Profiles of former Penn State University Physics majors

The former undergraduate PSU Physics majors linked below have provided feedback on a variety of topics related to their experiences while students at Penn State, their current careers, how their Physics degree helps them, and advice for prospective and current Physics majors. We thank all who've given us information based on their PSU experiences and from their current career trajectories.

1. Daniel Abercrombie (2014) -- Graduate student in Physics at MIT
2. Joshua Albert (2006) -- Graduate student in Physics at Duke University
1. 2014 update: Ph.D. (2013) from Duke University and postdoctoral research at Indiana University
3. David Atlee (2005) -- Graduate student in Astronomy at Ohio State
1. 2014 update: Ph. D. (2011) from Ohio State University and postdoctoral research associate at NOAO (National Optical Astronomy Observatory)
4. Brian Bahn (2004) -- High school Physics teacher 
5. Samhita Banavar (2013) -- Graduate student in Physics at UC Santa Barbara
6. Jason Bartell (2011) -- Graduate student in Physics at Cornell University 
7. Lena (Bradley) Bartell (2011) -- Graduate student in Physics at Cornell University 
8. Danielle (Perry) Bassett (2004) -- Postdoctoral researcher (neuroscience) at UC Santa Barbara
1. 2014 update: Skirkanich Assistant Professor of Innovation (Bioengineering) at UPenn
2. 2014 update: Winner of a MacArthur ('Genius') Award
9. Lee Bassett (2004) -- Postdoctoral research (condensed matter physics - quantum computing) at UC Santa Barbara
1. 2014 update: Assistant Professor (Electrical and Systems Engineering) at UPenn
10. Chris Bernotavicius (2007) -- Naval officer (and M. S. in Mathematics) 
11. Nick Bevins (2007) -- Graduate student in medical physics at UW Madison
1. 2014 update: Senior staff imagining physicist at Henry Ford Health System
12. Chris Billman (2011) -- Graduate Student in Physics at the University of Florida 
13. Andrew Biss (2000) -- Product Manager at Saab Sensis Corporation (Aerospace) 
14. Mark Bolden (2006) -- Air Force (civilian) scientist -- Associate Physics at Air Force Maui Optical Services
1. 2014 update: Physicist at Air Force Research Laboratory (2006-2012) - Scientist at CENTRA Technology (DARPA SETA)
2. 2015 update: Also Ph.D. candidate in Aerospace Engineering at Penn State University
15. Michael Bowne (2007) -- Physicist at FRABA (sensor technology company)
1. 2014 update: Director of Technology Marketing at PI North America
16. Terence Bretz-Sullivan (2010) -- Graduate student in Physics at the University of Minnesota 
1. 2016 update: Postdoc in Physics at the University of Minnesota
17. Michael Brewer (2012) -- Graduate student in Physics at Drexel
18. Marshall Calhoun (2008) -- Scientist at Advanced Research Systems (cryogenics)
1. 2014 update: Regional Sales Manager for Lake Shore Cryogenics
19. Benjamin Campbell (2002) -- Laser Physicist at the Electro-Optics Center
1. 2014 update: Assistant Professsor of Engineering at Robert Morris University
2. 2016 update: Associate Professor of Engineering at Robert Morris University
20. Jeremy Cardellino (2010) -- Graduate student in Physics at the Ohio State University
21. Landon Chambers (2011) -- Graduate student in Physics at Texas A&M University 
22. Rosemary (Shupp) Ciletti (2010) -- Energy Marketing at Direct Energy Corporation 
1. 2016 Update: Cash Trader at Eclipse Resources
23. Kristina Colladay (2007) -- Naval Research Lab, M.S. at Johns Hopkins, and graduate study in Physics at Cornell 
24. James Dalessio (2006) -- Graduate student (in Astrophysics) at U Delaware 
25. David Deaven (1988) -- Executive, Quality Engineering at GE Healthcare 
    
26. Scott Delone (2009) -- High school teacher in West Chester, PA
27. Jonathan D'Emidio (2010) -- Graduate student in Physics at the University of Kentucky 
28. Rachel Dicht (2004) -- Physicist at Naval Research Lab 
29. Gregory Diehl (2008) -- Physicist at NAVAIR (China Lake, California) 
30. John Diehl (2007) -- Physicist at Naval Research Laboratory 
31. Robert Dimeo (1991) -- Staff Scientist at NIST - Director of Neutron Scattering Facility - Former advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy 
32. Michael Doncheski (1985, 1990) -- Professor of Physics (Penn State Mont Alto campus) 
1. 2014 update: Director of Academic Affairs (Penn State Mont Alto campus)
33. Matthew Doty (1998) -- Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at University of Delaware 
34. John Draskovic (2008) -- Graduate student in Physics at Ohio State University 
1. 2014 update: Ph. D. (2014) from OSU and Project Engineer at Intel Corporation
35. Michael Drelich (2014) -- Radiation protection technician 
36. James Durgin (2008) -- Clinical residency in medical physics at Ohio State University
1. 2014 update: Masters of Medical Physics (2010) from UPenn and Medical Physicist at Center for Neurosciences, Tucson, Arizona.
