Lead Conference Organizers

Elizabeth Mills is a 4th year graduate student in physics, studying hearing mechanics in the Bozovic Lab. Using high speed imaging of inner ear cells, she explores channel and motor mechanics that are thought to be responsible for our sensitive and adaptive hearing. Currently, Elizabeth is implementing active and peer-based learning research techniques in high school physics curriculum and undergraduate life science physics labs. She co-heads UCLA's Women in Physics & Astronomy (WiPA) group, and co-represents physics grads in UCLA's Graduate Student Association (GSA). Elizabeth enjoys soccer, bodysurfing, and yoga.

Alexandra Lane Latshaw is a 4th year physics graduate student in the Putterman Lab studying energy flow in dense off-equilibrium plasmas. She uses a femtosecond laser to rapidly cause breakdown in high pressure gases, creating micron scale plasma with a blackbody temperature of several times the surface of the sun. She is currently probing a short-time anomaly where the plasma remains stationary and does not explode, even with a pressure discontinuity over a factor of 100 times greater than the surrounding gas. Outside of her lab, Alexandra can be found co-heading the UCLA Women in Physics & Astronomy (WiPA) group, practicing guitar, or teaching physics labs, most recently Quantum Optics.

Undergraduate local organizing committee

Jessica Artinger is a new undergraduate at UCLA double majoring in Astrophysics, and Geophysics and Space Physics. She transferred from Orange Coast College, in Costa Mesa, CA, where she graduated with an A.A. in Liberal Studies, and 3 A.S. degrees in Physics, Natural Science, and Mathematics. Besides academics, Jessica held several leadership positions at OCC including President of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, President of the Astronomy Club, and Vice Chair of the Advocacy Committee within Student Government and ASOCC. She transferred into UCLA as a Hites Scholar (awarded by PTK International) and a Clay Scholar (a UCLA scholarship). She's well versed in the transfer process and currently mentors several students back at OCC, helping them to one day attend a UC school, with hopefully several scholarships in toe.

Hayley Bricker is a third year undergraduate student majoring in Astrophysics at UCLA. She is studying the paleoclimate of the Chinese Loess Plateau via clumped isotopes and geochemical proxy methods in the Tripati Lab, and is interested in exoplanet formation and climate dynamics. She is the current president of UCLA’s Undergraduate Astronomical Society, Women in Physical Sciences External Vice President, and a Vice President for the Society of Physics Students. Her hobbies include reading, writing, running half-marathons/hiking long distances, and amateur astronomy.

Jenny Chieu is a senior undergrad electrical engineering student with an avid interest in physics and renewable energy. She attended CUWiP in San Diego last year and saw how inspiring it could be. She is excited to be helping organizing this conference and looking forward to January! In her free time, Jenny enjoys being skeptical, playing the piano, and Sriracha sauce.

Isabella Goetting is an undergraduate second year physics major. She was Secretary/Treasurer of the undergraduate Women in the Physical Sciences club in 2015-2016 and is currently Internal Vice President. She is excited to help organize CUWIP 2017 and hopes that it inspires all participants and fuels their passion for physics!

Chloe Groome graduated from UCLA in Winter 2015 with a degree in Physics and is currently applying to Materials Science doctorate programs. She was the president of the undergraduate Women in Physical Sciences club in 2015 and spent her final Spring quarter on campus doing initial groundwork for CUWIP 2017. Currently, she works at Intel as an Emulation Test Engineer and teaches weekly programming classes for middle school girls through a non-profit called Girls Who Code.

Camilla Harris is currently a graduate student at the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at University of Michigan. When she was an undergraduate at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UCLA she was an officer for the Society of Physics Students and the Women in Physical Sciences groups. Her current research focuses on understanding Europa's space environment through multi-fluid MHD simulations. In her "free time" she plays mandolin, runs, and folds modular origami.

Rupini Kamat is a third year undergraduate physics major at UCLA, with interests in gravitational wave physics, plasma physics, and particle physics. She recently participated in an REU dealing with parameter estimation for LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. She is the current president of the undergraduate Women in the Physical Sciences club, as well as a choreographer for Taara, the Indian classical fusion dance team at UCLA. In her free time, she enjoys reading and dancing, and she is very excited for CUWiP 2017!

Liya Oster is a third year undergraduate student majoring in biophysics at UCLA. She is studying in-vitro virus assembly and RNA dynamics, and is interested in single-molecule and superresolution microscopy techniques. She is the current president of UCLA’s Society of Physics Students chapter, Women in Physical Sciences secretary, and former Undergraduate Astronomical Society treasurer. Her hobbies include running, off-key singing, and drawing. Her favorite animal is the octopus.

