Research is a foundation of the undergraduate experience at Adelphi. It is promoted by the University’s SPARK Center and Innovation Center, the annual Scholarship and Creative Works Conference (known as Research Day) as well as numerous summer internship programs. To further facilitate research, Adelphi has also developed partnerships with businesses and organizations that offer research opportunities and internships at various facilities, allowing students to advance their skills, discover potential careers and enhance their résumés.

One of Adelphi’s premier partners is . Located on Long Island, Brookhaven’s 5,300-acre campus contains several large facilities devoted to research in nuclear and high-energy physics, environmental and bioscience, and energy science and technology. The lab has racked up numerous achievements over the years, including seven Nobel Prize-winning discoveries and 37 R&D 100 Awards.

As a science partner of the University, Brookhaven has welcomed many Adelphi students as interns over the years. This summer, two Adelphi physics majors—current seniors Michael Ishal and Carolina Guekjian—earned internships to conduct scientific research there. Both explored new frontiers in imaging.

Doing Research in AI and Computational Imaging

Michael Ishal, who is majoring in physics, still remembers what drew him to Adelphi. “There was a day dedicated to students who were considering Adelphi physics, where we could talk with physics professors and learn from them,” he recalled. “Additionally, we were able to sit in on classes as well. The physics professors were full of energy, and they were truly excited to teach. They encouraged curiosity and challenged students to think critically.”

One of those professors was Kevin Liang, PhD, an associate professor in the department, who had been discussing a concept that day known as Rayleigh’s criterion. Little did Ishal know, three years into his Adelphi career, he and Dr. Liang would work together on research related to Rayleigh’s criterion and would prepare a publication based on that very research.

Ishal tackled other research opportunities at Brookhaven National Laboratory when he enrolled last academic year in a (WDSE) mini-semester program. There, he and his fellow students toured the scientific facilities and observed research projects while interacting with world-class scientists and engineers. One of those research projects, conducted by David Park, PhD, attracted Ishal’s interest. “After asking him if he was accepting interns, Dr. Park asked me to check out some of his publications,” he explained, “and then send him an email discussing my research more in depth.” Ishal sent an email that night. The day after, when the mini-semester ended, Ishal received an internship offer .

Ishal’s internship experience was related to research he had done at Adelphi on flaws in lenses or mirrors that distort images, also known as optical aberrations. Working in Brookhaven’s Computing and Data Sciences department, he focused on AI and computational imaging, testing neural network-based methods to detect whether images are degraded by optical aberrations. Dr. Park assisted him in this research, serving as his mentor.

“The experience taught me the importance of both collaboration and independence, expanding your domain of knowledge through literature searches, and how research can lead to valuable, unexpected results,” Ishal said. “Working with talented researchers strengthened my skills in machine learning, data analysis and AI research, which gave me a strong foundation as I continue my education and pursue future career opportunities.”

Doing Research That May Help Transform Medicine

Heading into college, Carolina Guekjian knew that she wanted to major in physics. “I saw all the possibilities of how physics can make incredible impacts on our future,” she said. “I wanted to be one of the ones that contribute to it.” The challenge now was figuring out where to pursue this field of study. “I spoke to previous Adelphi students who praised the professors and how they truly care about their students,” Guekjian said. “As I toured the physics department, I learned about all the interesting things that I would be learning.”

As a physics major, Guekjian has been involved in academic research since her first year. She worked closely with Sean Bentley, PhD, an associate professor in the department, researching a strange physical phenomenon known as quantum entanglement. She later had the opportunity to tour Brookhaven, where she learned about the lab’s research in that area. Intrigued, Guekjian decided to pursue an internship opportunity related to that research. She was accepted.

As an intern, Guekjian was able to observe experiments in quantum entanglement conducted through the , which allows researchers to study materials with nanoscale resolution. She also had the opportunity to see the inside of the detectors used at the , as Brookhaven began dismantling equipment and preparing for the transition to the .

Guekjian also, of course, continued her own research at Brookhaven, investigating quantum entanglement’s ability to produce images at a spectacularly high level of resolution. The technology has the potential to transform medical imaging, enabling it to discover diseases at their earliest stages.

