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.
- Andrew Sparn completed his BS in civil engineering at Columbia University and is now a Vice President with JVA, Inc. 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.