More Alumni Highlights

Andrey Stejko, '14

Andrey Stejko is a graduate student in the PhD program at the New Jersey Institute of Technology , on a full-ride NASA graduate fellow scholarship! Andrey is doing solar physics on supercomputers. In particular, he is simulating three-dimensional non-axisymmetric magnetic field structures in magneto-hydrodynamical models of the Sun’s interior. While in graduate school, Andrey has had the opportunity to work at the NASA Ames Research center and at Stanford University . In 2018, Andrey was a visiting scientist at the Los Alamos National Lab (of Manhattan project fame). Andrey has a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal and he plans to do a postdoc at Stanford University .

Rob Lewis, Physics B.S. Class of 2013, is now a Production Engineer at Bungie (maker of games like Halo and Destiny), living in the greater Seattle area. Rob says that his job gives him a dynamic problem-solving role that focuses on a few aspects of the business: customer service, improving workflows, and educating users. According to Bungie, Production Engineers are “force multipliers who use their expertise across Bungie systems and their passion for supporting others to augment the studio's effectiveness.” Before joining Bungie, Rob was a student at DigiPen Institute of Technology, majoring in Game and Interactive Media Design.

Joyce Wu is now an attorney with Saxe Doernberger & Vita , in Naples Florida. Her physics degree has distinguished her at almost every juncture in her career. She attributes her skills in teamwork, effective communication, problem-solving and critical thinking to her degree from Ithaca College. She has been able to apply these skills in her work as a special project manager after earning her MBA . She says, "I cannot emphasize how grateful I am to have been a part of such a nurturing, intimate, challenging, but supportive environment found in Ithaca’s physics department.”

Ryan is building a road to space as an engineer in Blue Origin’s human spaceflight program , where he has been integrating avionics into rockets since 2019. In 2015, Ryan completed his Masters’ degree in Biomedical Engineering at Cornell , culminating in the design of an orthopedic joint replacement prosthesis. He then supported a team of biologists in Japan working to grow kidneys in vitro . After that, he spent 3 years developing PPE for orthopedic surgeons, and is now lead inventor on 5 patents.

Currently, Jill is an astronomy postdoctoral scholar at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. Jill’s research is on RR Lyrae variable stars, and using them as a standard candle for distance measurements in extragalactic astronomy. Jill visited Ithaca College in the Fall 2020 to give a talk on her research and career track thus far, for sophomore-level physics and astronomy majors. She loves her work, especially writing code for data analysis.

Jill was a student of Beth Clark and Luke Keller when she was in Ithaca. She completed a double major in Physics and Math.

Judith Olson, class of 2011, was recently named Next Generation Leader of the Yearby @womeninitawards. Judith leads by example, showing young women what is possible in the world of science! Judith is a PhD physicist with experience in atomic, molecular, and optical physics, timing services, and the higher education industry. Judith is currently director of the Atomic Clock Division and a Senior Physicist at ColdQuanta, a company that provides products that enable quantum computers and quantum lab environments.

Chris Stathis (Ithaca College Physics class of 2011), is currently a senior perception engineer at Boston Dynamics, working on the robot “Spot”. He is a team lead for the autonomy group. Chris works on all the aspects of autonomy and computer vision capability built into the robot, such as terrain mapping, obstacle avoidance, localization, and building-scale autonomous navigation. Lately he’s been focused on making Spot useful in the real world for some cool applications like autonomous inspection and monitoring of a nuclear power plant.

Caitlin Ahearn, IC Physics class of 2010, has had a varied career since graduating from IC, but that's the way she likes it! First, she worked for Mevion Medical Systems, a company that designs and builds proton therapy machines for cancer treatment. Caitlin worked to commission their first clinical machine, which is now treating patients. Following that she went to the University of Southern California for a master's degree in Green Technologies (sustainability and engineering), then moved to Portland, Oregon to work for AmeriCorps where she did recycling education and outreach for local governments. Currently she is Program Manager for nonprofit “Westside Transportation Alliance”, working with Oregon-based businesses like Nike, Intel, and Columbia Sportswear on sustainable commute programs for their employees. Even though her work isn't strictly physics anymore, she still uses that analytical and scientific way of thinking in all of her work, and she’s been told that it has been a big selling point for the employers that have hired her.

Romaine Isaacs is a Senior Applications Engineer at Zeiss Additive Manufacturing Process and Control . He works in research and development with scientists at Oak Ridge National Lab who use thermodynamic models to design novel alloys for metal 3D printing. The goal is to design new alloys that are thermally stable to temperatures much higher than can be achieved by conventional processing. Romaine images these alloys, performs semantic segmentation with deep learning algorithms, and reconstructs 3D models of the microstructure to inform the thermodynamic models. By quantifying different parts of the microstructure they can calculate strengthening mechanisms in these alloys and improve the mechanical properties for moderate temperature applications.

After graduating from Ithaca College, Arthur earned a Masters in Electrical & Computer Engineering at Cornell University. His career path into the professional world immediately dove into the world of finance, however, as he entered the workforce during a recession. Arthur began his first professional role as a Data Analyst in the Northern Virginia/DC metro area, and this led to his current job as a “Trade Operations Specialist.” Arthur believes that careers are very “malleable things”, prone to unexpected twists and turns where perceived setbacks can result in some of the best opportunities. :-) Because of his varied experience, Arthur currently enjoys wearing many hats – he works on coding and putting together complex trading systems, he ensures that production infrastructure is humming along smoothly (and intervenes when necessary), and he monitors live algorithmic trading.

After graduating from Ithaca, Blaine completed his 3-2 Physics-Engineering degree at SUNY Binghamton (BSME) before attending Georgia Tech (MSAE).

Blaine is now the CTO and co-founder of Previsio; a startup company that is on a mission to revolutionize personal finance and empower users to live their best lives by creating the first-ever digital financial coach. His passion is developing innovative technologies that can change the world for the better and empower both people and organizations to achieve their goals in incredible ways. Before founding Previsio, Blaine held various technical and leadership positions at Cintel Inc., Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), and the Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory (ASDL).

Passion for science and music brought David to Ithaca College. At the end of sophomore year, David settled on a physics major, after taking an astronomy class on stars and galaxies. He also took all the courses for a music minor. David says that his most formative experiences at IC were not his physics or music classes, but the research that he pursued. Besides researching young stars at IC, David also spent a summer as an REU student at Cornell. He worked at Cornell for two more years after graduation, writing software and pursuing astronomy research. David chose to enter the PhD program in astronomy at the University of Virginia and now teaches physics and astronomy at Austin College, where he takes his students on the occasional fun trip, and pursues research on stars with his on-campus observatory. And it all started with a class on stars and galaxies at IC!