Inmates, Collaborators, and Graduates

The people who make things work:

Timothy Gay

I am Dr. Timothy Gay, Professor of Physics, and the Ultimate Master of Your Fate. You can call me ...Tim.

tgay1@unl.edu
CV [PDF]


The Spring 2018 version of the Gay Group; from left to right Messrs. Kosch, Gay, Foreman, Ahrendsen, and Brunkow.

The people who break things:

Grad Students

Evan Brunkow

Evan Brunkow

Evan is a graduate student in physics and a new addition to the Gay Group. Welcome! He gets to shoot really powerful lasers at crystals and hope to get spin polarized electrons as a result. If it works, he'll have found the simplest source of polarized electrons and all the world will marvel at his genius. . . muah ha ha!

Karl Ahrendsen

Karl Ahrendsen

The people who fix everything else:

Undergrads

Matthew Dunn

Matthew Dunn

Peter Kosch

Peter Kosch
Evan Brunkow working on the spin-polarized femtosecond polarized electron source.
Peter performs polarimetry.
Matt adjusts a knob at his Console.

Senior Collaborators

Kenneth Trantham

Ken Trantham, Joan Dreiling, and Paul Burrow in the lab.

[1990- ]
Associate Professor & Chair, University of Nebraksa Kearney

Ken Trantham

Paul Burrow

Paul Burrow in the lab with Matt Dunn.

[1993- ]
Professor Emeritus, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Matt Poelker

[2002- ]
Staff Scientist, Thomas Jefferson National Lab

Marcy Stutzman

[2002- ]
Physicist, Thomas Jefferson National Lab

Dale Tupa

Dr. Dale Tupa (LANL) explains the US Government purchasing system to Eric.

[1999- ]
Staff Scientist, Los Alamos National Lab


Graduates

Postdocs

Keith Foreman [2017-]

Keith Foreman in the lab with Evan Brunkow.
  • Joan Dreiling [2014]
    Honeywell Corporation
  • Vola Andrianarijaona [2005-2006]
    Professor of Physics, Pacific Union College
  • Mark Rosenberry [1999-2003]
    Professor, Siena College
  • Herman Batelaan [1996-1998]
    Professor of Physics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  • Marty Johnson [1993-1995]
    Professor of Physics, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota
  • John Furst [1989-1992]
    Professor of Physics, University of Newcastle, Australia
  • Hans Geesman [1990]
    Research Scientist, Mercedes-Benz, Germany
  • Morty Khakoo [1987-1989]
    Professor of Physics, Cal State Fullerton
  • John William Edwards (deceased)

Ph.D.s and what they do now

  • Nate Clayburn [2017]
    Postdoctoral Research Associate, Amherst College (Hunter Group)
  • Joan Dreiling [2014]
    Honeywell Corporation
  • Eric Litaker [2014]
  • Munir Pirbhai [2014]
    Assistant Professor, St. Lawrence University
  • Jack Maseberg [2009]
    Professor of Physics, Fort Hays State University
  • Adam Green [2002]
    Professor of Physics, University of St. Thomas
  • Ben Birdsey [2003]
    Gage Inc.
  • Hasan Al-Khateeb [2003]
    Associate Professor of Physics, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences
  • Edward Stevens [1993]
    Founder and President, Northrop Grumman Cutting Edge Optronics
  • Kanishka Wijayaratna [1992]
    Professor of Physics, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
  • Victor Irby [1991]

M.S.s and what they do now

  • Josh Machacek [2009]
    Research Fellow, Australian National University Research School of Physics & Engineering
  • Adam Scheer [2006]
    Supervisor, Pacific Gas and Electric Company
  • John Reyes [2005]
    University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  • Justin Zohner [2004]
    Northrop Grumman Corporation; Ph.D. Program, University of Texas San Antonio
  • William Meyer [1991]
    NASA Glenn Research Center
  • Steve Yallaly [1988]
    Boeing

B.S.s and what they do now

  • Dominic Ryan [2014]
    Ph.D Program, UC-Berkeley
  • Kyle Tobin [2012]
    Ph.D Program, University of California-San Diego
  • Sophie Waldman [2011]
    Ph.D Program, University of Rochester
  • Jimmy Feeks [2010]
    Ph.D Candidate, Institute of Optics, University of Rochester
  • Ashley Ernesti [2010]
    MAT Physics Teaching Program, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
  • Maya Fabrikant [2009]
    Staff Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • Amanda Neukirch (formerly Fricke) [2008]
    Staff Scientist, Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • Levi Neukirch [2008]
    Staff Scientist, Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • Eric Norrgard [2007]
    NRC Postdoc, National Institute of Standards and Technology-Gaithersberg

Undergraduates

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

(94 undergraduates)

University of Missouri-Rolla

(25 undergraduates)

Other Schools

(16 undergraduates)

Jenny Bahn

Jenny presents her research at the University of Nebraska summer research fair. Jenny also gave an invited talk at the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physical Sciences (WoPhyS) in 2016.

[2018]
Smith College

Michael-Angelo Humm

Michael-Angelo

[2015]
Georgia Institute of Technology

Schools include: Nebraska Wesleyan University, Western Michigan State University, Vassar College, Swarthmore College, University of Michigan-Dearborn, University of St. Thomas, Evergreen College, Fort Hays State University, Harvey Mudd College, Western Washington University

High School Students: what they ended up in

Lincoln High Schools

(6 students)

Jesse Lin

Jesse presents his research at the University of Nebraska summer research fair.

[2016]
Lincoln High School

Andy Zhu

Andy presents his research at the University of Nebraska summer research fair.

[2015]
Lincoln High School

  • Max Nelson [2010]
  • Jahan Claes, University of Chicago Physics major [2010]
  • Maya Fabrikant, UNL Physics major [2004]
  • Nien Trangh, UNL Math/Physics major [1995]

Rolla High School

(1 student)

  • Diane Schwalje, Chemical Engineering major [1990]

Our Spiritual Leaders

Der Noether

Emmy Noether, German mathematician known for her contributions to theoretical physics and abstract algebra.

Our Other Spiritual Leader - Mr. Moss

Mr. Moss