Puget Sound physics graduates pursue a wide range of careers in all areas of physics, engineering and technology, as well as in teaching, law, etc. A few of our recent alumni are listed below by career category.

Careers in Business and Industry:

Mark O'Callaghan earned his PhD from Texas Christian. He is now a senior principal systems engineer for Raytheon Space and Airborne System

Greg Milosevich, President of Molecular Devices, a biotech company in Sunnyvale, CA.

Michael Dahl earned a PhD in biomechanics from the University of Washington. He is now a clinical engineer for Zyga Technology in Minnesota.

Nathanael Seid is a software development engineer with Microsoft in Boulder, CO.

Brendon Vitz is a technical artist with Electronic Arts in Burnaby, BC.

Evan Wasik works in product development for Accession Design in Walnut Creek, CA.

Aaron Fujino completed his engineering degree at USC and is now a sales engineer at Carrier Hawaii.

Jesse Roberts completed his BS degree in electrical engineering at Columbia University and is now employed as an electrical engineer for Electroimpact.

Drew Sparn completed his BS in civil engineering at Columbia University and now works as a design engineer for JVA in Boulder, CO.

Mike Meade completed his engineering degree at Columbia University and works as a mechanical engineer for Apple in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Harry Van completed his BS in mechanical engineering at Columbia University and works as a mechanical engineer at Astro Gaming in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Conner Swarthout completed his engineering degree at Washington University in St. Louis and is working as a civil engineer in the Seattle area.

Jenna Boykoff is an electrophysics engineer/scientist with the Boeing Company.

Brian Valdez completed his BS in mechanical engineering at Columbia University. He now works as a product development engineer for Benchmade Knife Company.

Eric Thaut is a quantitative analyst at Russell Investments in Seattle.

Laura Zahradnik completed her BS in mechanical engineering at Columbia University and works as a subsea engineer for BP in Houston.

K-12 Teaching/Administration:

Jonah Kliewer received a Master’s in Education degree from Colorado State University and is now a physics teacher at Windsor High School in Windsor, CO.

Johnny Devine is a high school science and math teacher at the Science and Math Institute (SAMI) in Tacoma.

Abigail Horsfall (Bowles) received a Master’s in Teaching degree in elementary education from City University of Seattle. She is currently a math teacher in the Bellevue School District.

Cyrus Brown received a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Puget Sound and is currently a teacher at School of the Arts (SOTA) in Tacoma.

Elie Wasser is the Dean of Students of Newark Memorial High School in Newark, CA.

Colleges and Universities:

Audrey Kvam is currently pursuing a PhD in physics from the University of Washington.

Ben Boe is currently pursuing a PhD in astrophysics from the University of Hawaii.

Ricky Roy is currently pursuing a PhD in physics at the University of Washington, working in the nanodevice physics lab.

Bart Stevens received his BS in chemical engineering from USC and a PhD in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University.

Matthew Hoffman is a PhD physics student at the University of Washington.

San Nguyen earned his PhD in physical oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego.

Erik Tollerud earned a PhD in astrophysics from UC Irvine.

Devon Biggerstaff was a Fulbright Research Scholar in the Quantum Technologies lab at the University of Queensland prior to earning his PhD in physics from the University of Waterloo.

Chris Harland ’05 took a position as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago after completing his PhD in biophysics from the University of Oregon.

Eric Hoffmann followed his PhD in solid state physics from the University of Oregon with a postdoctoral appointment at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.

Cody Leary received a PhD in experimental quantum optics from the University of Oregon. He is now a member of the physics department at the College of Wooster.

Michele Thornley earned a PhD from the University of Maryland. She is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Bucknell University.

Andrew LaForge received his PhD in experimental physics from UC San Diego. He is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at UC Santa Cruz.

Sean Slee earned a PhD in biophysics from the University of Washington, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Erica Voges (Gerken) received her PhD in astronomy from New Mexico State University. She is now a member of the mathematical sciences faculty at NMSU.

Gregg Lois earned a PhD in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics from UC Santa Barbara, followed by a postdoctoral appointment at Yale University.

Shannon O’Leary received her PhD from the University of Oregon in experimental quantum optics and is now a faculty member in the Lewis and Clark physics department.

Regina Jorgenson received a Watson Fellowship following graduation and then earned a PhD from the University of California, San Diego. She is currently Director of Astronomy at the Maria Mitchell Observatory in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Government / National Labs:

Anastasia Engebretson works for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

Ben Ice completed his MS in electrical engineering from the University of Washington and is now working as a designer for the Snohomish County PUD.

Bethany Fisher completed her engineering degree at Columbia University and earned an ME from Colorado State University. She works at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, CO.

Erin Wilson works for NASA.

Other:

Russ Neldam completed his engineering degree at USC and is now attending law school at Boston University.

Edgardo LeBlond is an MBA student at Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco.

Brian Buehler served in the Peace Corps and is now attending law school at NYU.

Paul Veillon attended Seattle University Law School and is an attorney in Seattle.