Organizing Committee

Ali Patteson

Alison (Ali) E. Patteson is an Associate Professor of Physics at Syracuse University and the 2024 APS Maria Goeppert Mayer Award for outstanding achievement by a woman in physics. Ali is originally from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She received her B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from Kutztown University in Kutztown, Pennsylvania in 2011 and her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA) in 2016, studying active and complex fluids with Prof. Paulo Arratia. Her postdoctoral research was with Prof. Paul Janmey at UPenn, where she worked on the vimentin cytoskeleton and confined cell motility. Ali joined Syracuse University in 2019. Her research focuses on the soft matter physics of cell motility and biofilm development. She has won numerous awards, including the Sloan Research Fellowship, Cottrell Scholar Award, NSF CAREER award, and the APS Dissertation Award in Statistical and Non-linear Physics. Her favorite pastimes include drinking coffee, reading, spending time with friends, and cheering for the Syracuse University basketball teams.

Jennifer M. Schwarz

Jenny Ross

Ross an award-winning biophysicist studying the organization of the microtubule cytoskeleton and enzymes using high-resolution single-molecule imaging techniques. Ross has a Ph.D. in Physics, is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a Cottrell Scholar, and winner of the Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award from the Biophysical Society. She is a leader of the physics and biophysics community serving in elected positions for the Division of Biological Physics in the American Physical Society and the Biophysical Society Council. As a Cottrell Scholar, Ross has pioneered innovative teaching techniques for active learning courses that have been adopted around the world. She is also an advocate for women and under-represented groups. In June 2020, Ross was named the chair of the Physics Department at Syracuse University.

Lisa Manning

Marina Artuso

Megan Smith

Megan Marshall Smith is an Assistant Professor of Instruction at Hamilton College. She studies supermassive black holes and the environments around them using computer simulations. In particular, her work focuses on how magnetic fields and plasma close to the black hole interact leading to instabilities that move matter closer to the black hole. She is also interested in how mentoring and similar programs can better support students and improve departmental communities. Outside of teaching and research, she likes reading mystery novels, cooking, and swing dancing.

Meghan Murphy

Meghan Murphy is the administrative assistant for the Syracuse University Department of Physics. She has a knack for problem-solving and is good at getting things done. She is also interested in art and has coordinated art projects around the department.

Mirna Mihovilovic Skanata

Prof. Skanata joined the Physics Department at Syracuse University in 2021, following postdoctoral work at the New York University. She obtained her Ph.D. in Physics from Brown University and B.Sc. in Physics from University of Zagreb, Croatia. Her research in neurobiophysics uses Drosophila larva as a model to understand how patterns of neural activity encode behaviors.

Moyo Odunsi

Moyosore Odunsi is a postdoctoral researcher in Nidhi Pashine’s group at Syracuse University. She previously worked with Jeffrey Morris and Mark Shattuck at the Levich Institute at the City College of New York.

Nidhi Pashine

Nidhi is an Assistant Professor in the Physics Department. She is an experimentalist working in the fields of soft condensed matter and mechanical metamaterials. Outside of physics, she enjoys hiking, sewing, and birdwatching.

Somiealo Azote 

Dr. Somiealo Azote, originally from Togo (West-Africa), is currently a Syracuse University Future Professor faculty fellow in the Department of Physics, where she conducts her research in the Manning group. Prior to joining Syracuse University, she served as an assistant lecturer and researcher at the University of Lome in Togo, pursued postdoctoral training at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in the United States, and held a postdoctoral position at Ca' Foscari University in Venice (Italy) where she worked on computational coarse-grained modeling of biopolymers, including proteins and DNA. She earned her PhD from Stellenbosch University in South Africa, supported by the prestigious Women in Science for the Developing World doctoral award. Dr. Azote's current research focuses on utilizing 3D computational models to explore the biomechanical properties of stratified epithelial tissues, with a particular emphasis on cell upward migration in the skin epidermis.

Van Dam

Lab Manager and Technician for the Patteson and Ross Lab.

Amelia Abruscato

Alexia Chatzitheodorou

Alexia is a fourth year Physics PhD student at Syracuse University, focusing on Theoretical Soft Matter Physics. Her research explores the geometry and elasticity of soft materials. Besides her research interests, Alexia is passionate about teaching and science communication. In her free time, she enjoys exercising, baking and connecting with friends.

Antara Paul

Antara is a PhD student specializing in experimental particle physics. She is currently focused on validating and analyzing the latest data from LHCb, one of the four main detectors at the Large Hadron Collider. She completed her undergraduate studies in India and her master’s degree in Canada. As an outreach enthusiast, Antara believes in making science more accessible to the public. If not working, she is found cooking, traveling or writing. 

Bridget Mack

Bridget Mack is a PhD Candidate at Syracuse University, studying ultrafast silicon detectors for 5d calorimetry at future particle colliders. She works in the LHCb group with Profs. Marina Artuso and Matt Rudolph. Bridget is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in STEM and is interested in science advocacy and policy. In addition to her work in detector physics, Bridget is a violinist in the Syracuse University Symphony Orchestra and is the Chair of Syracuse Graduate Employees United, a chapter of SEIU.

Gil Raitses

As an artist and researcher, Gil Raitses’ work over the last decade and a half is grounded in the dialogue between movement, light and sound in meaning-making through sensory integration and self-identification. Their practice spans sculptural and multisensory installations, fashion and culinary interventions. Their evolution into scientific research grew naturally from the demands of their creative inquiry to expand the understanding of sensory systems and perception to more advanced and complex levels. In the lab, they study signal processing in neural circuits, applying physics-informed machine learning and generative AI to investigate how behavior arises from crossmodal sensory fusion.

Jasmine Watt

Nimisha krishnan

Abigail Torres

My name is Abigail and i’m a junior physics major with math and cs minors. I’m interested in computational physics, and my current passion is word hunt on game pigeon. I also dabble in the arts and volleyball.

Alexis Reeves

Corinne Motl

Corinne Motl is a senior undergraduate physics major at Syracuse University. She is interested in quantum science and technology. At Syracuse University she pursues in Professor Soderberg’s lab. Corinne also enjoys art, cooking and  the gym.

Emerson Long

Eric Frank 

Jada Garofalo

Jada is a senior undergraduate physics major whose focus is in gravitational wave analysis and computational physics. They are passionate about utilizing physics as a means of storytelling aiming to share and teach physics in an equitable way. Jada also has a passion for music and enjoys long distance running on their free days off. 

Julia Fancher

Julia is a junior  at Syracuse University where she is  majoring in physics and applied math

Nico O'Neill

Sarah Vellejo