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Principal Investigator


Prof. Andrew C. Kummel

Hometown: NYC - Yeah baby!
Nickname: ACK!
Education: BS Chemical Engineering, Yale University; MS Chemical Engineering, PhD Chemistry, Stanford University
Favorite Beverage: Dubonnet
Favorite music: The Offspring
Favorite movie: Saturday Night Fever
Favorite food: Huevos Revoltos, courtesy of American Airlines
Can be heard saying: Forget talking, his disdainful glares are worth a thousand words
Lab duties: Raking in the bucks, literally
Alter egos: Please click here


Assistant Project Scientist


Dr. Evgeniy

Hometown: Grozniy, Russia
Nickname: Evgeniy
Education: BS, MS in Physics, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology; PhD in Science and Engineering of Materials, Arizona State University.
Favorite color: Scarlet
Favorite music: Paul van Dyk, Prodigy, Krawftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre, Pink Floyd, James Brown, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, best of trance, Russian shanson and classical music.
Favorite movie: Last Man Standing, Godfather, Lord of War.
Favorite food: One pound thick and juicy prime rib steak with horseradish hot up to tears.
Favorite beverage: Milk (seriously), Protein shakes.
Lab duties:
Keeping supercomputers busy and grant payers happy.


Current Postdocs


Dr. Lee


Current Graduate Students


Sarah R. Bishop

Hometown: Cincinnati, "The Natti," Ohio
Nickname: World's Best Dodgeball Player
Education: BS Chemistry, THE Ohio State University (There is only ONE.)
Favorite color: "Oil stain" or "Dirty smock"
Favorite music: The Grouch
Favorite movie: Whatever Darby's watching
Favorite food: 28 oz. Porterhouse, hold the A-1
Favorite beverage: Absinthe (but only when I'm in Amsterdam, of course)
Can be heard saying: "I really like smashing things into small bits, but I don't know how!"
Lab duties: Keeping us all up-to-date on our pop culture and college football stats

Jonathon B. Clemens

Hometown: McMinnville, Oregon (How did we wind up with TWO of these people?)
Nickname: Young Jon, Juan
Education: BS Chemistry, The Evergreen State College
Favorite color: The bluest blues and the greenest greens of the great outdoors
Favorite music: Ashlee Simpson ("She's legit!), and Avril Levigne ("I loved her first single!")
Favorite movie: Steel Magnolias or Beaches
Favorite food: Scraps of Ge wafers
Favorite beverage: White wine spritzers
Can be heard saying: "Hey, how's the experiment going?"
Lab duties: Doing all of the crappy jobs that no one else wants to do



 

Jian Shen

Hometown: Shaoxing, Zhejinag, China
Nickname: Jien
Education: BS Physics, Nanjing University; MS Materials Science and Engineering, MIT
Favorite color: The yellow of his skin
Favorite music: Keep the Faith by Bon Jovi and Don't Cry by Guns N' Roses
Favorite movie: Forrest Gump
Favorite food: Baked duck
Favorite beverage: Hot DP oil
Can be heard saying: "Very well, it would be my pleasure to check the pressure."
Lab duties: Mastering the German accent
Favorite quote: Theorists say: We know everything, but nothing works. Experimentalists say: Everything works but we know nothing. We say: We know nothing, and nothing works.



 

Joon Sung Lee

Hometown: Seoul, South Korea
Nickname:
Sergeant, Joon Bug
Education:
BS, MS in Physics, Seoul National University
Favorite color:
Blue Sky of San Diego
Favorite music:
Queen, U2
Favorite movie:
Jesus Camp, Spring Break, here I come
Favorite food:
Jelly & Egg Sandwich on White Bread without Crust
Favorite beverage:
Any kind of beer
Can be heard saying:
"So just which chamber do I work on?"



