Erick Ruiz
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Erick Ruiz is a graduate student in Applied Physics at Harvard's John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. As an undergraduate at Texas Tech University, Erick majored in mechanical engineering with minors in math and physics. During this time, he conducted research in stellar astrophysics simulating binary star systems with Dr. Lennart van Haaften in Professor Thomas Maccarone's group. After graduating from Texas Tech University in 2016, he participated in Harvard's Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, where he conducted experimental research in Professor Robert Westervelt's group. There, his main focus was on improving the fabrication process for two-dimensional graphene on boron nitride hetero-structures. During this time, Erick also learned experimental techniques for imaging electron mobility using scanning gate microscopy. As a graduate student in Professor David Weitz's lab, Erick is experimentally probing the basic physical mechanisms and forces that occur during sediment transport. In particular, he is developing experimental tools to visualize the three-dimensional microstructure of dense flowing particle suspensions and directly measure the microscopic forces that arise from complex particle and fluid interactions during sediment transport.