Ted Brzinski, Primary Investigator, he/him
tbrzinski[at]haverford.edu
ORCiD
610-896-1196
office: L109, KINSC
lab: H006-8, KINSC
KINSC, Haverford College
370 Lancaster Ave
Haverford, PA 19041
I began working in soft matter physics as an undergraduate, in the research group of Prof. Eric Weeks at Emory University. At Emory, I studied the jamming and rheology of microemulsions and thermo-sensitive hydrogel particles. After completing my B.S. in Physics at Emory, I went on to earn my Ph.D. in the group of Prof. Doug Durian at The University of Pennsylvania, where I studied impact into granular materials and multiphase flow. UPenn is also where I became interested in geophysical systems, thanks to the corrupting influences of Prof. Doug Jerolmack. I explored those interests further and continued to study granular rheology, during a wonderful postdoc with Prof. Karen Daniels at NC State University before arriving to start my own research group at Haverford College in 2016. I was tenured and promoted to Associate in 2023.
Besides granular and soft matter physics, I am interested in physics education and evidence-based teaching methods. I’m especially interested in strategies to integrate research and teaching, and in developing a broadly accessible mentoring environment in my research group and at my institution. I run an NSF-supported Faculty Learning Community at Haverford related to evidence-based mentoring strategies with a focus on accessibility, diversity, and sustainability.
Current squishfolks:
Monica “Mo” Ripp
she/her, Postdoc
mripp@haverford.edu
Google Scholar
Alec Wallach
he/him, HC ‘24
awallach@haverford.edu
Adi Advani
he/him, HC ‘24
aadvani@haverford.edu
Personal webpage
LinkedIn
I am currently a Physics and Math Double Major at Haverford College who works at Squishlabs on the Acoustics of Failure. Specifically, I am studying experimental physics and pure mathematics. My interests within experimental physics mostly involve smaller scale patterns we observe in nature. In pure math, I spend time focusing on Graph and Number theory and my work is about diagonal Ramsey Numbers.
Leo Anderman
he/him, HC ‘25
nanderman@haverford.edu
ORCiD
Derek Zhang
he/him, HC ‘26
dszhang@haverford.edu
LinkedIn
Tinashe Mutasa
he/him, HC ‘26
tmutasa@haverford.edu
LinkedIn
Group Photos
Summer 2023 at Chanticleer Gardens, Left-to-right: Adi, Ted, Leo, Mo, Tinashe, Alec, Derek
Summer 2023 BiSoM trip to Chanticleer, along with Suzanne Amador Kane and Asja Radja’s research groups!
Collaborators
Friends of Squishlab
Squishlab alumni (update in-progress)
- Ivan Tseytlin - Class of '23.
- Lucas Nelson - Class of '23
- Hyo Sun (Charlotte) Park - Class of '23
- Thomas (Tommy) Dandino - Class of '23
- Eric Whyman - Class of '23
- Augustus (Gusty) Helson - Class of '23
- Alden Weinberg - Class of '23
- Jack Hunter - Class of '21
- Colby Ferigno - Class of '21
- Sykes Cargile - Class of '21.
- Sadie Kenyon-Dean - Class of '20.
- Shaun Federick - Class of '20. Shaun is a mechatronics engineer at ASML.
- Katharine Bancroft - Class of '20. Katharine is studying for their Ph.D. in Physics at Brown University. Katharine's work in the lab motivated much of my interest in geometric cohesion and the behavior of flexible granular particles.
- Alyx (née Carter) Patterson - Class of '20. Alyx is studying for their Ph.D. at CU Boulder. Alyx's work in Squishlab helped set the foundation for our application of topological data analysis to contact force data.
- Hongyou Lin - Class of '20.
- Charles Walker - Class of '20. Charlie is studying for his Ph.D. at UC Irvine.
- Ryan Tetro - Class of '19. Studying for his MS in Nanotechnology Engineering at UPenn. Ryan laid the groundwork for ongoing light scattering measurements to understand anomalous thermal effects in sedimenting granular dispersions
- Tyler Fong - Class of '18. Working at Vanguard through the Acceleration into Financial Professional Program. Tyler worked with Hongyou Lin to develop new and improved acoustic sensors for studies of acoustic emissions in granular solids.
- James Stadler - Class of '18. Working at Physical Sciences Inc. James initiated our research on sedimentation.
- Kierra Smith - Class of '20. Music major at Haverford. Kierra helped to establish much of the prototyping and particle fabrication workflow in the lab.
- Yixuan Zhou - Now studying computer science at Rice. Yixuan established our ability to do photoelastic force measurements.
- Luis Loza - Class of '17. Now studying medical physics at UPenn. Luis studied the physics of bonded granular aggregates.
- Anthony Rizzo - Class of '17. Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering at Columbia University in the Lightwave Research Laboratory. Anthony studied the transmission of forces through granular materials