Meet Our Crew: The complete list of people that keep EPRA going vary from graduate students to college professors. Below are the beating heart that keeps this program alive each year.
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Background: My day job is writing and running the instructional labs as well as head TA Wrangler for the UPenn Physics Department. Before coming to UPenn, my previous lives included theoretical graphene research, experimental quantum optics, museum education, wilderness survival teacher, and selling equipment on the Appalachian Trail.
Personal: An esoterically read “trivial wealth of knowledge,” likes to carry a child in each hand, pretends to be a Dwarven Cleric but is really a Hafling Sorcerer |
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Background: I have been teaching physics in myriad venues since 2007: public high schools in Philadelphia and New York, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a private school outside of Philly. I am now a resident science education expert for the UPenn Department of Physics and Astronomy. Which means I help professors and instructors think critically about what learning science means, how to recognize it, and how we should try to make more of it happen. I am a doctor of science education. My area of research is in how we can and should reform high school science teaching to better address lay citizens’ relationships to scientific expertise–to engage with science as a citizen as opposed to a consumer or worker.
Personal: A 6-year-old named Violet is the center of my universe. I’ve been known to play music, make things out of wood with power tools, take long bicycle trips involving camping gear carried on said bike, kayak, scuba dive…to scratch the surface. I grew up on a dairy farm in Michigan…and now I’m vegan. |
Mary Marcopul |
Background: I work at UPenn as the Physics and Astronomy Department’s Lecture Demonstration Coordinator (coming on as Bill retired). Prior to this, I taught Physics, Math and Computer Science for almost twenty years. I have taught everything from physical science to calculus based, AP Physics (AP C). I have been with the EPRA program since 2004.
Personal: Outside of work, I have three children, and enjoy needlecrafts, singing and playing roller derby. |
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Background: I’m a new high school Physics teacher currently working at Central HS. I began teaching in the fall of 2021 and since then I’ve taught honors and regular level courses. I have a mechanical engineering degree from Temple University. Before teaching, I spent a few years working as an energy efficiency engineer. I grew up nearby in Lower Merion, but I’ve lived in the city for the past 5 years.
Personal: One of my biggest hobbies is playing ultimate frisbee. This sport has given me a slew of useful skills including but not limited to spinning things on my finger, explaining rules to strangers that they’ll never understand, and recurring shoulder pain. |
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Background: I attended the EPRA in 2010. The program inspired me to attend UPENN for my undergraduate degree in physics from 2012 to 2016 and then to pursue a PhD in particle theory at the University of Texas at Austin. I am just completing my first year of teaching high school physics, and had been a lecture TA in college level physics courses throughout nearly all of grad school.
Personal: I play a lot of video games, drink a lot of tea, and tell a lot of jokes. I can attempt to do up to two of these things simultaneously. My favorite game is The Outer Wilds, favorite kind of tea is an Earl Grey, and favorite types of jokes are deadpan surrealism. |
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Background: I am a junior in the College on a pre-medical track studying Health and Societies. I took AP Physics C in high school and recently completed two semesters of Physics at Penn. I peer tutor Penn students in Physics I and II and have worked alongside Dr. Batkie teaching Physics II at West Philadelphia High School.
Personal: I dabble in brush-stroke calligraphy. Ask me to write your name anytime! |
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Background: I’m originally from upstate New York, and my undergraduate degree is in Nanoscale Science. I love teaching, and this is my fourth year being involved in this program while working on my PhD. My research is in quantum matter: phases of matter that bring quantum physics to the scales of everyday life. Ask me about superconductivity!
Personal: I play party games like they’re sports and play sports like they’re party games. My YouTube recommendations are an even split between physics videos and Smash Bros clips. |
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Rebecca Hicks |
Background: I have bounced around from California to New Mexico and have ended up here at Penn. My research path has been similarly winding as I started with quantum algorithms research in undergrad and then worked on ProtoDUNE and MicroBooNE during a post-bacc. At Penn I am now working with both experimental and theoretical physics groups on particle phenomenology.
Personal: Last year I decided to join the Penn Grad Boxing Club. No concussions yet so I’ll consider that a win.
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Joey Minnella |
Background: I grew up in Michigan and completed my undergraduate degrees at the University of Michigan (go blue!). There, I researched experimental particle physics for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Now as a physics PhD student at Penn I am researching experimental quantum computing using lasers and diamonds. I’ve been a teaching assistant every semester so far at Penn and am looking forward to this summer’s program!
Personal: I love to rock climb, lift weights and play spikeball. Immense coffee addict – if you see me with a large Dunkin every afternoon, no you didn’t.
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Margot Young |
Background: I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I studied both Physics and Visual Arts in college. My research is in soft condensed matter and biophysics. I’m interested in all things liquid and how very small things move very fast.
Personal: Outside of the lab, I can usually be found cooking, sculpting (ceramics, metalworking, etc.), and playing various sports! |
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Bill Berner |
Background: Had the world’s second best job for 25 years: teaching high school physics. Then moved on to the world’s best job for the next 25 years: running Penn’s Physics Demonstration lab . I am currently on hiatus, wondering what to be when I grow up.
Personal: My major distractions involve cars, cameras, climbing, and trying to read all the books I’ve accumulated over the last 75 years. |
