Abdul Qadeer Rehan, 2020 NIST Research Intern

Biography

SPS Chapter: University of Richmond

Growing up in Karachi, Pakistan I left home at the young age of 16 to attend the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales, before starting my undergraduate studies at the University of Richmond, Virginia to major in Computer Science and Physics. Over the past three years in college, I have been working under the supervision of Dr. Mariama Rebello de Sousa Dias, researching the optical properties of Aluminum-Gold thin films. This early exposure to the field of scientific research has driven me to strive to find and solve the unknown.

Outside of research, I work as a Sustainability Dining Intern at the Office of Sustainability on campus. My work involves implementing sustainable dining initiatives and food recovery programs at dining locations across campus. I also serve as my college’s SPS chapter treasurer and a peer tutor for Computer Science and Math courses. Beyond work and research, I like to spend time exploring music, playing cricket and experiencing new cuisines.

Internship

Host: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Project

Abstract

With decreasing feature dimensions, increasing layout complexity, and greater material variations, undetected semiconductor patterning defects can have both technological and financial consequences in nanoelectronics fabrication. Optical methods are ideal for the fast, non-destructive identification of defect locations, but separating defect-based signals from measurement noise is a daunting task. Data-driven Machine Learning has been successfully applied to classifying simulated images,1 and our project has optimized a dataset of experimental images collected at 193 nm wavelength for enhanced processing using supervised neural networks. Images of intentional defect arrays have been obtained using a scatterfield microscope and processed here to enhance the training of convolutional neural networks. Initial results are presented showing the successful binary classification of defect and no-defect examples with discussion of the imbalanced costs due to false identifications. 1) Mark-Alexander Henn, Hui Zhou, Richard M. Silver, Bryan M. Barnes, “Applications of machine learning at the limits of form-dependent scattering for defect metrology,” Proc. SPIE 10959, Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control for Microlithography XXXIII, 109590Z (26 March 2019); doi: 10.1117/12.2517285

Final Presentation

Internship Blog

Week 1: Zoom Internship 101

After a previous week of pandemic stressors, political turmoil, and rising social movements, Monday was a breath of fresh air. Zoom calls have become the center of the pandemic and its hardships but in earnest, the orientation zoom meeting with all interns and SPS staff was a welcome sight.

Tuesday morning brought a new motivation, as I met my mentors at NIST; Joseph Kopanski and Bryan Barnes. Alongside Trey Cole, a fellow NIST intern, we were given the opportunity to choose which mentor to work with. Between Trey and I, we decided that I would be working with Bryan Barnes given my interest in both Computer Science and Physics. For the remainder of the week, I spent most of the time reading literature to familiarize myself with the project and equip myself with the knowledge to effectively conduct my work. Furthermore, I met Bryan daily through Skype which provided me with a sense of belonging at NIST by not only discussing the details of our work but also engaging in everyday conversation which I would have expected to have at NIST.

Wednesday was an exciting morning! A package containing spectacular posters of Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, and Marie Curie, a t-shirt, mug, and best of all a plush cow arrived! It truly made my day. This plush cow has now joint two cows already present in my room. Hopefully, I will have a herd of toy cows one day! In the attached images you can see two of my cows, the third one decided to wander off! The excitement proceeded to the weekly intern activity planned that evening where all interns joined a zoom call and played JackBox Games. While I wasonly able to attend the event for an hour it was great to meet all the interns in an informal setting allowing us to familiarize ourselves with each other better.

As the week comes to an end it’s hard not to ponder upon the experiences this pandemic has taken away from us; living together with other interns, working at NIST facility, living in DC and so much more. On the other hand, this pandemic has reinforced my core motivation as a STEM major. This motivation and passion, as with any individual, has the power to work towards the betterment of humanity.

I am looking forward to this summer as I wish to create new bonds, enhance my skills, have new experiences, and make the most out of every opportunity this internship provides me.

Week 2: A Long Way To Go

Having gained familiarity with this internship I started week two with an excitement to get hands-on with my summer project. With all the information export hurdles completed, I was granted access to the algorithms and code developed by researchers on the project at NIST. Having touched the surface of this research I am excited to dive into the depths this project will take me. This week I got the opportunity to attend the Nanoscale Device Characterization Division’s meeting at NIST hosted virtually. It was a pleasure getting to know people working at the lab and getting to know their research.

