Seminars are run as part of the course MPS 101: Careers in the Mathematical & Physical Sciences
taught by EPS Prof. William Boos & Physics Ph.D. candidate Chad Harper
| Date | Topic | Speakers | Affiliations |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 19, 2025 | AI startup companies | Anand Kulkarni, CEO (Berkeley BA Physics & BA Math; Y Combinator alum) | CoreStory, an AI model & research company |
| September 29, 2025 | The energy software industry | Nathan Murthy, Head of Engineering (Berkeley BA Applied Math & Interdisciplinary Studies) | Verse, a Series A energy software company backed by Google Ventures |
| October 3, 2025 | Quantum computing | Fabio Sanches, Director of Quantum Computing (Berkeley PhD Physics) | U.S. Federal Reserve |
| October 6, 2025 | Climate x catastrophe modeling with actuarial science | Yanisa Cheeppensuk, consultant and actuary (Berkeley BA Applied Math); Joshua Turner, climate risk expert; Taronne Tabucchi, catastrophe risk advisor | Aon, a multinational risk-mitigation company |
| October 10, 2025 | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory | Alex Patthoff, Senior Scientist | Planetary Sciences Institute |
| October 17 | space science research & engineering | Gwen Hanley, Assistant Research Scientist (Berkeley PhD Physics); Chris Moeckel, Aerospace Engineer (Berkeley PhD Earth & Planetary Science)) | Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory |
| November 3, 2025 | careers at the EPA | Sasha Vanley, Physical Scientist (Berkeley BA & MS EPS); Carter Jessop, Remedial Project Manager (Berkeley BA EPS); Kelia Liang, Remedial Project Manager (Berkeley BA EPS) | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |
| Date | Topic | Speakers | Affiliations |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 8, 2024 | The world of environmental consulting | Claudia Llerandi (Principal; UC Davis MS), Karina Yap (Staff Engineer; Berkeley BS, UWashington MS), Emily Lynch (Associate Environmental Scientist; Lafayette College BS) | Kennedy Jenks, a private firm focused on water projects and environmental remediation |
| March 11, 2024 | Livermore and the DOE National Lab system | Dennise Templeton (Deputy Group Leader, Seismology; Berkeley PhD), Kim Knight (Staff Scientist, Nuclear Emergency Support Team; Berkeley PhD), Robin Benedetti (Staff Scientist, National Ignition Facility; Berkeley PhD) | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory |
| March 4, 2024 | Careers at the EPA | Idalia Pérez, Anna Mebust, Ashley Graham (all EPA Physical Scientists & Berkeley PhDs), Shaye Hong (EPA Physical Scientist; Berkeley BA, Atmos Sci major & Data Science minor) | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Region 9 (San Francisco Bay Area branch |
| April 10, 2023 | Startup companies in energy tech | Laura Lammers (Founder & CEO; past Berkeley faculty member) | Travertine Technologies |
| April 3, 2023 | How to get a job at NASA, NOAA, or NIST | Nikki Privé (Associate Research Scientist; PhD MIT Atmospheric Science) | NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Morgan State University |
| March 13, 2023 | Careers in earthquake, tsunami, and climate hazards | Todd Becker (Earthquake and Tsunami Program Specialist; Cal Poly Humboldt BS Geology) | California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) |
| Feb 6, 2023 | Federal government jobs in environmental geophysics and geology | Bridget Floyd (Environmental Design Section Chief; Berkeley BA Geology, MS Trinity College Dublin) | US Army Corps of Engineers |
| April 8, 2022 | A broad view of geology & geosciences careers | Jonathan Price (President Elect of the American Geosciences Institute; Berkeley PhD Geology) | Former State Geologist for Nevada |
| March 11, 2022 | A career path from mineral physics to big tech | Grace Pehl (data scientist, mother of six, and former CSA owner; Berkeley PhD) | large Bay Area tech company |
| Feb 11, 2022 | Jobs in geohazard evaluation for critical infrastructure | Özgür Kozaci (Principal Geologist; USC PhD), Jenny Taing (Senior Engineer; Berkeley BA Geophysics & MS Civil Engineering), Ryan Caspary (Project Geologist; Berkeley BA & MA Geophysics) | InfraTerra |
| Jan 28, 2022 | Geology & oceanography in the energy industry | Paul Henshaw (Berkeley BA Geology, U Washington PhD Oceanography) | Retired from Chevron and the US Navy, and advisor to energy industry companies |
| Nov 5, 2021 | Machine learning, minerals, and the energy transition | Jake Edman (Director of Machine Learning; Berkeley PhD) | KoBold Metals, a mineral exploration company focused on the electric vehicle supply chain |
| Oct 15, 2021 | Forensic Geoscience | Marianne Stam (Forensic scientist & Secretary of the Initiative on Forensic Geology) | California Department of Justice (the state crime lab) |
| Sept 17, 2021 | From climate science to software engineering of the energy grid | Percy Link (Staff Software Engineer; Berkeley PhD) | Tesla Energy |