CU*iP

Two Columbia University Plasma Laboratory students attended the 2025 Conference for Undergraduate Women and Gender Minorities in Physics (CU*iP) at New York University from January 24–26. The conference provided an incredible platform for women and marginalized genders to connect with leading physicists, explore career opportunities, and showcase their research. Attendees participated in plenary talks led by renowned physicists Dr. Lina Necib, Dr. Chandralekha Singh, and Dr. Nikta Fakhri, alongside career fairs and poster sessions that fostered a strong sense of collaboration and mentorship within the physics community.

Undergraduates Pricilla Dua and Hope Hersom (featured in the photo) presented their entirely undergraduate, women-led, groundbreaking research under the mentorship of Professor Carlos Paz-Soldan. Their work focuses on the interactions of cryogenic pellets with energetic particle beams– a critical step towards understanding ablation processes for fusion applications.

A big thank you to APS, NSF, the Department of Energy, and Cara Giovanetti at NYU for hosting and supporting this incredible event!