Name Area of Study
Guenter Ahlers
Professor Emeritus
Research Professor
Experimental non-equilibrium soft condensed matter physics. Current interests focus on pattern formation in nonlinear dissipative systems, and on turbulence in fluid mechanics, especially in thermal convection.
Benjamin Aleman
Postdoctoral Fellow
James Allen
Professor Emeritus
Research Professor
Robert Antonucci
Professor
Curtis Asplund
Graduate Student
David Awschalom
Professor
Optical and magnetic interactions in semiconductor quantum structures, spin dynamics and coherence in condensed matter, nanometer-scale magnetism, and quantum information processing in the solid state.
Leon Balents
Professor
KITP Permanent Member
Theory of correlated electronic systems. Frustrated and quantum magnetism, transition metal oxides in bulk and heterostructures. Quantum criticality, exotic phases of matter, and low dimensional structures.
Daniel Balick
Graduate Student
Rick Barber
Systems and Network Administrator
As a member of Physics Computing Services, provides end-user support for workstations, networks and servers.
Derek Barge
Graduate Student
Paul Barrett
Professor Emeritus
Riccardo Bellan
Postdoctoral Fellow
Jonathan BenTov
Graduate Student
David Berenstein
Associate Professor
Quantum field theory, string theory, theoretical particle physics, mathematical physics. In particular, studies of the gauge/gravity duality, concepts of emergent geometry and numerical simulations of quantum fields.
Federica Bianco
Postdoctoral Fellow
Lars Bildsten
Professor
KITP Permanent Member
Theoretical astrophysics of stellar evolution and explosion. Gravitational wave sources for ground-based detection and stellar astrophysics enabled by computing (e.g. MESA) and optical surveys.
Omer Blaes
Professor
Chair
Theoretical high energy astrophysics, compact objects, black hole astrophysics, accretion flows.
Matthew Block
Alumni
Dirk Bouwmeester
Professor
Heidi Bratt
Financial Area Assistant
Provides administrative support in the financial unit including postdoctoral fellowship appointments, visa preparation and processing, extramural accounting and effort reporting.
Brendon Brewer
Postdoctoral Fellow
Daniel Bridges
Laboratory Assistant
Provides support to the lower and upper division Physics instructional laboratories.
Sage Briggs
Financial Analyst
As a member of the financial unit, manages accounts within the recharge database and assists with accounting, extramural fund administration and payroll.
Frank Brown
Professor
Theoretical biophysics and chemical physics, dynamics and structure of biological membranes, interpretation of optical and X-ray spectroscopies, statistical mechanics and stochastic processes.
Tim Brown
Adjunct
LCOGT Scientific Director
Raymond Bunker
Alumni
David Caldwell
Professor Emeritus
Research Professor
Gregory Calusine
Graduate Student
Brian Camley
Graduate Student
Claudio Campagnari
Professor
Searches for the Higgs boson and for physics beyond the Standard Model at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
David Cannell
Professor
Jennifer Cano
Graduate Student
Jean Carlson
Professor
Debbie Ceder
Faculty Assistant
Provides administrative support to faculty and their associated research groups.
Michael Champion
Graduate Student
Ru Chen
Graduate Student
Kevin Chiou
Graduate Student
David Christle
Graduate Student
Andrew Cleland
Professor
Experimental quantum systems, quantum information, mechanical quantum structures, nanomechanics, nanoelectronics, biosensing, high-throughput analysis.
Nico Costantino
Researcher
Maria D'Alfonso
Graduate Student
Wim van Dam
Associate Professor
Quantum information processing with an emphasis on quantum algorithms and quantum communication complexity; foundations of nonlocality; theoretical computer science.
Tom Danielson
Postdoctoral Fellow
Michael Deal
Building Manager
Responsible for the management of all facilities associated with the Physics department as well as laboratory safety. Serves as liaison to Physical Facilities and Environmental Health & Safety. Oversees department Purchasing, Receiving and Storeroom.
Ben Dilday
Postdoctoral Fellow
Jean Dill
Undergraduate Advisor
Serves as Undergraduate Advisor, working with students and faculty in all aspects of undergraduate education.
Greg Dobler
Postdoctoral Fellow
Jeffrey Dutter
Machine Shop Manager
Responsible for the management of the Physics Machine Shop which provides engineering services, consultation, design, fabrication and machining for research and instruction projects.
Richard Eager
Graduate Student
Douglas Eardley
Professor
Jason Eastman
Postdoctoral Fellow
Devin Edwards
Graduate Student
Martin Einhorn
Adjunct
KITP Deputy Director
Robert Eisberg
Professor Emeritus
Jonathan Essen
Alumni
Jennifer Farrar
Graduate Advisor
Serves as Graduate Advisor, working with students and faculty in all aspects of graduate student education, including admissions.
