The Local Organizing Committee is a dedicated group of graduate students, faculty, undergrads, post-docs, and staff.
Unnati Akhouri
Shio Sakon
I’m Shio, a fourth year physics grad student at PSU. I did my undergraduate education as a physics major and education minor at liberal arts colleges in Tokyo and in Vermont. Gravitational wave searches and multi messenger astrophysics are fields I am particularly interested in. I’m part of the PSU LIGO group that develops a gravitational wave search pipeline and analyzes data to detect gravitational wave signals. Outside of research, I enjoy cooking, photography, jigsaw puzzles, crafts, etc..
Pedro Espino
I’m a postdoc at UC Berkeley and visiting scholar at Penn State, working on binary neutron star mergers. As someone who was often the only POC in many of my classes, I’m passionate about improving access to underrepresented groups in Physics. Working with CUWiP at Penn State has been a great experience!
Rowan Katzbaer
I am a fifth year PhD candidate in the Department of Chemistry, co-advised in the Physics Deparment. My research is on novel material synthesis for clean energy generation and storage. I am passionate about discovering materials that will allow us to develop better ways to power our society. This spring, I will be transitioning to a research and development position at Dow.
Louis Leblond
Julian Mintz
Victroia Niu
Hello. I am a third-year PhD student in Physics at Penn State. My research directions are gravitational wave and numerical relativity.
Marco Muzio
Robert Frazier
Robert Frazier is a fourth year undergrad at Penn State double majoring in Astronomy and Physics. He is interested in exoplanet formation and evolution and planetary habitability. At Penn State he does research on planetary obliquities and the Rossiter McLaughlin Effect. He is the President of Penn State’s Society of Physics Students chapter and he likes to relax by going on hikes, reading, and getting lost with his friends.
Maia Williams
Maia Williams is a Science Planner for Swift Observatory Mission Operations Center at Penn State. She received a BS in Physics from Bowling Green State University. Her work currently involves coordinating Swift follow-up of gamma-ray bursts and researching X-ray binaries in the Small Magellanic Cloud. She enjoys baking and writing music, and she attended CUWiP virtually in 2021 as an undergraduate.