Faculty

Marcelo F. Camperi is the former Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He studied physics at the Universidad Nacional de la Plata, in Argentina. He received his PhD from Boston University in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, working in topological field theory and some phenomenology of elementary particles. Upon graduating, he became interested in the study of the brain from a physicists' point of view. Other interests also include computational physics, mathematical physics, and in...

Tom Böttger is from Berlin, Germany and is first and foremost a teacher. He enjoys teaching the large introductory physics courses as well as hands-on courses like Electronics and Digital Electronics.

In his research he studies optical, dynamical, and magnetic properties of solids, specifically optical materials doped with rare earth ions. This work is centered on understanding the fundamental material physics at the microscopic scale, but also geared towards the development of optical...

Brandon R. Brown pursued doctoral training in superconductivity and low-temperature physics, with postdoctoral work in science communication. Once at the University of San Francisco, he shifted his research focus to sensory biophysics. He and his collaborators and students explored the electric and magnetic sensory abilities of a variety of creatures. Brandon served as associate dean for sciences, during which time the university completed planning stages for the Lo Schiavo Center for Science...

Professor Camblong's research has been centered on miscellaneous topics in quantum field theory, gravitational physics, and many-body theory. His main focus has been on developing general frameworks, with applications to fields as diverse as condensed-matter physics, molecular physics, nuclear physics, elementary particle physics, and quantum gravity. Some of the highlights of his published research over the past decade include collaborative work on: a geometrical and gauge-invariant approach to...

I am excited about using high-precision control of light to create and control extremely brief pulses of electrons! My main tools are ultrafast lasers and field emission tips. Much of my earlier graduate work concentrated on improving the exquisite control of light fields achieved by the optical clock and ultrafast laser communities.

With undergraduate research students at USF, we investigate the ultrafast field emission process. Students have designed, built, and characterized femtosecond...

My research interests are in observational cosmology. Fourteen years after the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe (Nobel Prize 2011), a standard model of the universe (and its variations) has been established but fundamental questions about the nature of dark energy remain unanswered. Along with collaborators in the Supernova Cosmology Project led by Saul Perlmutter at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, I am working on the following projects and would like to engage...

Milka Nikolic's research focuses primarily on developing spectroscopy methods for plasma etching and cleaning technologies. She is interested in both theoretical and experimental approaches to solving mysteries of plasma physics. In particular, Milka works in combining various numerical methods with widely used optical emission spectroscopy technique to obtain fundamental plasma properties. Understanding these properties plays an important role in surface modification processes.

Undergraduate...

Aparna Venkatesan is a cosmologist working on studies of “first-light” sources in the universe. She also works actively in cultural astronomy and space policy. She is recognized internationally for her research and DEI leadership, featured widely in the media, and received numerous prizes and awards. Dr. Venkatesan is deeply committed to increasing the participation and retention of underrepresented groups in astronomy and the sciences, and is active in developing co-created scientific...

Marija Djordjevic is a geophysicist with a MS in geophysics from the University of Houston. She utilizes a non-judgmental approach to teaching and provides modifications for diverse learning styles. Her scholarly interests include: field work, data analysis, physical geology, earth science, and velocity model building, to name just a few.

Kathryn Kooistra is an adjunct professor in the physics department and her primary interest is in astronomy. She grew up in New Jersey and moved out to San Francisco to pursue her Masters in 2016. In addition to teaching, she also gives shows at the California Academy of Sciences, where she presents on everything from comets to black holes.

Aaron White is an adjunct professor focusing on science education and outreach, with specialties in physics and astronomy. He’s worked as a science communicator at several museums, produced and hosted science videos for Youtube, been a panelist at Comicon, and done science advising for video games. 

His graduate thesis investigated new approaches for teaching undergraduates cosmology, and how to integrate multimedia tools into instruction. Previous projects involved refining our understanding...