By Leila Ugincius

Jeremy I. Lopez knew since at least the fifth grade that he wanted to be an engineer. He just didn’t know which field — or even that there were different fields of engineering.

By the end of high school, he had learned about them — thanks to the High Tech Academy, a career preparation program from the Henrico County school system and Virginia Commonwealth University. Lopez decided to pursue mechanical engineering, and now in his third year in VCU’s Department of Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering, he already has his eye on graduate school.

“My initial thought was to just finish my undergrad and go straight into working, but I’ve really enjoyed the research I’ve been doing and know I will enjoy grad school,” said Lopez, a first-generation college student of Hispanic descent.

Lopez began his research journey in the Fluids in Advanced Systems and Technology research group, led by Lane Carasik, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the College of Engineering. FAST explores computational and experimental thermal hydraulics, and it focuses on advanced nuclear reactor technology, fusion-enabling technology and concentrated solar power plants that involve molten salts and high pressure/temperature gases, such as helium.

“I think he is one of the best examples of an undergraduate researcher at VCU,” Carasik said of his protégé, adding that Lopez’s impact has been so impressive, he is “treating him like a graduate student already.

“Jeremy is the type of student I love to mentor and help grow into a future leader in the fields of engineering and applied science. He is motivated, honest, and he’s interested in making an impact on society in positives ways. He’s also a team player who I can rely on to work with everyone in my research group. I look forward to seeing him continue to grow and I hope to at least contribute to that.”

Lopez’s undergraduate project involves researching and building a Jet Pump Pair — JPP for short — a special kind of pump that uses air to move water through tubes.

“Kind of like blowing through a straw to suck up water,” he explained. “It uses air under pressure — like blowing really hard — to suck up and move water or other liquids through a pipe. It doesn’t have any moving parts. It just uses air and the shape of the pipes to do the job.”

The goal is to predict the flow rate, or how much water moves, by knowing the pressure of the air being blown. 

“This is significant because in nuclear fuel reprocessing, plants use conventional pumps –  which have many parts on the inside that, after a long time of being in direct contact with radioactive sludges, start to become weak and eventually fail,” Lopez said. “Which leads to the facility having to pause and stop the work to make repairs.”

That’s where JPPs come in, he said. “They have no internal components or moving parts. It’s all one piece, which means if it does get damaged, it can easily be swapped out for a new one.”

Lopez answered some quick additional questions about his experience as an undergraduate researcher.

What led you to this research?

I was fairly new to Dr. Carasik’s FAST research group. I had prior experience in CAD, 3D printing and some machining experience. Overall I had quite a bit of hands-on experience, which I believe led to Dr. Carasik putting me on the project, which I am very grateful for. And I have learned a lot from this past year that I’ve been doing research – and I’m eager for everything else I have yet to learn.

Beyond the research itself, what skills or connections have you developed?

I’ve had a lot of networking opportunities, thanks to doing research and Dr. Carasik’s actively pushing me to make connections. I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with and discussing research with [representatives] from national labs such as Los Alamos National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Recently, I also had the opportunity to present my research at the American Nuclear Society student conference in New Mexico, where I gave a presentation and got to network with many students who are actively in the same field. And I actively work with the experimentalist grad students in my lab, always asking them questions regarding how to run and plan experiments, and how to do well in research.

What did you enjoy most about this project?

The project isn’t finished yet, but the part I have enjoyed the most up until now is when I 3D-printed the pump and did a preliminary test – and it worked. I felt a sense of accomplishment, like all the work I had done had led up to that moment.

What advice do you have for other undergrads on how to get involved in research?

Go out and look for professors who are doing research you think you’d enjoy. Don’t be scared to ask questions, and don’t think you aren’t smart enough to do research, because I felt the same way the first couple of weeks I started doing research. I felt like I was very behind, and I felt like I didn’t have the intellect to contribute or to even be able to talk about the projects I was working on in the lab. But the grad students and colleagues in the group helped me and encouraged me to ask questions and to continue.