 

Wilhelm Melitz

Hometown: Racine, Wisconsin
Nickname:
Little Jon
Education:
BS Electrical Engineering, University of California Santa Cruz
Favorite color:
The color of shower mold
Favorite music:
Hairspray Soundtrack (Sung by John Travolta)
Favorite movie:
I don't watch movies, I only watch Matrix line scans.
Favorite food:
Sauerbraten
Favorite beverage:
Becks
Lab duties: Helping Jian master a German accent
Can be heard saying: "Hey Jon, what are you wearing today"
Favorite quote:
"Physics is like sex. Sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it." -- Richard P. Feynman



 

Jim Royer

Hometown:  Severna Park, MD
Nickname:  NKOTB, Young Jim
Education:  BS Chemistry, University of Maryland College Park
Favorite Color:  Blue and Khaki (the only outfit combination)
Favorite music:  Jim's too indie to tell anyone
Favorite movie:  The Matrix
Favorite food:  Organic transistors
Favorite beverage:  Sudzu
Can be heard saying:  "Am I allowed to do that?"
Lab duties:  Working in other places than the basement.
 


Manuel E. Ruidiaz

Hometown: San Diego, California
Nickname: Man-well
Education: BS Computer Engineering, BS Molecular Biology, University of California, San Diego
Favorite color: Anti-green
Favorite music:
Favorite movie:
Favorite food: Recombinant GFP standard
Favorite beverage: Anti-green fluorescent protein, rabbit IgG fraction, Alexa Fluor 647 conjugate (anti-GFP, IgG, Alexa Fluor 647 conjugate for short), 2 mg/mL
Can be heard saying:
Lab duties:


Sergio Sandoval

Hometown: Oxnard, CA
Nickname: Serg
Education: BS Chemical Engineering, University of California, San Diego
Favorite color: Blue
Favorite music: Rock
Favorite movie: Interview with the Vampire
Favorite food: Chinese
Favorite beverage: Horchata
Can be heard saying: What?
Lab duties:


David Martin

Hometown: San Diego, CA
Education: BS Computer Engineering, BA Economics, University of California, San Diego
Favorite color: Blue
Favorite music: Seeking of hard drive heads
Favorite movie: Gattica
Favorite food: Italian and Chinese
Favorite beverage: Anything with C8H10N4O2
Lab duties: Making lots of dots




 

Erik D Kappe

Hometown: Huntington Beach, California
Nickname:

Education:
BS Material Science, USAFA
Favorite color:
Bright green used by Jian for STS curves
Favorite music:
The sounds of bombs dropping
Favorite movie:

Favorite food:

Favorite beverage:

Lab duties:
Can be heard saying: What was that? Was that a plane?
Favorite quote:
"



 

Tobin Kaufman-Osborn

Hometown: Walla Walla, WA
Nickname:

Education:
BS Physics, Macalester College, Saint Paul, MN
Favorite color:

Favorite music:

Favorite movie:

Favorite food:
Anything spicy enough to make me sweat
Favorite beverage:

Lab duties:
Can be heard saying:
Favorite quote:
"


Current Undergrads


There is no undergrad with us at this time.



Staff Scientists


Maria Jose Cortes-Mateos

Hometown: Estepona (Malaga) Spain
Nickname: MJ
Education: Ph. D. in Molecular Biology



Administrative Assistant


Robyn D. Swanland
rswanlan at ucsd.edu

Hometown: Robyn is a citizen of the great planet Earth
Nickname: Robyn is most often addressed by the name "I'm-sorry-Robyn,-here's-that-(insert name of delinquent item)-that-you-needed-three-weeks-ago"
Education: B.A. International Education, Dickinson College
Favorite color: Black
Favorite music: Snoop Doggie Da-aw-waw-a-ogg
Favorite movie: Office Space
Favorite food: Quesadillas with extra queso
Favorite beverage: In the AM: quadruple shot of Machiato; in the PM: quadruple shot of vodka
Can be heard saying: "(insert name), can you PLEASE bring me your (insert delinquent item that Robyn needed three weeks ago)?!
Lab duties: Keeping us all in line!


