As a research fellow in the Department of Physics I conducted research studying the properties and structure of films of polymers and lipids on the surface of water using x-ray scattering and optical microscopy. During the x-ray diffraction and reflectivity component of my work, I moved my laboratory to the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory, set up and performed the experiments there. In order to obtain the structure of these films on a larger (~10 micron to ~1 mm) length scale, I built (in collaboration with a more junior graduate student and a postdoctoral fellow) a Brewster-Angle Microscope. This is an imaging system in which an Argon-ion laser is used to provide a bright, polarized beam to illuminate the surface of interest. The image is gathered using a CCD camera, and is then digitized and analyzed on a Macintosh computer. By taking advantage of the suppression of reflection at the Brewster angle, we were able to image the above mentioned films on the water surface as well as gather information on the structure of the films. In this work, I designed, built, and developed the mechanical and electronic components used in this system.