Berkeley Physics was delighted to host the 2023 Rising Stars in Physics Workshop this spring, sponsored by the Heising-Simons Foundation. This event brought together 24 outstanding women physicists and astronomers for two days of scientific talks and informal discussions aimed at helping them navigate the early stage of their academic careers.
The workshop was led by Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, associate professor of physics at MIT and founder of the workshop series, and Alessandra Lanzara, professor and Charles Kittel Chair in Physics at UC Berkeley. Lanzara’s personal experiences motivated her to help organize it. “My first years at Berkeley were difficult with too few role models in my department. I often felt lonely and like I didn’t belong,” says Lanzara. “These types of workshops help create a network for young women to share experiences, challenges, and ideas with their peers and senior colleagues to help them succeed.”
The highlight of the workshop for many of the participants was getting to know each other—through workshop sessions and casual interactions over meals or in an airport shuttle. “Meeting my physics peers from different fields was amazing,” says Veronika Sunko, Miller Postdoctoral Fellow. “The atmosphere was different with 80% of the people in the room being women. It was fun.” Sunko is a condensed matter experimentalist studying quantum materials with Berkeley Physics Professors Joe Orenstein and James Analytis. “We use lasers to learn about the magnetism of materials that exhibit an interesting interplay of magnetic and electronic degrees of freedom, yielding new phenomena that we’re working to understand,” she says.
Weishuang (Linda) Xu, postdoctoral researcher at the Berkeley Center for Theoretical Physics, enjoyed the keynote speeches by senior investigators. “Very accomplished people talked in-depth about their career trajectory and the massive-scale projects they’re overseeing,” says Xu. “I also appreciated the participants’ talks. I rarely hear about research outside my narrow niche of theoretical particle physics.” Xu works on various projects with different collaborators, using astrophysics and cosmology tools to study the particle nature of dark matter. “For example, I collaborate with Berkeley Physics Assistant Professor Ben Safdi. We’re analyzing data of gamma rays that come from the middle of our galaxy to search for Higgsino dark matter,” explains Xu.
As a new postdoc at the Harvard Society of Fellows, Carolyn Zhang soaked in career tips from workshop panelists on how to apply for faculty positions, build a research group, and balance commitments. “It was helpful to hear about different people’s unique journeys to where they are today. And it was cool to see so many women physics professors in one room,” she says. As a condensed matter theorist, Zhang studies the quantum phases of matter and the transitions between them. But her interests are broad and her fellowship is not tied to a single department.
Zhang also appreciates the volunteers who devoted time to organize the workshop. “They seemed genuinely passionate about supporting women entering the physics field, which was very encouraging.”
This is a reposting of my Department News story, courtesy of UC Berkeley’s 2023 Berkeley Physics Magazine.
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