Zachery Brown, a graduating senior from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, conducted research on glass transition, with Piotr Habdas, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of physics at SJU for several years. Their research focused on colloidal glasses. A colloid is a mixture of a microscopic, insoluble particles in a liquid; in this case, acrylic spheres in a solvent. Instead of being influenced by temperature, colloidal glasses transition through states based on the ratio of particles to liquid. In Dr. Habdas’ lab, using a specialized microscopy technique, Zachery measured the movement of the spheres as he introduces them into the solvent.