37. Matthew Ebert (2010) -- Graduate student in Physics at UW Madison 
38. Andrew Eck (2010) -- Sensor engineer at Boeing Corporation 
39. Emily (McCathran) Einsig (2009) -- Senior Consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton (and M.S. degree in Computational Science from George Mason University) 
40. Todd Ellis (2002) -- Assistant Professor of Meteorology at SUNY Oneonta
1. 2015 update: Assistant Professor of Meteorology at Western Michigan University
41. Thomas Essinger-Hileman (2005) -- Graduate student in Physics at Princeton University
1. 2014 update: Ph. D. (2011) from Princeton Univesity and NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University (2015)
42. Leonard Eun (2004) -- Graduate student in Physics at Penn State
1. 2014 update: Postdoctoral Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National aboratory (2012-2013) and Quantitative Research at MSCI Inc.
43. Scott Fackler (2011) – Project manager at Xergy Inc.
44. David Fein (2007) -- Computer software for the medical industry
1. 2014 update: Application Analyst II at Catholic Health Initiatives
45. Zachary Fifer (2009) -- ESL instructor in Korea and M.S. student (mathematics) at the University of Leeds (UK) 
46. Daniil Finkel (2013) -- Artificial Intelligence Engineering at Coldlight 
47. Padraic Finnerty (2006) -- Graduate student in Physics at the University of North Carolina 
1. 2014 update: Ph. D. (2013) from North Carolina University and Staff Scientist at Applied Research Associates
48. Steve Flammia (2002) -- Postdoc at Perimeter Institute (Canada) 
1. 2014 update: Senior lecturer and ARC Future Fellow at the University of Sydney and faculty member of the Quantum Physics Group
49. Jack Flicker (2006) -- Graduate student in materials science at Georgia Tech 
1. 2014 update: Ph.D. (2011) from Georgia Tech in Materials Science and Engineering and Postdoctoral Appointee (2011-2014) and Senior Member of Technical Staff of Sandia National Labs
50. Mark Foerster (2010) -- Graduate student in Physics at the University of Tennessee 
51. Jeremy Forster (2007) -- Project Physicist at Lutron Corporation 
1. 2014 update: Senior systems applications engineer
52. Michael Fosmire (1992) -- Associate Professor of Library Science- Head, Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Technology Division, Purdue University Libraries 
53. Tyler Frisch (2013) -- Application Engineer at Thorlabs 
54. Nathaniel Gabor (2004) -- Postdoctoral research associate at MIT
1. 2014 update: Assistant Professor (Physics) at UC Riverside
55. David Garand (2009) -- Graduate student in Physics at Purdue University 
1. 2016 update: Research Associate at Michigan State University (National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory)
56. Matthew Gettemy (2014) -- Engineer at Belcan Engineering
57. Samuel Gillis (2007) -- Medical imaging research associate
1. 2014 update: Imaging Research Associate (2008-2010) and Project Manager (2010-2013) at Perceptive Informatics and IT Project Manager at PAREXEL Informatics
58. Adam Glick (2014) -- Graduate student in medical phyics at UPenn
59. Craig Goldberg (2001) -- Medical physicist at Bryn Mawr hospital 
60. Deborah Golden (1995) -- Civil and domestic human rights lawyer in Washington DC 
61. Heather (Meloy) Gorr (2006) -- Ph. D. student in materials science and teaching Physics at a community college
1. 2014 update: M.S. (2008) in Physics from IUP, Ph. D. (2012) in Materials Science Engineering from University of Pittsburgh and Training Engineer at MathWorks