Ron Ferril
Graduate Student
Kristian Finlator
Postdoctoral Fellow
Sebastian Fischetti
Graduate Student
Matthew Fisher
Professor
Quantum condensed matter theory focussing on strongly correlated electron systems, Mott insulators doped and undoped, quantum magnetism, topological order and superconductivity.
Kristen Flowers
Graduate Student
Amanda Fournier
Graduate Student
Scott Fraser
Alumni
Keith Fratus
Graduate Student
Roger Freedman
Lecturer
Jose Fulco
Professor Emeritus
Deborah Fygenson
Associate Professor
Jonathan Gardner
Graduate Student
James Garrison
Graduate Student
Michael Gary
Alumni
Paul Geffert
Graduate Student
Robert Geller
Lecturer
Alex George
Graduate Student
Marian Ghilea
Postdoctoral Fellow
Steven Giddings
Professor
High energy and gravitational theory. Quantum black holes, quantum cosmology/inflation, and other quantum aspects of gravity; fundamental structure of matter and gauge interactions, particle phenomenology, string theory.
Louis Grace
Instructional Lecture Demo Coordinator
Responsible for the coordination, set-up and updating of all Physics instructional lecture demonstrations.
Melissa Graham
Postdoctoral Fellow
David Gross
Professor
KITP Director
Sathya Guruswamy
Lecturer
Carl Gwinn
Professor
Studies of pulsars and interstellar propagation at radio and gamma-ray wavelengths; signal processing and noise; physics of electromagnetic radiation.
Elisabeth Gwinn
Professor
Experimental condensed matter physics and biophysics. Hybrid organic/inorganic materials. Synthesis and optical properties of organic-stabilized metal nanoclusters. Electrical transport in heterostructures and nanostructures.
Jenna Hagemeier
Graduate Student
Sandra Hammonds
Financial Manager
Responsible for the management of the financial unit of the Physics department which includes accounting, contract & grant proposal and administration, payroll and personnel management, and department recharges.
Helen Hansma
Researcher
Paul Hansma
Professor
Inventing devices for: 1) biomedical applications, 2) Atomic Force Microscopy of rough and fractured samples, 3) protecting structures from damage from earthquakes.
James Hartle
Professor Emeritus
Research Professor
Gavin Hartnett
Graduate Student
Richard Haynie
Graduate Student
Alan Heeger
Professor
Current research interest focus on the optical and electronic properties of semiconducting polymer (and their nano-scale morphologies) and the use of these materials in "plastic" solar cells.
Idse Heemskerk
Graduate Student
Ken Henisey
Alumni
Alaina Henry
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ann Hermundstad
Graduate Student
Sebastian Hoenig
Postdoctoral Fellow
James Hogg
Graduate Student
Daniel Hone
Professor Emeritus
Research Professor
Gary Horowitz
Professor
Classical and quantum aspects of gravity, including spacetime singularities, quantum black holes, higher dimensional black holes, and gravitational aspects of string theory.
Viva Horowitz
Graduate Student
Mark Howard
Alumni
Andy Howell
Adjunct
LCOGT Staff Scientist
Cosmology including probes of Dark Energy. Type Ia supernovae as standard candles. Other explosive transients, including core-collapse supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, ultraluminous supernovae, and exceptionally faint events. Also their host galaxies and stellar origins.
Joseph Incandela
Professor
Nabil Iqbal
Postdoctoral Fellow
Vincent Jaccarino
Professor Emeritus
Jeremy Jacob
Alumni
Amy Jacobs
Personnel Analyst
Responsible for all personnel and payroll activities for the Department of Physics.
Ania Jayich
Assistant Professor
Nanoscale scanning probe microscopy of charge and spin; quantum assisted sensing based on defects in diamond; spin coherence and electron coherence in condensed matter systems.
Michael Johnson
Graduate Student
Hyejin Ju
Graduate Student
Chris Justus
Graduate Student
Puneeth Kalavase
Alumni
Anthony Karmis
Graduate Student
Brendan Keller
Graduate Student
Brandon Kelly
Postdoctoral Fellow
Younghyun Kim
Graduate Student
Sue Ann Koay
Alumni
Walter Kohn
Professor Emeritus
Research Professor
1. Prospects of a world powered predominantly by solar and wind energy. 2. Improving the vision of patients with macular degeneration.
Dmytro Kovalski
Postdoctoral Fellow
Steve Kreyer
Development Technician
Provides technician support to various projects at CERN.
Vyacheslav Krutelyov
Postdoctoral Fellow
Suzanne Kyre
Senior Development Engineer
James Langer
Professor Emeritus
Research Professor
Theories of deformation and failure of materials, with emphasis on the nonequilibrium properties of glasses, and related work on dislocation-mediated plasticity of polycrystalline solids.
