PROGRAM • SPEAKERS • WORKSHOPS & PANELS • TOURS • STUDENT POSTERS
Crystal Bailey
Careers Program Manager at the American Physical Society (APS) in College Park, MD.
She works on several projects that are geared towards marketing physics and physics career information to high school students, undergraduates, graduate students, and physics professionals. Some of her principal projects include the physics InSight slideshow, Future of Physics Days Events for undergraduates at the APS annual meetings, the APS Job Board and Job Fair, APS Webinars, and maintaining resources on the APS Careers Website. She also devotes significant amounts of time to planning career workshops and other professional development related activities to support early-career physicists and helps manage the activities of the APS Committee on Careers and Professional Development. Before coming to the APS, Dr. Bailey did research in nuclear physics at Indiana University (IU), Bloomington in the area of few-body systems. In 2008, she received the Konopinski Award for Outstanding Graduate Teaching from the IU Physics Department. She graduated with her Ph.D. from IU in 2009.
Janet Bryant
Science & Technology Analyst and project manager at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Janet has been innovating at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for over 30 years. She uses her knowledge of human capital and organizational development to deliver professional training.
Janet chairs the American Chemical Society (ACS) Chemical Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council (CIEC). She received the prestigious Federal Laboratory Consortium’s Excellence in Technology Transfer Award for successful commercialization of environmental remediation software, and was elected an ACS Fellow in 2011 and the ACS Richland Section “Chemist of the Year” for 2013.
Kai-Mei Camilla Fu
Assistant Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle
Kai-Mei received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Princeton, a PhD in applied physics from Stanford, and then worked for 4 years as a research associate at Hewlett-Packard Labs before joining the faculty at the University of Washington. She currently leads an active research program studying the fundamental properties of defects in crystals and their applications to the fields of quantum information processing and nanoscale sensing. She enjoys teaching at all levels, from the large introductory physics courses to the one-on-one interactions in her lab. She is the recipient of the NSF early CAREER award and is also a Cottrell Scholar. In her free time, she enjoys exploring the Pacific Northwest with her three children.
Judy Giordan
VP, Managing Director and founder at ecosVC, a venture development and investment aligned firm; co-founder of the Chemical Angel Network; a member of the board of directors and/or an advisor to science and engineering intensive start‐ups; and Professor of Practice, Oregon State University.
As a former Fortune 500 executive and venture founder, Giordan’s roles included VP and Global Corporate Director of R&D at International Flavors and Fragrances, Inc.; VP Worldwide R&D for the Pepsi-Cola Company, the global beverage arm of PepsiCo, Inc.; VP R&D for the Henkel Corporation, the North American operating unit of the Henkel Group; and, co-founder and managing partner of 1EXECStreet, a successful San Francisco based boutique executive search firm. Giordan has also served in various academic, government and professional society roles including Professor of Practice at the University of Southern Mississippi; Program Officer for the National Science Foundation IGERT Program; Member of the Board of Directors of both the American Chemical Society and Industrial Research Institute and as a member/chair of numerous committees and task forces.
Giordan received her BS from Rutgers University (environmental science), her PhD from the University of Maryland (Chemistry), and was an Alexander von Humboldt Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Frankfurt in Germany. Judy is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the recipient of the 2010 ACS Garvan‐Olin Medal, and the recipient of 2014 ACS Henry Whalen Award for business leadership and excellence.
Liz Gire
Assistant Professor of Physics at Oregon State University
Faculty page
Dr. Elizabeth Gire is an Assistant Professor of Physics at Oregon State University. Her research is in the area of physics education, focusing on undergraduate students’ fluency with multiple representations, their metacognitive activity while solving problems and their epistemic beliefs about learning physics. Her research involves both quantitative and qualitative methods for studying both introductory and advanced undergraduate physics students. She uses a variety of research-based teaching strategies to activity engage undergraduate physics students at all levels, including several courses in the Paradigms in Physics program at Oregon State University.
She also enjoys cooking, cycling, Argentine tango and playing with her daughter.
