Berkeley Physics is proud to announce the Physics Innovators Initiative (Pi2) Scholars for Summer, 2025
These undergraduates will have the opportunity to do research, learn to design the tools that enable such research, develop their scientific independence, and realize their potential as physicists. Each Pi2 scholar will work closely with dedicated graduate student and/or postdoc mentors on their projects. Pi2 Scholars will also participate in a number of activities with their cohorts which could include lectures, roundtable discussions, and hiking excursions. Final projects will require a written report and a poster presentation open to the whole department at the end of the summer. Meet our Pi2 Summer Scholars and their mentors below!
Omar Arakji and Chengxi Yang
Measure the associated production of a Higgs boson and a top quark-antiquark pair at future proton-proton collider
The ATLAS experiment is actively taking data - this is a great time to be involved in analysis! Researchers in our group are leading efforts to probe the extreme properties of the Standard Model: the set of known particles and the forces that connect them. This includes studying the newly discovered Higgs boson. In addition, we also are actively involved in searching for new particles and forces that are suggested by many unsolved puzzles in nature. While our group plays a major role in current data analysis, we also have a leading role in studies for future experiments. A current US-wide effort is ongoing to assess the physics potential of future colliders, that provides an ideal platform for familiarizing with ideas that will shape the future of the field. This work involves writing software to analyze the data and then discussing results with researchers at LBNL.
Omar will work as part of the Haichen Wang group and will be mentored by graduate student Chengxi Yang.
Anton Bogak and Dylan Cleveland
Attosecond Four Wave Mixing in Atoms and Molecules
The probing of electron dynamics requires time scales in the attosecond regime, which has been facilitated by the development of table-top high harmonic generation (Nobel Prize 2023). Our lab utilizes non-collinear four wave mixing measurements, where systems of interest are probed with 3 pulses (one in the extreme ultraviolet and the others in the optical), to probe atomic and molecular states. Work is underway to move from the extreme ultraviolet to the soft X-ray regime to access dynamics of inner shell core level transitions and doubly excited states, and this project involves first the X-ray upgrade of the setup, and second lifetime measurements of the argon L3-edge 2p54s state at 244 eV (expected to be about 5 fs). A student on this project will learn techniques related to ultrafast and non-linear optics, including operation of the master laser and amplifiers, as well experience working with high vacuum equipment and X-ray pulses.
Anton will work as part of the Stephen Leone group and will be mentored by graduate student Dylan Cleveland.
Keith Chiang and Jiarui Liu
Engineering Ultra-stable Radiofrequency Signals for High Fidelity Ion Trap Qubits
This summer research project focuses on advancing Squaratron, an ultra-low phase noise signal generator crucial for cutting-edge quantum technologies. Low phase noise is essential for extending motional coherence time and enabling high-fidelity quantum operations, directly impacting the performance of quantum computing and precision metrology. The selected student will have the opportunity to refine Squaratron’s design, optimize its signal stability, and explore innovative techniques to push the boundaries of phase noise suppression. This project offers hands-on experience at the intersection of quantum engineering and signal processing, contributing to next-generation quantum systems.
Keith will work as part of the Hartmut Haeffner group and will be mentored by graduate student Jiariu Liu.
Drey Crockett and Anjali Nambrath
Monte Carlo studies of jet substructure in p-Pb collisions with Pythia Angantyr
Our group studies collisions of high-energy nuclei at the LHC. Comparing proton-lead collisions to proton-proton collisions offers us a window into complex nuclear interactions, as well as to QCD. In many respects proton-lead collisions resemble proton-proton, but recently we have observed some striking differences. In this project we will study jets in proton-lead collisions simulated with the event generator Pythia Angantyr. The study will allow us to understand the origin of the observed jet modifications, and identify the best experimental observables to quantify these modifications. Over the course of this project, a student will learn about high-energy nuclear physics, Monte Carlo simulation techniques, QCD and jet evolution, as well as techniques for data analysis.
Drey will work as part of the Barbara Jacak group and will be mentored by graduate student Anjali Nambrath.
Aurelia Gerber and Fatima Yousuf
Predicting and Measuring Radio Recombination Lines Observed from the Lunar Farside
LuSEE-Night is a radio experiment headed to the far side of the moon in January 2026, and is a pathfinder for radio astronomy on the moon. LuSEE-Night will be able to detect radio recombination lines down to a few MHz and can partially resolve the positions of source of these lines. The student will build the analysis tools to make the first observations of these lines from the Moon, and then deploy these tools when the instrument collects data next year.
Aurelia will work as part of the Stuart Bale group and will be mentored by graduate student Fatima Yousuf.