Joshua Lapan
Postdoctoral Fellow
Michelle Leber
Postdoctoral Fellow
SungBin Lee
Graduate Student
Michael Lenander
Graduate Student
Lap-yan Leung
Computer System Manager, HEP
Po Kin Leung
Postdoctoral Fellow
Everett Lipman
Associate Professor
Optical measurements of single biological molecules. Molecular motors, protein folding, resonance energy transfer, and applications of microfluidic devices.
Tao Liu
Postdoctoral Fellow
Matthew Lorig
Alumni
Steven Lowette
Postdoctoral Fellow
Philip Lubin
Professor
Experimental Cosmology group - early universe studies, Cosmic Microwave Background studies, Planck satellite, high Z metal lines, high altitude balloon borne astrophysics experiments, low temperature far IR and mm wave detectors, large aperture mm/ sub mm optical systems
Erik Lucero
Graduate Student
Andreas Ludwig
Professor
Mary Lum
Academic Business Officer
Responsible for the administrative management of the Physics department.
Brian Maertz
Graduate Student
Guido Magazzu
Researcher
Design and development of Integrated Circuits and FPGA based control and data acquisition systems for applications in High Energy Physics experiments.
Ramsey Majzoub
Graduate Student
Daniel Malinow
Graduate Student
Madhav Mani
Postdoctoral Fellow
Donald Marolf
Professor
Classical and quantum physics of black holes, quantum fields in curved space, quantum gravity, and gravitational aspects of string theory.
Crystal Martin
Professor
Star formation and feedback in galaxies; interplay between galaxies and the intergalactic medium; fand first galaxies and reionization
John Martinis
Professor
Benjamin Mazin
Assistant Professor
Photon-counting, energy-resolving cryogenic detectors and instrumentation for Astrophysics.
Nickolas McColl
Graduate Student
Lynnette McCoy
Contract and Grant Analyst
Serves as the Extramural Funds Analyst works with faculty and researchers on contract and grant proposal preparation and pre- through post-award administration.
Sean McHugh
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dustin McIntosh
Graduate Student
Peter Meinhold
Researcher
Jennifer Meyer
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ryan Mishmash
Graduate Student
Benjamin Monreal
Assistant Professor
Eun Gook Moon
Postdoctoral Fellow
Kevin Moore
Graduate Student
Christpoher Morris
Alumni
David Morrison
Professor
Mathematical aspects of string theory and quantum field theory, algebraic geometry.
Ian Morrison
Alumni
Rollin Morrison
Professor Emeritus
Alex Morriss-Andrews
Graduate Student
Bryan Myers
Graduate Student
Chetan Nayak
Professor
Microsoft Station Q
Harry Nelson
Professor
Vice Chair
Hieu Nguyen
Graduate Student
Anna Nierenberg
Graduate Student
Kieran O'Brien
Researcher
Peter O'Malley
Graduate Student
Hugh O'Neill
Graduate Student
Peng Oh
Associate Professor
Theoretical astrophysics, cosmology. Hydrogen and helium reionization, 21cm cosmology, the first galaxies. Galaxy clusters and physics of intracluster medium.
Daniel Ouellette
Graduate Student
Anna Pancoast
Graduate Student
Guy Patterson
Student Machine Shop Supervisor
As a machinist, works with faculty and researchers to design and fabricate apparatus. Manages the student machine shop and instructs on use of tools, equipment and safety.
Victor Pavlunin
Postdoctoral Fellow
Stanton Peale
Professor Emeritus
Research Professor
My research interests are: 1. Planetary science with emphasis on dynamical configurations that constrain internal properties of mostly solid solar system bodies, and evolution of dynamical systems to constrain their origin. 2. The dynamical history of extra-solar planetary systems.
Brian Pepper
Graduate Student
Erik Perkins
Graduate Student
Philip Pincus
Professor
Soft condensed matter theory. Specific subjects include: polymers, biopolymers, membranes, properties of water, colloid science.
Anders Pinzke
Postdoctoral Fellow
Robert Pizzi
Instructional Lab Manager
Responsible for the management, coordination and supervision of lower and upper division instructional laboratories, including lecture demonstrations.
Joseph Polchinski
Professor
KITP Permanent Member
Theoretical Physics: Quantum field theory, string theory, quantum gravity, and the connections among these and with other parts of physics.
Moire Prescott
Postdoctoral Fellow
David Prine
Purchasing Manager
Responsible for the operation of the Physics Purchasing and Receiving units.
Elijah Quetin
Graduate Student
Connor Randall
Staff Research Associate
Lab Manager for the Hansma Research Group
Finn Rebassoo
Alumni
Doug Rehn
Assistant Development Engineer
As a machinist, works with faculty and researchers to design and fabricate apparatus.
