Local Organizing Committee

Faculty Members

Javier Duarte (co-chair)

Javier Duarte (he/him) is an Associate Professor of Physics at UC San Diego and a member of the CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. He leads a research group developing new artificial intelligence (AI) techniques for high-energy particle collisions to better measure the properties and interactions of elementary particles, like the Higgs boson, and search for new physics. Before joining UC San Diego, he was a Lederman postdoctoral fellow at Fermilab and received his Ph.D. in Physics at Caltech and his B.S. in Physics and Mathematics at MIT. Javier received a 2023 UCSD Inclusive Excellence Award and looks forward to welcoming all participants to CU*iP 2025 at UCSD.

Tongyan Lin (co-chair)

Tongyan Lin (she/her) is an Associate Professor of Physics at UC San Diego. Before UCSD, she received a PhD from Harvard University and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago and then Berkeley. Her research focuses on dark matter, particularly theoretical models and potential signatures in direct detection experiments or astrophysical observations. She is excited to welcome students to CU*iP at UCSD. In her free time, she enjoys climbing, running, and other outdoor activities.

Adam Burgasser (co-chair)

Adam Burgasser (he/him) is a Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics at UC San Diego. He previously co-chaired the 2016 UCSD CUWIP meeting. Adam earned his BS in Physics at UCSD and his Masters and PhD in Physics at Caltech. Following postdoctoral positions at UCLA and the American Museum of Natural History and a Physics faculty position at MIT, Adam joined the UCSD Physics faculty in 2009. Adam subsequently became a founding faculty member of the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics when it opened in 2023, where he is the chair of graduate admissions. Adam’s research focuses on observational studies of the lowest-mass stars, brown dwarfs, and extrasolar planets, as well as education research in Astronomy & Physics. Adam is a persistent advocate for equity, inclusion, and belonging in the physical sciences, and is excited to welcome students of all gender identities and backgrounds to UCSD for the 2025 CU*iP conference.

Yi-Zhuang You

Yi-Zhuang You (he/they) is an Associate Professor of Physics at UC San Diego. He received his BSc in Physics from Nanjing University in 2008 and his PhD in Physics from Tsinghua University in 2013. After completing postdoctoral research at UC Santa Barbara and Harvard, he joined the UC San Diego faculty in 2018. Yi-Zhuang’s research explores the intersections of quantum many-body physics, quantum information, and machine learning. He is passionate about empowering the LGBTQA+ community in STEM fields. He is excited to welcome students to UCSD for the 2025 CU*iP and is looking forward to engaging with students and making physics more accessible. In his free time, he enjoys playing chess.

Daniel Parker

Daniel Parker (he/him) is an Assistant Professor of Physics at UC San Diego. He received his PhD in Physics from UC Berkeley in 2020. After postdoctoral work at Harvard, he joined the UC San Diego faculty in 2024. His research in condensed matter theory centers on quantum materials such as flat band moire materials, tensor networks and other computational methods, and quantum chaos. Daniel has been an advocate for equity and inclusion in the physical sciences since he was an undergraduate at Brown University, where he helped start a course on race and gender in the scientific community. He is excited to welcome students to UCSD for the 2025 CU*iP!

Jessica Arlett

Jessica Arlett (she/her) is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Physics at UC San Diego. She earned her BSc in physics from Queen’s University (Canada) in 1998 and her PhD in physics from Caltech in 2006. Jessica joined the faculty at UC San Diego in 2022. Jessica is excited to welcome students to UCSD for the 2025 CU*iP and to help build welcoming and supportive communities.

Gurleen Bal

Gurleen Bal (she/her) is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Physics at UC San Diego. She earned her B.S. in Physics and Mechanical Engineering from UC San Diego in 2012, and her Ph.D. in Plasma Physics from UCLA in 2023. During her time at UCLA, she studied RF sheath mitigation and RF wave coupling for optimal ICRF Heating in Fusion Plasmas. Before getting her Ph.D. at UCLA, she joined Teach For America and taught high school Math and Physics in Los Angeles for three years. This is where she discovered and developed her passion for teaching and education equity.  Gurleen Bal joined the faculty at UC San Diego in 2023 where she gets to fuse her love for physics and education. Outside the lab and classroom, Gurleen likes to play beach volleyball, explore southern California on her bike, and play board games. She is excited to welcome students to UCSD for the 2025 CU*iP and to help organize events that make physics more accessible and welcoming.


