RIT CIS Summer Internship: Sensors/Advanced Instrumentation

On Friday, the Undergraduate Research Symposium was happening on campus, so Tristan, Peter, and I went to a couple of presentations. One was about quantum dots being used on sensors, and the other was Lee's presentation about polarized cameras. In the afternoon, Peter and I continued to work on our code in MATLAB. Through our code, we are able to average information from a file folder full of pictures, and then measure the Stokes parameters from the average data. We took some more pictures of skin, and realized that the skin has to be pretty uniform in color for taking pictures, or else the camera creates false polarization. What this means is that in order to take a picture of a darker area of skin, such as a mole or scar, the camera will have to be zoomed in to just that darker area of skin; lighter skin that surrounds the darker skin cannot be in the photo or else the data will be incorrect.

Today, in the morning, Peter and I toured around other interns' lab spaces. I especially liked Anjana's lab space. Her project is kind of similar to ours in that she is also trying to develop a new sensing device. After, Peter and I worked on our presentation for a little bit and checked on our part in the Machine Shop (part will be done tomorrow). We then took a lunch break. After lunch, we took some more pictures with the camera, and started to separate the raw data with MATLAB. The process was actually easier than I anticipated once I learned the basics. We separated the pixels into the 0,90,45,and135 degree pixels, and then used the Stoke's Parameters to look at total intensity (which was the original picture), preference for horizontal versus vertical, and preference for positive 45 and negative 45. Tomorrow, we will take some pictures of skin, and then use the parameters to view polarization in the skin. Tomorrow is also the undergraduate research symposium,  so we...

During the morning meeting, we presented our outline to the group. It was beneficial to put our purpose and background information into words, and then verbalize them to a group of people (good practice for our actual presentation). After the meeting, Peter and I continued to work on our presentation until 11am, when we went to Chris G., a REU (research experiences for undergraduates) student's presentation. During his research at RIT, Chris used hyperspectral imaging to examine soil moisture content in fields in California. The benefits of using hyperspectral imaging versus the conventional, "going into the field" to take samples method are that hyperspectral imaging is faster, cheaper, and more efficient than taking samples. After Chris's presentation, we went to the last tech talk, which was also about an imaging method, called DIRSIG. I thought both presentations were pretty cool. After lunch, Peter and I continued to work on our presentation while we waited fo...

Today, during the morning meeting, Matt had us look over other interns' outlines and revise them. After the meeting, Peter and I went to the Machine Shop, and had the LEXAN cut with a panel saw. Then, we reread the packet Dmitry gave us about the polarization of light.  Around 11am, went to the lab, and used the camera to take some pictures of more skin samples. Emily came downstairs to visit, so we explained our project and looked at her skin with the camera. Then we took a lunch break. After lunch, we started to work on our presentation while we waited for our part to finish at the Machine Shop. Dmitry gave us some good tips about presentation length, and the content of our presentation. For our project, about half of our PowerPoint will be background information about our, "problem," and the other half will be raw data/pictures, and the next steps. After our part is done, we will begin to collect data, and analyze the data for birefringence.

Today, Peter and I made a few adjustments to our setup while waiting for our part. During the morning, we went to a PhD dissertation about measuring supermassive black holes, which was very interesting. After the dissertation, we started working on our camera. First we moved our track and light source, and then focused the camera. Then, we took some pictures, but realized that our light source wasn't bright enough, so we borrowed Tristan's light source, which is way more intense. We then solidified the base of our camera by using a post to hold up the lens. After lunch, we took some pictures of skin and looked at the various measurements our computer program provides, including degree of linear polarization (DOLP), angle of linear polarization (AOLP), and birefringence. We also went to the Machine shop to see if they could shear some LEXAN that Tristan needs for the clean room, but LEXAN of our size of 1/4" thick would crack in the shearing process, so they recommended ...

Peter Letendre, Ashley Cummings Joe Pow Research Outline 28 July 2017 Outline Purpose Create a new method of detecting skin cancer in a non-invasive manner with polarized light Background Polarization of light is the orientation of light in its movement The CCD we are using measures linear polarization at 0, 45, 90 and 135 degrees Healthy skin is birefringent, Cancerous skin is not birefringent Birefringence is when light hits a surface and the light splits into a parallel and perpendicular planes that have different indexes of refraction Healthy skin reflects elliptical polarized light, cancerous skin reflects circularly polarized light when hit with circularly polarized light Methods Materials: CCD camera (12 bit), polarizer, quarter-wave plate, light source, collimator, skin samples, acrylic track Choose angle of light projection using acrylic track. Project collimated light into a polarizer and quarter wave plate to generat...

Today, Peter and I continued to work on our glass attachment parts. In the morning, we finished the part in SolidWorks, and then went to the Construct. Apparently, the mill in the Construct can't make a part out of our material and with our size, so we were then sent to the Machine Shop in the engineering building. At the Machine Shop, we were told to bring prints of our drawings, so Peter and I had to figure out how to print without having to pay (at the Library, it cost 16 cents to print our drawings, and neither of us had money on our ID cards). We eventually printed our drawings, and then went back to the Machine Shop to submit our request for our part to be made with a mill. Our part should be done by Tuesday. After lunch, Peter and I worked on our outline and hung out in the Reading Room for a little bit. We ended early, around 3:30pm. Next week, we will hopefully be able to begin collecting data. Joe brought up a good point that we are going to have to find cancerous skin...