Mary James
Dean for Institutional Diversity and the A. A. Knowlton Professor of Physics at Reed College
Faculty page
Her principal areas of physics research have been in accelerator physics and astrophysics. As part of her duties as Dean, Professor James oversees Reed’s Center for Teaching and Learning that supports faculty at all career stages as they develop new curriculum and pedagogical initiatives. Among the goals of the Center is to encourage faculty to investigate and integrate best practices in their disciplines to attract and retain women, first generation students, and students of color in the STEM majors. Professor James has also served on and chaired the Committee on Minorities for the American Physical Society. The committee’s work focuses on helping Physics Departments create strong mentoring programs and supportive department climates, particularly for women and students from racial and ethic groups under-represented in physics. James received her B.A. in physics from Hampshire College and her Ph.D. in applied physics from Stanford University.
Ginger Kerrick
Flight Director, NASA
NASA page <- watch this video before the conference!
Ginger Kerrick, as a child, dreamed of growing up to be either a basketball player or an astronaut. When neither dream came to fruition, Ms. Kerrick developed a fresh perspective – best summed up by the phrase “It just wasn’t meant to be” – and is today part of NASA, serving in the Mission Control Center at the NASA Johnson Space Center as a Flight Director who has, to date, supported 13 International Space Station and five joint shuttle missions. It was there that Ms. Kerrick, a few years earlier, became the first non-astronaut Capsule Communicator (CapCom), the Flight Control position that relays information from Mission Control to an astronaut crew. Through her service in Mission Control, Ms. Kerrick shares in the experience of space travel; and while she may not be an astronaut, because of her support “each astronaut [is] taking a little piece of [her] with them.” But, it was only through hard work and perseverance that Ms. Kerrick arrived at this place, because to earn both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in physics she first had to win academic scholarships. For Ms. Kerrick, life is an adventure and a fulfillment of her childhood dreams best summed up in her own words: “I have no idea what is next for me, but I trust I will find myself exactly where I am supposed to be!”
Laura King
Engineering manager for HP’s Analytical Development Labs
Laura King has a Ph.D. in Material Science Engineering from North Carolina State University with a minor in solid state devices, a M.S. in Materials Science from UC Berkeley, and B.S. in Physical Metallurgy at Washington State University. She completed a post-doc at Oregon State University in Solid State Chemistry.
Laura has been with HP for 19 years, of which 18 years have been in management, spanning thin film process development, integration & metrology for IC & MEMS manufacturing to R&D teams focused on nano technologies to MEMS production operations to software applications for HP’s web enabled printers. Prior to HP she worked at a start-up focused on productizing high temperature superconductors. Her first career position was as a physical metallurgist in GE’s Nuclear Energy Division. Laura is passionate about leadership, partnership and people management. She has demonstrated experience in building successful partnerships, creating effective teams and managing diverse staffs who deliver key results for the business through collaboration, strong execution and vision.
Annette Kolodzie
Strategic Business and Technology Advisor
Chairman of the Board at Oregon Nanosciece and Microtechnologies Institute
Annette is a physicist, business development expert, and former trial attorney. As Strategic Programs Director at FEI Company, she built collaborations between researchers, industry, and government agencies around the world with the goal of developing and commercializing next-generation technology solutions in areas such as medical research, drug development and delivery, nanotechnology, renewable energy, the environment, and advanced materials. Annette, who received her Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Cambridge and her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law, is now a business and technology advisor to entrepreneurs, start-ups, and small companies. She is Chairman of the Board of the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI), a Board member of SOAR Oregon, and on the Board of Strategic Advisors of E::Space Labs.
Diana H. Juarez Madera
Aeronautics and Astronautics PhD student at Stanford University
My name is Diana H. Juarez Madera. I am an Aeronautics and Astronautics PhD student at Stanford University. As part of the Space Environment and Satellite Systems (SESS) group, my goal is to understand the space environment and its effects on spacecraft. I am fascinated with plasma physics and the applications it offers in the astronautics science and industry. I obtained a BS in Physics in Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas in Mexico and a MS in Physics from San Francisco State University. In 2009 I was the recipient of the John N. Bahcall award and received the Graduate Student Award for Distinguished Achievement in 2014. My research experience includes studies on the dynamics of dark matter and dark energy, dynamical friction on galaxy clusters, data reduction from Chandra X-ray Telescope, early epochs of planet formation and meteoroid fragmentation.
