Meet our members!
Allison Man, Co-Chair
Dr. Allison Man is an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of British Columbia. She leads the UBC Extragalactic Astrophysics Group. She is honoured to work with the committee to activate changes in our research and teaching environment to make it more diverse, equitable and welcoming for all.
James Day, Co-Chair
James Day co-chairs the PHAS EDI Committee and serves as its communications officer. He is looking forward to building community, strengthening connections, and expanding engagement across the department.
James is a Research Associate at the Blusson Quantum Matter Institute (QMI), where he works at the boundary between experimental physics and the people it is meant to reach. Originally trained as a low-temperature physicist, he has meandered across the academic landscape since joining UBC in 2008: from microwave electrodynamics to scanning tunnelling microscopy of quantum materials, and from physics education research to exploring the intersection of art and science with Ars Scientia.
James lives in North Vancouver’s Lynn Valley neighbourhood with his family and commutes to UBC by e-bike almost every day.
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.
Ana Flora Felixde Souza Pontes, Member
Ana Flora Pontes is the Graduate Program Coordinator in the Physics and Astronomy Department. She attended law school at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, where she also specialized in Work Relations and Women’s Human Rights. Ana Flora is proud of her black and indigenous heritage and believes that excellence can’t exist where BIPOC don’t have an active voice. She is deeply committed to UBC’s goal of building an institution that infuses innovation, inclusion, equity, and diversity into all its activities.
Ana Flora is passionate about Vancouver’s nature and urban settings. When not at the office, you can find her playing with her kid in a park, reading at VPL or sharing a yummy meal with her friends and family. She also loves to dance and is a beginner cross-stitcher.
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.
Steven Blaber, Member
Dr. Steven Blaber (he/him) is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of British Columbia since 2023. Steven works in the Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute in collaboration with the UBC gravitational wave astrophysics group and is a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. When not researching or teaching physics, you can find Steven swing dancing, looking for birds, or playing board games.
Yukari Azumino-Valle, Member
Yukari is a PhD student studying 21cm intensity mapping and absorption signals with CHIME. She is part of a Japanese-Mexican family in Canada. Beyond physics, she leads a nonprofit foundation and develops its ethics and governance frameworks.
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.
Katherine Rowland Herperger, Member
Katherine (she/her) holds an Honours BSc in Physics from the University of Ottawa and a MSc in Physics from the University of British Columbia (UBC), with research experience spanning computational chemistry, laser physics, and quantum scattering.
She is now pursuing a PhD at UBC’s Quantum Matter Institute under the supervision of Dr. Joerg Rottler, investigating time-dependent control protocols for non-equilibrium diblock copolymer self-assembly. Throughout her career, she has been committed to advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in academia.
Maya Pipernos, Member
Maya (she/they) is a third-year Msc student in particle physics affiliated with the ATLAS group at CERN. In her spare time, she loves to support the local Vancouver music scene and going to live shows. They also enjoy doing crafts such as making jewellery and crocheting.
Andrea Lui, Member
Andrea (she/they) is a second year undergraduate student in Combined Honours Physics and Astronomy. Her main interest is in cosmology. Her hobbies include solving integrals in increasingly strange locations, saving money for physical copies of her favourite textbooks, trying to take decent pictures of birds, and drawing the little square at the end of proofs.
Camille Baretta, Member
Camille Baretta (she/her) is a second-year undergraduate student in combined honours: astronomy and physics. In her free time, Camille likes watching movies, playing video games and making pottery. She is excited to be in the committee and help create an inclusive and welcoming space in the PHAS department.
Michelle Kunimoto, Member
Michelle Kunimoto (they/she) is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UBC, where they also obtained their undergraduate and PhD degrees. They were previously a postdoctoral fellow at MIT where they worked on NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. Michelle is an expert on the discovery, characterization, and demographics of exoplanets, and has found over 3400 planets and planet candidates to date. Outside of work, Michelle can be found listening to music, playing video games, and cheering on the BC Lions!
Committee Creation and History
The PHAS Equity & Inclusion group was initially formed in November, 2017 by a cohort of graduate students, faculty and staff.
This group developed from a Physics and Astronomy Departmental review in October, 2017. As the largest minority group (25%), women in the department were asked to share their experiences with the external review committee. Recognizing similar challenges, female department faculty, staff and students decided to create a support network by starting an official forum and group for communication with the mission to represent all underrepresented groups in Physics and Astronomy: to provide resources and publicize other local/UBC events for underrepresented groups within the PHAS department in order to develop a sense of community and inclusion. One of the major goals was to create continuity of this group and foster a sense of change.
In 2024, PHAS restructured the the Equity & Inclusion group to the PHAS EDI Committee run by two Co-Chairs, with a membership of Faculty, Staff, Undergraduate students, Graduate students Postdoctoral scholars and Research Associates. Members are selected by Co-Chairs through a combination of open calls and nominations, in consultation with the Department Head.
Statement of Purpose:
[Find our Terms of Reference here]
The PHAS Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee plays a crucial role in shaping our department’s strategic directions. Our focus is on advancing EDI by providing guidance on policy changes, inspiring new initiatives, and fostering an inclusive environment. Here are the key aspects of our mandate:
Collaboration and Proposal: We collaborate with other groups, including SBQMI, TRIUMF, and closely related departments (e.g., Chemistry, the Student Diversity Initiative at Science, UBC Equity and Inclusion Office, Faculty of Science JEDII Community of Practice, and UBC affinity groups), to propose activities such as EDI workshops and events.
Strategic Guidance: We advise the department on strategic directions related to EDI. This includes recommending changes to policies and procedures and identifying opportunities for improvement.
