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Speakers

Speaker Bios

Lance Cooper is professor of physics and associate head for graduate programs in the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He has also been chair of the Illinois Department of Physics graduate admissions committee since 2003. Among his activities as associate head, he runs a physics careers seminar series to provide students with information about the diverse career options available to physics graduates; he is a co-PI for the APS-led Inclusive Graduate Education Network, which is currently evaluating ways to improve graduate admissions and mentoring practices; and he is part of the Illinois Sloan Center for Exemplary Mentoring, which is mentoring more than 50 underrepresented Ph.D. students in STEM fields on campus. He obtained his B.S. in physics from the University of Virginia, his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, and he served as a postdoc at AT&T Bell Laboratories before arriving at Illinois. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and is currently serving as the Secretary/Treasurer for the APS Division of Condensed Matter Physics.

Geraldine Cochran is an assistant professor in the Office of STEM Education and the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Rutgers University. In this joint position, she teaches introductory physics courses for engineering students and supports physics education research projects in the mathematical and physical science departments. She is a co-PI on the APS-led Inclusive Graduate Education Network, which is evaluating ways to broaden participation in physics graduate education with a focus on recruitment, admissions, and retention. Dr. Cochran obtained her B.S. in Physics and Mathematics and MAT in secondary school physics from Chicago State University; her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a cognate in physics from Florida International University. She is a member of the Committee on International Education in Physics for the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) and the APS-AAPT member of the APS Forum on Education Executive Committee.