Mentoring Program

Mentoring Program for Incoming Graduate Students:

In collaboration with CETL 8000, we are pleased to offer a mentoring program to incoming graduate students, so that they can adjust to life here at Georgia Tech. Here are the mentors who decided to volunteer for this program. Feel free to reach out to them via email if you have any questions.

Hey! I’m Danielle Skinner. I went to the University of Washington in Seattle before I moved to Atlanta for graduate school. I work for Dr. John Wise in the Computational Cosmology group where I work on understanding the first stars in the universe. I would stay in academia but I would also be interested in entering the space industry. Outside of school, I love playing video games, knitting, and hanging out with my kittens! Please reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns. I’m very interested in helping out new students and making the first year experience more manageable and even more fulfilling.

Danielle Skinner

drenniks@gatech.edu

Hey, I’m Hannah, a fifth year! I grew up in Virginia just outside of DC. I did my undergrad at Bryn Mawr College, a historically women’s college, before heading to Tech. My research with Laura Cadonati combines both gravitational wave and neutrino astronomy in collaboration with Ignacio Taboada’s neutrino group. After my time here, I hope to find a position where I can do research and engage in public policy (my minor here at Tech!). I want to make your first year as manageable as possible, so I’m always available for questions!

Hannah Griggs

ecrowder7@gatech.edu

I'm super interested in improving the climate and making students feel welcome at GT, so please reach out for anything. I was born in India, moved around to Malaysia and Indonesia for a few years, and grew up in California before moving to New Jersey in high school. I'm a fourth-year in John Wise's group where we work on computational cosmology. I'm undecided on whether to continue in academia or go into industry after this program, so I'd love to talk to you about both options. I'm a foster dog mom, a forever procrastinator, and very invested in music and art, so if you want to talk shop about any of this I'm always down.

Snigdaa Sethuram

snigdaa.ram@gatech.edu

Hi, I'm Julia. I'm a third year PhD student doing experimental atomic physics with Dr. Mike Chapman. I look forward to meeting and connecting with incoming physicists, and I hope programs like this can help strengthen the physics community here at Georgia Tech. Outside of physics, I love to listen to music, spend time with friends, and take care of my plants.

Julia Cohen

jcohen90@gatech.edu

Hey y’all, I’m Sarah. I’m a Florida native and went to undergrad at a tiiiiiiiiny little liberal arts school where I did mostly astrophysics research. I’ve been working in Dr. Sabetta Matsumoto’s soft matter group for the past two-ish years, where I study the mechanics of different types of knitted materials. That means that I have seven balls of yarn on my office desk right now and I run lots and lots of simulations. My hobbies include sitting on the couch in a stupor, eating bread, and walking my over-enthusiastic dog.

Sarah Gonzalez

sgonzalez49@gatech.edu

Hi all! I’m Sami, and I grew up just outside of Atlanta. I double majored in physics and electrical engineering during my undergrad at Yale. Afterwards, I took a gap year as a research assistant doing AMO experiment studying ultracold quantum gasses. Now I’m a 4th year PhD student in condensed matter theory with Prof. Itamar Kimchi at GaTech. This means I’m 1% physics, 99% hot gas.

Sami Hakani

shakani3@gatech.edu

Nice to meet you! My name is Steven and I am a 3rd-year PhD student originally from New Jersey. In my undergraduate days, I studied physics at Brandeis University with Dr. Bulbul Chakraborty. Now that I'm at Georgia Tech, I work on experiments in robophysics and fluid mechanics with Dr. Daniel Goldman. When not grinding away at research, I love concocting delicious (and occasionally devious) dishes ranging from gnocchi to okonomiyaki to original ice cream flavors and everything in between. If food is not your forte, I also love jamming on trumpet and piano, playing tennis, and gaming. I'm looking forward to getting to know you and helping out however I can!

