People Spotlights

Postdoctoral Scholar, Applied Physics and Materials Science

Sophie Hermans

Hi everyone! My name is Sophie Hermans and I joined the group of Professor Andrei Faraon on the 1st of June. In my time here as a Postdoc, I will work on single Ytterbium atoms doped in a YVO4 host crystal for quantum information and communication purposes. That should allow for some cool experiments! Before I joined Caltech, I completed my PhD at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. During my PhD, my colleagues and I realized the first quantum network by using nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, and we also teleported quantum information across the network. Outside of research, I enjoy doing outreach. Apart from it being fun, I think it is good to explain our research to all sorts of audiences. I hope I can continue this effort here at Caltech! In my spare time, I like to play basketball and I am a big fan of board games. (Photo credit: Inge Hoogland voor Faces of Science/NEMO Kennislink)

Founder and CEO of Actuate, Former DARPA Director

Arati Prabhakar

The most important thing Arati Prabhakar (MS ‘80, PhD ‘85) learned at Caltech was that she didn't want to do what was expected of her. After becoming the first woman to earn a PhD in Applied Physics from Caltech, Dr. Prabhakar did anything but follow the traditional route for graduate students at the time.

Julie Eng

Julie Sheridan Eng currently serves as the Executive Vice President and General Manager of 3D Sensing, a business segment of the global technology and engineering leader Finisar. Eng holds a BA in physics from Bryn Mawr College and a BS in electrical engineering from Caltech, and she earned her MS and PhD in electrical engineering at Stanford. She has published over a dozen papers and holds seven patents.

Christopher Yeh

I am a G2 in CMS studying machine learning. My main research focus is multimodal representation learning, which involves designing neural networks that can process many types of data at once. As part of my Ph.D., I am also trying to build a community of machine learning researchers who care about environmental sustainability applications, such as using reinforcement learning to reduce carbon emissions in the electricity grid. Although I was born and raised in Southern California, I still find so much to explore around Pasadena and the broader Los Angeles area. I enjoy hiking, camping, biking, skiing, volleyball, ultimate frisbee (go Aftermath!), as well as playing cello in the Caltech Orchestra. If you see me around, ask me about my trip to a remote Alaskan island or my weeklong homestay on a rural Chinese tea farm. Also, I am co-chair of the GSC Sustainability Committee, so if you have any ideas on how to make Caltech a more sustainable environment, let me know!

KNI Postdoctoral Scholar Research Associate

Ivan Maliyov

I received a BS in Applied Physics from the Physical Technical Faculty of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University in Ukraine. Then, I obtained an MS degree in Nanosciences from École Polytechnique and Univérsité Paris-Saclay in France. With a double-diploma program, I also received a MS in Medical Physics from V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Ukraine. I obtained a PhD degree in Condensed Matter Physics from Univérsité Paris-Saclay, France in 2019. Starting in December 2019, I joined Caltech as a Postdoctoral Scholar in Professor Marco Bernardi's group. My current research focus is the electron transport and ultrafast dynamics in the presence of external fields in complex materials within the Boltzmann transport equation formalism and time-dependent density functional theory. In my free time, I play the clarinet in the Caltech Symphonic Orchestra and piano in a Caltech Chamber Music ensemble.

Postdoctoral Scholar, Aerospace (GALCIT)

Roni Goldshmid

I am a second-year postdoc in the Dabiri Lab within the Department of Aerospace (GALCIT) at Caltech. I am broadly interested in experimental fluid dynamics, the development of measurement techniques, and leveraging machine learning for imperfect empirical data. My current research project focuses on the development of non-intrusive data-driven and physics-based methods that estimate incident wind speeds from visual observations of natural vegetation. These methods provide physical insights on the flow-structure interactions. Possible applications for these methods include aviation safety monitoring and wildland firefighting. Outside of research, I like to run on mountain trails and watch the sunset on the beach. Finally, after serving as the Caltech Postdoc Association (CPA) EAS representative and CPA treasurer for the last year, I am excited to announce that I am the incoming CPA chair and am looking forward to continuing to serve the Caltech community.

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