About

Welcome to Through the Looking Glass!

My name is Brooke and I am a first year PhD student studying materials science and engineering at Penn State. I work in the Gomez group and my current project focuses on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of conjugated polymers, a class of materials that is emerging as a promising active layer for applications such as solar cells, light emitting diodes, and thin-film transistors. Through microscopy, we hope to gain a better understanding of the structure of these materials so that their performance in organic electronics can be improved. 

The purpose of this science blog is to record my graduate research and experiences so that I can keep track of my own progress while simultaneously sharing my discoveries with the public. The types of posts you will find here include research updates, summaries of research papers, helpful information from my classes, and perhaps even the occasional grad school-related life lesson. While these posts will be centered around my specific research and experiences, I aim to make them useful and relevant to a broad audience – whether you are a fellow graduate student, a professor, a friend, or merely a curious reader.

Please feel free to contact me with comments, questions, or suggestions. Thanks for reading!