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A list of all the posts and pages found on the site. For you robots out there is an XML version available for digesting as well.
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About
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My personal hobbies
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Page Archive
The Nordquist family
List of Publications
Research projects and techniques
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Teaching Experience
Posts
1st class done!
My first class, a first-year seminar called “Order and Chaos, Reconciling atomic randomness and the human world” was a big success. Some of the final projects students designed, carried out and presented:
- Gas permeation through a eggshell-like membrane (pictured below)
- Irreversibility of an explosion simulation
- Thermal equilibration and planet formation
- Equilibration of plucked strings
ResearchFest Presentation
For my recent presentation at the UMass Chemistry ResearchFest, I was awarded the second-place award, a great honor and a generous monetary prize. I was among 4 student speakers selected for the highly-competitive presentations each year. One senior student per lab can be nominated. I was following in the tradition of the great Xiaorong Liu, who spoke at my first ResearchFest in 2018. Read more
Eureka! girls science camp
CNS Teaching Fellowship
The UMass College of Natural Sciences offers a First-year seminar to CNS-declared majors under the broad umbrella “Think like a Scientist”. Graduate students interested in a teaching career are encouraged to apply. Each FYS is unqiue to the person teaching it, which gave me the opportunity to build a (mini) cirriculum and practice some skills I learned abstractly by taking CIRTL online training courses. Read more
Introduction to Evidence-based Teaching
This online course (through the edX platform and CIRTL) introduced me to the kinds of challenges facing an ‘expert’ in a field who is trying to reach a collection of students with various skills, previous knowledge, and emotions. In fact, the growth-mindset and iterative, active learning priciples I hope to implement are the same I need to use to learn how to teach. 
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The Inclusive STEM Teaching Project Course
This online course (through the edX platform) used embodied case study videos and self-reflection prompts to train grad students, postdocs and current faculty to approach education through personal and inclusive strategies backed by the latest educational reserach. 
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Erik and Zoes wedding
Erik and Zoe got married in Eagle, ID. We met a the College of Idaho in Caldwell, ID. 
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Awarded CBI Fellowship
The Chemistry Biology Interface (CBI) is a competitive NIH-funded fellowship designed “to train students with diverse scientific backgrounds for productive research at the interface between chemistry and biology” at UMass.” 
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Website built
My labmate Xiping Gong and I learned that one can host a free website at username.github.io using a special repo with that name. He then found the awesome template academicpages.github.io, which I immediately forked and started using. Since then, many Chen lab members have followed suit: Read more
hobbies
Piano
I’m learning to play!
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Podcasts/YouTube
I listen to some podcasts and YouTube channels Read more
Running
I (used to) run a lot
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Swimming
I really enjoy swimming! 
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people
Erik Nordquist
This website, eriknordquist.com, is my website. Read more
Zoe Nordquist
I am Zoe, artistic creator of the digital avatars of this site! Read more
publications
research
Molecular dynamics simulations
Using Newton’s laws to simulate molecular motion, like these wiggling waters:
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Physics-based modeling of Hsp70-substrate binding
Molecular chaperones like DnaK help fold misfolded proteins,
but how do they distinguish well-folded, misfolded, and disordered regions?
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Protein-like nanopore dewetting
Why do some protein ion channels like the BK channel, which are quite large ~1.2 nm diameter, have vapor rather than physical barriers?
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BK Channel Hydrophobic Gating
Hydrophobic dewetting forms a vapor barrier and closes BK Channel; what role do specific mutations play in (de-)stabilizing this delicate liquid-vapor interplay?
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BK Gating Voltage Predictor
Given abundant mutational data, I’m leveraging molecular and statistical modeling to predict gating voltage of the BK channel.
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talks
teaching
Guest lecture: Molecular Mechanics
I gave a lecture on molecular mechanics in Jianhan’s graduate-level statistical mechanics course. Read more
Undergraduate Research Mentoring
I have mentored a few undergraduate students at UMass Amherst (2019-2021). I hope to continue this in my own teaching career, through small projects, independent studies, and research projects integrated into courses.
Read moreTraining Courses
I have taken several courses associated with CIRTL on the online learning platform edX, including:
Read moreScientific Storytelling
Effective scientific storytelling is similar to telling a fairy-tale.
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Natural Sciences First-Year Seminar
The goal of the FYS is to welcome first-year CNS students and prepare them for college and for a major in the sciences.
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