62. Matthew Goss (2004) -- Medical Physicist
1. 2014 update: Radiotherapy Physicist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
63. Chris Grigas (2013) -- Technical Support Engineer at dSpace (Digital Signal Processing and Controls Engineering)
64. Michael Grinshpon (2013) -- Quality Engineer at Alarm.com
1. 2015 update: Software engineer at Coldlight
65. John Groh (2014) - Graduate student in Physics at UC Berkeley
66. Jonathan Guild (2013) -- Officer in the US Air Force
67. Brandon Haggard (2001) -- Civilian scientist at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (Dahlgren) 
68. Chad Hanna (2004) -- Postdoc at Cal Tech
1. 2014 update: Assistant Professor (Physics) at Penn State University
69. Rachel (Peet) Hanson (2007) -- Technical services engineer at Epic Systems 
70. Andrew Harris (2009) -- Project manager at Microsoft Corporation 
1. 2014 update: Program Manager II at Microsoft
71. Phillip Hochendoner (2010) -- Graduate student in Physics at Virginia Tech 
72. Greg Hoppa (1994) -- Senior Principal Systems Engineer at Raytheon 
73. Joshua Howe (2009) -- Graduate student in chemical engineering at UC Berkeley 
74. Ping Huang (2007) -- Graduate student in Math (actuarial) at U Illinois 
75. Beth Hutchinson (2003) -- Postdoctoral research in neuroscience 
1. 2014 update: Ph. D. (2010) and postdoc (2009-2012) at UW Madison (Department of Neurology) and Research Fellow at the National Institutes of Health
76. Jason Hwang (2009) -- Graduate student in Astronomy/Astrophysics at Northwestern University 
77. Matthew Jaffe (2012) -- Graduate student in Physics at UC Berkeley
78. Yifan Jiang (2014) -- Graduate student in EE at UC Berkeley
79. Robert Johnson (2004) -- Postdoc at the University of Pennsylvania 
1. 2014 update: Lecturer and lab coordinator (Physics) at the University of Pennsylvania
80. Therese Jones (2007) -- Graduate student in Astronomy/Astrophysics (Berkeley)
1. 2014 update: M.S. (2013) from UC Berkeley (Astrophysics) and Pardee RAND Graduate School (Science Policy)
2. 2016 update: Contestant on Jeopardy (Feb. 2016)
81. Dennis Just (2007) -- Graduate Student in Astronomy at U. Arizona
1. 2014 update: Postdoctoral fellow (Astronomy) at University of Toronto
82. Megan Kephart (2014) -- Graduate student in materials science at University of Illinois, Chicago 
83. Matt Kinsey (2011) -- Graduate student in physics at Georgia Tech University 
84. Daniel Kluskiewicz (2010) -- Graduate student in geosciences at the University of Washington 
85. Brandon Koger (2011) -- Graduate student in medical physics at the University of Chicago 
1. 2014 update: M. Sc. student at University of Calgary (radiation oncology physics)
86. Kris Krack (2006) -- Civil engineering to architectural engineering and back 
1. 2014 update: Project engineer at Vanalt Electrical Construction
87. Emily Kremmel (2011) -- M.S. in medical physics and resident at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital 
88. Praj Kulkarni (2003) -- Ph. D. (Stanford in Applied Physics) and a AAAS government science advisor (EPA) 
1. 2014 update: Solution Engineer (2012-2014) and Customer Success Manager at Intapp
89. Nathan Kurz (2004) -- Graduate student in Physics at U. Washington 
1. 2014 update: Ph.D. (2010) in Physics from the University of Washington, Staff scientist (2011-2012) at Nion Co, and Senior Optical Engineer at Lockheed Martin Aculight
90. Tyler Landis (2005) -- Graduate student at LSU
1. 2014 update: M.S. (Physics) from LSU and Business Intelligence Developer at Epic Systems