Roshni Patil is a third year undergraduate student majoring in Physics at UCLA. She works in the beam and accelerator physics laboratory at UCLA and is also interested in particle and nuclear physics. She is External Vice President of the Undergraduate Astronomical Society as well as an active member of the Society of Physics Students and the Women in Physical Sciences group. When she isn’t working on a seemingly endless problem set with chocolate to keep her energized, she likes to swim, read, or play her flute.

Rashmi Raviprasad is a recent UCLA graduate with a degree in Astrophysics and a minor in French. She is the former president of the Women in the Physical Sciences undergraduate student group. She spends her free time making origami, knitting, crocheting, and working on various DIY projects.

Bade Sayki is a second year undergraduate majoring in Physics from Istanbul, Turkey. She is interested in particle physics. She is the treasurer of UCLA’s Society of Physics Students and a member of Women in Physical Sciences. She is also a sister of UCLA’s Nu chapter of Phi Sigma Rho. She works on an on-campus coffee shop and appreciates coffee as a form of art. She likes running, singing and crafting.

Graduate local organizing committee

Emily Martin is a 5th year graduate student in Astronomy, working with Professors Ian McLean and Mike Fitzgerald. She uses infrared spectroscopy of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs to study their physical properties. Emily is a member of the Infrared Laboratory, and is currently working on upgrading the NIRSPEC instrument for the Keck II Telescope in Hawaii. In her spare time, she likes to swing dance and rock climb. In her spare time, she likes to swing dance, cook, and travel.

Janaki Sheth is a 3rd year graduate student in physics, studying hearing mechanics in the Bozovic Lab. Using high speed imaging of inner ear cells, she explores calcium entry into the hair bundles, and also studies use of statistical mechanics in the study of active elements of the bundles. She enjoys Indian classical dancing, cooking, reading novels and travelling.

Staff local organizing committee

Stephanie Krilov is a Graduate Student Affairs Officer. She advises prospective as well as current graduate students on topics such as general program requirements, guidelines for completing the masters or PhD degrees in the field, and provides regular updates for job opportunities and professional societies to benefit graduate students.

Francoise Queval is an Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer for the Department of Physics & Astronomy. Her expertise includes advising undergraduate physics majors on careers. These include pathways such as academic, governmental, or corporate research, engineering, teaching hardware and software development. Majors are often accepted to medical and law schools, and many physics majors find themselves in fields such as banking, finance, management, entertainment, and government. She also single-handedly manages the UCLA REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program, advising and coordinating undergraduate students with summer research projects.

David Zeff is an Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer for the Department of Physics & Astronomy. He advises students who are involved in one of four undergraduate majors: a bachelor of science degree in physics, a bachelor of arts degree in physics, a bachelor of science degree in biophysics, and a bachelor of science degree in astrophysics. He also maintains a private tutor list with names and contact information of available tutorial help.

Faculty local organizing committee

Prof. Stuart Brown explores the roles of dimensionality, electronic correlations, and disorder in the properties of electronic materials. Most recently he has been examining a class of organic conductors in which the effect of the correlations is tunable by the application of high pressure. It is then possible to observe the evolution of the normal state, which can be metallic or semiconducting, and the ground state, as a function of temperature and pressure.

Prof. Smadar Naoz is interested in a broad range of topics in theoretical astrophysics with an emphasis on dynamical research problems from cosmology to extrasolar planets. Her main research subject during her PhD was the first generation of galaxies and 21cm fluctuations. She is also very interested in the theoretical challenges and problems in the dynamics of our solar and extra-solar planetary systems. For the past few years she has studied the dynamical evolution of Hot Jupiters. You can read more about her research group here.

Prof. Jean Turner is the Department Chair of the UCLA Physics & Astronomy Department. Prof. Turner is an extragalactic astrophysicist, specializing in the study of star formation in local galaxies. She received her A.B. and Ph.D. degrees at Harvard University and UC Berkeley. Before joining UCLA as professor she worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and has been a Visiting Scientist at Caltech, Space Telescope, and the Joint ALMA Observatory. She has contributed to the development and commissioning of two millimeter and submillimeter telescopes.

Dr. Cinzia Zuffada is the Associate Chief Scientist of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). She is a key contributor to the strategic planning of science and technology research and development for JPL and to managing institutional internal R&D investments. She also oversees a number of programs supporting collaborations between JPL and the academic community. Dr. Zuffada has a Doctorate of Engineering degree from the University of Pavia, Italy, where she was an Assistant Professor in Electromagnetic Fields Theory before moving to the US.