About Us

Q-SPA's Mission

Q-SPA exists to provide a social organization for queer graduate students in the School of Physics and Astronomy. We strive to:

Offer social events and activities for the membership in our department in order to build stronger ties within the graduate student community
Provide support to queer students in the department and increase awareness of resources at the University of Minnesota and in the community
Increase the visibility of queer scientists within the fields of physics and astronomy and develop connections to faculty and postdocs minoritized by their queer identity on both a professional and personal level
Advocate for change within the department with the goal of improving the climate and maintaining graduate level enrollment, retention, and graduation rates

Our 2025-26 Officers

Q-SPA Coordinator

Nick Kruegler (he/him)

I am a fourth year graduate student researching Jupiter's aurora and magnetosphere with Ali Sulaiman. I previously did my undergrad in Physics and German at the University of Georgia. During my time at UMN, I have served as a GradPhi Officer, GradPhi liaison to the Climate and Diversity Committee, and a Grad Education Committee Rep. I also led the creation of Q-SPA with fellow students, because I wanted to build community between queer grad students and improve the climate in the department. In my free time, I like to read, watch video essays, cross stitch, bike around the cities, and relax with my partner Nik and two cats, Pumpkin and Americano.

Q-SPA Officers

Oasis Aguayo

Chi Cap

Jack Crump (he/him)

I am a fourth year grad student in space physics working with Ali Sulaiman on MHD simulations of Uranus’ magnetosphere. I did my undergrad at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, but I grew up in Texas and Illinois. In my free time I like to read science fiction, bake basically anything, and walk around the cities (it’s never too cold to go for a walk).

Noah Jabusch

Abhinaya Sinha

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