News: PSD Spotlights

Mingyue Wang grew up in Hangzhou, China. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Fordham University. This is her second quarter as a student in the Financial Mathematics master’s program. She is currently taking Portfolio Theory & Risk Management, Numerical Methods of Option Pricing and Hedging, Stochastic Calculus, and Machine Learning in Finance.

Prof. Richard Kron's legacy includes helping to conceive and lead one of the most influential projects to map the sky, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, as well as the creation of the astrophysics major at UChicago and the project to digitize and explore the scientific potential of 100-year-old photographic images of the sky from the Yerkes Observatory. 

Margo MacDonald was born and raised in Granville, Ohio. She attended the University of Pennsylvania and double majored in physics and biophysics. This is her third year pursuing a PhD in the Graduate Program in Biophysical Sciences. We interviewed her via email about her experiences at UChicago.
 
 

PSD’s December spotlight is Joel Matos, Production Specialist & Graphic Designer, PSD Graphic Arts. Joel has been with UChicago for 9 years.

Zachary Myers was born in Michigan and grew up outside of Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in Mathematics in May. He began his studies at UChicago this Autumn Quarter as a master’s student in the Financial Mathematics program. 

PSD’s September spotlight is Alex Filatov, PhD, Director of X-ray Diffraction Facilities, Department of Chemistry. Alex has been with UChicago for six years.

PSD’s September spotlight is Nita Yack, Manager of the Department of Computer Science. Nita has been with UChicago for 32 years.

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.