People

Mentors

Harold Metcalf

Distinguished Professor and creator of the LTC

Prof. Harold Metcalf founded the Laser Teaching Center in 1998. He has done pioneering research in laser cooling and trapping, and led the department's AMO (atomic, molecular, and optical) physics group for many years.

Gillian Winters

Current Director of LTC

Dr. Gillian Winters joined the Laser Teaching Center in 2025 from a career focused on teaching physics and overseeing labs. She is currently the LTC Director and a Physics Lecturer.

Marty Cohen

Visiting Scientist, Physics & Astronomy

Dr. Marty Cohen is a retired optical physicist with many years of experience at Bell Laboratories, Quantronix (a laser company), and elsewhere. He has been an active member of both the LTC and various optics research groups in the department since 2005.

Alessandro Tripoli

Student mentor since 2024

Alessandro Tripoli is a graduate student in Prof Harold Metcalf's lab. He has mentored students in the LTC since 2024.

Kevin O'Shea

Student mentor in summer 2025

Kevin O'Shea is a graduate student in Prof Dominik Schneble's lab. He mentored students in the LTC in the summer of 2025.

Former Mentors

We are indebted to the many former mentors of the LTC.

Eric Jones

Former Director of LTC

Dr. Eric Jones finished his Ph.D. at Univ. Nebraska in 2019 and joined us as Executive Director soon after. His expertise is in electron and optical physics, especially lasers.

Jon Noé

Former Director of LTC

Dr. John Noé has directed the Laser Teaching Center since its inception. He joined the Department of Physics & Astronomy in 1974 as a postdoctoral associate in the Nuclear Structure Laboratory and was associated with the NSL for over 20 years. Unfortunately, he passed away in November 2017.

Sam Goldwasser

"Laser Guru"

Dr. Sam Goldwasser is best known for Sam's Laser FAQ, a comprehensive and practical resource for laser information. He is a regular summer visitor and also mentors our students by email.

Dave Battin

Laser Hobbyist and Holographer

David Battin is an experienced local laser hobbyist and holographer, whose holograms have been displayed at the Northport Library and elsewhere. LTC mentor 2011-2018.

Melia Bonomo

Dickinson University

Melia mentor for the Summers of 2013 and 2014.

Sean Bentley

Adelphi University

Sean Bentley currently Associate Professor of physics at Adelphi University. Mentored the LTC in the summer of 2016.

Samet Demircan

Stony Brook University

Samet was mentor to undergraduates in the LTC in the summers of 2017 and 2018.

Current Students

2025

Austin Beltrami

Austin is a Junior in 2025-2026. A Physics major, Austin is exploring nonlinear optics.

Bryan Liao

Bryan is a Junior in 2025-2026. An AMS-Physics double major, Bryan is exploring polarization of light, and enjoying the relationship between math and physics in Jones Matrices.

Patrick Kelly

Patrick Kelly is a Sophomore in 2025-2026. A Physics major, Patrick is looking into interferometers.

Student Alumni

2024

Gisele Habibulla

Gisele joined as a Simons Fellow during Summer 2024. Gisele worked on Reviving a Spatial Light Modulator for Digital Holography (abstract).

Carlos Horcasitas

Carlos joined as a Simons Fellow during Summer 2024. Carlos worked on White Light Interferometry.

Sheina Peralta

Sheina joined as part of the Frances Valey program during Summer 2024. Sheina worked on Holography.

Mariya Shalashova

Mariya joined as a Freshman at Stony Brook during Spring 2024. Mariya worked on Diode Laser Spectroscopy of Acetylene.

