{"id":6996,"date":"2021-08-10T13:49:34","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T18:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/?p=6996"},"modified":"2026-01-29T15:54:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T20:54:28","slug":"christopher-alba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/2021\/08\/10\/christopher-alba\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Alba"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span>RET Christopher Alba Santana, physics teacher at Revere High School, has participated in multiple summer research programs at BU Photonics:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Chris conducted laboratory research in 2021, 2023, and 2024 with Professors Will Boley, Tommaso Ranzani, and Tom Bifano (described below). <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>A committed and passionate STEM educator, Chris was tapped to manage summer research programs for first year undergraduates in summers 2022 and 2025. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>Chris believes that doing research helps him stay informed and connected with current science and helps him better prepare his students to become scientists and engineers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Summer 2025 Program Coordinator<\/h3>\n<p>Chris managed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/research\/opportunities\/ease-in-to-research\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>CELL-MET Undergraduate Research Mentorship Program<\/span><\/a>, providing skills training and professional development for a cohort of seven first generation BU students.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/photonics-programs\/files\/2021\/08\/20250807_Poster-Session-11.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"3361\" height=\"2241\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10446\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/files\/2021\/08\/20250807_Poster-Session-11.jpg 3361w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/files\/2021\/08\/20250807_Poster-Session-11-636x424.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/files\/2021\/08\/20250807_Poster-Session-11-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/files\/2021\/08\/20250807_Poster-Session-11-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/files\/2021\/08\/20250807_Poster-Session-11-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/files\/2021\/08\/20250807_Poster-Session-11-2048x1366.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 3361px) 100vw, 3361px\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Summer 2024 RET<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span>In the Summer of 2024, Chris worked in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-ret\/blinking-heart-lights\/\">Bifano Lab<\/a> with PI Thomas Bifano and Graduate Mentor Francisco Sanchez on the project \u201cHigh Throughput Calcium Imaging for Beating Heart Tissue Characterization.\u201d Chris collaborated with REU Sebastian Martinez to build a microscope system to manage high throughput constraints. The microscope will eventually be able to distinguish between healthy and diseased heart cells.<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding: 75% 0 0 0; position: relative;\"><iframe style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1159814385?badge=0&amp;autopause=0&amp;player_id=0&amp;app_id=58479\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" title=\"20240806_Chris-Alba-Interview\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"bu-slideshow-container alba-2024 autoplay\" id=\"bu-slideshow-container-2473\" data-slideshow-name=\"alba-2024\" data-slideshow-delay=\"5000\">\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Summer 2023 RET<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">In summer 2023, Christopher worked with Professor Tom Ranzani and Graduate Mentor Jacob Rogatinsky in the Ranzani Lab. He assisted with development of a multifunctional robotic platform for beating heart surgery. Chris assisted in redesigning and fabricating the platform&#8217;s stabilization component as well as testing the device\u2019s mechanical and functional properties.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/photonics-programs\/files\/2026\/01\/ChrisAlba_LabHeadshot-636x424-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"636\" height=\"424\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10026\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Summer 2022 Program Coordinator<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span>Chris led BU&#8217;s <strong>Explorations in Science and Engineering<\/strong> program, helping prepare five Class of 2022 Boston Public School graduates <\/span>for undergraduate programs in STEM. Chris managed the students&#8217; hands on technical training in photolithography, 3-D printing, and electronics. Technical training was complemented by workshops in science communication, research, and data analysis. Participants gained practical foundational knowledge to help prepare them for undergraduate STEM programs.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Summer 2021 RET<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/photonics-ret\/files\/2021\/08\/IMG_3351-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1615\" \/><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\">Name? Teaching? Lab?<\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Christopher Alba is a physics teacher at Revere High School working in Will Boley&#8217;s lab.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\">Advice for future RETs?<\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Christopher says that future RETs shouldn&#8217;t worry if their lab is not related to a teacher&#8217;s personal area of expertise, since mentors are helpful. Often times, he would break down the lab&#8217;s larger idea and focus on how his contribution would help the larger goal.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\">Learn more about Christopher and his work below!<\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2hIFk_Dbikw?si=VZsk-KQQBO2RpGzN\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RET Christopher Alba Santana, physics teacher at Revere High School, has participated in multiple summer research programs at BU Photonics: Chris conducted laboratory research in 2021, 2023, and 2024 with Professors Will Boley, Tommaso Ranzani, and Tom Bifano (described below). A committed and passionate STEM educator, Chris was tapped to manage summer research programs for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22341,"featured_media":10026,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6996"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22341"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6996"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10454,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6996\/revisions\/10454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}