Survey and Data Collection: We conduct surveys, including regular climate surveys, to inform our guidance. These data-driven insights will contribute to department policies and the organization of flagship PHAS EDI programs, for example: LaunchPad.
Past and Founding Members
Past Members
Cariad Knight, Coordinator
Cariad is an MSc student, with research focuses on NMR of biological tissues in the central nervous system.
Sheloves spending time at the beach and in the trees. Spanish Banks and Ambleside beaches, and the Lynn Canyon and Pacific Spirit parks are my favorites!
Ricky, Member
Ricky is a PhD student in dark matter theory! He loves hopping from cafe to cafe for tasty pastries and coffee!! You will otherwise find me in hiking spots, museums, and sushi restaurants 🙂
Mercedes Thompson, Member
Mercedes is a Montana native who completed a double major in Astronomy & Physics at UofWashington before starting her graduate degree at UBC, characterizing the evolution of galaxies by observing distant galaxies.
Jonah Berean-Dutcher, Member
Jonah is a Phd student studying string theory and quantum field theory. He loves cycling, and in particular the route out to Horseshoe Bay. The views are spectacular!
Rana Zibakhsh, Member
Rana was a master’s student in the string theory group studying quantum field theories and holography. Her favourite thing about Vancouver is the ocean. She loves going for a swim even when it is cold outside!
Yunting Wang, Member
Yunting was a 2nd year master’s student in astronomy, studying the large-scale clustering of galaxies. She loves biking along the seaside lande in summer and snowboarding in winter (beginner)
Jasmine Zhang, Member
Jasmine was a 1st year MSc student in experimental particle physics. She loves to go to the Quarry Rock hike in Deep Cove. Of course, she always has to stop by Honey’s Doughnuts when she’s in the area!
Alison Lister, Faculty Advisor
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.
Kirsty Dickson, Member
Colin Gay, Faculty Advisor
Joss Ives, Faculty Advisor
Miriam Cabero Müller, Coordinator (Oct ’20-Sept ’21)
Miriam was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the department working on gravitational-wave astronomy with the LIGO and Virgo detectors. She did her PhD in Germany and moved to Vancouver in October 2019. She was also the Vice-President Operations for the UBC Postdoctoral Association during the 2020-21 term. In her free time, she likes reading, crafting, and spending time in nature.
Janis McKenna, Faculty Advisor
Aakash Anantharaman
Aakash Anantharaman (He/Him) is a 5th year undergraduate student in the Combined Honours Physics and Astronomy program. In addition to joining the EDI Committee this year, he is also involved in the undergraduate Physics Society as a Co-President. He enjoys doing illustrations and paintings and playing video games.
Dominique Trischuk, Coordinator (Jan ’19 – Aug ’19)
Dominique is a PhD student in experimental particle physics working on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. In her spare time, she likes hiking, biking and skiing.
Ben Scully, Member
Ben (he/him/his) completed his 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.
Elham E. Koda, Coordinator (Sept ’19 – Sept ’20)
Elham was a PhD student working in the ATLAS experiment of the Large Hadron Collider. He loves traveling and in his free time, he enjoys learning musical instruments and cooking.
Robin Hayes, Coordinator (Jan ’19-Aug ’19)
Robin is a PhD student in experimental particle physics, focusing on measuring properties of the Higgs boson using data from the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. When not doing physics, she loves spending time outdoors and cooking.
Electra Eleftheriadou, Member
Electra is a founding member of this group and was a research associate in the department of Physics and Astronomy.
Vanessa Wiggerman, Member
Vanessa was a PhD student in physics with a research focus on magnetic resonance imaging in multiple sclerosis. She acted as president of the PHAS graduate student association from 2014-2016, working on building a continuing community within the department. In her free time, she dances in a Mexican Folkloric Dance Group and enjoys cooking and baking.
Sébastien Rettie, Member
Sébastien was a PhD student working with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and he enjoys skiing and hiking in his spare time.
Emily Altiere, Coordinator (2017-2018)
Emily is a founding member of this group and was the first coordinator. She was a PhD student in the department of Physics and Astronomy working with the TUCAN Collaboration developing a UV laser system for xenon spectroscopy. In her spare time, she enjoys dancing, hiking and skiing.
Michael Sekachev, 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 solving.
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.
Howard (he/him) is a 4th year undergraduate student in Engineering Physics, currently affiliated with the Quantum Devices Group at QMI. His passions include physics pedagogy and real-world, practical applications of mathematics. He believes that a positive and inclusive academic/workplace environment is essential in letting both students and faculty achieve their fullest potential. When he isn’t beset with a heavy engineering course load or working in the lab, Howard can be found enjoying the scenery on campus, and/or enjoying a novel on his e-reader.
Jenny Zhu
Jenny (she/her) is entering her last year in Honours Physics. Outside of school, Jenny spends an embarrassing amount of time and money searching for good bubble tea
Pedro Villalba Gonzalez
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.
Mark Halpern: 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.
Abilene Jull (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!
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.
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.
More Previous Members:
Jared Stang, Faculty Advisor
Jess Bale, General Member
Javiera Parada, General Member (2017-2020)
Founding Members
The following founding members of E&I, were responsible not only for the creation of this group but also instrumental in establishing E&I within PHAS and UBC at large. They did this by creating, and embedding E&I into UBC’s community through the hosting of workshops, lectures, and open houses that were open to all disciplines of science. In addition to this, they were instrumental in securing funding to ensure the continued operation of the organization.
- Emily Altiere
- Electra Eleftheriadou
- Vanessa Wiggerman
- Javiera Parada
- Dominique Trischuk
- Tobin Hayes
- Leesa Fleury
- Theresa Liao
- Prof. Ingrid Stairs
- Prof. Janis McKenna
- Prof. Alison Lister