EDUCATION
Michigan State University
MAY 2018 - July 2023
Location: East Lansing, MI
Degree: Ph.D. in Theoretical Nuclear Physics
GPA: 3.442
Thesis Title: Coupled-Cluster Theory and Machine Learning Applied to Infinite Matter
Erskine College
AUGUST 2014 - MAY 2018
Location: Due West, SC
Degrees: Bachelor of Science in Physics and Chemistry, Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics
Honors: Summa cum laude, Honors in Mathematics and Chemistry
GPA: 3.988
Major GPA: 4.000
TEACHING AND MENTORING EXPERIENCE
Assistant Professor of Physics
AUGUST 2023-PRESENT
Institution: University of Mount Union
Supervisor: Robert Ekey
Responsible for teaching classes and supervising labs for the physics major and minor as well as the data science major and minor. Classes taught include General Physics II, Machine Learning and Neural Networks, Quantum Mechanics, and Data Acquisition, as well as General Physics I and General Physics II laboratory courses.
Visiting Researcher-Center for Computing in Science Education
SEPTEMBER 2022-DECEMBER 2022
Institution: University of Oslo
Supervisor: Morten Hjorth-Jensen
Collaborated with physics education researchers at the Center for Computing in Science Education (CCSE) at the University of Oslo in Oslo, Norway.
Classical Mechanics Graduate Teaching Assistant
JANUARY 2021-MAY 2021 || JANUARY 2022-May 2022
Institution: Michigan State University
Supervisor: Morten Hjorth-Jensen
Assisted with all aspects of teaching classical mechanics. This included acting as a facilitator and instructor during class and holding office hours, in addition to writing and grading homework and exams. Additionally, in the Spring of 2022, aiding in curriculum development to transition the class to a half-flipped and hybrid classroom format.
Undergraduate Research Mentor
MAY 2021-DECEMBER 2021 || MAY 2022 - PRESENT
Institution: Michigan State University
Supervisor: Morten Hjorth-Jensen
Mentor and supervise undergraduates as they perform research projects in nuclear many-body theory. I have currently mentored seven undergraduates from Michigan State University and two students from the National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Undergraduates program.
INSIGHT Program Instructor
JUNE 2021
Institution: Facility for Rare Isotope Beams
Supervisors: Morten Hjorth-Jensen and Paul Gueye
Designed and taught a one-week intensive class on scientific Python for the Institute for Nuclear Science to Inspire the Next Generation of a Highly Trained Workforce (INSIGHT) program at FRIB, a program for minorities and underrepresented students majoring in physics at historically minority colleges across the nation.
Introductory Mechanics Graduate Teaching Assistant
JANUARY 2021-MAY 2021
Institution: Michigan State University
Supervisor: Dan Hayden
Held nine office hours per week to assist students with their assignments and understanding of the subject.
P-Cubed and EMP-Cubed Graduate Teaching Assistant
AUGUST 2018- DECEMBER 2020
Institution: Michigan State University
Supervisors: Richard Hallstein, Johannes Pollanen, and Daryll McPadden
Assisted with all aspects of teaching P-Cubed and EMP-Cubed, flipped format classrooms for introductory mechanics and electricity and magnetism, respectively. This included acting as a facilitator during class and holding office hours, in addition to writing and grading exams.
Chemistry and Physics Lab Assistant
August 2015-MAY 2018
Institution: Erskine College
Supervisors: Howard Thomas (retired) and Joel Boyd
Assisted with the preparation, clean-up, and instruction of chemistry and physics labs, ranging from introductory to advanced level in addition to performing general laboratory maintenance.
Supplemental Instruction Leader
AUGUST 2015-MAY 2015
Institution: Erskine College
Supervisor: Jeanne Bell
Aided students by holding twice-weekly sessions to review the material covered in class and to assist with homework problems. Was assigned to General Chemistry I and II, General Physics I and II, Introduction to Statistics, and Calculus I.
PUBLICATIONS
Data Science Education in Undergraduate Physics: Lessons Learned from a Community of Practice. arXiv Pre-print. 2024.