Graduate Students and Postdocs

Robin Glefke (co-chair)

Robin Glefke (she/they) is a graduate student in the Department of Physics at UC San Diego. She earned her Bachelors in physics from Georgia Tech in 2020. Robin’s research in the Frañó Lab focuses on controlling the magnetic and electronic properties of 2-dimensional materials by blasting them with Helium ions! She is very excited to serve on the LOC and make the 2025 UCSD CU*iP inviting and informative. In her spare time, she makes all kinds of art (ceramic pottery and beetle sculptures or botanical paintings with watercolor and acrylic), loves hiking and camping, and serves as a community leader in UCSD Physics.

Melissa Quinnan

Melissa Quinnan (she/her) is an Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow at UCSD working with Prof. Javier Duarte researching AI techniques for high-energy particle collisions with the CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. She received her Ph.D. in Physics at UC Santa Barbara and her B.S. in Physics at Penn State University, where she was on the organizing committee for CUWiP 2014. In her free time, Melissa loves to spend time outdoors running, hiking, and camping, and she leads postdoc community events in the physics department.

Bethany Campbell

Bethany Campbell (she/her) is a graduate student in the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) at UC San Diego. She earned her master’s degree in physics from San Diego State University in 2020 and bachelor’s degrees in physics and environmental science from the University of West Florida in 2017 and 2015 respectively. She recently joined the Ocean Optics Laboratory at SIO. She first attended CU*iP in 2016 and found it to be a formative experience. In her free time, she enjoys crafting, gardening, and spending time with her husband and cat.

Anaya Valluvan

Anaya Valluvan (she/they) is a graduate student in astronomy at UC San Diego. She earned her bachelor’s degree in engineering physics from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 2023. Anaya is currently a member of the COSI Satellite Mission and is excited by all things space. She is equally passionate about improving equity and inclusion in the sciences and organizes the weekly Graduate Women in Physics Coffee Hour. She served as the UCSD graduate representative in CUWiP 2024 and is eager to foster a welcoming and fruitful CU*iP 2025 for all participants. When she is not in her lab, one can find her biking down Torrey Pines, reading philosophical texts, or admiring cityscapes.


Undergraduate Students

Peera Serumaga

Peera Serumaga (she/her) is an undergraduate student in the Department of Physics at UC San Diego. She is pursuing a degree in physics with a specialization in astrophysics and is currently a member of ARMS (Advocating for and Representing Minority Students) at SPS (Society of Physics Students) and the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP). She is also an undergrad researcher in Dr. Javier Duarte’s lab at UCSD and a current student intern in computational astrophysics at a national laboratory. Peera is thrilled to be a part of the organizing committee which she is sure to be a successful and meaningful conference, and she looks forward to networking with attendees and learning about them and their experiences as well as sharing her own. She is excited to help foster a supportive community in physics. In her free time, she produces and composes music digitally and tends to her non-profit organization, Tutortastic NFP.

Sara Morrissey

Sara Morrissey (she/her) is a fourth-year undergraduate student in the Department of Physics at UC San Diego. She is majoring in Physics with a specialization in Astrophysics and is currently Vice President of the Society of Physics Students at UCSD. Sara looks forward to contributing to CU*iP by helping events run smoothly and enabling fellow physicists to share their work and interests. She is especially excited to learn from other attendees, share her own experiences, and from there to promote a supportive community in physics. In her spare time, Sara enjoys playing piano, reading, and nature photography.

Arushi Singh

Arushi Singh (she/they) is an undergraduate student in the Department of Physics at UC San Diego and a member of the Local Organizing Committee of the 2025 UCSD CU*iP. She is pursuing a double major in Physics alongside Astronomy and Astrophysics, with a minor in Computer Science and Engineering, and is actively involved in the Society of Physics Students, the Association for Computing and Machinery, and the Indian Students’ Association. Arushi Singh looks forward to contributing to CU*iP by promoting connections, well-being, and learning alongside fellow physics enthusiasts. She is eager to welcome attendees, share engaging and collaborative experiences, and help them build a supportive community in physics. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, cooking, hiking, and painting.

Emily Pan

Emily Pan (she/her) is an undergraduate physics major at UC San Diego. She is the co-chair of the Advocating and Representing Minority Students subteam in the Society of Physics Students at UC San Diego. She looks forward to organizing a great experience at CU*iP and providing support to everyone involved. In her free time, she likes to puzzle, read, and play tennis.