In light of the most recent murders of Black people in the US, the American Institute of Physics observed #ShutDownSTEM. It was disheartening to read and watch the different instances of systematic racism and oppression present in our society today. It seems that as humans we have a duty to continually educate and improve ourselves in order to better our society.

With the tornados and power outages in the mid-west, the intern group stood fast and had our social event in action on Sunday. It was nice to get an update on how everyone is doing at their respective intern positions.

Week 3: Big Data

Its hard to believe that week 3 has come to its end, and we are inching closer to the halfway mark.

Week 3 was spent setting up a virtual environment on my laptop, churning data, and finally getting some not so beautiful results. This is where my internship comes in for the next few weeks; to tweak and modify our program so that it produces mathematically sound results.

SPS hosted our first colloquium this week where Dr. Tony Stauci from the Texas Lutheran University spoke on “Living the Life in a Physics World: Hard work, serious skills, and necessary frivolous diversions.” It provided a good platform to asks questions relating to the work industry. And on that note, if you’re reading this connect with me on LinkedIn by CLICKING HERE!

I was also able to attend a virtual Happy Hour with the SPS Executive Committee. This was a pleasant time to chat and get to know others.

Week 4: Moving Forward

As week four comes to an end, it marks the completion of my first month. Everyday working has brought forward it’s own challenges which makes waking up every morning with motivation to find solutions.

My mornings start by taking a shower where I ponder on approaches for the problem I will be working on. I have found these “thinking sessions” to be extremely helpful. This seems to uphold the saying; ‘good things come from unexpected places!’

This week SPS organized a Professional Networking Workshop by the career programs manager of APS, Midhat Farooq. This was a valuable session for me, as life after graduation during the COVID pandemic seems very uncertain. I am grateful to APS for emphasizing the need to focus on our careers and life after college.

Week 5: Half Full? Half Empty?

The halfway mark brings me closer to completing my project. While we have covered a lot of ground there is still a vast set of tasks to which I look forward to completing over the coming weeks. This was the first time that I got to experience a long weekend in a work setting. I used this opportunity to visit Pocahontas State Park. I realized how separated we get from our surroundings while working, and that it is important to take out time to appreciate the around us. Amidst all of the saddening news, this trip provided me with relief and motivation!

Back at my desk, I am looking forward to week 6, all the challenges waiting for me, the virtual picnic, and the adventures of an internship during a pandemic!

Week 6: Uncertainty

Today marked the completion of week 6 of my summer internship. It is hard to wrap my head around the fact that college resumes in almost a month now. Realizing this also made me consider what it would be to attend next semester during the pandemic. While I am grateful for the opportunity this internship has provided me, the experiences lost because of COVID are a reality. It is disheartening to know that my senior year might be not as I had expected before. But this week I had different concerns regarding my senior year.

The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) announced that international students taking online classes due to the pandemic for the fall 2020 semester would have to leave the country. As an international student, this caused confusion and stress. The University of Richmond is adopting a hybrid model between online and in-person classes which would allow me to continue my studies here. While I may have a somewhat clear future ahead, I hope all international students can navigate themselves through these challenging circumstances.

Regardless, I tried to focus on my work and meet all my goals for the week. I have started working on a High Performance Computer which has sped up the completion of my goals. I am thankful to the University of Richmond for granting me access to use these facilities.

SPS organized a virtual picnic for us which was a good couple of hours spent interacting and playing games with the SPS family and interns.

Week 8: Trained to Training

Realizing that July has almost come to its end leaves an eerie feeling. While there are still 2 more weeks, reflecting over the past 8 weeks I see a drastic change in the type of person I am. Having to work from home, I have greatly improved my work ethic, as I find my calendar populated with deadlines and meetings.

With the constant growth in knowledge of neural networks and image processing, I am delighted to realize that after going through training myself I have arrived to stage where I am training our neural network. Having worked with Natural Language Processing previously I was surprised with the level of accuracy image recognition models have. While not a part of my project, I have been thinking over the certainty of visuals in comparison to the vagueness engrained in our language.

Looking forward, I am excited to be presenting my summer research in front of the SPS family and stamp the completion of a successful summer!