Officers and Committees 2022-2023
Officers
Chair
Karsten Heeger
Director of Graduate Admissions
Helen Caines
Director of Graduate Studies
Daisuke Nagai
Graduate Program Team
Daisuke Nagai (DGS)
Rona Ramos (coordinator)
Stacey Watts (registrar)
Andy Szymkowiak (advisor)
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Sarah Demers
Undergraduate Program Team
Sarah Demers (DUS)
Daphne Klemme (registrar)
Director of Postdoctoral Affairs
Meg Urry
Joint Boards of Permanent Officers (JBPO) Quorum Members
R. Shankar
Vincent Moncrief
Committees
Yale Physics sponsors prize lectures in physics, bringing distinguished scientists to Yale to present results of frontier research and interact with our faculty, research staff, and students. The weekly colloquium series of the Yale Physics Department is called the Physics Club. These lectures are aimed at graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, research staff and faculty, and are of general interest to the Department of Physics, as well as Applied Physics, Astronomy, and Mathematics.
Members
Fall 2022-Spring 2023
Laura Newburgh (chair)
Ian Moult
Nir Navon
Paul Tipton
Jorge Torres (Postdoc representative)
Charles Lomba (Graduate student representative)
The Beatrice Tinsley Prize Lecture is given each year by a distinguished physicist in honor of Beatrice Muriel Hill Tinsley, the first female professor of astronomy at Yale, where she worked from 1974 until her death in 1981. Her work on disk galaxies has proven foundational in the decades following her passing. In 2018, the Yale Society of Physics Students inaugurated the Beatrice Tinsley Prize Lecture, which saw the invitation of Asimina Arvanitaki. This prized was started to honor Tinsley’s myriad contributions and to encourage collaboration and contact between distinguished physicists and the Yale undergraduate physics community. The speaker is jointly invited and hosted by the Society of Physics Students, Women in Physics, and Undergraduate students from Astronomy.
Members
SPS leadership (presidents and board)
WiP leadership (presidents and board)
2 students from Astronomy
DUS ex-officio
WIP faculty advisor, ex-officio
Teaching assignments for the department are done by the Chair, in consultation with the DUS & DGS and graduate and undergraduate program teams.
Members
Karsten Heeger (Chair, Physics Department)
Sarah Demers (DUS)
Daisuke Nagai (DGS)
Stacey Watts (graduate registrar)
Daphne Klemme (undergraduate registrar)
Rona Ramos (graduate program coordinator)
The Mission of the Climate and Diversity Committee is to support the Department’s goals to provide a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment for every member of our community. We are committed to creating a work place whose core principles are based on diversity, equity, and inclusion for every staff member, student and faculty as we strive to obtain our goals of excellence in research, teaching, and mentoring.
Member
Rona Ramos (chair)
The vision of APS-IDEA is that, as a result of collective efforts, physics and related fields will become more inclusive of all social identities, with a diversity reflective of the nation, and with an equitable distribution of opportunities and resources.
Members
Faculty
- Helen Caines (She/her/hers), co-leader
- Rona Ramos (She/her/hers), co-leader
- Larry Gladney (He/him/his)
- Karsten Heeger (He/him/his)
- Reina Maruyama (She/her/hers)
- Meg Urry (She/her/hers)
Postdoctoral Associates
- Laura Havener (She/her/hers)
Graduate Students
- Aniket Maiti (He/him/his)
Undergraduate Students
- New Member TBD
Staff
- Geriana Van Atta (She/her/hers)
The Postdoc Advisory Committee serves as a point of communication between the postdocs (including junior research scientists) and the administration of the department. The committee advises the Chair, the Director of Postdoctoral Affairs, and other faculty on matters related to postdocs and the postdoc program, including (but not limited to) helping plan and organize annually scheduled departmental events. The committee also advocate on behalf of postdocs with the Chair and the Director of Postdoctoral Affairs. Committee members are appointed for one calendar year. The composition of the committee includes postdocs who represent inclusive and diverse sets of interests. Committee members meet regularly with the Chair and the Director of Postdoctoral Affairs. The committee is expected to meet monthly and at least four times a year with the Chair and the Director of Postdoctoral Affairs.
Members
Karsten Heeger (Chair)
Meg Urry (Director of Postdoctoral Affairs)
Daphne Klemme (Postdoctoral appointments coordinator)
Isabella Graf, Postdoctoral Associate with Ben Machta
Laura Havener, Associate Research Scientist with Helen Caines
Yogesh Patil, Associate Research Scientist with Jack harris
The Graduate Student Advisory Committee serves as a point of communication between the graduate students and the administration of the department. The committee advises the Chair, the DGS, and other faculty on matters related to graduate students and the graduate program, including (but not limited to) helping plan and organize annually scheduled departmental events.The committee members also advocate on behalf of graduate students with the Chair and DGS. Committee members are appointed for one calendar year. The composition of the committee includes at least one representative from each cohort, with a primary goal of representing inclusive and diverse sets of interests. Committee members meet with the Chair and DGS once a month. The committee also meets internally once a month while regularly soliciting feedback from other students in their cohorts.
Members
Daisuke Nagai (DGS, co-chair)
Karsten Heeger (Chair, co-chair)
Rona Ramos (Faculty)
Stacey Watts (Graduate Registrar)
Hannah Bossi (Year 4)
Caitlin Gish (Year 2)
Sophia Hollick (Year 2)
Aniket Maiti (Year 4)
Xiaowei Ou (Year 1)
Samantha Pagan (Year 3)
Iris Ponce (Year 2)
Joseph Shomar (Year 3)
Benjamin Siegel (Year 3)
The Undergraduate Student Advisory Committee (UGSAC) serves as a point of communication between undergraduate students interested in the physics major and the leadership of the department. The student representatives work with the Chair, the DUS, and the undergraduate program team on matters related to the physics major. Committee members meet at least once semester.
Members
Karsten Heeger (Chair, co-chair)
Sarah Demers (DUS, co-chair)
Daphne Klemme (undergraduate registrar)
Maddi Brown (2026)
Sofie Fusco (2024)
Wyatt Kremer (2024)
Helen Lyng-Olsen (2023)
Neal Ma (2023)
Ethan Martinez (2026)
Emily Peng (2025)
Shayaan Subzwari (2023)
Giovanni Truong (2023)
Varun Varanasi (2024)
Barkotel Zemenu (2024)
- QuARK (Queer Affiliated fRiends of physiKs) - Jack Harris
- Yale Physics Department Happy Hour - Rona Ramos
- Yale Society of Physics Students (SPS) - Sarah Demers
- Yale Women in Physics + - Graduate - Simon Mochrie
- Yale Women in Physics (WiP) - Undergraduate - Reina Maruyama
- History and Foundations of Physics Club (HoFoP) - Priyamvada Natarajan
- Event Series on Science, Ethics and International Affairs “Kimball Smith Series” - Karsten Heeger