Alumni


Former Post-docs


Tao Song, Ph.D., 2006 - 2008
               in China now


Clayton L. Workman, Ph.D.
CWorkman at rfmd.com

Clayton is a Senior MBE Engineer at RF Micro Devices in Greensboro, NC. You can also check out Clayton's personal website.


Jean-Claude Gumy, Ph.D., 2000- 2001
jean-claude.gumy at rdor.nestle.c om

Jean-Claude heads a Food Material Science Group at Nestle's Product Technology Center in Orbe, Switzerland. His group works on the physical characterization of coffees, powdered beverages, and cereals. Jean-Claude also maintains a personal website.


Sang I. Yi, Ph.D.
Sang_In_Yi at amat.com

Sang is a Senior Process Engineer at Applied Materials in Sunnyvale, CA.


Temer Ahmadi, Ph.D., 1996-1997

Temer is at Villanova University in Villanova, PA.


James G. McLean, Ph.D., 1996-1999
mclean at geneseo.edu

James is a Professor of Physics at SUNY at Geneseo in Geneseo, NY. You can visit both his professional and personal websites.


Yong Liu, Ph.D.

yliu at z-ram.com

Yong is a Principal Member of Technical Staff

 at Innovative Silicon in Santa Clara, CA

in detail

 


Denis Masson, Ph.D.
denis.masson at metrophotonics.com

Denis is a Materials Scientist at MetroPhotonics in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.


Ernest Behringer, Ph.D.
ebehringe at emich.edu

Ernie is an Associate Professor of Physics
at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, MI.


Harris Flaum, Ph.D.
hflaum at sbcglobal.net

Harris is a Chicago-based pilot for AmericanAirlines.
 He also is a design consultant for Kimball Physics, a manufacturer of electron guns.


Former Graduate Students








Gary C. Poon, Ph.D., 2004
 


Jonathan Z. Sexton, Ph.D., 2004
jsexton01 at mail.nccu.edu

Assistant Research Professor

North Carolina Central University, BRITE Institute

1801 Concord Dr.
Mary M. Townes Science Complex, Rm 3129
Durham, NC 27707
Phone 919-530-6251


Michael J. Hale, Ph.D., 2004
mhale at ucsd.edu

Mike is a lecturer at UCSD and a very popular teacher according to ratemyprofessor.com 

 


Andrew J. Komrowski, Ph.D., 2001
andrew.komrowski at intel.com

"Little" Andy is a Senior Product Engineer at Intel.  He sometimes sees Eric and Yong in his building.


Peter Kruse, Ph.D., 2000
pkruse at mcmaster.ca

Peter is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Check out Prof. Kruse's website!


Kharissia A. Pettus, Ph.D., 2000


Eric Lanzendorf, Ph.D., 1996
eric.j.lanzendorf at intel.com

Eric runs a group that develops phase shift masks at Intel's Mask Operations.


John A. Jensen, Ph.D., 1995
john.jensen at lamrc.com

John is an Engineering Manager in
the Software and Controls Engineering Department at Lam Research Corporation in Fremont, CA. He works there with Chun (Ph.D., 1994, see below), but he made it there first!


Chun Yan, Ph.D., 1994
chun.yan at lamrc.com

Chun is a Customer Technology Manager at Lam Research Corporation in Fremont, CA.


Thomas F. Hanisco, Ph.D., 1993
tfh at huarp.harvard.edu

Tom is a Staff Scientist in the Anderson Group at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. You can also check out his personal web page.


Dan Sullivan, Ph.D., 1993
dsullivan at novalux.com

Dan is a staff engineer at Novalux which is using VSCELs to make TV displays.

Dan also owns Earwig Enterprises, which makes Infection, The Game.


Former Undergraduate Students

 

Maxwell M. Thiemens
mmthieme at ucsd.edu

Max is currently pursuing his undergraduate degree in astrophysics at UCSD.


Last updated: 05/29/09