Engineering Senior Gathers Ingredients for Innovation
Posted:
By Katelyn Vitek
In college life, a home-cooked meal isn’t usually a staple. However, for Tyler Merz, a senior in engineering physics, cooking anything and everything keeps life interesting.
Tyler Merz takes in the view of Austria from Germany during a 2009 hike he took in the Alps.
Merz is known for his rendition of the difficult eggs Benedict dish, and this craving for a challenge goes beyond the kitchen and permeates his academic efforts.
In fact, his achievements have earned him a prestigious national Churchill Scholarship, which he’ll use this fall to obtain his master’s degree in physics at the University of Cambridge in England.
As early as his freshman year, Merz was recognized for his potential when he became a research assistant for Leonard Brillson, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and physics. While Brillson usually does not mentor freshmen due to time constraints, Merz was the exception.
“I was impressed with his intelligence, interest in science, and high level of maturity for such a young student,” Brillson says.
Once in the lab, Merz proved his abilities by using an atomic force microscope to measure surface photovoltage spectra, which would determine the properties of semiconductors at the nanoscale, something that had never been done before.
“Tyler did it in a matter of a week,” Brillson says.
Merz is no beginner when it comes to innovation. Like trying out a new recipe, Merz has traveled the globe in search of the latest ingredients for a unique experience. Merz’s research and academic career have spanned various genres and even diverse countries and cities. The summer after his freshman year, he backpacked through Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.
The next summer, he went to Munich, Germany, and explored a new topic: examining magnets. Working with Christian Pfleiderer, a professor of magnetic materials at the Technical University, Merz not only found a new field of research but also a distinct culture and lifelong friends.
Never one to miss an interesting opportunity, Merz spent last summer in New York at Cornell University completing a research experience for undergraduates with Darrell Schlom, professor of material science and applied physics. Like Merz’s previous trips, this new adventure led to a novel research area, growing crystals.
This experience was unlike anything an undergraduate student could reasonably accomplish during the school year, Merz says. Growing the 1-square-centimeter crystal sample took a period of constant observation, which meant Merz had to be in the lab for 18 hours straight — time he usually would have spent studying, going to class or even catching up on some much-needed sleep.
Now Merz’s travels will take him to England with funding from the Churchill Scholarship, which was founded by American friends of Winston Churchill who wanted to always have American students at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge.
Merz received the scholarship for his academic achievements, such as taking first place in the Denman Undergraduate Research Forum, winning the Goldwater Scholarship and presenting his research with Brillson in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The award honors students who display “a bewildering array of talents” outside of academic pursuits. The scholarship will pay for Merz’s tuition and living and travel expenses while he researches materials that could allow the electronics industry to create cheaper and more environmentally friendly laser-based devices by doubling the number and color of lasers that are available. Merz will study with structure and dynamics Professor Jacqueline Cole.
After completing his master’s degree, Merz hopes to return to the United States and obtain his doctoral degree from Stanford University. His main career goal is to become a professor and guide his students like Brillson, Pfleiderer and Schlom guided him.
“All the professors have been extremely good mentors,” says Merz. “To be able to do that would be amazing.”
Merz knows that he would never have been able to accomplish and experience all that he has without a solid foundation from Ohio State.
“This university really prepared me to do a lot of everything, including theory and experiments,” Merz says. “It was nice to do a little bit of everything.”
In college life, a home-cooked meal isn’t usually a staple. However, for Tyler Merz, a senior in engineering physics, cooking anything and everything keeps life interesting.
Tyler Merz takes in the view of Austria from Germany during a 2009 hike he took in the Alps.
Merz is known for his rendition of the difficult eggs Benedict dish, and this craving for a challenge goes beyond the kitchen and permeates his academic efforts.
In fact, his achievements have earned him a prestigious national Churchill Scholarship, which he’ll use this fall to obtain his master’s degree in physics at the University of Cambridge in England.
As early as his freshman year, Merz was recognized for his potential when he became a research assistant for Leonard Brillson, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and physics. While Brillson usually does not mentor freshmen due to time constraints, Merz was the exception.
“I was impressed with his intelligence, interest in science, and high level of maturity for such a young student,” Brillson says.
Once in the lab, Merz proved his abilities by using an atomic force microscope to measure surface photovoltage spectra, which would determine the properties of semiconductors at the nanoscale, something that had never been done before.
“Tyler did it in a matter of a week,” Brillson says.
Merz is no beginner when it comes to innovation. Like trying out a new recipe, Merz has traveled the globe in search of the latest ingredients for a unique experience. Merz’s research and academic career have spanned various genres and even diverse countries and cities. The summer after his freshman year, he backpacked through Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.
The next summer, he went to Munich, Germany, and explored a new topic: examining magnets. Working with Christian Pfleiderer, a professor of magnetic materials at the Technical University, Merz not only found a new field of research but also a distinct culture and lifelong friends.
Never one to miss an interesting opportunity, Merz spent last summer in New York at Cornell University completing a research experience for undergraduates with Darrell Schlom, professor of material science and applied physics. Like Merz’s previous trips, this new adventure led to a novel research area, growing crystals.
This experience was unlike anything an undergraduate student could reasonably accomplish during the school year, Merz says. Growing the 1-square-centimeter crystal sample took a period of constant observation, which meant Merz had to be in the lab for 18 hours straight — time he usually would have spent studying, going to class or even catching up on some much-needed sleep.
Now Merz’s travels will take him to England with funding from the Churchill Scholarship, which was founded by American friends of Winston Churchill who wanted to always have American students at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge.
Merz received the scholarship for his academic achievements, such as taking first place in the Denman Undergraduate Research Forum, winning the Goldwater Scholarship and presenting his research with Brillson in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The award honors students who display “a bewildering array of talents” outside of academic pursuits. The scholarship will pay for Merz’s tuition and living and travel expenses while he researches materials that could allow the electronics industry to create cheaper and more environmentally friendly laser-based devices by doubling the number and color of lasers that are available. Merz will study with structure and dynamics Professor Jacqueline Cole.
After completing his master’s degree, Merz hopes to return to the United States and obtain his doctoral degree from Stanford University. His main career goal is to become a professor and guide his students like Brillson, Pfleiderer and Schlom guided him.
“All the professors have been extremely good mentors,” says Merz. “To be able to do that would be amazing.”
Merz knows that he would never have been able to accomplish and experience all that he has without a solid foundation from Ohio State.
“This university really prepared me to do a lot of everything, including theory and experiments,” Merz says. “It was nice to do a little bit of everything.”
Category: College