Jacob Ribnik
Alumni
Jeffrey Richman
Professor
Charles Riedel
Graduate Student
Francesc Roig
Senior Lecturer Emeritus
Karina Roitman
Graduate Student
Wayne Rosing
Senior Fellows
LCOGT Technical Director & President
Roberto Rossin
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ishai Rubin
Graduate Student
Cyrus Safinya
Professor
Biophysics and soft matter research focused on attempts to understand the mechanisms of assembly for certain biological systems such as lipid-nucleic acids, lipids, and neuron-derived proteins. (Professor of Materials, Physics and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology)
David Sand
Postdoctoral Fellow
Daniel Sank
Graduate Student
Jorge Santos
Postdoctoral Fellow
Lucile Savary
Graduate Student
Raymond Sawyer
Professor Emeritus
Research Professor
Douglas Scalapino
Professor Emeritus
Research Professor
Glenn Schiferl
Director, PCS
Responsible for the management of Physics Computing Services including networking, installation, troubleshooting and user support. Manages the Voice over IP system.
Chris Seaton
Faculty Assistant
Provides administrative support for Dr. Walter Kohn
Andy Segale
Assistant Development Engineer
As a machinist, works with faculty and researchers to design and fabricate apparatus.
Genevieve Shattow
Graduate Student
Joan-Emma Shea
Professor
Theoretical and computational biophysics; protein folding and aggregation
Mark Sheckherd
Assistant Development Engineer
As a welder, works with faculty and researchers to design and fabricate apparatus.
Mark Sherwin
Professor
Yinbo Shi
Graduate Student
Avi Shporer
Postdoctoral Fellow
Boris Shraiman
Professor
KITP Permanent Member
Jennifer Sirak
Graduate Student
Scott Smith
Senior Clerk
Provides general assistance to the Physics Machine Shop and Material Management unit.
Alessandro Sonnenfeld
Graduate Student
Kurt Soto
Graduate Student
Mark Srednicki
Professor
Quantum field theory and elementary particle phenomenology, quantum chaos theory and its applications, dark matter and the physics of the early universe.
Daniel Stack
Storeroom Manager
Responsible for the operation of the Physics Storeroom as well as building keys and doorcodes.
Michael Stanton
Graduate Student
Mario Stipcevic
Researcher
David Stuart
Professor
Experimental particle physics: Supersymmetry searches at the Large Hadron Collider and development of charged particle tracking detectors.
Robert Sugar
Professor Emeritus
Research Professor
Theoretical high energy physics. Numerical studies of quantum chromodynamics, including the calculation of the masses and decay properties of strongly interacting particles, and the behavior of strongly interacting matter at high temperatures and densities.
James Sully
Graduate Student
Donald Suntrup
Graduate Student
Sherry Suyu
Postdoctoral Fellow
Chris Takacs
Graduate Student
Ted Tao
Graduate Student
Wing To
Graduate Student
Tommaso Treu
Professor
Shilo Tucker
Academic Personnel
Responsible for the management of the academic affairs units within the Physics department which includes Academic Personnel, curriculum management, student affairs and administrative support.
Amit Vainsencher
Graduate Student
Jatila van der Veen
Researcher
Jean-Roch Vlimant
Postdoctoral Fellow
William Walker
Professor Emeritus
Aron Wall
Postdoctoral Fellow
Max Watson
Graduate Student
Benson Way
Graduate Student
David Weld
Assistant Professor
Experimental ultracold atomic physics, quantum simulation, optical lattices, trapping of alkali and alkaline earth atoms, novel quantum phases, nonequilibrium dynamics, new cooling techniques, analogies between condensed matter and atomic physics, quantum metrology, micron-scale force sensing.
James Wenner
Graduate Student
Christopher West
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dean White
Senior Development Engineer
Serves as Project Manager to the High Energy Physics group.
Theodore White
Graduate Student
Pierre Wiltzius
Professor
Dean, MLPS
Soft condensed matter and complex fluids, polymers, colloids, liquid crystals; current research on developing new fabrication techniques for photonic crystals including colloidal self-assembly and multi-beam interference lithography.
Jessica Wirts
Faculty Assistant
Provides administrative support to faculty and their associated research groups.
Michael Witherell
Professor
Vice Chancellor, Research
Connor Wolf
Laboratory Helper
Member of Lubin Group laboratory staff
William Wolf
Graduate Student
Cenke Xu
Assistant Professor
Christopher Yale
Graduate Student
Andrew Yeats
Graduate Student
Catherine Yeh
Graduate Student
Benjamin Zaks
Graduate Student
Anthony Zee
Professor
Particle theory, in particular neutrino physics, gravity, and other topics. Application of quantum field theory to various problems, including RNA folding and visual information processing.
Andrea Zonca
Postdoctoral Fellow