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Alumni of the Physics Program

This page is under construction.  If you are a UC Merced physics alumnus/a and we missed you in the list below, please get in touch with Tom Martinez, tmartinez@ucmerced.edu. We would love to hear from you and your current whereabouts!

Undergraduate Physics Major Alumni

B.S. 2023

Maria Gamez
Thesis research: Gopinathan lab
Position immediately after graduation: PhD student in Quantum Science and Engineering, University of Delaware

Nathan Simons
Thesis research: Strubbe lab

B.S. 2022

Calista Lum
Thesis research: Ghosh lab
Position immediately after graduation: PhD student in physics, University of California, Irvine
Nolan Kelly
Thesis research: Strubbe lab
Position immediately after graduation: Postbaccalaureate researcher, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Elsa Vazquez
Thesis research: Strubbe lab
Position immediately after graduation: PhD student in physics, UC Merced
Jonathan Loera
Thesis research: Hratchian lab
Position immediately after graduation: PhD student in physics, University of California, Los Angeles
Zachary Mauri
Thesis research: Pribram-Jones lab
Position immediately after graduation: PhD student in materials science and engineering, Stanford University

Radoslav Iliev
Thesis research: Bin Liu

B.S. 2021

Tomas Virgen
Thesis research:  Loebman lab
Position immediately after graduation:  APS Bridge Masters student, CSU Long Beach

Ernesto Padilla
Thesis research: Beller lab
 

  
Christina Valletta
Thesis research:  Beller lab
Position immediately after graduation:  Ph.D. student at UC Davis (NSF Graduate Research Fellow)
 

Ethan Custodio
Thesis research:  Mitchell group
Position immediately after graduation: Ph.D. student in physics at UC Merced

  

Grace Newman
Thesis research:  Muñoz lab
Position immediately after graduation: Ph.D. student in bioengineering, UC Merced

  

Matias Lopez
Thesis research:  Kleckner lab
Position immediately after graduation: Ph.D. student at University of Connecticut, Physics

  

Sean Deocampo
Thesis research:  Xu lab

  

Robert Gomez
Thesis research:  Xu lab

  

Stefan Faaland
Thesis research: Kleckner lab
Position immediately after graduation: Programmer at LBNL

  

Ashley Argueta
Thesis research: Scheibner lab
Position immediately after graduation: PhD student, New York University

  

Trevor Gammill
Thesis research: Sharping lab

  

Peter Athey
Thesis research: Ghosh lab
Position immediately after graduation: Engineer, Gecko Materials (SF Bay Area)

  

 

B.S. 2020

Ibrahim Abu-Hijleh
Thesis research: Hirst and Beller Labs
Position immediately after graduation: Ph.D. student, Georgia Tech Physics

Luis Arteaga-Castaneda
Thesis research: Xu Lab

  

Florence Lucey
Thesis research: Sharping Lab

  

Katie Tyler
Thesis research: Ghosh Lab

  

Jorge Arteaga
Thesis research: Gopinathan Group
Position immediately after graduation: Ph.D. student, UC Merced Physics

  

Erick Cedillo
Thesis research: Mitchell Group

  

B.S. 2019


Steven Nguyen
Thesis research: Chien Group

  

Tony Nguyen
Thesis research: Chien Group

  

Ulyses Alvarado Olvera

  

Yogev Gluzman

  

Harrison Mausolff
Thesis research: Strubbe Group

  

Joshua Roe
Thesis research: Kleckner Lab

  

Angel Rubalcava

  

B.S. 2018


Ernesto Alvarado  

Noah Bessard
Thesis research: Kleckner Lab

  

Jonas Lo
Thesis research: Sharping Lab

  

Denzal Martin
Thesis research: Ghosh Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Ph.D. student, Stanford Physics
Maria Martinez 
Thesis research: Xu Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Intern at UC Berkeley

Joshua Maynard

  
Maeve O'Brien
Thesis research: Sharping Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Ph.D. student, UC Irvine MSE
Jacob Parker
Thesis research: Ghosh Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Ph.D. student, WSU Physics

Daniel Parra
Thesis research: Sharping Lab

  

Cristian Ramos
Thesis research: Sharping Lab

  

Diego Tapia Silva
Position immediately after graduation: Ph.D. student, UC Merced Physics

  

De Zhen Zhou
Thesis research: Kleckner Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Ph.D. student, UC Merced Physics

  

B.S. 2017


Bieito De La Fuente
Thesis research: Sharping Lab

  

William Delmas
Thesis research: Sharping Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Ph.D. student, UC Merced Physics

