Nathaniel Gabor

Creating through crises

ilseu — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 21:05:46 +0000

Creating through crises ilseu Tue, 08/11/2020 - 14:05 More College News Jessica Weber | UCR News July 28, 2020

As the coronavirus pandemic continues across the U.S., many are finding that discovering and engaging in creative hobbies offers a welcome outlet for stress and anxiety. But sustaining the motivation to create during times of high stress can be challenging. Members of the UCR community share the ways they have been exploring their own creativity during this time, where they are finding inspiration, and tips on how to maintain a drive to create through times of uncertainty.

Modeling monsters

^{Nathaniel Gabor spends his free time building and intricately painting scale models for the tabletop game "Warhammer," like the sculpture of a 'titan' seen above.}

Nathaniel Gabor

Faculty, physics

As a scientist, I am used to focusing on big projects requiring deliberate effort, which may often take several years to complete. To balance this, I find it important in my personal life to keep small projects that are impulsive and that can be completed quickly. For me, tabletop miniature gaming (a game called Warhammer 40,000) has been the perfect outlet for this, as it offers everything from strategic thinking and friendly banter to artistic expression and handcraft. I often spend hours modelling and painting highly detailed scale models of genetically enhanced superhuman soldiers and terrifying monstrosities from parallel horror realms. Some of the models I create myself, while others are based on scale model kits. The hobby is designed for a range of experience levels, and some people (like myself) have been doing this since the last century.

I keep a blog of my creations in this unusual hobby, and I am now part of an international community of ‘makers’ who evolve the hobby forward with new ideas coming from traditional artistic media to model railroading and scale modelling. I suspect that to many academics, it all seems like a waste of precious time, but I have found that it forces me to not take myself so seriously all the time (It turns out there are several scientists on campus that also play Warhammer 40,000, but I won't name any names here). Perhaps with no surprise, I have been quite busy over the past several months as we all adapt to living in our homes full time, but I always set aside lots of time to build, paint, and create.

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Gabor is an associate professor of physics and astronomy. In 2019, he was one of two UC Riverside professors awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government for scientists and engineers at the beginning stages of their careers.

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Plants are green because they reject harmful colors

ilseu — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 16:30:03 +0000

Plants are green because they reject harmful colors ilseu Mon, 06/29/2020 - 09:30 More CNAS in the Media Joshua Learn | Inside Science June 25, 2020

INSIDE SCIENCE - Forget showing your true colors -- plants are green precisely because they don’t appreciate the type of energy that falls within the green spectrum.

Researchers have long understood that plants use sunlight to photosynthesize carbon dioxide and water into food. But they didn’t know exactly why photosynthesizing organisms such as plants appear green.

To investigate further, scientists moved outside the scope of biology and turned to physics, looking at how the individual colors that make up the full spectrum can answer these questions.

Nathaniel Gabor, a physicist at the University of California, Riverside and his co-authors of a study published today in Science built a model that reproduces the light harvesting by these organisms.

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Physicist to study bacteria undergoing photosynthesis

Site Factory admin — Tue, 19 May 2020 15:44:30 +0000

Physicist to study bacteria undergoing photosynthesis Site Factory admin Tue, 05/19/2020 - 08:44 More College News IQBAL PITTALWALA | Inside UCR May 18, 2020

Last year, physicist Nathaniel Gabor was one of two UC Riverside professors awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government for scientists and engineers at the beginning stages of their careers.

The award to Gabor includes a $1 million research budget from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, starting next month, which will allow him to study individual bacteria undergoing photosynthesis, while asking fundamental questions about the connection between molecular scale processes and organism-scale fitness.

Nathaniel Gabor

“Work in my lab focuses on exposing basic operating principles in complex biological networks, a burgeoning field of study that bridges physics, biology, and chemistry,” said Gabor, an associate professor of physics and astronomy. “Our goal in this project is to simultaneously watch thousands or millions of single cells as they undergo photosynthesis, respiration, and reproduction, with the ability to look at one cell at a time.”

His lab will develop a new microscopy technique to take real-time measurements of bacterial growth in light, demonstrate a new paradigm for photosynthetic efficiency in single cells, and demonstrate a new optical spectroscopy technique to examine the physics of light harvesting.

“We anticipate that our measurements will give remarkably rich insight into microbial processes under illumination,” Gabor said. “In its simplest form, we will gain precise control of optical excitation at the single cell level. The expected impact of our work has the potential to upend the current state of knowledge of light sensing in biosystems.”

The research project will involve the participation of two graduate students and about four undergraduate students.

“It’s fascinating to think that microbial photosynthesis may be one of the most important processes on Earth, and perhaps other planets as well,” Gabor said. “While it is clearly important, there are many fundamental physics questions that remain unanswered. How do microscopic changes in a photosynthetic organism affect the overall fitness? At what point in photosynthesis does the process change from quantum to classical?”

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White House honors two UCR professors with early career award

ilseu — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 20:43:32 +0000

White House honors two UCR professors with early career award ilseu Thu, 08/08/2019 - 13:43 More College News Imran Ghori | Inside UCR July 09, 2019

Nathaniel Gabor and Suveen Mathaudhu have been awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government for scientists and engineers at the beginning stages of their careers.

The White House announced July 3 that Nathaniel Gabor, an associate professor of physics and astronomy, and Suveen Mathaudhu, an associate professor in the materials science and engineering program and mechanical engineering department, are among this year’s recipients. Gabor, also a member of the materials science and engineering program, is on the faculty of the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and both are on the faculty at the Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering.

The awards, established in 1996, recognize those “beginning their independent research careers and who show exceptional promise for leadership in science and technology,” the White House news release stated. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy helps select the recipients in coordination with other federal agencies and departments.

Suveen Mathaudhu

Mathaudhu, who has been with UCR for four years, was nominated by the National Science Foundation in 2015. His area of research involves the study of advanced metal and alloy processing for transportation, defense, health, energy, and other applications.

“I’m really stunned by the fact that I was selected for this prestigious award,” he said. “I see so many people around me that I feel are just as deserving if not more than me. I suppose it’s a measure of the impact that I have been able to make with my support from my nominator (the National Science Foundation).”

Gabor, who joined UCR six years ago, was nominated by the Department of Defense. His research combines unique tools and theoretical approaches to understanding lasers, circuits, and quantum material.

Nathaniel Gabor

“It feels very satisfying to be recognized by the White House, the symbol of the highest office within the executive branch of our government,” he said. “More importantly, this award gives me confidence that the work my students and I do every day holds value to the American public.”

Phillip Christopher, a former UCR professor in the chemical engineering department and materials science and engineering program now at UC Santa Barbara, is also among this year’s recipients.

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