Her research has been going well—so well, in fact, that she was offered the opportunity to extend her internship into the school year and continue her work at Brookhaven.

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“This class is innovative because it turns a physics lab into a real R&D shop,” said Dr. Wright, whose annual Cosmic Pathways conference treats college and high school students to a day of presentations, panels and workshops on the many exciting career paths for physics majors.

“Students don’t follow recipes,” he continued. “They invent their own projects, debug unpredictable problems, and learn to think like working scientists and engineers.”

Preparing students for physics careers

Student chose projects—building everything from a leaf blower-powered hoverboard and 3D‑printed drones to EKG devices and rockets—then spent the semester designing and debugging them. Students also had to write a proposal and budget for their project and get approval from Dr. Wright. This gives them experience in grant writing and technical writing.

The lab grew out of a multiyear effort led by Sean Bentley, PhD, associate professor of physics, to redesign the physics curriculum based on feedback from an industry advisory board. Employers told Adelphi they needed graduates who could do more than recite formulas; they wanted people who can debug complex systems, use lab instruments confidently, program computers, and solve messy, open‑ended problems.

The result is a three‑year lab sequence: an introductory first‑year lab to learn tools and basics, this open‑ended sophomore lab, and a more advanced senior quantum lab.

A Physics Major Builds Her Own Hoverboard in the Lab

Physics major Carolina Guekjian designed and built a hoverboard powered by a leaf blower.

“I wanted to do something cool, unusual and futuristic, something you cannot go out and buy,” she said. She used airflow and pressure calculations to figure out how much air she would need to lift to the board, how wide to make the board, how big to make the vents to lift the board.

“You can use these equations to come up with a theoretical idea of how your project will work,” Guekjian explained, “but the theory isn’t always exact due to real world conditions, so I had to alter it to make sure it works perfectly.”

There were problems, of course. Initially she thought she would use magnets in her project. “I ended up ruling them out because it was just going to be a fire hazard,” she says. “So I landed on using a leaf blower instead.” A battery connector failed near the end of her project, she said, which she still needs to fix. But her hoverboard hovers and can be steered left and right, so she counts her project as a success.

Guekjian said she spent 10 hours a week on her project, including lab sessions and time at the machine shop. Her efforts worked and she had a working hoverboard by the end of the class. “I learned that being in a lab and making a project is about failing and overcoming the failure until you get it right,” she said. She believes the skills she learned in the lab will help her pursue her dream of going into physics research in quantum optics.

“The ideas tend to be pretty simple, but the hard part is debugging and fixing and trying to figure out what all the little problems are and overcoming them,” said Dr. Wright, who . That unpredictability turns each class meeting into improvisation, with the instructor moving from bench to bench to help students.

“It’s like being the orchestra conductor,” he said. “I never know what they’ll need help with, and that makes it fun and challenging for all of us.”

First test run of the hoverboard. We fried one of the propellers so we might be done.

Physics for Sustainability: Creating Energy From Foot Traffic

Physics major Braden Patterson used the sophomore project lab to design a floor tile that generates electricity when someone steps on it. His invention, which Dr. Wright , used a magnet spinning inside a coil to generate an electrical current that can power small devices like an LED light. The broader idea is to harvest energy from everyday foot traffic, he says.

“The lab and my project gave me a way to connect my coursework to the real world,” Patterson said. “In Physics I and II we learned the equations on paper, but this project let me build something from scratch and actually see those calculations come to life.”

Patterson said the skills he learned in the lab will help him reach his career goal. He’d like to work on electric motors for car companies and is also interested in nuclear energy production.

Beautiful teaching moment

Lab Course as a Career Testing Ground

“Dr. Wright is really fun and incredibly supportive,” Patterson said. “He explains things in a way that makes sense, and he’s always available for questions. With him, I never feel stressed about asking for help. He just genuinely cares about his students.”

Guekjian agrees. “Dr. Wright is patient and he’s helpful,” she said. “He really likes it when students learn, and he wants to do everything he can to help you learn the material.”

The lab is designed to push every student out of their comfort zone. Each of the 15 students must confront and overcome obstacles in their projects. “Every student in the class had to overcome major issues with their project, and that really leads to learning, and it leads to professional growth,” Dr. Wright said.

