The Local Organizing Committee is a dedicated group of graduate students, faculty, undergrads, post-docs, and staff.

Unnati Akhouri

 

Unnati is a graduate student in physics, interested in uncovering the fundamental underpinnings of our universe. She is interested in developing methods to understand open quantum systems. At Penn State she serves as the President for the Physics and Astronomy for Women+ student group of the Physics department. Previously she worked as a science communicator at Cactus Communications and independently sketches comics on physics (phy-mics) on my website ‘Fatal Physics.’ 
She completed her bachelors in physics from the University of Delhi and a Masters in mathematical and theoretical physics from the University of Oxford, UK. 
Feel free to reach out to her if you would like to talk about research, outreach, science communication and/or nice walking trails in State College.

 

 

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

 

Louis Leblond is an associate teaching professor of physics at Penn State University. He is the director of online education in physics, and he has worked on multiple innovative educational projects such as creating engaging introductory physics courses and labs for remote adult learners. He did his physics baccalaureate at Université Laval in Québec city (first-generation college student) and his Ph.D. at Cornell university in high-energy theory and cosmology. In addition to teaching, he is interested in physics education research and topics related to equity, diversity and inclusivity in physics.

 

 

Julian Mintz

 

Julian Mintz is a third-year physics graduate student studying condensed matter physics and biophysics. They received a Bachelor of Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2020 with dual majors in physics and applied mathematics. They are currently researching a new method of detecting and identifying viruses using Raman spectroscopy. In their free time, they enjoy playing soccer and cooking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

Marco Muzio is a NSF MPS-Ascend Postdoctoral Fellow at Penn State working in the group of Prof. Stephanie Wissel. His research focuses on multimessenger studies of ultrahigh energy cosmic ray sources and radio detection of ultrahigh energy neutrinos. He received a BS in Math and Physics from Northeastern University in Boston, MA and his PhD from New York University. Marco is passionate about teaching and broadening physics to make it a more inclusive and equitable field. In his free time Marco is likes to run, play ultimate frisbee, cook, and is learning Italian. 

 

 

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.