91. Meagan Lang (2010) -- Graduate student in Astronomy and Astrophysics at Vanderbilt University 
92. David Lehr (2004) -- Data and customer specialist for health care software company
1. 2014 update: VP Product Development Maven Medical
93. Jessica Leonard (2004) -- Graduate student in Physics at UW Madison -- CERN/LHC experiments
1. 2014 update: Ph.D. (2011) in Physics from UW Madison and postdoc at DESY/Zeuthen (working on the CMS detector at CERN)
94. Tina Lin (2007) -- Graduate student in Physics at Harvard
1. 2014 update: Ph. D. (2013) from Harvard University and Associate at McKinsey and Company
95. David Lishego (2006) - Investment Associate at Innovation Works (and MBA from Carnegie Mellon) 
96. Matthew Lohr (2007) -- Graduate student in Physics UPenn
1. 2014 update: Ph. D. (2014) from UPenn and Senior Scientist in the Skincare Innovation group at Johnson & Johnson
97. Clay Long (2013) - Graduate student in ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering) at Carnegie Mellon University 
98. Ryan Lynch (2006) - Ph.D. from University of Virginia (2011), postdoctoral scientist at McGill University (2011-2014) and postdoc at Naval Research Labs 
99. Gregory Mahlon (1987) -- Assistant Professor of Physics (Penn State Mont Alto campus)
1. 2014 update : Associate Professor of Physics (PSU Mont Alto)
100. Logan Marcus (2006) -- Graduate student in Physics (acoustics) at Ole Miss
1. 2014 update: Ph. D. (2012) from University of Mississippi and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Oak Ridge Associated Universities
101. Kelly McCarthy (2008) -- Teach for America and high school teacher in Philadelphia 
1. 2014 update: Physics teacher at Lourdes Regional High School
102. Patrick McClanahan (2009) -- Graduate study in neuroscience 
103. David McLaughlin (2010) -- Medical Physics M.S. (2013) from LSU - Engineer at eV Products (CZT radiation detectors) 
104. John McManigle (2008) -- M. D. - Ph. D. program at Duke University and Oxford University 
105. Brian McNally (2006) -- Process engineer at Johnson Matthey 
106. Sean McWilliams (2003) -- Postdoc at NASA Goddard
1. 2014 update: M.S. and Ph. D. (2008) from University of Maryland, NASA Postdoctoral Fellow (2008-2010) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Postdoctoral Fellow (2010-2013) at Princeton University and Assistant Professor (Astrophysics) at West Virginia University
107. Scott Metzler (1992) -- Research Associate Professor of Radiology (University of Pennsylvania) 
108. Robert Miller (1999) -- Product Manager for Reporting and Analytics at ZirMed
1. 2014 update: Process Manager at Humana
109. Drew Milsom (1986) -- Director of Undergraduate Studies (Physics) at University of Arizona 
110. Zachary Modig (2008) -- Civilian Scientist at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division 
111. Ronald Moore (1992) -- Tevatron Department Head (2005-2011) and Associate Division Head (2011) at Fermilab -- Accelerator Physics at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School (2011-2014)
1. 2014 update: Senior Physicist at ProNova Solutions
112. Robert Morasco (2002) -- Electrical engineer at PJM Interconnection 
113. Danielle Norcini (2012) -- Graduate student in Physics at Yale University
114. Christopher Palma (1994) -- Senior Lecturer in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State University 
115. Tushita Patel (2008) -- Graduate student in Physics at the University of Virginia 
1. 2016 update: Medical physicist at Hologic Inc.
