Student News

Graduate Student Jeremy Axelrod Teaches DeCal Course for Aspiring Pilots

February 22, 2023

Jeremy Axelrod with headphones on, at the controls of an airplane

As a freshman undergrad at Berkeley, Jeremy Axelrod took the DeCal course “Learn to Fly: Private Pilot Ground School” the first semester it was offered, in 2011. The following summer he acquired his pilot’s license and returned as a co-instructor for the class in 2013. He's been an instructor ever since.

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Morgan Cole, Elena Vasquez Lead First Friday Workshop

February 14, 2023

Morgan Cole on left, Elena Vazquez on right

Two physics majors, Morgan Cole (left) and Elena Vasquez (right) designed a First Friday Workshop that was held on February 3. They based their workshop on the concept that a student’s sense of belonging in the department is a significant factor in their pursuing a...

2022 Pi2 Summer Scholars Helps Undergraduate Students Find New Worlds of Research Experience

January 6, 2023
William Schulz

Undergrad student working on laser equipment with graduate student in the lab

The Berkley Physics Innovators Initiative (Pi2) is the department’s new vision for modernizing, streamlining, and strengthening the path students follow as they pursue their undergraduate careers. An important component, says faculty member Feng Wang, is the Pi2 Summer Scholars Program, in which undergraduates can participate in a research...

The 2022 Pi2 Summer Scholar Symposium

August 30, 2022

The 2022 Pi2 Summer Scholar Symposium

The beginning of the 2022 fall semester was marked by the Pi2 Summer Symposium, where undergraduate scholars from the Pi2 Summer Scholars Program presented their research posters to faculty, donors, and students. Held on August 22, the symposium was the capstone event for the 11 undergraduate scholars that spent the...

Jessica Avva Zebrowski Selected for NASA Hubble Einstein Fellowship

September 14, 2022

Photo of Jessica Avva-Zebrowski

Two astrophysicists who have been selected for the prestigious NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP) have chosen to join the University of Chicago Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics (KICP) to conduct their postdoctoral research. The Fellows are Berkeley Physics graduate student Jessica Avva Zebrowski, and Monash University Ph....

Q&A: We've Been Underestimating Heat Waves

August 24, 2022
Aliya Kovner

The heat index is a scale used to quantify how our bodies feel in different weather conditions. Combining temperature and humidity with a model of human physiology, the heat index allows us to describe the risks of extreme heat conditions more intuitively than environmental measurements alone. For example, our bodies are subjected to much greater physiological stress on a day that’s 85 degrees Fahrenheit and 70% humidity than a day that’s 85 degrees with only 20% humidity, because the evaporative cooling effect of sweating is hindered when the air flowing against skin already contains a...