Dr. Wright also explained that the course could not have been created without the support of Professor Christoper Saucedo and Chris Stahley ’16, head studio technician, of Adelphi’s art department. “Professor Saucedo has built a really nice machine and wood shop and has made it available to the physics students,” Dr. Wright said. “When our students needed to prototype something, they’d go there and Chris Stahley would help them put it together.”

For many students, the class doubles as a career testing ground. About a third of Adelphi physics majors go into engineering, another third into traditional physics paths, and the rest into fields like teaching or technology. By choosing their own projects, students explore what they might want to do after graduation.

They also discover how powerful applied physics can be. “Physics is a platform for doing just about anything,” Dr. Wright said.

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Gottipaty Rao, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Physics

Dr. Rao joined Adelphi in 1990 and served almost continuously as chair of the Department of Physics from 1992 until 2015. He retired from teaching at Adelphi in May 2023. His areas of specialization were broad, ranging from developing high-sensitivity sensors for environmental, defense, industrial and homeland security applications, to laser spectroscopy, to nuclear physics. He supervised 10 PhD dissertations, was invited to give lectures worldwide, authored and edited a multitude of scholarly works, and, in 2012, was awarded two U.S. patents for innovations in trace gas detection technology. A selection of Dr. Rao’s published research can be seen on Adelphi’s website.

Dr. Rao helped create the framework for Adelphi’s Horace G. McDonell Science Research Fellowship program that awarded outstanding science students a stipend to spend 10 summer weeks conducting original research in University labs.

Prior to joining Adelphi, Dr. Rao’s academic career included appointments across three continents. He served for many years at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, where he began as a lecturer and later became chair of physics. He held visiting and research positions at the University of California Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; the University of Bonn; KU Leuven; and the French Atomic Energy Commission in Grenoble. He attended Andhra University in Visakhapatnam, India, where he earned a BS in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics and went on to earn his MS and PhD in Physics from Aligarh University in Aligarh, India.

Dr. Rao’s colleague Matthew Wright, PhD, professor and chair of the Adelphi Department of Physics, recalls his impact. “The thing that I remember most about Professor Rao is that he loved physics, optics and lasers!” Dr. Wright said, describing one evening during his first year as a professor when he saw Dr. Rao in the hallway of Blodgett Hall teaching students to modulate a laser to send signals. He said Dr. Rao, standing beside the laser, was animatedly transforming the space into an impromptu classroom filled with curiosity and energy.

“He was laughing. The students were laughing. It was the Hollywood version of what you would expect from a physics lab course: discovery, excitement and joy.”

As his final gift to Adelphi’s physics students, Dr. Rao specified that, in lieu of flowers for his memorial service, donations be made to the ������Ƶ Physics Scholarship Fund.

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Dr. Liang’s project, “LEAPS-MPS: Developing Novel Imaging Techniques and Limits with Fisher Information-based or Quantum-Inspired Superresolution,” deals with the concept of resolution, which is the term used to describe how well an imaging system (such as a camera, telescope or microscope) can image small details on a given scene. Dr. Liang’s work will study a specific type of proposed superresolution, in which the design of the imaging system includes aspects that traditional systems would have considered to be detrimental to image quality.

“In conventional systems, there is a strict limit to the resolution,” said Dr. Liang. “It turns out that the inclusion of these ‘worse’ aspects can actually give rise to better resolution. With this NSF grant funding, my team of undergraduate students and I will analyze the feasibility of this idea, while also exploring other superresolution ideas.”

A benchmark test for this would be to assess the minimum distance between two point sources (like stars) that can be discerned by the imaging system. From there, numerical simulations can be performed for the more complicated tasks of reconstructing arbitrary object scenes (like a full constellation of stars or an intracellular structure). Dr. Liang will begin work on the project this fall with the help of an undergraduate student. Through the grant, Dr. Liang will be able to add two additional students to the research team by the summer of 2026.