Robust ab initio predictions for nuclear rotational structure in the Be isotopes. Proceedings of the International Conference Nuclear Theory in the Supercomputing Era 2018
SERVICE
American Physics Society Topical Group on Data Science (GDS)
FEBRUARY 2022 - PRESENT
DSCECOP Fellow: February 2022 - December 2023
Social Media Manager: October 2022 - Present
Secretary: March 2024 - March 2027
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Improving the Accuracy of Infinite Matter Calculations with Machine Learning, Relatistic Potentials, and Three-Body Forces
FEBRUARY 2023-JUNE 2023
Topics: Theoretical Nuclear Physics, Machine Learning, High-Performance Computing
Institution: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN
Advisor: Dr. Gustav Jansen
Worked to improve the accuracy of coupled cluster calculations of infinite matter by including realistic nuclear interactions, three-body forces to allow for coupled cluster triples calculations, and using machine learning to accelerate the convergence of calculations with respect to the number of single-particle states and the number of particles. This work was performed as part of the DOE SCGSR fellowship (awarded September 2022).
Applications of Machine Learning to Studies of Infinite Nuclear Matter
MAY 2018-JULY 2023
Topics: Theoretical Nuclear Physics and Machine Learning
Institution: Michigan State University, MI
Advisor: Dr. Morten Hjorth-Jensen
Developed machine learning software and write many-body physics codes which will improve the ability to study infinite nuclear matter from a theoretical perspective. Many-body methods of interest are many-body perturbation theory, coupled-cluster theory, and the in-medium similarity renormalization group.
Solving Many-Body Methods with Deep Learning and Cloud Computing
OCTOBER 2019-MAY 2020
Topics: Theoretical Nuclear Physics, Machine Learning, and Cloud Computing
Institution: Michigan State University, MI
Advisors: Dr. Morten Hjorth-Jensen and Dr. Brian O’Shea
Performed as part of the Michigan State University Cloud Computing Fellowship. Used virtual machines on Microsoft’s Azure cloud computer to drastically decrease the run time needed to perform hyperparameter tuning on machine learning algorithms with many-body applications.
Rotational Analysis of Beryllium Isotopes with JISP16 and Daejeon16 Interactions
MAY 2017 - JULY 2017
Topics: Theoretical Nuclear Physics, Computational Physics
Institution: University of Notre Dame, IN
Advisor: Dr. Mark Carpio
Performed as part of the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. Wrote scripts and performed data analysis on the output of nuclear many-body codes to compare the performance of two different interactions when studying the nucleus of several isotopes of beryllium.
Determination of the Aluminum Background Signal in the Qweak Experiment
MAY 2016 - AUGUST 2016
Topics: Experimental Nuclear Physics, Precision Measurement
Institution: William and Mary, VA
Advisor: Dr. David Armstrong
Performed as part of the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. Wrote scripts and performed data analysis in an attempt to remove a source of experimental error from the data generated by the Qweak experiment which ran at Jefferson National Laboratory.
Parallelization of the Method of Feasible Directions
MARCH 2017 - MAY 2018
Topics: Optimization, High-Performance Computing
Institution: Erskine College, SC
Advisor: Dr. Artur Gorka
Parallelized an implementation of the method of feasible directions, an optimization code. Compared the performance of the serial and parallel versions of the code on a small cluster of computers.
Water Purification Abilities of Titania Photocatalyst
JANUARY 2016 - MAY 2018
Topics: Environmental Chemistry, Instrumental Chemistry
Institution: Erskine College, SC
Advisor: Dr. Joel Boyd
Analyzed the ability of titania nanoparticles to degrade common agricultural antibiotics when exposed to direct sunlight. The titania nanoparticles were adhered to UV-transparent acrylic and the degradation of the antibiotics was analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography.
VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE
Social Media Coordinator for the American Physic Society's Topical Group for Data Science (APS GDS)
AUGUST 2022 - PRESENT
Instructor for the Due West Robotics Club
NOVEMBER 2016-MAY 2017
Taught middle school and high school-aged members of the Due West Robotics Club electronics and programming through the use of Arduino microcontrollers.
AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS, AND FELLOWSHIPS
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research Fellowship (SCGSR)
Awarded September 2022 by the U.S. Department of Energy
A highly competitive and prestigious award that provides recipients with funding to complete part of their thesis research at a DOE national laboratory under the supervision of a DOE scientist. My award allowed by to complete part of my thesis research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Gustav Jansen.
Colleges' Online Learning Academy (COLA) Fellowship
Awarded April 2022 by Michigan State University
Recipients are provided with funding for the development of online learning resources which will be incorporated into classes at Michigan State University. I created a literature review of digital textbooks and explored creating digital textbooks with a software called Jupyter Books.