Steven Tarr

steventarr@gatech.edu

Hey! I am Brian. I am a sixth year PhD student. I am pretty well acquainted with the Georgia Tech area since I also went here for undergrad, so feel free to ask about campus and Atlanta. In undergrad, I worked in astrophysics doing model analysis for LIGO, but now I am working on investigating mechanics in curved spaces. I am working in Sabetta Matsutmoto’s soft matter research group, however I am the only non-knitting person. I am more of a homebody, but I like to hike and play video games. When I am not on campus, I like spending time with my husband and playing with my cats.

Brian Day

bday7@gatech.edu

Hi, I’m Alisha, a third-year student! I went to Smith College, a women’s college in Northampton, MA, for undergrad, where I majored in Physics and Mathematics, with a focus on atomic physics. After graduating, I worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory for two years as a post-bachelor in the space division. I am now at Georgia Tech working with Dr. Phillip First and Dr. Zhigang Jiang in experimental condensed matter. Please reach out if you have any questions! I am happy to answer any questions as I know the first year can be stressful.

Alisha Vira

avira@gatech.edu

Hello there! I'm Chad. I'm a third-year graduate student, but I've been at GT way too long. I completed my physics undergrad here at Tech, another undergrad in mechanical engineering in the distant past, and a master's in Photonics at St Andrews/Heriot Watt. My current work with Dr. Laura Cadonati focuses on extracting information about the phenomenology of compact objects from gravitational waves. I'm looking forward to brainwashi...I mean advising you on how to navigate the dark waters of graduate school. I l love to procrastinate, so hit me up to discuss all things physics, BJJ, Phish, scifi/fantasy books, movies, video games, philosophy, steak, politics, or if we must... work. See you soon!

Chad Henshaw

cgh3@gatech.edu

Hello, I'm Zachary (they/them). I'm originally from upstate New York. I attended Rochester Institute of Technology for undergrad where I majored in physics and minored in both mathematics and philosophy. My undergraduate research interests focused on quantum information technology and environmental philosophy. Here at Tech, I am a second-year grad student working with Dr. Sa de Melo studying condensed matter. Outside of academic interests, I enjoy attending punk/metal/indie shows and buying books that I don't actually have time to read.

Zachary Gazzillo

zgazzillo3@gatech.edu

Hey y’all! I’m Noel, and I’m a second year PhD student from Birmingham, Alabama. I completed my undergrad at LSU majoring in physics and math, but I spent all four years doing physical oceanography research (with a tiny bit of computational high-energy physics near the end). Here at Georgia Tech, I currently work with Professor Walt de Heer and Professor Claire Berger in experimental condensed matter — mostly on graphene. While I don’t study environmental science anymore, I still love to be outside (mostly through biking). As someone who was just in your shoes, I’m looking forward to helping y’all get acclimated!

Noel Dudeck

ndudeck3@gatech.edu

Hi hello! I’m Krishma Singal, a 6^thyear PhD student from Georgia! I did my undergraduate here so have had a lot of time to explore Atlanta/Tech. In undergrad I did biophysics experiments with Dr. Flavio Fenton studying brine shrimp pattern formations. Now, I do experimental work with Dr. Sabetta Matsumoto studying the mechanical properties of knitted materials. I also have side projects involving rhino horns and elephant skin! Besides physics, I love dabbling in arts & crafts, graphic design (which I’m turning into my minor), video games, cooking, eating, and spending time with my cat.

Krishma Singal

ksingal3@gatech.edu

Hi, I'm Will. I did my undergrad in physics at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, then spent a few years in the military before coming to graduate school. Here at Tech, I'm an experimentalist working on epitaxial graphene with Professors Claire Berger and Walt de Heer. Outside of work, I enjoy hiking, playing soccer and reading. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and helping you get off to a great start here.

Will Griffin

wgriffin34@gatech.edu

Hi there, this is Aryaman! I am not too sure why most of these intros start with an exclaimation mark, but I am following suit(!!!) I am currently working with Prof. Zeb Rocklin at GaTech and we work on pretty cool kinds of matter that though are classical, show pretty interesting phenomenology regradless. Most of my work is trying to understand the cool systems I have either using only computers, guided by a theorist's foresight, or by framing simpler math problems. Other than that, when I can function, I am divided between creative interests and worrying about when I won't function next.

Aryaman Jha

ajha74@gatech.edu