  

Steven Jones
Thesis research: Sharping Lab

  

Kyle Kabasares
Position immediately after graduation: PhD student in Astrophysics at UC Irvine Physics & Astronomy 

  

Laura Miller

  

Blaz Serna
Thesis research: Tian group
Position immediately after graduation: CSU Long Beach MS program

  

Najma Zahbihi

  

B.S. 2016


Jeremias Gonzalez
Thesis research: Sharping Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Ph.D. student, UC Merced Physics

  

Janelle Hobbs
Thesis research: Sharping Lab 

  

B.S. 2015


Dominic Pellegrino 
Thesis research: Sharping Lab

  

Winnie H. Liang
Thesis research: Xu Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Graduate student, University of Oregon

  

Alumni prior to 2015


Dr. Leily Kiani 
Ph.D. UC Merced Physics, 2015
Position immediately after graduation: LLNL National Ignition Facility and Photon Science Fiber Technologies Group
Matt Wilson
Thesis research: Ghosh Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Ph.D. student, UC Riverside Physics

John Harvey Paredes
Thesis research: Ghosh Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Master's program, Applied Physics, University of Oregon

  

Jacky Wan
Thesis research: Ghosh Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Ph.D. student, UC Riverside Physics

  

Corinne Gray
Thesis research: Ghosh Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Ph.D. student, U. Pittsburgh Mech Eng & Mat Sci

  

Patrick Talbot 
Thesis research: Ghosh Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Lecturer, CSU Fresno Physics

  
Michael Tennenbaum
B.S. 2011
Thesis research: Ghosh Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Ph.D. student, Georgia Tech Physics
 		  

Dr. Jessica Clayton 
B.S. 2011, Ph.D. UCSB Physics 2017
Thesis research: Ghosh Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Senior engineering technical writer, MathWorks

  

Dr. Richard Inman
B.S. 2010, Ph.D. UCSD 2019
Thesis research: Ghosh Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Director of Data Analytics at CleanSpark LLC

  

Nancy Duque

  

Michael Lee

  

Erick Watanabe

  

Bryce Kornreich

  

Jeremy Sanborn

  

Enemisio Cano

  

Michael Lum

  

Tina Kuang

  

Raymond Cheung

  

Robert Puccinelli
B.S. 2014
Position immediately after graduation: Bioengineer, Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub

  

Alan Blatt 
B.S. 2011
Position immediately after graduation: Software engineer, Apple

  

 

 

Ph.D. Program Alumni 


Dr. Fereshteh Memarian
Ph.D. 2023: Hirst Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Project scientist, Bosch Inc.

  

Dr. Dimitrius Khaladj 
Ph.D. 2022: Hirst Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Postdoctoral researcher, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

  

Dr. Niranjan Sarpangala
Ph.D. 2022: Gopinathan Group
Position immediately after graduation: Postdoctoral researcher, Katifori Lab, University of Pennsylvania, Physics

 

Dr. Ritwika VPS
Ph.D. 2022: Gopinathan Group
Position immediately after graduation: Postdoctoral researcher, Warlaumont Lab, UCLA

 

Dr. Imtiaz Ali
Ph.D. 2022: Gopinathan Group
Position immediately after graduation: Quant, Chicago Stock Exchange

 

Dr. Farnaz Golnaraghi
Ph.D. 2022: Gopinathan Group
Position immediately after graduation: Computational Physics Staff, University of Chicago

 

Dr. Jefferey Miller
Ph.D. 2022: Sharping lab
Position immediately after graduation: Senior Project Manager, Pacific Northwest Labs

 

Dr. Nabin Raut
Ph.D. 2022: Sharping lab
Position immediately after graduation: Postdoctoral Researcher, Jefferson Lab

  

Dr. William Delmas
Ph.D. 2022: Ghosh lab
Position immediately after graduation: Postdoctoral scholar, Sandia National Laboratory

  

Dr. Kuntal Talit
Ph.D. 2022:  Strubbe lab
Position immediately after graduation: Postdoctoral scholar, materials science, UC Merced

  

Dr. Enrique Guerrero
Ph.D. 2022:  Strubbe lab
Position immediately after graduation: Visiting professor, California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt

  

Dr. Mojdeh Banafsheh
Ph.D. 2022:  Strubbe lab

 

Dr. Deepak Sapkota
Ph.D. 2021:  Sharping lab
Position immediately after graduation: Postdoctoral Scholar, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

 

Dr. Md. Imran Khan
Ph.D. 2021:  Ghosh lab
Position immediately after graduation: Research Scientist, Intel. 

