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Tom Baldwin
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I grew up on the high desert in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I went to school at Grinnell College in Iowa, and was an undergraduate researcher at NIST in Boulder, Colorado. Here in Oregon, I am working on a physics doctorate in Hailin Wang's group. I study the interaction of laser light with tiny semiconductor structures called quantum wells.
When I'm not in the lab, I like to get outside to go running, climbing, and backpacking. I like photography and playing with cameras too. In my free time at home, I conduct personal research on LOLcats, sandwiches, computers, tokyo drifting, and hip hop music.
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Jeff Engle
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Hi, my name is Jeff Engle and I am a fourth year chemistry graduate student working on a joint project between the Darren Johnson Lab and the Haley Lab. My research is focused on creating fluorescent sensors that can be used to image anions within cells.
Before entering graduate school I attended Seattle University where I received my BS in Biology and my BA in Humanities. During my free time I enjoy backpacking, baking bread, and relaxing with friends and family. My ultimate goal is to pursue a career in teaching where I can share my passion for chemistry and biology.
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Rick Glover
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Hi, I am Rick Glover and am a fifth year chemistry graduate student in the Hutchison laboratory. The work I do pertains to understanding how metal nanoparticles (really small clusters of atoms) transform in biological and environmental conditions. Ultimately this work can help understand how to make safer nanomaterials. Before coming to Eugene I received a BS in Environmental Science from Humboldt State University and a MS in Environmental Chemistry from the University of Nevada Reno. Growing up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the town of Auburn gave me a love of the outdoors with activities like skiing, fishing, and camping. I also enjoy digging around in my garden and finding new and interesting ways to cook the food I love to grow.
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Spring Knapp
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Hi, I'm Spring Knapp. I'm a first year GK-12 fellow. I grew up in the Mojave Desert in southern California, and went to Grinnell College in Iowa for my undergrad. I'm now a chemist and work in the Tyler lab. My research focuses on the development of an organometallic catalyst that can hydrate nitriles. The use of such a catalyst in industry would be used for a more environmentally friendly synthesis of acrylics. I hope to eventually teach chemistry at a small liberal arts college, and I'm looking forward to playing with science in schools.
When I'm not in the lab, I enjoy reading, knitting, hiking, camping, swimming, and riding my bicycle.
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Ashley Lamm
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I am a 4th year graduate student working in the Liu Lab at the University of Oregon. My research focus is air-free organoboron chemistry and learning about properties of the chemicals that I make. In one project we are trying to store hydrogen with our compounds. This could be used to fuel cars instead of gasoline. Other methods to store hydrogen (as a gas or liquid) require too much energy, but our compounds are just right.
I am from southern Idaho so I am really excited to get back to the desert. In my spare time I love to read, garden and spend time with my husband and Yorkshire terrier, Magnum.
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Paul Martin
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Hi, my name is Paul Martin, and I'm a graduate student in the physics department here at the University of Oregon. I work in Dan Steck's atom optics group where we use laser light to make atoms cold (very different from what lasers do in movies!), control their behavior, and hopefully learn something about quantum mechanics. We design and build much of our own equipment, which means I get to play with and learn about a lot of interesting technology. I'm from Albuquerque, NM, miss the high desert, and am really excited to be spending some time in eastern OR. I'm a bit shy, but I love how much fun life is. I enjoy hiking, exploring, eating, and being with family, friends, and my wife, Analisa. My biography isn't complete without mention of baseball. I love all things about it and will play a game of catch with anyone, anywhere, anytime.
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Anna Oliveri
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“Art and science are two sides of the same coin. Science is a discipline pursued with passion. Art is passion pursued with discipline.” – Dr. Arthur Sackler
I am a third year chemistry graduate student in the Darren Johnson Lab. I work on the Group 13 Nanocluster project, which is part of the Center for Green Materials Chemistry (CGMC). My research currently focuses on solution speciation and anion exchange.
Before I came to Oregon in 2009, I lived in rural Pennsylvania. I attended Juniata College where I got a BS in Chemistry with a secondary emphasis in Education. During college I worked for the outreach program Science in Motion (SIM) which brings science equipment and materials to high school students throughout central PA. During my free time in college I was a member of the women’s rugby team. I also like to read, paint, collect, sculpt with clay, and spend time with my friends and family. As of now, I am not sure where my future will lead, but I can see myself continuing in the research field and then eventually taking a position in or starting an outreach program.
