marco’s paper published in AJP! Congratulations to junior biophysics major Marco Catipovic and junior biology major Paul Tyler on their paper on quantifying Brownian motion! The paper comes out in July in AJP. This is also our first paper with the Trapani lab.
June 10, 2013 – They’re back! Summer has started and Terri Hultum and Marco Catipovic are back to cause trouble in the Carter lab. Also, big welcome to newcomers Ji Hoon Lee and Matt Kurek.
May 26, 2013 – First thesis students leave the nest! It’s official. Robbie Schwab and Fred Shipley have graduated, leaving the Carter laboratory saddened by their departure. But, both are off to great research jobs – Robbie goes to UPenn medical school and Fred goes to Princeton. Good work you two!
April 11, 2012 – The first paper published by the Carter Laboratory and first-authored by sophomore Fred Shipley appeared in Optics Express. The paper determines the limitations of using back-scattered detection, a laser interference techique, as a position-sensing method. Good work Fred!
April 2013 – Side rule better than calculator? In the paper just accepted into The Physics Teacher, Professor Carter talks about how the invention of the calculator lead to the use fo the significant figure rules students love to hate.
February 2013 – O’Hara and Carter Labs at the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in San Diego. Raysa Cabrejo ’14, Pat O’Hara, Carter, and Fred Shipley ’13 are on right side of picture.
August 2012 – The optical trap is online! Terri Hultum ’15, Robbie Schwab ’13, Marco Catipovic ’14, and Shahzad Anwar ’14 celebrate.
February 27, 2012 – Fred has style! While many might think that scientists have no fashion sense, a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto thought otherwise and scoured the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in San Diego for stylish scientists. He stumbled upon our own Fred Shipley and fashion history was made.
February 24, 2012 – We are off to BPS! Armed with the most beautiful bright pink poster imaginable, Shipley and Carter are off to the Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society.
January 2012 – Winter Warriors! Junior physics majors Cheyenne Teng and Robert Flynn join the group for three weeks over interterm. Cheyenne machines several sample holders, while Robert makes headway on tracking beads inside zebrafish embryos.
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