Data Science Community of Practice (DSECOP) Fellowship
Awarded February 2022 and January 2023 by the American Physics Society's Topical Group on Data Science
Recipients are provided with funding for the development of modules that introduce data science and machine learning into standard physics classrooms. I created two modules that can be used to incorporate machine learning into undergraduate physics classes: Solving Differential Equations with Neural Networks, which introduces students in a classical mechanics course to neural networks, and The Machine Learning Workflow, which introduces students in introductory mechanics laboratory classes to the machine learning workflow through linear regression. Both of these modules are avaliable at: https://github.com/GDS-Education-Community-of-Practice/DSECOP.
Outstanding Graduate Student: Graduate TA Award, Advanced Course
Awarded April 2021 by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University
Awarded to teaching assistants in advanced physics classes. Recipients are chosen by the professors of the classes.
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention
Awarded April 2020 by the National Science Foundation
Cloud Computing Fellowship
Awarded October 2019 by the Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research at Michigan State University
Awarded to fifteen Michigan State University graduate students with funding to pursue an investigation into the use of cloud computing in thesis research projects. HERE
Outstanding Graduate Student: Graduate TA Award, Introductory Course
Awarded May 2019 by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University
Awarded to teaching assistants in introductory physics classes. Recipients are chosen by the professors of the classes.
Dr. Everett Askins Sloan Outstanding Senior Award
Awarded May 2018 by the Department of Chemistry and Physics at Erskine College
Awarded to the most outstanding senior in the physical sciences.
Faculty Endowed Scholarship
Awarded April 2017 by Erskine College
Awarded to the most promising student from the junior class.
WORKSHOPS
Association for American Physics Teachers First Year Teaching Institute (FTI)
NOVEMBER 2023
Location: Denver, CO
Organizer: Dr. Robert Hillborn
The purpose of this institute is to provide new physics faculty members with the skills and knowledge needed to build authentic styles of teaching. Topics covered include active learning and teaching, and reflective teaching, among other topics.
Data Science Education Community of Practices (DSECOP) June Workshop
JUNE 2022
Location: University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland
Organizer: Dr. William Ratcliff
Sponsored by the University of Maryland and the American Physics Society DSECOP division. The topic of the workshop was “Data Science Education in Physics Curriculum”. Involved lectures on integrating data science and machine learning into physics classes of all levels.
Oslo Physics Education Research Summer Institute
JUNE 2022
Location: University of Oslo in Oslo, Norway
Organizer: Dr. Tor Ole Bigton
Sponsored by the University of Oslo’s Center for Computing in Science Education. Involved talks and workshops related to many current topics in physics education research including integrating computation in physics classes and upper-level physics instruction
Certification in College Teaching Institute
MAY 2021
Online
Organizer: Dr. Stefanie Baier
Sponsored by Michigan State University Graduate School. Involved a lecture component, group discussions, and written assignments. Covered topics such as curriculum development, teaching philosophies, and teaching portfolios.
ECT* TALENT School: Machine Learning Applied to Nuclear Physics: Experiment and Theory
JUNE 2020
Online
Organizer: Dr. Morten Hjorth-Jensen
Sponsored by the European Center for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics and Related Areas. Involved a lecture component and hands-on programming sessions. Covered many topics in machine learning that can be applied in the physical sciences.
FRIB Theory Alliance Summer School on Machine Learning Applied to Nuclear Physics
MAY 2019
Location: Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University
Organizer: Dr. Morten Hjorth-Jensen
Sponsored by the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams. Involved a lecture component and hands-on programming sessions. Covered many topics in machine learning that can be applied in the physical sciences.
