2023 FRIB-TA Participant Introductions!

Hello everyone! I’m Alexandra Semposki, a PhD candidate at Ohio University. I am a member of the BAND collaboration and my main focus within that framework has been UQ and Bayesian model mixing to improve our understanding of modelling in nuclear physics. I’ve worked with Gaussian Processes for a while now but have yet to use emulators in my research so I’m excited to learn more from the other organizers about how to do that! Some of my other physics interests include dense matter (neutron star EOS, etc.), many-body physics for ab initio nuclear structure, and quantum computing in general.

In daily life, I like hiking, camping in Michigan (where I’m originally from), reading novels and poetry, learning about other cultures (working on learning German!), and occasionally sketching.

Looking forward to meeting everyone!

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Hello Everyone!

I’m Edgard Bonilla, currently a postdoc at Stanford University with the LIGO group. By day I do instrument science work for LIGO and get my hands dirty. By night I work on reduced order modelling and other general theoretical/simulation questions with my FRIB buddies Pablo and Kyle.

Overall I’m into mathematical questions, modelling, discussing random ideas and putting them to practice. As a physicist I try my best to be well-rounded, so I have many many interests, including from phase transitions/nucleation processes, electromechanical transducers, gravitational waves, dimensionality reduction, applied graph theory and controls systems.

Outside of my day (and night) work, I like learning about other cultures, long conversations, history, geopolitcs and rock music. Also let’s toss in cooking, long walks/hikes, and videogames for good measure.

Looking forward to the workshop!

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Hi! I am Simone Perrotta. I am currently a postdoc at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, but I come from Sicily and did my PhD in joint supervision between the University of Catania (Italy) and University of Seville (Spain).

I have a background in nuclear reaction and structure theory at low energies, and I am currently working on the development of nucleon-nucleus optical-model potentials: lots of fits and a lot of interest in Byesian methods, UQ and emulators!

I am looking forward to trying the best food MSU has to offer (?) and doing something fun together!

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Actually, the weather app claims it’s going to be warmer in East Lansing than in Livermore. Personally, I still find it to be cold here in the morning (or pretty much anytime if there is wind…).

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Hi everyone! I’m Josh Wylie, a PhD student at MSU/FRIB. My research focuses mainly on open quantum systems and exotic nuclei, but I’m also interested in physics education and outreach.

I’m originally from a town called Puyallup, in Washington state. I’m a fan of hiking, especially when there are mountains, and I also like rock climbing when there’s time! Otherwise, I occasionally bake cakes and try my hand at other art things - with varying levels of success.

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Hello! My name is Landon Buskirk and I’m a second-year undergraduate Student Research Assistant at Michigan State and FRIB. I work with Kyle and Pablo, primarily developing the Bayesian Mass Explorer (BMEX) web offerings as well as working on a machine learning project aimed at learning normalizing flows for quicker posterior sampling.

I grew up and live locally in Michigan, having many roots here at Michigan State. I enjoy running frequently and I completed my first marathon last fall. My other hobbies include music production, board games, and video games.

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Hiiiii! Pranav here. I would like to follow the CENAM frontiers conference talks and introduce what I love: Astronomy and food! My research is all about mass models and abundances, so statistics and computing is at the heart of anything. Looking forward to learning and working with everyone!!

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Hello! My name is Andrew Yeomans-Stephenson and I am MSU student as well as participating in MSU’s Physics and Astronomy REU program. My research over the summer is in uncertainty quantification.

I have grown up in the area but have traveled to every state except Alaska! I like to stay active and listen or play to music. :slight_smile:

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Howdy everyone!

My name is Frederi (it sounds like Feathery). I’m a statistician at Michigan State and also at Rice University in Houston, TX. I’ve been working with folks from FRIB since 2017, back when the researchers there started getting serious about using Bayesian statistics to quantify the uncertainty in their nuclear models. This FRIB TA Workshop is the culmination of years of work and months of brainstorming, planning, and practice. Super excited to be part of it.

My training is (ahem, ancient history) in probability theory, which is great for folks who want to understand the underpinnings of Bayesian theory. Among other applications of Bayesian uncertainty quantification, beyond NP theory, I’ll work on any question where quantifying risk is key. That includes insurance mathematics, quantitative finance, climate change, agricultural economics, and more. I am currently quite engaged in agro-eology, the study of how to make our farming and food system sustainable from the perspective of biodiversity. Here’s one example: Grant Quantifies Farm Risk Mitigation Through Improved Soil Health - Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research ](Grant Quantifies Farm Risk Mitigation Through Improved Soil Health - Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research) ]. I practice what I preach, as the proud owner and operator (with my spouse) of an 80-acre sheep and hay farm in mid-Michigan, known as Chinook’s Acres [if you are looking for a solution to your Eid al Adha requirements, ask me on Monday!]