Corinne Manogue
Professor of Physics at Oregon State University, Director of the Paradigms in Physics Project
Faculty page
Corinne is a Professor of Physics at Oregon State University and is Director of the Paradigms in Physics Project, a program that reformed the entire upper-division curriculum for physics majors. This involved both a rearrangement of content to better reflect the way professional physicists think about the field and also the use of a number of interactive pedagogies that place responsibility for learning more firmly in the hands of the students. Her physics education research (PER) investigates how Paradigms students use visualization and geometric reasoning in their problem-solving. Her traditional research in theoretical quantum gravity uses the octonions to describe the symmetries of high energy particle physics. She is a Fellow of the APS and the AAPT and has won the AAPT’s David Halliday and Robert Resnick Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Physics Teaching. Twenty-seven years into her career, she continues to be amazed to find herself a physicist.
Natalie Roe
Physics Division Director at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
She is an experimental particle physicist and observational cosmologist, and is currently the Physics Division Director at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Natalie is a founding member the LBNL Women Scientists and Engineers Council and is co-leading a laboratory-wide initiative to improve diversity and inclusion at LBNL. She has conducted research on W and Z boson decays, CP violation in B mesons, and most recently, large astronomical surveys designed to study the mystery of dark energy. Natalie has a strong interest in instrumentation and has worked on R&D and detector construction projects for a variety of experiments. She has served on a variety of committees advising the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, Fermilab and CERN, among others. She earned her undergraduate degree in Physics from Harvard, and her Ph.D. at Stanford.
Tracy Thomas
Director of Operations, Professional Services at Jive Software
Tracy Thomas is a Director of Professional Services Operations at Jive Software. In this role, Tracy interfaces with other Jive groups to run projects, define new Services packages, and runs a Project Management Office (PMO) to enable Jive’s group of Professional Service Project Managers.
Tracy holds a BS in Physics from the University of California, San Diego and a Ph.D. in Physics from Northwestern University. Tracy has a background in software development and project management in business areas including embedded software, solutions for the military, outsourced software development, and social business software. Tracy is currently involved in the Technology Association of Oregon committee on Project Management, and enjoys the local Portland beer and food scene.
Stacey York
Director of Strategic Partnerships at the University of Oregon’s Master’s Industrial Internship Program
Stacey has an equal love of science and people. In her current role with the UO Master’s Industrial Internship Program, Stacey is able to combine her passions by building relationships between industry professionals and master’s candidates. Helping students launch their professional careers has been extremely rewarding! Prior to joining the UO, Stacey led polymer and surface chemistry research for Johnson & Johnson Skin Care brands such as Johnson’s ® Baby, Neutrogena®, Aveeno®, and Clean & Clear®. She was a lead contributor on multiple high-priority projects (100+ million dollar market opportunities), but her favorite project was an initiative to foster a collaborative, learning environment which was deployed to over 100 researchers within the Skin Care R&D organization and resulted in two leadership awards.
Panelists and Resource People
Whitney Shepherd
Senior Process Engineer, Intel Corporation
Whitney Shepherd is a Senior Process Technology Development Engineer at Intel Corporation in Hillsboro, Oregon. She is responsible for improving process yield by driving reduction in systematic defective die. She is also an owner/manager of White Horse Farm, LLC and Black Sheep Management, LLC. Whitney received her B.S. in Physics from Harvey Mudd College, while also working as a Systems Engineer at Northrup Grumman on satellite payloads. Her Ph.D. in Physics is from Oregon State University. Her dissertation was on charge transport and photo physics in novel organic semiconductors.
Greg Mulder
Professor of Physics, Linn-Benton Community College
Greg Mulder has been teaching at nearby Linn-Benton Community College for the past 17 years and is currently taking a year sabbatical at Oregon State University to work on a Ph.D. in Physics Education Research. Over the past several years, Greg has • added computational physics to the introductory calculus-based physics sequence • run summer STEM field camps • designed science buildings that encourage student collaboration and learning • created “Research and Design Cohorts” that all STEM science students are encouraged to join while at LBCC. These cohorts use ROVs to explore underwater geology, create payloads for launch on NASA rockets and work with Portland State University on microgravity experiments. NSF has provided 20 scholarships of $5000 per year to help encourage students to join a Research and Design Cohort.