Rafael Horesh-Vanunu*

2023

Michael Wahl*

Gabriel Andres*

Ana Compton*

Alexander Diaz*

Trevor Donovan*

Julia Hudson*

Naryman Lounici

Naryman

Donna Mahalli*

Kevin O'Shea*

Ben Paldy*

Connor Walsh*

Angelika Wang

Angelika
Development of Speckle Optical Tweezers

2022

Maria Ahmad*

Matthew Belzer

Matthew Bio
Hanbury Brown Twiss
Index of Air (report)

Cameron Brady

Cameron Bio
Coupling Efficiency of Laguerre-Gaussian Modes in a Hollow Fiber

Ana Compton*

Kenny Cortes

John Galletta*

John Biography
Gaussian Beams

Abdulsalam Ighile*

Abdulsalam Bio
Gaussian Beam Report

DaiJon James*

Naryman Lounici

Naryman Bio

Otto Nicholson

Otto Bio

Bell's Inequality (talk)
Amplitude Modulation of Light

Alex Signell*

Michael Wahl

Christian Zaprianov

Christian Bio
Laser Beam Profiling

Andrei Zhukov*

2021

Matthew Belzer

Matthew Bio
Hanbury Brown Twiss
Index of Air (report)

Sasha Blank*

Michael Dapolito

Michael Bio
Laser Stability
Fabry-Perot
Bell Inequalities
Duality in Quantum Mechanics

