About Us

Jess McIver, Co-Chair

Dr. Jess McIver is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of British Columbia and a Canada Research Chair in Gravitational Wave Astrophysics. She leads the UBC gravitational-wave astrophysics group, the UBC LIGO group, and the UBC-TRIUMF LISA group.

Adele Ruosi, Co-Chair

Adele Ruosi is a science education specialist in physics and astronomy, advises faculty instructors on pedagogical improvements, curriculum revisions, and teaching effectiveness. She actively promotes equity, diversity, and inclusion in teaching. Beyond her advisory and research work, Adele teaches physics, science communication, and physics education courses. As a foreigner and a woman in physics, she fosters appreciation for other cultures and encourages underrepresented groups in physics. Outside of work, she enjoys skiing, hiking, biking, and Vancouver’s artistic scene.

Ingrid Stairs, Member

Ingrid Stairs was an undergraduate at McGill University and earned her PhD in Physics from Princeton University in 1998, studying relativistic binary radio pulsars.  After postdoctoral work at Jodrell Bank Observatory and NRAO’s Green Bank Telescope, she joined the UBC faculty in 2002, supervising numerous trainee projects on pulsars and Fast Radio Bursts.  She has been involved in various types of EDI work most of her career, and has recently been prompted to develop an interest in neurodiverse learning styles.

Megan Bingham, Member

Megan Bingham is the Undergraduate Course Coordinator in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. She received her Master in Education, Higher Education from the University of British Columbia in 2024. Working with faculty, TAs, and students, her role is to help ensure the smooth delivery of first-year courses, while developing and maintaining course and department-level processes. Not limited to her position as course coordinator, she is dedicated to supporting students through an EDI and social justice lens to he

Mona Berciu, Member

After completing in 1994 her BSc in physics at the University of Bucharest, Romania, Mona did her MSc and PhD in theoretical condensed matter at the University of Toronto in Canada, followed by postdoctoral work at Princeton University, USA. In 2002 she joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, as an assistant professor, where she has been a professor since 2012.

Evan Goetz, Member

Dr. Evan Goetz (he/him) is a research associate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UBC working in the UBC gravitational wave astrophysics group and is a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. Beyond research in gravitational wave astrophysics, Evan enjoys traveling, camping, hiking, sailing, SCUBA diving, and snowboarding, recognizing the history of the unceded territories and the traditional inhabitants of BC where we live, work, and play.

Michael Sekatchev, Member

Michael Sekatchev completed his undergraduate at UBC, studying Honours Physics with a Minor in French. He is now a Master’s in Physics student at UBC, researching dark matter in the form of axion quark nuggets. Michael’s involvement in EDI has focused on equitable access to educational resources through OER projects. For over two years, he was involved with the OER Mechanics Project, a collaboration between UBC’s Mechanical Engineering department and Douglas College to develop mechanics problems for an open-source textbook, to replace paid textbooks for mechanics courses in institutions across BC.

He is currently involved with another OER project, working on a textbook about the language of solving physics problems. This is a collaboration with UBC’s Vantage College – the goal is to understand and improve how English learners are introduced to physics by focusing on the role of language in problem

Abilene Jull, Member

Abilene (she/her/hers) is a 4th-year undergraduate student pursuing Astronomy at UBC. Her interests lie in exoplanet detection, transit analysis, and dark energy. Abilene is passionate about creating an environment where everyone is welcome and can thrive! She wants to help people find a community where they feel heard and supported. She is excited to be on the committee to help welcome change into the PHAS department. When Abilene is not busy with school, she can be found at the gym, camping, or listening to music!

Ben Scully, Member

Ben (he/him/his) is in his final year of undergrad, studying Physics and Astronomy here at UBC. He is most drawn to high-energy and particle astrophysics, compact objects, and dark matter. Ben wants physics to be a space where everyone feels safe, respected and encouraged to continue in the field. To this end, he is inspired to develop events to educate those in the department and provide effective resources to all.

Mandana Amiri Member

Mandana Amiri is a System Engineer and Project Manager at the Experimental Cosmology Lab in the Department of Physics & Astronomy. She leads a multi-institutional team of scientists and staff responsible for design, commissioning and deployment of the CHIME telescope and more recently CGEM telescope. She joined Professor Mark Halpern’s lab in 2003 as an Electrical Engineer and took the project management position early in the commissioning stage of CHIME in Sept 2015. She is committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment by embracing differences and empowering new ideas and perspectives.

Mark Halpern, Member

My main research effort is in experimental cosmology, primarily measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background, thermal radiation from the hot plasma which filled the universe for its first few hundred thousand years. The Microwave Anisotropy Probe is a NASA midex mission now in orbit at L2 measuring the anisotropy, or angular variation of this radiation at five microwave frequencies.

Pedro Villalba González, Member

Pedro Villalba González (he/him) is a third year graduate student at UBC in Physics, where he is working on the Observational Cosmology group, working on the development and commissioning of a new radiotelescope, CGEM.

He would like to contribute to making science and academia accessible to all and to contribute dismantling historic barriers to academic institutions. His work and learning on these topic has been centered on education. Outside of work he enjoys discovering British Columbia running.