Dr. Liang, who earned his PhD from The Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester, focuses his research on the broad field of theoretical/mathematical optics: Such topics have ranged from providing manufacturing tolerances for free-form mirrors and lenses to studying mechanically stressed optical devices for the purposes of performing quantum random walks. For the past two years, he led Adelphi’s student teams selected to compete in Phase 2 of NASA’s Innovation and Tech Transfer Idea Competition, which took them to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, to present projects representing new and innovative solutions using NASA intellectual property.

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“There is a precipitous drop in the number of high school students interested in physical science subjects like physics and engineering,” Dr. Wright said. “At the same time, I have [Adelphi] students who are in their junior year saying to me, ‘If I knew this is what physics was like, I would’ve chosen it as my major.’”

That’s when he realized he needed a way to better convey the exciting potential of a career in physics to students as early in their education as possible.

“Anywhere there’s innovation or something new being created, physicists are around it,” Dr. Wright said. “We’re an exciting group of people and I think if more students knew that, they would want to be involved.”

Over just six months, Dr. Wright collaborated with faculty from a number of colleges, universities and nearby Long Island high schools, as well as current Adelphi students, to bring this conference to fruition. It was launched with support from a two-part PhysTEC grant awarded by the Physics Teacher Education Coalition to address the shortage of physics teachers.

“There were people from so many different institutions who came together to make this work,” Dr. Wright said. “And there was just so much excitement and joy about this event.”

From black holes to superconductors

Matthew Wright, PhD (center), and former students Kyle Cash ’25 and Zahin Ritee ’25 dressed appropriately for the Be a Shark career workshop at the conference. Both students were part of Adelphi’s 3+2 joint program offering a BS in Physics from the University and a BS in Engineering from Columbia University.

Cosmic Pathways was a day packed full of panels and workshops with faculty members from Sarah Lawrence College, Manhattan College, the United States Military Academy and Adelphi. This included an “Ask an Expert!” panel and a visit to the CCNY planetarium. It was capped off with a keynote address from Rob Coyne, PhD, project communications director of the Nobel Prize-winning team. He dug into how LIGO uses gravitational waves from black holes to “listen” to the universe.

Highlights of the conference included research presentations and poster sessions by high school and undergraduate students, sponsored by the Rochester Symposium for Physics Students.

“Student presentations are always a hit,” Dr. Wright said. “Any time we had high school and college students sharing their research and connecting with others, those events were wildly successful.”

For example, Edward Jansen, an Adelphi senior majoring in physics, presented research on machine learning prediction for high-temperature superconductors. Armina Yetimoglu of Lindenhurst High School explored the impact of wing design on fighter jet speed. And Adam Choudhry of St. John’s University shared his research on how wind turbines and solar panels can improve the environment.

At the Be a Shark career workshop, Dr. Wright and two Adelphi student volunteers donned shark costumes to inspire students to take control of their future careers.

“We basically give the students the secret sauce to success,” Dr. Wright said. “The idea is that you can’t be passive about [your career]. You have to make job opportunities happen through networking and being intentional about your career search.”

Opening new pathways for discovery

To commemorate this inaugural event, Dr. Wright is working on a paper of key takeaways, “Cosmic Pathways Conference: Exposure to Career Paths, Networking, and Physics Community for Early Stage STEM Students.” His co-authors will be the university leaders and Adelphi students who helped create and run the event.

Dr. Wright will also continue to reach high school students through his long-running Lab 4 Kids program, which brings Adelphi students to local high schools for a day of fun physics demos and experiments.

Meanwhile, he’s planning the 2026 Cosmic Pathways conference after this year’s successful launch. “The overall feedback was amazing,” he said. “Everybody wants us to do it again. So we’re starting to lay the foundations of that right now.”

Dr. Wright is already mulling over ideas for making next year’s event even more engaging for attendees. For example, he wants to create more opportunities for students to discover what interests them.

“Ultimately, that’s what this is about,” he said. “I’m not here to convince anyone to major in physics. We’re trying to give students space to discover new things they’d never thought about or seen before—then let them decide from there.”

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“PhysTEC wants to improve the number of physics teachers,” says Matthew Wright, PhD, associate professor and chair of physics. “Why aren’t more students going into physics? PhysTEC might argue that it has to do with high school physics teachers—many of whom are teaching it because they have to, but who don’t love it or have the passion of someone who is actually a physicist.

