jeswcollins

I believe when we're kids, we're all scientists. I loved observing plants and insects outdoors, and doing science projects such as measuring rainfall and versions of what I saw later in life as a Late Show with Letterman skit: “Will it float?" I grew up in the '90s, a golden era for TV science, and I was more of a Beakman fan than a Bill Nye guy. My high school physics teacher was another great inspiration to me. He could weave history, physics and humor, perhaps most memorably in his lecture on Ptolemy's "Egocentric" theory of the sun's orbit around Earth. My interests similarly spanned many topics. I took about as many classes in poetry at MIT as I did in physics. I completed my PhD in Applied Physics at Harvard. Here's a link to my thesis, titled "Self-Assembly of Colloidal Spheres with Specific Interactions." In my thesis experiments, I found that by carefully controlling the specificity of the interactions between microspheres, they self-assemble into otherwise unlikely or unstable structures. Here's an early description of that work, from well before I completed it. I read so many journal articles that my PhD advisor, Vinny, put me on “probation" from reading any more. I worked more on my own ideas, leading to my reason for signing up on experiment.com. I am working on a theoretical physics paper related to my thesis experiments and am seeking funding to complete and publish it. I'm also building a personal messaging app with some friends to help people share their initial reactions to each others' photo and video messages. Please see our landing page at www.faysee.com and find Faysee on the iOS app store.

November 2014