Other than farming, and working in a zillion diverse academic areas, my only other special skill is probably that I’m fluent in French. I don’t play any musical instruments, I can’t swim, I won’t run, I used to be a decent singer but I’m too old and out of practice now. My most unusual set of characteristics might be that I was born in Hollywood, California, and lived the first year of my life in the most isolated and sparsely populated place in California (Bear Valley, Alpine County), deep in the snows of the Sierra Nevada.

Musical recommendation: the Cocteau Twins, a Scottish indie rock band from the 1980s that is credited with inventing two otherworldly musical styles (dream pop and shoegaze). The lead singer, Liz Frasier, is said to have the “Voice of God”, which to me is a parable for what we will engage in this week: we can only hope to understand the physical world via models with some uncertainty, the truth remains unattainable. (e.g. Cocteau Twins - Cico Buff - YouTube
or Cocteau Twins - A Kissed Out Red Floatboat - Best Version - YouTube or Cocteau Twins-Lazy Calm - YouTube )

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Hello all !
I am Shwetha Vittal.
I am Graduate student at University of Notre Dame. I am interested in ab initio nuclear structure and beta decay.
Other than physics, I like hiking, bird watching and sketching.

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I love Cocteau twins! Not sure if you knew, but my primary band in undergrad was a shoegaze duo. We never made it bigger than dorm basements and coffee shops though :rofl:

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Hi All!
I’m an astrophysics graduate student from the physics department at Florida State University. I work with the star formation group on the product of simulated stellar nurseries, newborn stars.

I’m originally from (I make you guess if you’re up for it), lived in Orange, CA for 16 years, and then crossed the country to Tallahassee, FL where I (I’m Luz), currently call home.

Beyond physics I’m part of the SIGGRAPH community: https://s2023.siggraph.org/ with an obsession for short animated films, I carry a jump rope everywhere (many tricks to learn!), and I’m currently getting back into running race shape.

Looking forward to lots of learning, meeting you, and working/having fun together! :atom_symbol:

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Simone, i cant believe you’re from Catania. I’d never been to Sicily until.two weeks ago, when i flew into Catania to attended a wedding in Noto. What a wonderful part of the world!

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Kyle, i had no idea, and love that you love the Cocteau Twins. Shoegaze, eh! How about that. Cocteau Twins - Heaven Or Las Vegas (Official Video) - YouTube . Oh, and bring your guitar?

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Hello Everyone,

I am a physicist from Florida State University! I do research on particle physics, my main focus is on higher order corrections to standard model processes. I’m interested in finding possible ways to utilize RB in my research projects.

Besides physics I like math in general and I am always studying some new area I just discovered, I also like video games, and watching anime.

Looking forward to meeting you all!

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Hi Everyone,

I am Sudhanva Lalit. I am a postdoc at FRIB, Michigan State university. My main focus of research is reaction networks, nuclear equations of state for neutron stars, binary mergers and supernovae.

I like playing sports, mainly soccer, table tennis, volleyball. I also play video games, watch anime, and listen to music.

Looking forward to meeting you all!

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Hi everyone! I’m Jason Bub, a PhD candidate at Washington University in St. Louis. The focus of my work is UQ for nuclear models derived from effective field theory. So far, this has mainly taken the form of building a computational framework for Bayesian model calibration, with work on emulators on the horizon. The end goal of our program at WashU is to have a robust, model-mixed EFT interaction with responsible UQ for use in quantum Monte Carlo methods for nuclear structure and reactions.

Outside of research, I am an amateur artist, and I love climbing, playing piano, and have recently picked up classical guitar.

I look forward to meeting all of you/seeing some of you again!

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Hi all!

My name is Andrius Burnelis, and I am entering my third year of my PhD at Ohio University. Since I have only been doing research for a year, I have not officially joined a collaboration yet. So far, my focus has been analysis of low energy scattering data for the 3He-alpha reaction.

Outside of breaking my code, I enjoy playing Minecraft and other video games.

See you all soon!

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Hello Everyone,

I am Rahul Jain, a PhD student at Michigan State University and FRIB, looking to graduate soonish. I like to work on many different aspects of nuclear astrophysics including nuclear experiments, nucleosynthesis calculations, and statistical analysis of nuclear data.

Outside of work, I spend almost all of my time playing squash and training for tournaments. Last year I finished on the podium at the US National Squash Championships! I am very fond of cooking, mostly Indian food but keep experimenting with the fusion of different cuisines. I also love traveling and exploring new places.

Excited to meet you all next week!

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Hello, everyone,

I’m Josh Maldonado, a physics graduate student who is relatively new to my research with model order reduction and emulators in nuclear physics.
I like to spend my time baking, playing board games, or playing video games.

I’m excited to meet everyone!

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