 

Dr. Amanda Tan
Ph.D. 2020:  Hirst group
Position immediately after graduation: Scientist, Codexis Inc.

 

Dr. Alessandro Monteros
Ph.D. 2020:  Tian group
Position immediately after graduation: Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics, Pepperdine University

  

Dr. Benaz Mendewala
Ph.D. 2020:  Ghosh lab
Position immediately after graduation: Adjunct Faculty, Mills College.

 

Dr. Mark Bartolo
Ph.D. 2020: Ghosh lab
Position immediately after graduation: Systems Engineer, AgTech.

 

Dr. Som Sarang 
Ph.D. 2020: Ghosh lab
Position immediately after graduation: Research scientist, Intel. 

 

Dr. Bryan Maelfeyt
Ph.D. 2019: Gopinathan lab
Position immediately after graduation: Lecturer, UC Merced

 

Dr.  Tom Kim
Ph.D. 2019:  Chien Group

 

Dr. Tayebeh Riahinasab
Ph.D. 2019: Hirst Lab

Qiaochu Li

Dr. Joe Lopes
Ph.D. 2019, Hirst Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Postdoc at Brandeis University

 

Dr. Katherine Copenhagen
Ph.D. 2019: Gopinathan Group
Position immediately after graduation:  Postdoctoral researcher, Shaevitz Lab, Princeton Physics

 

Dr. Katerina Nikolaidou
Ph.D. 2019: Ghosh lab
Position immediately after graduation: Researcher, INESC Microsistemas e Nanotecnologias,
Lisbon, Portugal

 

Dr. Mekena Metcalf
Ph.D. 2018, Chien Group
Position immediately after graduation: Postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory

 

Dr. Qiaochu Li
Ph.D. 2018, Xu Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Software Engineer at Apple's Special Projects Group

 

Dr. Nathan Melton
Ph.D. 2018, Hirst Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Postdoc at the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

 

Dr. Makiko Quint
Ph.D. 2017, Ghosh Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Systems Engineer at KLA-Tencor

Dr. David Ando
Ph.D. 2016: Gopinathan lab
Position immediately after graduation: Postdoctoral researcher, LBNL

 

Dr. Dan Hu
Ph.D. 2015: Tian lab
Position immediately after graduation:  Engineer at Google

 

Dr. Chai Lor
Ph.D. 2015, Hirst Lab
Position immediately after graduation: R&D Chemist Intern at DigiLens Inc.

 

Dr. Xiu-Hao Deng
Ph.D. 2015, Chiao lab
Position immediately after graduation: Associated researcher at SUSTech, China

 

Dr. Leily Kiani 
Ph.D. 2015, Sharping Lab
Position immediately after graduation: LLNL National Ignition Facility and Photon Science Fiber Technologies Group

Dr. Ron Pandolfi
Ph.D. 2014, Hirst Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Computer Systems Engineer at CAMERA, Berkeley Lab

 

Dr. Andrea Rodarte
Ph.D. 2014, Ghosh and Hirst Labs
Position immediately after graduation: Staff Scientist at Sandia National Laboratory

 

Dr. Tessa Pinon
Ph.D. 2013
Position immediately after graduation: Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)

 

Dr. Lam Nguyen
Ph.D. 2012, Hirst Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Postdoc in the Jensen lab at Caltech

Dr. Luis Martinez
Ph.D. 2014, Sharping Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Postdoctoral staff scientist, LLNL Quantum Device Physics Group

 

Dr. Jennifer Kirchhoff
Ph.D. 2011, Hirst Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Academic Editor at Research Square Company

 

Dr. Chenji Gu
Ph.D., Sharping Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Senior Engineer, Lumentum

 

Dr. Alison Huff
Ph.D., Sharping Lab
Position immediately after graduation: Professor of Physics & Physical Sciences, Merced College

 

Dr. Alessandro Castelli 
Ph.D., Sharping Lab
Position immediately after graduation: LLNL

 

Dr. Jonathan Thompson
Ph.D., Sharping Lab
Position immediately after graduation: ATT Government Solutions Santa Barbara

 

Dr. Jacob Pate
Ph.D., Sharping Lab

 

Dr. Katherine Copenhagen
Ph.D., Gopinathan Group
Position immediately after graduation: Postdoctoral researcher, Shaevitz Lab, Princeton Physics

 

Dr. David Ando
Ph.D., Gopinathan Group
Position immediately after graduation: LBNL

 

Dr. Igor Goncharenko
Ph.D. 2010, Gopinathan Group
Position immediately after graduation: Team Lead - Data Science at Sberbank