{"id":215912,"date":"2026-05-04T11:39:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T15:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/?p=215912"},"modified":"2026-05-04T11:39:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T15:39:27","slug":"rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\/","title":{"rendered":"RMSC GRIN Water Wave Tank"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Rochester Museum &amp; Science Center GRIN Wave Tank project aims to create a prototype of a water tank with an interactive wave actuator that is capable of simulating refraction and diffraction through water waves. The waves are projected onto the floor beneath the tank with a clear-bottom tank and a light source above. Lenses and other demonstration elements will be placed into the water to show diffraction, refraction and reflection in an interactive and approachable way by younger audiences. The project is conducted with the support of our customer, Calvin Uzelmeier, and our faculty advisors, Duncan Moore and Ed Herger.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-26-edited.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-248782\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-26-edited.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-26-edited-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-26-edited-768x576.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>The wave tank being used to demonstrate the double slit experiment at RMSC.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The key principle behind the function of the wave tank is that the index of water, for a water wave traveling through it, varies with the depth. This allows us to simulate traditional lenses with 3D printed lenses of continuous thickness and GRIN lenses by varying the thickness of the lenses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For normal convex and concave lenses, we used the lens maker formula assuming that our wavelength is 25mm and water depth of 3mm (water depth 8mm and lens height of 5mm).&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"589\" height=\"62\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-181.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-248862\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-181.png 589w, https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-181-300x32.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 589px) 100vw, 589px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-27-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-248832\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-27-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-27-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-27-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-27.jpeg 1120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Plot of index for water wave vs water depth for a 25mm water wave.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"727\" height=\"443\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-180.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-248842\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-180.png 727w, https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-180-300x183.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 727px) 100vw, 727px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Side view profile of varying height of a GRIN Wood lens, generated with Excel sheet created by Megan Fallon.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We preformed two days of testing at RMSC, once with general audiences and once at the RIT Museum night with primarily college students. With the infographic and motorized actuator most people were able to create the phenomena on their own. Based on their interactions with the tank we created design suggestions for a full scale exhibit that RMSC will continue to develop and hopefully deploy in the near future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-28.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-248872\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-28.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-28-300x225.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Testing tank at RMSC on RIT museum day.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Rochester Museum &amp; Science Center GRIN Wave Tank project aims to create a prototype of a water tank with an interactive wave actuator that is capable of simulating refraction&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18772,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4452,7692],"tags":[],"coauthors":[23952,23962,23972],"class_list":["post-215912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-year","category-optsd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>RMSC GRIN Water Wave Tank - Senior Design Day<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"RMSC GRIN Water Wave Tank - Senior Design Day\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Rochester Museum &amp; Science Center GRIN Wave Tank project aims to create a prototype of a water tank with an interactive wave actuator that is capable of simulating refraction&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Senior Design Day\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-04T15:39:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-26-edited-1024x630.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Milo Gard, Minh Nguyen, Nathan Pieters\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Milo Gard, Minh Nguyen, Nathan Pieters\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Milo Gard\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2bfb7d5aca695a70e7d0afa78088a90d\"},\"headline\":\"RMSC GRIN Water Wave Tank\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-04T15:39:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":312,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/image-26-edited.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"1. Current Year Programs\",\"Optical Engineering Senior Design\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\\\/\",\"name\":\"RMSC GRIN Water Wave Tank - Senior Design Day\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/image-26-edited.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-04T15:39:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2bfb7d5aca695a70e7d0afa78088a90d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/image-26-edited.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/image-26-edited.jpeg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":768},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"RMSC GRIN Water Wave Tank\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/\",\"name\":\"Senior Design Day\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2bfb7d5aca695a70e7d0afa78088a90d\",\"name\":\"Milo Gard\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\\\/senior-design-day\\\/author\\\/mgard\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"RMSC GRIN Water Wave Tank - Senior Design Day","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"RMSC GRIN Water Wave Tank - Senior Design Day","og_description":"The Rochester Museum &amp; Science Center GRIN Wave Tank project aims to create a prototype of a water tank with an interactive wave actuator that is capable of simulating refraction&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\/","og_site_name":"Senior Design Day","article_published_time":"2026-05-04T15:39:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-26-edited-1024x630.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Milo Gard, Minh Nguyen, Nathan Pieters","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Milo Gard, Minh Nguyen, Nathan Pieters","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\/"},"author":{"name":"Milo Gard","@id":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/#\/schema\/person\/2bfb7d5aca695a70e7d0afa78088a90d"},"headline":"RMSC GRIN Water Wave Tank","datePublished":"2026-05-04T15:39:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\/"},"wordCount":312,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-26-edited.jpeg","articleSection":["1. Current Year Programs","Optical Engineering Senior Design"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\/","url":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\/","name":"RMSC GRIN Water Wave Tank - Senior Design Day","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-26-edited.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-05-04T15:39:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/#\/schema\/person\/2bfb7d5aca695a70e7d0afa78088a90d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-26-edited.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-26-edited.jpeg","width":1024,"height":768},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/rmsc-grin-water-wave-tank\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"RMSC GRIN Water Wave Tank"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/","name":"Senior Design Day","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/#\/schema\/person\/2bfb7d5aca695a70e7d0afa78088a90d","name":"Milo Gard","url":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/author\/mgard\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18772"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215912"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":248942,"href":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215912\/revisions\/248942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215912"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/senior-design-day\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=215912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}