Mission Statement
As a group of elected representatives of the graduate student body, we actively maintain & improve the overall well-being of physics graduate students. To achieve this we organize professional workshops, social events, and mental health seminars as well as listening to and advocating for graduate student concerns.
Annual Goals
- Provide resources for students in their career progression. We will host monthly talks from alumni in different career paths/stages during the academic year. In the summer we will host workshops on graduate student progression (Candidacy, Dissertation, writing papers, conference preparation).
- Provide avenues to express and address concerns. We will host semesterly meditation sessions and town halls. We will also connect students to the various graduate department committees.
- Provide opportunities for social interaction among graduate students. For social events, we will host biweekly networking sessions with snacks, monthly movie nights, and semesterly graduating student celebrations. Over the summer, we will host a picnic and continue to host movie nights.
About Us
Ayman Hussein
“I am Ayman, I was born and raised in Egypt where I lived most of my life in my beloved small-town Abu Zenima in South Sinai. I am a third-year graduate student in Bundschuh’s research group, doing Biophysics theory. My current work is focused on modeling DNA Origami structures, particularly shear-force rupture of DNA. I did my undergrad in Zewail City, Egypt, where I majored in Physics with specialization of High Energy Physics. Beside Physics, I enjoy writing, finances, community-service, traveling, walking, and deep conversations with friends.”
Cara Nel
“I am a second year graduate student in Chris Hirata’s group, working on first order corrections to primordial black hole spectra. I graduated from the University of Delaware, with majors in math and physics with an astronomy concentration, and a minor in philosophy. I enjoy traveling, baking and staying active, and I recently joined the OSU salsa club. I am from Johannesburg, South Africa and my favorite place is the Kruger National Park.”
Emmy Freudenrich
“Hello! My name is Emmy Freudenrich. I am originally from New Jersey, right outside of the Philadelphia area. I started my physics career here at Ohio State where I earned my bachelors degree in 2022. As an undergrad, I worked with the Gupta group in modeling spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy images phenomenologically. Outside of physics, I love hiking and camping. I also am an avid reader of many genres from sci-fi, to fantasy, to romance, to political philosophy. I am enthusiastic about advancing queer advocacy within the physics community.”
Trevor Geraghty
“I am a second year graduate student in Prof. Johnston-Halperin’s Group. My work specializes in Experimental Condensed Matter specifically Organic Magnetic Materials. I grew up in California but moved to Upstate New York to attend Cornell University for my Undergraduate. There I double majored in Chemistry and Physics and Minored in Mathematics. On the weekends I enjoy going to local music venues and there so many not too far from campus. One of my goals for PGSC is to plan events with other departments since I believe it’s not only important for us create a strong community in the Physics Department but also with other graduate programs in the College of Arts and Sciences.”
Merlin Hart
(First Year Representative)
“My name is Merlin Hart, and I am a first-year graduate student here at OSU. I recently moved up here from Utah and have loved my time here in the Midwest. My career in physics started at Brigham Young University, where I graduated with an Applied Physics major with a math minor. I then worked for two years as a Test Engineer and then a Drive Systems Engineer before coming here to Columbus to continue my studies. I really love being at OSU and joined PGSC so I could play a bigger role in making graduate life good for everyone here.”