My Research Intrests:

Zinc Oxide Nanowire Field Emission (currently working on at Inano -- UC Davis):
Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have been promising material for a field emitter due to their high mechanical stability, high aspect ratio, and
high conductivity. In addition to studing CNTs it is important to study other wide band-gap semiconductors, such as ZnO nanowires. ZnO nanowires can be used as field emittes because they have negative electron affinity, high mechanical strength, and chemical stability. Field emission from semiconductor nanowires is still not sufficiently studied. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the field emission properties for ZnO nanowires.

Zinc Oxide Nanowire Gas Sensors (currently working on at Inano -- UC Davis):
The physical properties of ZnO can be modified by introducing changes into the procedure of its sonochemical synthesis. Especially for applications such as a ZnO gas sensor. The sensitivity and response time of ZnO based sensors strongly depend on the porosity of the material. The grain size of the polycrystalline zinc oxide material also has noticeable effect on its gas sensing properties. By synthesizing good quality, sharp pointed, zinc oxide nanowires or nanowalls, highly effective gas sensors can be fabricated.

Fabrication of Zinc Oxide Nanowires/Nanowalls (currently working on at Inano -- UC Davis):
Growth of Zinc Oxide Nanowires via. ultrasound excitation. Vertically aligned ZnO NWs were synthesized from a single solution at room-ambient via ultrasonic excitation. If the process can be controlled and predicted to exact specifications, the sonochemical method could potentially replace traditional methods of fabricating ZnO nanowalls. Although vapor-phase synthesis methods produce highly crystalline ZnO nanowires and nanowalls, they require high temperatures and low pressures. Unlike the vapor-phase synthesis method, the hydrothermal methods of growing ZnO nanowires can be performed at lower temperatures and self-evolving pressure. The reaction time required for this synthesis of ZnO nanowires however can take several hours (or even days). ZnO nanowalls/nanowires however have not been achieved and thus no practical, low cost, rapid approach (sonochemical approach) to grow ZnO nanowalls/nanowires has been achieved.

Cavitaion Chemistry (currently working on at Inano -- UC Davis):
Achieving sonoluminescence and cavitation for producing new and exciting material. After trying hard to achieve sonoluminescence with the equipment that we had, we are now resorting to buy a homogoniser which can produce instant cavitaion! Inversitng in a horn would be a more practical choice because we can use our own container and we wouldn’t have to worry about having the right size or shape for cavitation. Cavitation is the formation and collapse of vapor bubbles in a liquid subjected to acoustic energy at high frequency and intensity (analgous to boiling water).  The volume within a bath in which active cavitation is generated by a radiating surface is called the cavitation field. 

Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes (Worked for a year at Robust Systems Group -- Stanford Nanofabrication Facility):
Coating wafers with differnt substrates such as iron, strontium, and ferritin to grow CNT. Experiments have shown that the differnt substrated have drastically affected the way that transistors behave. Further tests will be done to find out the major differences from the “before” results and the “after testing” results. Perfect allignment of CNT has been achieved! Further research will lead to creating trench wafers to increase conductivity from souce to drain.

Facebook Application -- Friend Wheel (currently working on with Eddy Chan -- UC Davis):
All flash based. Therefore interactive, On Facebook, I will be able to click on friends (other nodes) to find out what mutual friends we have. The distance between two nodes will be used to relate the relationship between the two friends. Therefore, the smaller the distance between the nodes, the closer the two friends are. All the data will be extracted from the Facebook server.

Low-Cost Multi-point Interactive Whiteboards Using the Wiimote (Working! E-mail me if you want to try it out!):
Since the Wiimote can track sources of infrared (IR) light, you can track pens that have an IR led in the tip. By pointing a wiimote at a projection screen or LCD display, you can create very low-cost interactive whiteboards or tablet displays. Since the Wiimote can track upto 4 points, up to 4 pens can be used. It also works great with rear-projected displays. (Thank you to Johnny Chung Lee for this brilliant idea!)

Gene Expression Data Analysis and Modeling (currently working on independantly -- UC Davis):
TRIM22 is a member of the tripartite motif (TRIM) family. The protein down-regulates transcription from the HIV-1 LTR promoter region. If this gene really is the regulatory gene of HIV, then further analysis creating dendro diagrams using gene expression data (publically avalable) should show other genes which are related to the TRIM22 gene. Using R and Dchip, I have created dendro diagrams and visual gene array maps of the data. I don't have the biology background to understand this project to it's full extent. I need help from students/professors.
[HELP NEEDED -- please contact me if you are interested in working with me on this. (especially biology students)]

Facebook -- Analysis of Identity (currently working on with Dr. Raissa D'Souza and Dr. Diane Felmlee -- UC Davis)
Sharing Behavior, Privacy Concerns and Trust in a Social Network Community (Facebook). Individual privacy concerns and perceptions of trust play an important role underlying the establishment of online social relationships. A survey of college freshmen who use a popular social networking site, Facebook, compared perceptions of trust, privacy concerns, and willingness to share information in order to develop new relationships. Students expressed significantly greater trust in Facebook and in other Facebook members when compared to complete strangers, and hence were more willing to share personal identity information on the site. Despite the fact that many users reported not having read the social network’s privacy policy, they reported feeling that their privacy is well protected by Facebook. This paper presents the results of the survey and investigates two main aspects of social networking – the amount of personal information students have revealed online and how social networking is different and similar to offline social networking. A majority of students reported using Facebook more than e-mail to communicate, which suggests that Facebook may be a new and more effective way of communicating with others, and is steadily gaining popularity.
[Research paper expected to be published soon!]