Max Frankel

Max Bio
Rings in Laser Beam Profile
Beam Shaping

John Galletta*

Sam Gravel*

Holography Report

Ava Ianuale*

Abdulsalam Ighile*

Himani Mehta

Paul Murdoch

Otto Nicholson

Yuanchi Qing

Michael Wahl

Claire Yang

Tony Yu

2020

Matthew Belzer

Abhishek Cherath

Michael Dapolito

Max Frankel

John Galletta

Chin Yin Lee

Paul Murdoch

Justin Willson

Tony Yu

Claire Yang

2019

Michael Dapolito

Richard Joyce

Chiu Yin Lee

Ian Schwartz

David Siegel

2018

Michael Dapolito

Willa Dworshack

Chiu Yin Lee

David Siegel

Max Stanley

Eric Wu

Perri Zilberman

2017

Sakib Hoque

Sravan Munagavalasa

Grant Richmond

David Siegel

Max Stanley

2016

Alex Gifford

Xiang Hua

Jessica Kurlander

Marcus Lo

Angela Pizzuto

Jay Rutledge

Max Stanley

2015

Jasmine Garani

Zheni Gushow

Rachel Losacco

Jay Rutledge

Max Stanley

Brandon Yalin

2014

Johnathan Gill

Alex Kelser

Natalie Mezzadonna

Andrea O'Brisky

Kegan Orlowski

Rachel Sampson

Samantha Scibelli

Ikaasa Suri

Elizabeth Sutton

2013

Kathy Camendzind

James Dragan

Stefan Evans

Andrea O'Brisky

Kegan Orlowski

Rachel Sampson

Samantha Scibelli

Ikaasa Suri

2012

2011

Yoonji Choe

Benjamin Hart

Bolun Liu

David Meltzer

Gabriele Savaneviciute

Carrie Segal

Lauren Taylor

2010

Jacob Chamoun

Ben Coe

Vincent Gregoric

Ewuin Guatemala

Heather Hill

Hannarae Annie Nam

Pradyoth Kukkapalli

Katya Sergan

2009

Mara Anderson

Steve Butera

Dennis Chen

Woody Chuang

Ewuin Guatemala

Shannon Hicks

Farha Islam

Carolina Jakob

Himadri Kakran

Josh Lieber

Ethan Solomon

Justin Tian

Max Tolkoff

Thomas Vidabaek

2008

John Elgin

Bryce Gadway

Yiwei Li

Hamsa Sridhar

Victor Zhao

Will Weiss

2007

Simone Agha

Daniel D'Orazio

Mallory Fischer

Ian Goyette

Giovanni Milione

Danny Minkin

Thien An Nguyen

Hamsa Sridhar

2006

Karen Cydylo

Maaneli Derakhshani

Stephanie Golmon

Azure Hansen

Scott Huang

Michael Kornhauser

Moon Limb

2005

Greg Caravelli

Maaneli Derakhshani

Ulrike Endesfelder

Lindsey Garay

Azure Hansen

Lei Huang

Amol Jain

Jay Rutledge

Nilus Klingel

Moon Limb

Rebekah Schiller

Michal Sokolowski

Matthew Whitrock

Yan Zhang

2004

Rajesh Atluri

Danielle Bourguet

Yiyi Deng

Melissa Friedman

Azure Hansen

Rita Kalra

Yaagnik Kosuri

Jose Mawyin

Lidiya Mishchenko

Sarah Nichols

Hendrik Steigerwald

Jan Steinbrener

Eric Tompskins

Matthew Whitrock

Jonathan Wu

2003

Doug Broege

Thomas Cummings

Yiyi Deng

Maanit Desai

Sage Farrar

Patrick Franco

Eric Kuflik

Jose Mawyin

Dominik Maxein

Oleg Polyakov

Liz Roberts

Christian Schmidt

Allison Schmitz

James Scholtz

Sandy Xu

2002

Peter Amendola

Bob Azmoun

Doug Broege

Sarah Campbell

Jill Chen

Xin Chen

Yiyi Deng

Matthew Eardley

Alex Ellis

Hilary Fleischer

Greg Hovagim

Nicole Kon

Kenneth Lee

Dan Li

Evan Marshak

Jose Mawyin

Matthias Meschede

Susan Metz

Huijie Miao

Patrick Nuernberger

Jennifer Nierer

Liz Roberts

Tanya Sansosti

Owen Smith

Waldo Szczupak

Brendan Wyker

2001

Peter Amendola

Bob Azmoun

Doug Bennett

Lisa Bjorndal

Molly Bright

Doug Broege

Noah Corwin

Jon Fuchs

Haijiang Gong

Rohit Gupta

SeungHyun Lee

Mirna Lerotic

Enju Lima

Xueqing Liu

Ming Lu

Jose Mawyin

Susan Metz

Xiyue Miao

Wen Quan

Amy Roberts

Guy Sisalli

Paul Tchertchian

Jing Wang

Fernando Ziegler

2000

Bob Azmoun

Dhruv Bansal

Salvatore Barra

David Eppenstein

Karl Fey

Christiana Hung

Victor Kim

Andrew Koller

Petr Liska

Anne Marie March

Michael Polyakov

Rachel Ruch

Alia Sabur

Tina Shih

Chris Wottowa

1999

Daryl Axelrod

Salvatore Barra

Abby Flower

Michael Hofmann

Stephanie Lim

Tina Shih

Mike Twardos

Kally Tzezailidis

John Yoon

1998

JooWon Baik

Eddie Blumenstetter

Marvin Hidalgo

Sandra Nudelman

Alexandra Rockefeller

Tina Shih

Roland Stas

1997

Jennifer Chand

Dennis Simon

Jamie Tong

1996

James Caccese

Long Cai

Mary Carlucci-Dayton

Raymond P. Fliller III

Kevin Gee

Daniel Gizambalvo

Fiona Persuaid

Jamie Tong

Theresa Wang

1995

Erin Davies

Barbara Fayard

Raymond P. Fliller III

Neena Inam

Akhil Khashu

Jen Stenger

1994

Luke Chuang

Christoph Gebhardt

Roland Hengerer

Mihai Negoescu

1993

Matthijs Knitel

Erik Metzger

Aurelio Teleman

Steven Van Metre

1992

Arthur Davis

Cheryl Taborsky

Merrick Tien

1991

Steven Sandberg

1990

Eugene Chiang

Dan Downs

Jonathan Metcalf

Virginia Youngblood

1989

Tony Aebi

Todd Goldman

1988

Dan Downs

1982

S. Keh

William Rabinovich

1980

John Devitt

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