Dr. Geoff Schrank
I am a research and development scientist/engineer specializing in instrument modeling, prototyping, and measurement. I have designed, modeled, and prototyped instruments for biological, chemical, and physical measurements.
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I'm also an educator who is interested in developing the best tools to communicate science and inform critical thinking.
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My primary interest is designing scientific instrumentation and developing new computational models to optimize the behavior of that instrumentation.
MY LATEST RESEARCH
Working to improve our understanding of the dynamics of hyperpolarized gas production, I obtained funding using Experiment.com to create simulations of of full 3D cells used for optical pumping of gas to produce hyperpolarized gas. The simulations investigated the effects of temperature, cell-body size, and orientation. The results were recently published on arVix.
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The full datasets for the simulations are published at the Havard Dataverse.
The fundamental science of hyperpolarizing gas is a mature, 30 year field. Much of the research on the field now resides in application and optimization of the process. I've been with researchers across institutions to provide quality simulations of the spin-exchange optical pumping (SEOP) process. In particular, I've developed finite element models using open-source solutions. These reactor cell models will help researchers better understand their process and optimize production yields.
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Code for a full 3D SEOP simulations are in development. Beta code can be found at https://github.com/drschrank/elmerfem
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A full description of the methodology of the code can be found on arVix.