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Megan Ray
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I was born on the Oregon coast and have lived in Eugene for the last 18 years. I received my undergraduate degree in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Oregon and I liked doing science so much that I decided to stay and get a PhD. This is my fourth year as a graduate student in Physics and my first year in the GK-12 program. I work in the van Enk lab where my area of research is in theoretical entanglement verification. I try to develop methods of verifying entanglement that make life easier for the experimentalists.
When I'm not working I enjoy being outside (hiking, camping, swimming, boating, etc.), baking, and sometimes doing crafty stuff.
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Brad Rose
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My name is Brad Rose and I am a third year chemistry graduate student in the M. M. Haley Lab and this is my first year as a GK-12. I grew up around Peoria, Illinois. My undergraduate education started at Illinois Central College and led to Illinois State University where I found that I really enjoyed research. I received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry with a minor in mathematics in 2009 and later that year I got married and moved to Oregon to start graduate school.
My research is concentrated on making new carbon rich organic molecules that may be used in electronic devices. But, before making them, I do computations on variations of molecules that might be interesting to determine which are worth making. Currently my focus is on indenofluorene like scaffolds.
When I have free time I enjoy hiking, drinking tea, computer gaming, thinking and reading about science, cooking, and biking.
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Mike Taormina
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My name is Mike Taormina and I am a graduate student in Physics at the University of Oregon. I was born and grew up in Ontario, Oregon, which is located south of Hell's Canyon on the border with Idaho. Since then I have lived in Montana and Colorado and love to be in the great outdoors.
Here at the UO I am a member of Raghuveer Parthasarathy's lab where we study the physics of biological systems such as cells, DNA, bacteria, and even whole fish. I am building a microscope that lets us take movies in 3D of developing fish embryos for an entire day. The microscope uses both lasers and mutant fish that glow green! We want to learn about how an organism goes from one single cell to tens of thousands of organized and specially developed cells and tissues.
When I'm not shooting laser beams at fish (in the name of science, of course), I enjoy many outdoor activities, including fly fishing, rock climbing, mountaineering, camping, skiing, and snowboarding.
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Dash Vitullo
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Shortly after birth, Dash was cursed with a fantastic superhero name and he has spent the rest of his life trying to live up to it. As a child being raised in Arcadia, CA, Dash liked to talk and he liked to learn things. Deep meaningful things like, "how does the universe work?", "how can we make life more awesome?", and "will this taste better if I add more chocolate?". In 2003, he went to Reed College in Portland, OR to study physics and learn to ask better questions. He currently studies Quantum Optics in the Raymer Lab. In his 5th year at the University of Oregon, he is figuring out how to put light with one color and shape into an optical fiber with strong lasers and make light with different color and shape come out the other end. This "magic trick", besides being a hit at parties, may eventually help us harness the quantum mechanical nature of photons for superior information processing. When not doing research, Dash likes to practice Aikido (being thrown around), Iaido (swinging samurai swords), dance Argentine tango (full-contact non-verbal two-body physics), and learn new things.
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Luke Ward |
Howdy, my name is Luke Ward. I am a 5th year biochemistry student in Vickie DeRose's lab at the University of Oregon. I spent the first 22 years of my life in the beautiful Oak tree filled woods of the Ozark Mountains in Missouri. After getting my BS in Biochemistry from the University of Missouri, I figured it was time for a change and so I headed out west. A fan of the classic computer game The Oregon Trail, it was only fitting that since the pioneers of that particular game set out from Independence, MO and ended up in the Willamette Valley, so too should I go to greener (or at least different) pastures.
In the DeRose lab, I study the mechanisms by which RNA enzymes (also called ribozymes) catalyze chemical reactions important for biology. Specifically, I am trying to figure out how magnesium ions help the Hammerhead Ribozyme break bonds.
Besides thinking about science, I like to climb rocks and mountains, grow food in my garden, ski, play soccer, and try to build bikes. Oh, I love music too. Especially bluegrass.
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