Scenes Around NSM
Jamie M. Karthein: Dan E. Wells Outstanding Dissertation Award Recipient Summer/Fall 2021
Jamie M. Karthein’s dissertation is entitled “Equation of State and Net-charge Fluctuations for Strongly-interacting Matter.” Her research uses a particular first-principles computational method to interpret experimental results obtained at CERN and Brookhaven National Laboratory. The research goal is to understand the properties of matter at extremely high temperatures and densities, such as those that existed in the universe in the very first few microseconds after the Big Bang or that may be found in the core of neutron stars. Her advisor was Claudia Ratti, associate professor and associate chair of physics. Karthein received a certificate and an award of $1,000. She will do postdoctoral work at MIT.
Inside NSM: Rock and Mineral Collection
Did you know NSM houses a large rock and mineral collection? More than 600 samples are on display on the second and third floors of the Science and Research 1 building, on the second floor of the Lamar Fleming, Jr. building and in the Geoscience Learning Center, with is also in the Fleming building. Instructional professor of geology Jinny Sisson oversees the display cases, with the assistance of geology Ph.D. student Shelby Johnston.
UH 3-Minute Thesis Winner: NSM’s Ritwika Biswas
Ritwika Biswas, a fourth-year doctoral student in the cell and molecular biology track, won UH’s inaugural Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition in November 2021, winning $1,000. Her short presentation covering her research on Crohn’s disease beat out the presentations of students from other colleges. Biswas advances to the national 3MT competition in Raleigh, North Carolina, February 17-19. She also won the People’s Choice Award at NSM’s 3MT competition in October 2021.
Celebrating our Graduates
More than 600 NSM students completed degree requirements in summer and fall 2021. At the December UH Commencement for NSM, there were 73 doctoral candidates, more than 100 candidates for master’s degrees, and nearly 450 students receiving bachelor’s degrees. Traditions put on hold in 2020 and mid-2021, such as departmental banner bearers and processionals, were reinstated for the December 18 ceremony held at Fertitta Center.