We had a great group of graduates this year, with seven students completing our B.S. in Physics: Kelly Allen Jo Alters Cody Cripe Angel Garcia-Simental Jose Jara Christian Rugelio Nathan Walkowski Additionally, Daniel Warrell (brother of Gregory Warrell, who earned a Physics B.S. in 2010, and has recently been featured in an Alumni Update) completed… Read more »
Alumni Updates
Alum Update: Nathan Smith ’11
Nathan graduated from IUSB in 2011 with a B.S. in physics and minors in both math and computer science. He worked at the Center for Research Computing at Notre Dame as a Research Programmer for a few years before joining Aunalytics, a local data-platform company. During his time at Aunalytics, he has led the development… Read more »
Alum Update: Emily Grace ’11
After receiving a Psychology BA from Bethel University in 2006, Emily Grace came to IUSB where she completed both a Physics BS and an Education MS in 2011. While at IUSB she was remarkably engaged in all aspects of campus life and was especially active in Prof. Ilan Levine’s astroparticle-physics lab where she developed a… Read more »
River Montessori High School Visit
Henry Borjas, a 2016 IUSB alum with a B.A. in math and a minor in physics, is now a math teacher at River Montessori High School. Mr. Borjas brought a group of students for a visit with Prof. Jerry Hinnefeld in March. As can be seen in the pictures, they toured the observatory and explored… Read more »
Alum Update: Shelly Lesher ’99
Subsequent to earning a B.S. in physics in 1999, Shelly Lesher went to the University of Kentucky where she completed a Ph.D., also in physics, in 2005. Dr. Lesher worked with Prof. Hinnefeld while at IUSB and has become an accomplished nuclear physicist herself: she is now a professor at the University of Wisconsin La… Read more »
Alum Update: Andrew Ratkiewicz ’06
Andrew Ratkiewicz graduated from IUSB in 2006 with a B.S. in physics and a minor in math. While at IUSB Andrew worked with Prof. Scott on the abiogenic formation of hydrocarbons, Profs. Lynker and Schimmrigk on solutions to Calabi-Yau manifolds, and Prof. Hinnefeld on developing algorithms for neutron detection using the Modular Neutron Array (MoNA)…. Read more »
Alumni Speakers on “Careers in Physics” Part 3/3
This week’s “Careers in Physics” speaker was Dr. Luis Morales (’14), who finished his NSF GRFP-funded Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics from Notre Dame earlier this year and is now working as a software engineering for Headsight Inc. in Breman, IN. Notably, Dr. Morales is also a veteran (a Green Beret!), so the timing of his… Read more »
Alumni Speakers on “Careers in Physics” Part 2/3
Austin Conner (BS ‘14), who is now THE Physics teacher at Penn HS, visited Prof. Lynker’s S106 class today to share his experience in becoming a high-school teacher. As with last week’s meetings, we had a mixed audience with some attending in-person and some via Zoom. But, Austin was able to come in person, and… Read more »
Alumni Speakers on “Careers in Physics” Part 1/3
Julio Navarro (BS ‘13, MS in Mechanical Engineering ‘15 from Purdue) and Mark Beveridge (BS ‘18), both now have successful careers locally in the engineering field, and Professor Lynker invited them to give informal presentations in S106 today. Julio and Mark presented via Zoom, and we had a mixed audience with some attending in-person and… Read more »
Alum Update: Julio Navarro ’13
Julio Navarro completed the Applied Physics track to a Physics B.S. in 2013 and went straight in to an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue, which he completed in 2015. Subsequently, he’s remained reasonably close, and has been a guest speaker in our Contemporary Physics Seminar. He is currently the Director of Manufacturing at Ausco… Read more »