NIST NCNR Droplet Analysis
In summer 2026, I worked on measuring droplets flowing through tiny channels at the NIST Center for Neutron Research. This was part of SHIP, the Summer High School Internship Program. I wrote Python tools to turn a continuous light reading into readings for individual droplets. I also moved an older image-analysis program from MATLAB to Python, two programming languages, and made sure the new version gave the same measurements.
Two ways to measure the same droplets
Through SHIP, I wrote Python code for two ways of measuring the same droplets as they flow through a very thin tube.
A light beam
Light shines through the tube, and droplets and oil let through different amounts of it. The reading changes each time a droplet starts or ends, and my code uses those changes to give one reading for each droplet.
A camera
A camera films the tube, and the picture darkens as each droplet passes. From those changes, the code works out how long each droplet is and how fast it moves.
The experimental figures are in my SHIP presentation.
What the work is for
The light beam and the camera measure the same droplets. Once the Python version gives the same measurements as the older MATLAB one, the two kinds of measurement can be combined. My presentation names combining and analyzing both automatically, as the data arrives, as a long-term goal.
A presentation, not a paperNIST posted my presentation; it was not peer reviewed. Researchers at the NIST Center for Neutron Research mentored the work.