Ruby Knudsen and Brandon Schlomann
Optimal immune cell motility strategies for containing viral spread
Viruses can spread through the body through both short-ranged (i.e., diffusion) and long-ranged (i.e., the blood stream) mechanisms. Immune cells can counter this spread with a similar mix of motility strategies. In this project, the student will develop theoretical models and simulations to identify the optimal motility strategy for containing viral spread. The student will also assist with experiments designed to test the hypothesis of optimality in fruit flies that have been engineered with optogenetically-inducible viruses.
Ruby will work as part of the Hernan Garcia group and will be mentored by postdoc Brandon Schlomann.
Alec Miyashita and Nicole Farias
Cosmic Microwave Background Instrumentation: Developing readout components for LiteBIRD
LiteBIRD is a satellite mission that will probe the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background to search for evidence for cosmic inflation. The Berkeley team is responsible for the development of LiteBIRD’s cryogenic detectors and readout electronics, and we are in an exciting time of designing those systems. The student will be contributing to the design efforts by cryogenically testing components of the readout circuit. The project will involve designing and building the test module, and using it to evaluate the electronic properties of the measured elements below 5 K.
Alec will work as part of the Adrian Lee group and will be mentored by graduate student Nicole Farias.
Tian Hung (August) Nguyen and Nathaniel Morrison
Machine design of microwave electronics
Inverse design is the application of machine learning to the design of physical devices. It has produced photonic, acoustic, and mechanical devices far better than a human could conceive, but its application to microwave electronics remians in its infancy. We will build on preliminary results and past successes in photonics inverse design to develop algorithms that reliably generate the extremely small and high-performance GHz power splitters, amplifiers, and multiplexers needed for next-gen telecomms, including pushing inverse design to CMOS devices for the first time.
August will work as part of the Eric Y. Ma group and will be mentored by graduate student Nathaniel Morrison.
Yajur Preetham and Charles Hultquist
The ATLAS experiment at the LHC
The ATLAS experiment is actively taking data - this is a great time to be involved in analysis! Researchers in our group are leading efforts to probe the extreme properties of the Standard Model: the set of known particles and the forces that connect them. This includes studying the newly discovered Higgs boson. In addition, we also are actively involved in searching for new particles and forces that are suggested by many unsolved puzzles in nature. While our group plays a major role in current data analysis, we also have a leading role in studies for future experiments. A current US-wide effort is ongoing to assess the physics potential of future colliders, that provides an ideal platform for familiarizing with ideas that will shape the future of the field. This work involves writing software to analyze the data and then discussing results with researchers at LBNL.
Yajur will work as part of the Haichen Wang group and will be mentored by graduate student Charles Hultquist.
Arjun Shrivastava and Johannes Wagner
Improved Higgs to Charm Coupling Measurements via Charge Classification in ATLAS Flavor Tagging
Measuring Higgs to charm decays is of core interest to the particle physics community in the search for new physics. This project will involve developing new methods to identify charm jets and their characteristics with Transformer-based neural network algorithms as well as extrapolating performance of these methods from simulated to real data.
Arjun will work as part of the Heather Gray group and will be mentored by graduate student Johannes Wagner.
Melody Wu, Kylie Gannan, and Kevin Xiong
Spin dynamics in solid-state materials with attosecond transient absorption
Experimental observation of initial transport and thermalization dynamics of photoexcited carriers in solid-state materials requires ultrafast spectroscopic methods. We use a circularly polarized few-femtosecond near-infrared (NIR) laser pulse to first excite a spin-polarized population of electrons and holes in the material, and subsequently probe the dynamic behavior of these carriers using circular attosecond extreme ultraviolet (XUV) laser pulses. This project aims to apply the circularly polarized attosecond transient absorption method to a bulk heterojunction (interface between two materials) to investigate spin transport across the interface. The student working on this project will participate in sample growth, transient absorption measurements, and data analysis.
Melody will work as part of the Stephen Leone group and will be mentored by graduat students Kylie Gannan and Kevin Xiong
Emma Yu and Jakob Robnik
Reliable estimation of exomoon alarm rate
Kepler space telescope provided unprecedented precision light curve measurements for hundreds of thousands of stars which enabled the discovery of thousands of exoplanets. There have even been several claims of discoveries of moons orbiting these planets. These claims received a lot of attention, but it is unclear how reliable they are. In this project, the student will assess the statistical significance of these claims in a robust, data-driven way. This will be done by developing a null signal template for the exomoon: a template that by construction only yields false positives and can thus be used as calibration. In the project, student will get hands-on experience with time-series data analysis and learn how to make reliable statistical claims about the real-world dataset.
Emma will work as part of the Uroš Seljak group and will be mentored by graduat student Jakob Robnik
2025 Pi2 Summer Scholar Reports will be available in August, 2025
Back to the Pi2 Summer Scholar overview