People Spotlights

Graduate Student, Environmental Science and Engineering

Haroula Baliaka

I am a 2nd year Ph.D. student in Environmental Science and Engineering focusing on the sources of air pollution in the Los Angeles basin. I am from Greece and hold a Dipl. Ing in Chemical Engineering from the University of Patras, Greece. My research concentrates on demystifying the mysteries behind the elevated particulate levels in Los Angeles despite regulations. To do so, I am currently looking at the effect of volatile chemical products on the formation of secondary organic aerosol while simultaneously looking at deciphering the sulfate sources using sulfur isotopes as a tracer. In my free time, I enjoy dancing, cooking Greek dishes, and discovering what it means to be living the American dream.

Administrative Assistant, Electrical Engineering

Gabrielle Weise

Gabrielle Weise joins Caltech as a new administrative assistant in the EAS-EE department. Prior to coming to campus, Gabrielle worked in luxury real estate marketing as well as guest relations at the Natural History Museum. She has also worked as a freelance copywriter and social media manager for small businesses and brands. On the weekends you can find Gabrielle roller skating, solving crosswords, painting, reading, watching anime and walking her dog. She loves to travel and counts Mexico, Morocco, and The Philippines as her favorite destinations so far. Gabrielle graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

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!

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