Hayden Brandt, a senior majoring in physics, is the recipient of a prestigious summer undergraduate research fellowship from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. During summer 2024, Brandt will work on the development of a computational workflow for molecular dynamics analysis of glass-forming polymers.
Brandt is part of Assistant Professor Dhara Trivedi’s research group and studies host-guest interactions in nanoporous materials for applications in environmental remediation. In 2020, he was coauthor of a paper published by the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters covering their work on metal-organic frameworks as capture agents for toxic oxoanions. This research was featured as the journal cover for that issue. From 2021-2023 he served a volunteer mission in French Polynesia for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where he served local communities, taught free English and religion classes, and promoted preservation of indigenous Polynesian languages.
Since returning to Clarkson in Fall 2023, Brandt has worked with Trivedi to study a new class of nanoporous materials for capture of radioactive metals. He also serves as ambassador for the American Physical Society (APS), encouraging connectivity among physics students and involvement in physics among a wider audience. After graduating in May 2024 and completing summer research at NIST, Brandt will pursue his Ph.D. in physics at the University of Oregon.