116. Daniel Pearson (2011) -- Graduate student in Physics at Colorado State University 
117. Michael Peth (2010) -- Graduate student in Astrophysics at Johns Hopkins University 
1. 2017 update: Ph. D. in Astrophysics
118. Shanna (Simmons) Pervola (2005) -- Medical Physicist (medical consulting group) 
1. 2014 update: Medical physicist at Ohio Medical Physics Consulting
119. Zachary Pierpoint (2010) -- Graduate student in Physics at UW Madison 
120. Nik Podraza (2003) -- Research Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering (Penn State)
1. 2014 update: Assistant Professor (Physics) at University of Toledo
121. Michael Prikockis (2010) -- Graduate student in Physics at Ohio State University 
1. 2016 update: Senior Professional Staff at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
122. Chengzhi Qi (2013) -- Graduate student in mechanical engineering at UPenn
123. Paul Ricker (1991) -- Associate Professor of Astronomy/Astrophysics at the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) 
124. Jedidiah Riebling (2014) -- Graduate student in Physics at Purdue University 
125. Joseph Roberts (2007) -- Graduate student (in Mathematics) at U. Michigan
1. 2014 update: Ph. D. (2013) in Mathematics from the University of Michigan and Lecturer/Postdoc at Penn State University (Mathematics)
126. Casey Robinson (2009) -- Graduate student in computer science at Youngstown State University 
1. 2014 update: M.S. (2012) in Computing and Information Systems from Youngstown State University and Software Developer at WiTopia
127. Zachary Robinson (2012) -- Digital signal processing engineer at Boeing
1. 2016 update: Seminarian, Archdiocese of Baltimore
128. Nicholas Roman (2014) -- Data tabulation manager for market research company
129. Phil Roth (2004) -- Ph. D. from U. Maryland and Physicist at User Systems Inc. (synthetic aperture radar company)
1. 2014 update: Data Scientist at Endgame
130. Jennifer (Fischer) Rotolo (2004) -- High school physics teacher 
131. Kevin Rotz (2008) - Graduate student in math at Purdue University 
132. Nicholas Rubert (2007) -- Graduate student in medical physics at UW Madison
1. 2014 update: Ph. D. (2013) from UW Madison in medical physics specializing in ultrasound imaging.
133. Kevin Rybicki (2009) -- Graduate student in medical physics at Duke University 
1. 2014 update: M.S. (2012) in medical physics from Duke University and Seismic Processing Geophysicist at GeoCenter LP
134. Tarik Salameh (2013) -- M.D. - Ph.D. student at Hershey Medical Center 
135. Krysten Scheidler (2008) -- High school physics teacher in Virginia 
1. 2015 update: High school physics teacher in Pittsburgh, PA
136. Brett Scheiner (2012) -- Graduate student in Physics at the University of Iowa 
1. 2017 update: Ph. S. (2017) and now post-doc with Plasma Theory and Applications group (XCP-6) at Los Alamos
137. Rachel (Barry) Scheitrum (2004) -- High school Physics and General Science teacher 
1. 2014 update: Science teacher at Walshingham Academy
138. Christopher Schmid (2009) -- Peace Corps and Solar CV specialist at Silicon Energy 
139. Joseph Scholz (2006) -- Masters student in Engineering Science and Mechanics -- Juggler and magician 
1. 2014 update: Science educator at Da Vinci Science Center
140. Stephen Segal (2003) -- Senior Scientist at Cymer (San Diego)
1. 2014 update: Laser Development Engineer at Thorlabs
141. Charles Shapiro (2001) -- Ph. D. in Physics and postdoc at the University of Portsmouth (UK) -- Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation.
