2022 M. Hildred Blewett Fellowship Recipients

Dr. Hsiang-Ku Lin is an Assistant Research Scientist working on quantum error correction at the University of California, Riverside. She obtained her undergraduate degree (BS in Physics) from National Taiwan Normal University, and her master’s degree (MS in Physics) from National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan. She was awarded the Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Riverside in 2011. Following that, she did a one-year joint postdoc at MIT.

Dr. Lin has years of experience on the theory modeling and simulation on complex systems. During her Ph.D., she focused on the understanding of biological systems, in which she applied physics modeling to equilibrium and non-equilibrium systems. Her PhD thesis entitled “Interactions of Virus Like Particles in Equilibrium and Non-equilibrium Systems” has led to high impact publications including a first author paper published in Physical Review Letters. Her research expertise was further built up during her postdoc time at MIT.

After years of interruptions due to family obligations and health issues, Dr. Lin resumed her career as a research scientist at the University of California, Riverside. She started extending her expertise of theoretical physics to the field of quantum computing with a focus on quantum error correction. She is grateful to be a recipient to the APS M. Hildred Blewett Fellowship award and is looking forward to continuing her research endeavors in advancing quantum information sciences.

Kristie Nault is a PhD candidate in astrophysics at the University of Iowa. She received her undergraduate degree from Valparaiso University in 2012 and her Master’s degree from Indiana University in 2014, where she studied carbon and oxygen isotopic ratios in giant stars. Upon graduation, she worked at Adler Planetarium in Chicago, IL as an observational astronomer, studying near-Earth asteroids for astrometric follow-up and characterization. After a break in her career in 2017 to care for her first son, she worked as an adjunct professor at Valparaiso University teaching astronomy and physics labs and welcomed her second son during this time. She returned to graduate school in 2019 to complete her PhD, her thesis research focusing on analyzing high-resolution spectral data for the symbiotic star system AG Dra. With the birth of her daughter in 2021 and the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic, she had to take a leave of absence from the program to care for her children. Ms. Nault is grateful for the aid of the M. Hildred Blewett Fellowship which has allowed her to return to school and work toward finishing her PhD.

Ms. Nault has co-authored three publications on the light variability of proto-planetary nebulae in 2013, 2015, and 2020 respectively, and published a first-author paper on the abundance of fluorine in star clusters in 2013, with an additional co-authored paper on her Master’s research in 2019. She has served on two NASA review panels as Executive Secretary.