Jordan Hartzell
Jordan is a junior at Lewisburg Area High School, a small public school located in the backyard of Bucknell University. A science-lover and aspiring physicist, Jordan came up with the idea for the PA YWiP Conference after learning about gender imbalance in the fields of physics and astronomy. She attended the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics at Wesleyan University in January 2016 to learn about the logistics of an academic conference, and she was inspired by the sense of community and encouragement among the 200+ female undergraduate students in attendance. In working with Bucknell University, Jordan hopes to recreate the inclusive student environment she experienced at the January conference and to provide local teens with the opportunity to meet female researchers, professors, and students in physics. Jordan was recently published in the Huffington Post for her article “Making Waves in the Teenage Mind: What LIGO Means to Us.” She also enjoys running, traveling, and playing with her two boxers, Sammi and Tashi.
Maddie Konkol
Katie Lilienthal
JD Russo
Jeanine Shea
Kristen Recine
Kristen spent a lot of car rides fogging up the windows while staring out at the stars as a kid. When she found Star Trek at the age of twelve, she finally knew why: astronomy (and physics) allowed her to explore the unknown. She’s been hooked ever since! Kristen majored in physics and minored in astronomy at Dickinson College, and then received a Master of Arts in physics from Bryn Mawr College. Now she shares her love of learning and exploring the universe as the laboratory coordinator in the physics and astronomy department at Bucknell University.
What Kristen loves most about physics and astronomy is that these subjects help us to understand how everything works, and there is always something new for you to learn or do with your knowledge of them. It’s the ultimate adventure, and it comes with really cool pictures! A common misconception is that people who study physics and astronomy find it to be easy. This is definitely not true for everyone! In fact, physics and astronomy classes have always been the hardest ones for Kristen. She enjoys the material, though, and this makes the challenges well worth the rewards of understanding.
In addition to stargazing, Kristen plays the piano and sings. She also loves to read (dystopian novels, science fiction, fantasy novels, thriller fiction, and more) and swing dance!
Deepak Iyer
Deepak is an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Bucknell University. He caught the physics bug in high school while playing with the equations for momentum and energy conservation and discovered that if an object rolled towards another identical one at rest they always take off at right angles to each other after the collision, and then doing the experiment to see that it works just like the equations say! Several years later, he got a PhD in physics studying the behavior of quantum particles as they collide and bounce around, after changing courses from a bachelors in mechanical engineering. Along the way, he also developed a passion for teaching and providing opportunities for students to explore and experience the beauty of physics and mathematics. He is also an avid nature lover and can be found on a trail in the woods or out negotiating rapids in a kayak (it’s just like solving a tricky problem!). He enjoys cooking, playing the North Indian flute, and singing.