1. 2014 update: NASA Postdoctoral Fellow (2011-2013) and Staff Scientist (2013-) at Jet Propulsion Laboratory
142. Deirdre Shoemaker (1994) -- Associate Professor of Physics at Georgia Tech University 
143. Michael Skocik (2012) -- Graduate student in Physics at Penn State University and Research Scientist at the Naval Air Warfare Center - Aircraft Division
1. 2016 update: Ph.D. from Penn State/Physics - Advanced Computational Scientist at Manada Technology
144. Alan Slipak (2009) -- Medical school at the Temple University School of Medicine
1. 2014 update: M.D. from Temple University Medical School
145. Brandon Smith (2006) -- Graduate student in nuclear engineering at UW Madison 
146. Jacob Smith (2006) -- Technical consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton 
147. Eric Sokolowski (2001) -- Physicist at Adaptive Methods (formerly called Applied Hydroacoustics) 
148. Natalie (Hepler) Strand (2003) -- Postdoc in Physics Education Research (PER) -- Physics Ph. D. from U. Illinois 
149. Zachary Stum (2001) -- Physicist at General Electric 
150. Marcy Stutzman (1994) -- Staff Physicist at Jefferson National Laboratory 
151. David Sutton (2010) -- Medical Physics M. S. program at UPenn (2010-2012) - Residency in medical physics at Roberts Cancer Center
1. 2014 update: Medical physicist at University of Pennsylvania Health System
152. Matt Sutton (2008) -- Medical Physics M. S. program at LSU (2008-2010) - Residency in medical physics
1. 2014 update: M.S. (2013) in Medical Physics from LSU, medical physics resident (2011-2013) and medical physicist (2013-) at HealthQuest
153. Quendella Taylor (2005) -- M.S. in medical physics (East Carolina University) and practicing medical physicist 
154. Scott Thaller (2003) -- Graduate student in Physics at the University of Minnesota 
155. Roger Thompson (2008) -- Physicist at the Army's Night Vision and Electronic Senor Directorate (NVSED) 
156. Joshua Tobolewski (2007) -- GEOEYE (satellite imaging company)
1. 2014 update: Systems Analyst II at RadiantBlue Technologies
157. Jo Uesugi (2004) -- Business owner of American Linear Technologies, LLC 
1. 2014 update: Operations Manager at NB China Co. LTD
158. Patrick Ulrich (2005) -- Graduate student in environmental engineering at UC Berkeley
1. 2014 update: Ph. D. (2011) in Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley and Assistant Director for Undergraduate Studies in Environmental Science and Engineering at Harvard University
159. Michael Vertuli (2008) -- Entrepreneur/start-up educational company in China 
1. 2014 update: Founder and Executive Director of Newton China (Shanghai)
2. 2017 update: Upper School Math Teacher – London School
160. David Vidmar (2012) -- Graduate student in physics at UC San Diego 
161. Rhiannon Vieceli (2013) -- Graduate student in geosciences at Penn State University 
1. 2017 update: Intern at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
162. Vince Viscomi (2008) -- Computer/software engineer at a financial services company 
163. Michael Wang (2011) -- Graduate student in electrical engineering at Princeton University 
1. 2014 update: Summer internship at Hewlett-Packard while in graduate school.
164. Ryan Wendt (2010) -- Graduate student in Physics at Arizona State University
1. 2014 update: M.S. (2013) from Arizona State University, Quantitive Developer (2013-2014) Chopper Trading LLC and Junior Developer for Akuna Capital
165. Mary (Battershell) Whalen (1991) - Teach for America, M. Ed from Ohio State, and high school teacher in Ohio 
166. Christopher Wolf (2010) -- Flight dynamics engineer at Intelsat 
167. Stephanie Zonak (2002) - M.S. in Astrophysics from University of Maryland and scientific programmer at NASA Greenbelt 

Last updated 01/11/2019
For more information (or comments), contact 
Prof. Richard Robinett

Associate Department Head and Director of Undergraduate Studies 
Department of Physics 
Penn State University 
rq9@psu.edu