“Even worse, some schools don’t offer physics at all, and so are cutting off students who would have had careers in physics,” he also points out.

Making Physics Fun

According to Dr. Wright, the idea for the March 1 Cosmic Pathways conference was to get high school and college students excited about physics—as a college major, graduate school option and as a career. “It’s a difficult field to get involved in. A lot of people come to physics and switch. There are hurdles to get through to get to the good stuff of designing and building your own experiments.”

Part one of the PhysTEC grant is funding Adelphi’s role as a leading Cosmic Pathways partner. “The goal of this awesome physics party is to bring fun into play,” he says. “It’s fun to play around and build things. Doing experiments is fun.”

Dr. Wright’s video shares just how physics students, not only from Adelphi but also from area high schools and fellow partner universities, should view physics as a promising route into college, graduate school and rewarding careers.

An Awesome Agenda

Billed as “New York City Region’s Best and Only Conference for High School and College Students Interested in Careers in Physics,” the daylong event at The City College of New York featured a variety of panels, programs and workshops, including:

• A keynote address by Rob Coyne, PhD, project communications director of the Nobel Prize-winning LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) team, which opens the field of gravitational-wave astrophysics through the direct detection of gravitational waves
• A workshop on microprocessors and how to program them led by the senior technology architect at Brookhaven National Laboratory
• A “Be a Shark” career workshop led by Dr. Wright, stressing how a growth mindset and building self-confidence to put ideas forward is a recipe for academic and career success
• A physical science career panel
• A material science panel of graduate students, including Adelphi alumnus and current doctoral student at Stony Brook University James St. John ’18
• A career, college and graduate school fair
• Student poster displays and presentations, including those by Adelphi students
• A Society of Physics Students meeting

Bringing Physics into the Community

The second part of the PhysTEC grant will fund the expansion of ongoing outreach efforts by the ������Ƶ Department of Physics. “The gist of this is to put college students in front of high school students and do experiments with them—which gives our students the opportunity to lead,” Dr. Wright explains.

According to him, while students have visited schools in Westbury, Mineola, Commack and Manhasset, the new grant will support engagement with additional local high schools.

Adelphi students can also network with high school teachers—such as Mineola High School physics teacher and Adelphi alumna Carissa Giuliano ’21, MA ’22—to learn about careers in physics education. “Many of our students who have participated in this are interested in pursuing careers in physics education. The net result is the creation of a mutually beneficial physics community,” Dr. Wright notes.

Dr. Wright’s enthusiasm for physics—and inspiring the next generation of physicists—is evident. “It’s an exciting time in physics. I’m blown away by the influx of new technologies. Astrophysics is having its moment in the sun and new data is coming in all the time that can help answer the big questions.”

He continues, “I can’t believe that we can use lasers to measure black holes from millions of years ago. We’re in the second quantum revolution and are now building quantum devices that will be used in ways we can’t even imagine yet. It’s going to be our students who will be teaching us what we can do with them.”

Click the links to learn more about and .

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Dr. Naseri’s academic path began at Shiraz University in Iran, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in physics. Already at that time, she had a strong interest in plasma physics. It all started with a simple curiosity about the visible universe, which quickly turned into a passion when she learned that “99% of the visible universe is plasma.” This realization led her to explore what she now calls “the most complete field of physics,” as plasma physics integrates electromagnetic theories and relativistic concepts into a unified framework.

She continued her studies earning a master’s degree in plasma physics at Tehran Polytechnic University in Iran. She pursued another master’s degree in physics in Norway before earning a PhD in physics from the University of Alberta, Canada. Her doctoral work focused on the “relativistic self-focusing, magnetic field generation and particle acceleration in under dense plasmas,” a field with immense potential and various applications, including fusion energy and particle acceleration.

Over the years, Dr. Naseri has worked in diverse research environments, gaining expertise in computational and theoretical physics. She has participated in research related to particle acceleration, inertial confinement fusion and photonics through her postdoctoral research at the University of Ottawa and her work as a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin. Afterward, she spent five years as a faculty member and professor at Middle Tennessee State University, where she actively participated in outreach programs aimed at empowering girls in STEM. She also held a key role in the Women in Physics (WIP) group, serving as a committee member for four years and helping organize the Tennessee Girls in STEM Conference during that time.