Fran Poodry
Director of Physics, Vernier Software & Technology
Vernier page
Fran Poodry graduated from Swarthmore College in 1992 with a BA in Physics. She then embarked on a career in high school teaching, during which she completed a master’s degree in science education at Temple University. After over 20 years in the classroom, Fran moved to Oregon in 2013 and joined the Tech Support and R&D department at Vernier Software & Technology. Fran is an avid reader and enjoys the sport of curling.
Janet Tate
Professor of Physics, Oregon State University (Experimental Solid State physics)
Janet Tate has been on the OSU physics faculty since 1989. She is currently Professor of Physics and the Dr. Russ and Dolores Faculty Scholar. Her research area is semiconductor materials, especially thin films. She was elected an APS Fellow this year. She has a long-standing commitment to teaching and learning, and has been involved in the Paradigms in Physics project from its inception almost 20 years ago. She also is the recipient of the College of Science’s Frederick H. Horne award for sustained excellence in teaching. Her B.S. in Physics and Chemistry was from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, her Ph.D. in Physics was from Stanford University , and she was a Humboldt postdoctoral Fellow at the Technical University of Munich. She likes to read and hike in Oregon’s mountains when she is not doing physics.
DJ Wagner
Professor of Physics, Grove City College & SPS President
SPS page
Shannon Mayer
Associate Professor of Physics, University of Portland (Optics)
Shannon O’Leary
Assistant Professor of Physics, Lewis and Clark College (Optics)
Stephanie Majewski
Assistant Professor of Physics, University of Oregon (High Energy experiment)
Cindy Dahl
VP Operations, ONAMI
Dara Easley
Lead Technical Editor, detailedly, llc (start up)
Miriam Lambert
Medical Physicist, NW Kaiser Permanente
Ellen Momsen
Director of Women & Minorities in Engineering, Oregon State University
Heidi Schellman
Professor and Head of Physics, Oregon State University (Experimental High Energy physics)
Oksana Ostroverkhova
Associate Professor of Physics, Oregon State University (Experimental Optics)
Alison Crocker
Assistant Professor of Physics, Reed College (Experimental Astrophsyics)
Erin Craig
Assistant Professor of Physics, Central Washington University (Computational biophysics)
Elisar Barbar
Professor of Biophysics, Oregon State University (Experimental biophysics)
Ethan Minot
Associate Professor of Physics, Oregon State University (Experimental Solid State Physics)
Matt Graham
Assistant Professor of Physics, Oregon State University (Experimental Solid State Physics)
David McIntyre
Professor of Physics, Oregon State University (Experimental Optics)
Henri Jansen
Professor of Physics, Oregon State University (Computational Solid State Physics)
Amy Robertson
Research Assistant Professor of Physics, Seattle Pacific University (Physics Education)
Faye Barras
Instructor, Linn Benton Community College (Computational Solid State Physics)
Carlos Hernandez
Engineer, Brandt Electronics (Astrophysics)
Pavel Kornilovich
Senior Technologist, HP, Inc
Bob Bicknell
Member of the Technical Staff, HP, Inc
Cary Addington
R&D Laser Engineer, HP, Inc
Tamar More
Associate Professor of Physics, University of Portland (Fluid Dynamics, Physics Education)
Maira Amezcua
Graduate student, University of Oregon
Mae Voeun
Graduate student, University of Oregon (Experimental biophysics)
Julie Cass
Graduate student, University of Washington (Experimental biophysics)
Jessie Armstrong
Graduate student, Oregon State University (Mechanical Engineering)
Allison Gicking
Graduate student, Oregon State University (Experimental Biophysics)
David Roundy
Associate Professor of Physics, Oregon State University (Computational Condensed Matter Physics)
KC Walsh
Instructor of Physics, Oregon State University (Computational Condensed Matter Physics)
Jenna Wardini
Assistant TEM Lab Manager, University of Oregon & Applications Development Engineer (Intern), FEI Company
Anne Kenslea
Applications Development Engineer, FEI Company
Samantha Nhim
Process Engineer, Cascade MicroTech
Chelsea Saldivar
Optical Engineer, nLight Photonics
Claire Wu
Assistant Director, Career Development Center, Oregon State University
Lynde Ritzow
Director, Recruitment & Marketing, University of Oregon
Clara Thomann
Calibration Technician, Quantum Spatial
Alison Yates
Director of Engineering Services, Zemax, LLC
