CNSM Research Snapshots
Learn about our faculty research and keep up with the newest information on our laboratories.
New CNSM laboratories are featured monthly! If you would like your lab to be featured, please reach out to the CNSM Associate Dean for Research.
Dr. Amy Ricketts
February 2025 Snapshot
Science Education Assistant Professor Dr. Amy Ricketts's research aims to impact the ways that science is taught at the elementary school level. Rather than the more common, "touching and telling" technique of hands-on learning, Dr. Ricketts focuses on an alternative "image of the possible" technique. Supporting a more minds-on approach that directly engages children in intellectual work, Dr. Ricketts's method uses sensemaking as a guide to aid children in creating a deeper understanding of what they are experiencing in class, as well as the world around them.
In her work preparing future elementary school teachers, Dr. Ricketts uses devices like the NextGen Alliance for Science Educators Toolkit (ASET) and the ASET Science and Engineering Practice Tool to allow her students the opportunity to try out, with real kids, the things and techniques they are learning in their coursework. Her students then have the ability to reflect on their practice and identify areas of success in their instruction.
Learn more about Dr. Amy Ricketts and her work.
Previous Snapshots
Here are the most recently featured snapshots.
Dr. Claudia Ojeda-Aristizabal
January 2025 Snapshot
Dr. Claudia Ojeda-Aristizabal and her student researchers study how electrons travel through materials with exotic properties in her lab, the Nanoelectronics Group. Understanding how electrons respond to different materials has the potential to make major impacts on current and future technology, such as quantum computing and low-energy-consumption microdevices.
Dr. Antonio Martinez
December 2024 Snapshot
Dr. Martinez and his student researchers study the intersection of how mathematicians and computer scientists approach complex computational problems. One aim of this work is to identify effective cognitive strategies within each discipline, with the broader goal of interdisciplinary learning and enhanced quality of mathematics education.
Dr. Alyssa Abbey
November 2024 Snapshot
Research by students in Dr. Alyssa Abbey's laboratory focuses on understanding long-term changes in landscapes and what factors lead to those changes, from tectonic activity to climate change. By dating when faults start moving, how fast they move and how long they are active, Dr. Abbey and her students can examine how growing mountains change river routes and mammal migration patterns.
Dr. Darren Johnson
October 2024 Snapshot
Research students in the Johnson Lab study how changes in ocean temperature and pH alter patterns of natural selection and measure the genetic capacity for fish populations to evolve. The lab aims to better understand how climate change may threaten our fish populations, including understanding if fish larvae may become more tolerant of some climate change conditions.
Dr. Fangyuan Tian
September 2024 Snapshot
Research students in the Tian Laboratory focus materials on a chemical level. They work to understand the surface and interface chemistry of solid materials, with a goal of designing biocompatible coatings that can do a variety of things, including methane capture and drug delivery.