Today, Dr. Naseri’s research primarily focuses on studying astrophysical shocks and laser matter interaction. She is particularly interested in collisionless shocks, which occur in space, and astrophysical plasmas, where particles interact without direct collisions. Her work involves understanding how particles gain and retain energy. She has observed intriguing cases where particles interact with self-generated magnetic dipoles and is delving deeper into the underlying mechanisms driving these interactions. To achieve this, she relies on collecting and analyzing data from simulations, which require complex numerical methods, equations and extensive coding. Through these simulations, she studies the behavior of energetic particles, utilizing computational models to track their motion and energy transfer. Her research is essential in advancing our understanding of space physics, high-energy astrophysical phenomena and even applications in fusion energy.

Beyond her research, Dr. Naseri has a deep love for teaching. She describes it as an incredibly fulfilling experience, saying, “When I teach, seeing students brighten up and get excited once they understand or learn something new fuels my drive.” She is committed to making an impact at Adelphi, particularly in inspiring and supporting women in physics. Currently, she is actively working with students to finalize the creation of Epic Auroras, a women-in-physics group that is aimed at fostering a supportive and empowering environment.

Dr. Naseri’s journey is one of resilience, passion and hard work. She embraces the uncertainties of research and thrives on the challenges it presents. With her experience, she is set to make a significant and positive impact at ������Ƶ. It is certain that her knowledge, mentorship and dedication to physics and education will benefit her students and colleagues.

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The students decided to work with a NASA IP that uses a high-temperature, high-pressure sensor. After innovating, this product helps people ferment foods at home. With the item in every household, anybody can make beer, wine, pickles, kimchi and more as the product helps eliminate the risk of carrying out the fermenting process incorrectly while also mitigating the process’ difficulties. And since fermented foods last longer and benefit people’s health, it is no surprise that the team made it past phase 1 of the competition.

Phase 2 of the competition called for a trip to Houston where the team and Dr. Liang had the chance to tour facilities at the Johnson Space Center, which are not normally open to the public. During their stay from December 3 to December 6, the team met with like-minded students from other universities. The students got to speak with the flight director at the Mission Control Center as she gave an inspirational speech about her career path. She spoke about her daily activities, which include monitoring launches and overseeing the crew aboard the International Space Station. They also watched a demonstration of the current NASA spacesuit where one student, Lily Harutyunyan, played a part in the demonstration as she tried on the thick, heavy gloves of the spacesuit. The students also watched an astronaut suit up and mechanically be lowered into the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, a giant pool of water where astronauts train for their spacewalks. The students then spent time at Rocket Park where they saw the rocket engines and fuel tanks once used for a NASA launch.

(from left to right) Davis Joseph, Dr. Kevin Liang, Gianna Forte, Ashley Kreth, Syeda Shobnam, Lily Harutyunyan, Tiffany Shu posing in front of a mockup of the Orion spacecraft.

On the last day, teams from different universities pitched their ideas to the judges Shark Tank style. Phase 3 of the competition involves the winning and runner-up teams, having received prize money, get to visit Ames Research Center and present their product to potential investors. Although they did not make it past phase 2 of the competition, the Adelphi team and Dr. Liang had an exciting time. The most rewarding part of the trip, as Dr. Liang explains, was the “team bonding and camaraderie building” as the students, coming from different majors, including chemistry, biology and computer science, spent time “in hotel rooms, rehearsing their pitch to the judges and really researching and understanding the technology behind their product.”

The students were eager, excited and highly motivated as they worked together, which is, without a doubt, what gave them the opportunity to explore the Johnson Space Center. With consistent efforts, they continue to develop their idea into an investable product. They all mentioned how they may want to compete again in the future and expressed how great it feels to be a part of something that goes beyond the typical classroom experience.

