Stella Y. Park

I am currently a postdoctoral associate in the MIT Department of Materials Science & Engineering in Prof. Anne Mayes group. I am involved in the following research projects:

• Polyelectrolyte adsorption onto oppositely charged surfaces
• Inter-colloidal interactions between surface-modified latex particles
• Cell adhesion behavior with applied normal force

which include collaborations with Profs. Michael Rubner, Paula Hammond, and Linda Griffith. You can find this and more at the group website.

My Ph.D. thesis, Theory of DNA Condensation and Complexation, was completed in September 1999 at University of California, Los Angeles in the Department of Chemistry and my advisor was Prof. William Gelbart. We had fruitful collaborations with Prof. Avinoam Ben-Shaul and his soon-to-be-graduated student Daniel Harries, as well as Prof. Robijn Bruinsma.

I received my S.B. in June 1993 at MIT from the Department of Chemistry. Being somewhat of a weather wimp, I lived at Baker House for four years, along with my then-boyfriend, now-husband Michael Lim.

S.Y. Park, C.J. Barrett, M.F. Rubner, and A.M. Mayes, "Anomalous Adsorption of Polyelectrolyte Layers", Macromolecules (accepted).

M. Kugler, S.Y. Park, D. Harries, A. Ben-Shaul, and W.M. Gelbart, "DNA "Blue Phases": A New Twist to Double-Twist Bundles", Physical Review Letters (submitted).

S.Y. Park, R.F. Bruinsma, W.M. Gelbart, "Spontaneous Overcharging of Macro-ion Complexes", Europhysics Letters, 46 (1999) 454-460.

S.Y. Park, D. Harries, and W.M. Gelbart, "Topological Defects and the Optimum Size of DNA Condensates", Biophysical Journal, 75 (1998) 714-720.

As those around me know, I love comics much to my parents' chagrin. Although I have no print media subscriptions, save one magazine, I can still read my favorite dailies and weeklies on the web. Here is a small sample:

• Salon.com: Carol Lay's Story Minute (my personal favorite), as well as Tom Tomorrow's This Modern World and Keith Knight's K Chronicles.
• Comics.com: Get Fuzzy, Robotman...
• Kingfeatures: Sally Forth, Mutts...

Mike and I also have two kitties, Pico and Clue, and you can find some pictures of them when they were very small by following the link above.

Knitters unite! It is definitely possible to shop for yarn on the web and find exactly what you're looking for. I have ordered from Yarn Forward and was satisfied with both the quality and price. It is a Canadian company so you won't know the US dollar amount until you receive your visa bill.

• Michael Lim
• Karen Kaplan
• Daniel Harries
• Mark Wang

Living off the redline has its advantages, but it is hard to get to the airport! First you get on the redline, get off at Park, get on the green line, get off at Government Center, get on the blue line to the Airport stop, then get on the airport shuttle to your terminal. Or alternatively, get on the redline, get off at Downtown Crossing, get on the orange line, get off at State, get on the blue line, then get on the airport shuttle. Whew! Who needs all that stop-and-go? There is a better way...

Lacking a perimeter subway line, the MBTA has come up with the "crosstown" buses. The CT3 line leaves about every 30 minutes from Andrews Station (on the red line) and is almost always on time. The bus also stops in front of the terminals so there is no need to get on the airport shuttle bus. A note of caution, however...getting picked up from the airport terminals is tricky business. You need to remember where you were dropped off and pay attention to the buses passing by.