News: PSD Spotlights

PSD’s August spotlight is Vera Dragisich, PhD, Senior Lecturer & Director of Academic Programs, Department of Chemistry. Vera has been with UChicago for 27 years.

PSD’s August spotlight is Brent Barker, PhD, Teaching Support Manager, Astronomy & Astrophysics and Geophysical Sciences. Brent has been with UChicago for two years.

PSD's July spotlight is Carla Strickland, UChicago STEM Education Digital Curriculum Developer. Carla has been with UChicago for almost twelve years.

PSD’s June spotlight is Laura Rigazzi, Associate Dean for Students of Recruitment & Admissions. Laura has been with UChicago for ten years.
 

PSD’s June spotlight is Cosmos Boekell, Director of Computer Science Instructional Laboratory (CSIL). Cosmos has been in this position for one year, and is also an alumnus of The College, A.B. in Anthropology ‘97.

Gourav Khullar was born in Firozepur, a small town in Punjab, India. His father was a dentist in the Armed Forces, which meant he had to move to a different city or town every couple of years. Prior to coming to UChicago, he was a Master’s student at the University of Cambridge, U.K. Before that, he spent four years in New Delhi pursuing an undergraduate degree in Engineering Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He is now the Samuel P. Langley PITT PACC Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Pittsburgh.

PSD’s May spotlight is Susan Hearth, Divisional Administrator for the PSD Dean’s Office. Susan has been with UChicago for five years and was a high school teacher for a decade before coming to UChicago.

Syrian Truong was born in Fresno, California, and mostly lived there until he transferred from community college to university. The summer before arriving to the University of Chicago, he was doing a summer research internship at the Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg (IPCMS) in Strasbourg, France. Prior to this, he earned a B.S. in Physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), and three A.S. degrees in Biology for Transfer, Mathematics for Transfer, and Physics for Transfer from Fresno City College in Fresno, California. He also held jobs during his undergrad as a busser at Hunan Chinese Restaurant, a mathematics tutor at Fresno City College’s Tutorial Center, and a research assistant at UCSB. He has been at UChicago for 1.5 years and is enrolled in the Master of Science in the Physical Sciences Division (MS-PSD) program, working on hard condensed matter theory research. He is currently staying at home in Fresno, California. We interviewed him about his experiences below.

PSD’s April spotlight is Natalie Lund, Director of Communications for the Physical Sciences Division. Natalie has been with UChicago for eighteen months and is a young adult fiction author with Penguin Randomhouse.

Amy Tang was born in Shenyang, China, and grew up in Toronto, Canada. She was an undergraduate physics student at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She is a fifth year graduate student in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics. We interviewed her about her experiences below. 

PSD’s March spotlight is Lori Smedley, Associate Dean for Development. Lori has been with UChicago for six years and enjoys volunteer work and supporting sciences at a university that is impacting the world.

Hy Truong Son was born and raised in Hanoi, Vietnam. He has a BSc in computer science from Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary. He is now in his fourth year of pursuing a PhD in computer science at the University of Chicago and is researching machine learning applications and chemical problems. 

Solomon Quinn is from New York City. He holds a BS in mathematics and physics from the University of Richmond and is in his second year of pursuing a PhD in computational and applied mathematics (CAM) at the University of Chicago. 

Meg Panetta is from Atlanta, Georgia. She studied physics and astrophysics at Harvard University before obtaining a master’s degree in history and philosophy of science at Cambridge University. She is now in her second year of pursuing a PhD in physics.
 

PSD’s February spotlight is Stu Kurtz, George and Elizabeth Yovovich Professor in the Department of Computer Science. Stu has been with UChicago for 38 years and is inspired by the opportunity to positively impact his discipline and the lives of people around him.