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Matthew Wright, PhD, Bridget Gifford, Katie Gifford and Sean Bentley, PhD

Bridget Gifford ’17, MA ’18 completed Adelphi’s STEP program, graduating with a Bachelors in Physics in 2017, followed by a Masters in Education in 2018. Throughout her time at Adelphi, she distinguished herself through her dedication to academic excellence and her commitment to teach Physics. During her time at ������Ƶ, Bridget took on various roles, including serving as a recitation instructor, working in admissions, and actively participating in the Newman Club—a Catholic organization on campus. Additionally, she completed a student teaching residency at Oceanside High School. Immediately after graduating, Bridget was hired as a physics teacher at Kings Park High School. Bridget has now been a high school teacher for 6 years, however, she has assumed other responsibilities in addition to teaching. Bridget coaches track and field, guiding aspiring athletes towards success. She continues to go above and beyond in her teaching by mentoring students outside of the classroom in science and research.

Equally driven and ambitious, younger sister, Katie Gifford ’22, found her calling at ������Ƶ where she too pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Physics, graduating in 2022. Katie took on many responsibilities while in pursuit of her degree, demonstrating remarkable dedication and versatility. Specifically, Katie made a significant impact as a recitation instructor, learning center tutor, admissions ambassador, and undergraduate research assistant. Her commitment to excellence in each role was truly exceptional. After graduating, Katie began her professional journey as a Laboratory Coordinator at ������Ƶ. As a Laboratory Coordinator, Katie designed labs for introductory physics courses, managed weekly lab setup, and implemented science outreach with high schools in the Long Island and NYC area. Currently, Katie attends the University of Illinois where she is working on a PhD in Physics. Katie has also taken on the role of a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Illinois, where she continues to display her continued dedication to guiding students in their academic journey.

Both Bridget and Katie Gifford have shown their unwavering dedication to Adelphi’s core values, notably within the physics community. Their shared commitment to excellence stands out in a field traditionally dominated by men and serves as an inspiration for others.

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Matthew Wright, PhD, associate professor and Department of Physics chair, recalled that “Marty gravitated to teaching astronomy and environmental courses at Adelphi. He was always excited to teach his First-Year Seminar on the history of environmentalism. He loved to take his students outside with binoculars to show them the night sky.”

A Passion for the Environment

Brian Wygal, PhD, professor of anthropology and director of environmental studies and environmental science, remembered Dr. Garrell as a committed environmentalist who, at the time of his death on October 2, was serving as the recording secretary of the which is dedicated to restoring and protecting Long Island Sound.

“Marty was integral to the environmental program at Adelphi since its beginning,” said Dr. Wygal. “He was passionate about the environment and, in particular, its protection. He frequently talked about the and was heavily involved in political activities around green energy, climate change and environmental protection.”

Dr. Garrell shared these passions with his students by regularly teaching environmental courses on green energy management and the physical problems of pollution.

A Valued Mentor and Friend

Zahin Ritee ’23 earned her physics degree at Adelphi and is now pursuing her second bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Columbia University through the joint degree 3-2 program between that school and Adelphi. A former student of Dr. Garrell, she said, “He always believed that I would shine in life, and he was so proud of all of his students. I will really miss him.”

Katie Gifford ’22, a second-year PhD student in physics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where Dr. Garrell had earned his doctorate, remembered him as her professor, mentor and friend.

After graduating, she worked with Dr. Garrell as Adelphi’s physics laboratory coordinator. “That year,” she reminisced, “I was lucky to share a wall with him, making my interactions with him more frequent. We chatted often about politics, the environment, physics education and Islanders hockey. His appreciation for knowledge and creativity outside of physics was always evident.”

He was also, according to Gifford, a multidisciplinary scholar who recognized and valued the work of all other scholars, regardless of their fields—and who dedicated himself to helping students develop the critical thinking skills necessary to solve everything from physics problems to environmental issues.

As Gifford made the move to graduate school, she noted that “Marty was so excited that I would be attending his alma mater,” she said. “His familiarity with my program and the area made it feel a little less scary to move from New York to the cornfields of Illinois. He was so thoughtful. He checked in with me a couple of times last year to see how I was adjusting, liking the program and living in the area, which I deeply appreciated.”

“It was clear he respected his students and their ideas, and I was lucky to see and experience that he did the same for his colleagues,” she said. “I’m going to miss Marty.”

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