SKILLS
Education
Flipped-Classroom Approach to Teaching
Computational Integration into Physics Classes
Data Science and Machine Learning Integration into Physics Classes
Working in Teaching Teams
Virtual Teaching via Zoom
Hybrid Classrooms via Zoom
Physics
Nuclear Physics
Many-Body Theory
Computational Physics
Programming
Machine Learning
Regression Algorithms
Deep and Recurrent Neural Networks
Python3
NumPy
SciPy
Tensorflow, Keras, Scikit-Learn
Matplotlib
MPI4Py
Julia
Jupyter Notebooks and Jupyter Books
C++
Java
Markdown
LaTeX
Bash Shell and Programming
SLURM
High-Performance Computing
OpenMP
OpenMPI
CUDA Parallelization
Microsoft Azure
Virtual Machines
Docker
GitHub and GitPages
Linux, Mac
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
Using Bayesian Machine Learning to Extend the Range of Ab-Initio Many-Body Calculations for Infinite Matter Systems
MARCH 2024, Abstract Submitted
Conference: American Physics Society March Meeting
Format: Oral Presentation
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Extending the Range of Nuclear Many-Body Calculations with Bayesian Machine Learning
NOVEMBER 2023
Conference: Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics Seminar Series
Format: Oral Presentation
Location: Ohio University, Athens, OH
Nuclear Physics as an Interdisciplinary Field
NOVEMBER 2023
Conference: Engaging Science, Innovation, and Technology Lecture Series
Format: Oral Presentation
Location: University of Mount Union, Alliance, OH
Introduction to Data Science Libraries
JUNE 2023
Conference: Data Science Education Community of Practices June Meeting
Format: Oral Presentation
Location: College Park, MD
Application of Machine Learning to Studies of Infinite Nuclear Matter
OCTOBER 2022
Conference: American Physics Society Division of Nuclear Physics Annual Meeting
Format: Oral Presentation
Location: New Orleans, LA
Machine Learning in the Undergraduate Physics Curriculum
OCTOBER 2022
Conference: Center for Computing in Science Education Seminar
Format: Oral Presentation
Location: University of Oslo, Olso, Norway
Application of Machine Learning to Studies of Infinite Nuclear Matter
September 2022
Conference: Recent Progress in Many-Body Theory XXI
Format: Oral Presentation
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
Using Neural Networks to Solve Differential Equations in Classical Mechanics
JUNE 2022
Conference: Data Science Education Community of Practices June Meeting
Format: Oral Presentation
Location: College Park, MD
Better Support for Students in Classical Mechanics Through a Flipped Classroom and Hybrid Approach
JUNE 2022
Conference: Oslo Physics Education Research Summer Institute
Format: Poster Presentation
Location: Oslo, Norway
Application of Kernel Ridge Regression to Predict Energies of Many-Body Systems
MAY 2022
Conference: Nuclei and Mesoscopic Physics Conference
Format: Oral Presentation
Location: East Lansing, MI
Better Support for Students in Classical Mechanics Through a Flipped Classroom Approach
MARCH 2022
Conference: PhysTEC Conference
Format: Poster Presentation
Location: Virtual
Application of Machine Learning to Studies of Infinite Nuclear Matter
OCTOBER 2021
Conference: American Physics Society Division of Nuclear Physics Annual Meeting
Format: Oral Presentation
Location: Virtual
Coupled Cluster Theory Applied to Infinite Matter: A Review and Initial Results
APRIL 2021
Conference: Research Discussion at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams
Format: Oral Presentation
Location: Virtual
An Introduction to Cloud Computing for Physicists
APRIL 2021
Conference: Physics Graduate Organization Seminar at Michigan State University
Format: Oral Presentation
Location: Virtual
Deep Learning and the Many-Body Problem
NOVEMBER 2019
Conference: Research Discussion at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams
Format: Oral Presentation
Location: East Lansing, MI
Parallelization of the Method of Feasible Directions
MARCH 2018
Conference: Mathematical Association of America, Southeastern Section 97th Annual Meeting
Format: Poster Presentation
Location: Clemson, SC
Iron-Modified TiO2 for the photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline and tylosin
MARCH 2018
Conference: 255th American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition
Format: Oral Presentation
Location: New Orleans, LA
Rotational Analysis of Beryllium Isotopes Using JISP16 and Daejeon16 Interactions
OCTOBER 2017
Conference: American Physics Society Division of Nuclear Physics Annual Meeting
Format: Poster Presentation
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Determination of the Aluminum Background Signal in the Qweak Experiment
APRIL 2017
Conference: 253rd American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition
Format: Oral Presentation
Location: San Francisco, CA
Determination of the Aluminum Background Signal in the Qweak Experiment
OCTOBER 2016
Conference: American Physics Society Division of Nuclear Physics Annual Meeting
Format: Poster Presentation
Location: Vancouver, BC
REFERENCES
Morten Hjorth-Jensen
THESIS ADVISOR
Institution: Michigan State University and the University of Oslo
Email: hjensen@nscl.msu.edu
Office Phone: 517-908-7290
Johannes Pollanen
FORMER TEACHING SUPERVISOR, THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER
Institution: Michigan State University
Email: pollanen@msu.edu
Office Phone: 517-884-5675
Joel Boyd
FORMER RESEARCH ADVISOR
Institution: Erskine College
Email: boyd@erskine.edu
Office Phone: 864-379-6573
A downloadable PDF copy of my CV is avaliable here.