Faculty Mentors
Dr. Josh Vermaas
Dr. Vermass is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as well as the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory at Michigan State University. The Vermaas lab uses atomic simulation tools to create accurate molecular-scale models for biological phenomena at the nanoscale. Dr. Vermass was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Before that, he earned his Ph.D. in biophysics from the University of Illinios at Urbana-Champaign.
Dr. Dirk Colbry
Dr. Colbry is a Senior Academic Specialist in the Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering at Michigan State University. His principle areas of research include machine vision and pattern recognition (specializing in scientific imaging). Dr. Colbry also does research in computational education and high-performance computing. He formerly served as the Director of the High-Performance Computing Center at the Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research. Dr Colbry earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Michigan State University.
Dr. Adina Feinstein
Dr. Feinstein is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University. Dr Feinstein's research focuses on understanding the early evolution of young stellar and planetary systems with an interested in understanding how various forms of stellar activity shape the evolution of exoplanet atmospheres. Dr. Feinstein was a NASA Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow for two years post Ph.D. The first year was spent at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder; and second year was spent at Michigan State University. Dr Feistein earned a Ph.D. in Astronomy & Astrophysics from the University of Chicago.
Dr. Dylan Anstine
Dr. Anstine is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at Michigan State University. His research involves several areas at the interface of artificial intelligence and chemical science, including machine learned interatomic potentials, machine-human interfaces for chemical discovery, artificial intelligence in computer aided synthesis planning, and microporous materials for carbon capture. Dr Anistine earned his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering at the University of Florida, which was followed by a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Carnegie Mellon University.
Dr. Ryan LaRose
Dr LaRose is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering as well as the Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering at Michigan State University. His research focus is computational physics and quantum information science. Dr LaRose is interested in both the physics of computation and the computation of physics - that is, what quantum physics can tell us about information and computer science, and how quantum computers can solve practical problems in physics and related fields. Dr. LaRose earned a Ph.D. in Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering from Michigan State University along with an Engineering Distinguished Fellowship.
Dr. Samik Bose
Dr. Bose is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering at Michigan State University. His research focuses on the structural, dynamical and spectroscopic changes that take place in various biochemical systems from an atomistic/molecular frame of reference. He has expertise on molecular simulations at various time and length scale, QM/MM implementation for large systems, electronic structure theory calculations for structure & spectroscopy and machine learning based method development/statistical analysis for chemistry and biology. Dr. Bose was a Postdoctoral Reserach Associate in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Michigan State University. He earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, India.
Dr. Alex Dickson
Dr. Dickson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as well as the Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering at Michigan State University. He uses molecular simulations to probe interactions between drug molecules and their receptors in the body. His specialty is in the development and application of new computational methods that allow him to simulate long-timescale events, and design new drug compounds that bind tightly to a given target. Dr. Dickson was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago.
Dr. Phoebe Zarnetske
Dr. Zarnetske is a Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at Michigan State University. She is also affiliated with the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program, Environmental Science and Policy Program, and Kellogg Biological Station. The Zarnetske Spatial and Community Ecology Lab (SpaCE Lab) uses a combination of observational data, experiments, and statistical and theoretical modeling to connect observed patterns of biodiversity and community composition with underlying mechanisms across local to global scales. Dr. Zarnetske was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Yale Climate and Energy Institute after earning a Ph.D. in Integrative Biology (Zoology) from Oregon State University.
Dr. Kyle Godbey
Dr Godbey is a Research Assistant Professor at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University exploring nuclear physics through the use of microscopic models. His main focus is investigating nuclear dynamics and how they play a role in phenomena at scales spanning from the atomic nucleus to neutron stars. Dr. Godbey was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Facilicty for Rare Isotope Beams after he earned his Ph.D. in physics from Vanderbilt University.
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Dr. Darryl Seligman
Dr. Seligman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University. Dr Seligman's research interest include interstellar objects, exoplanets, fluid dynamics, nonlinear dynamics, plasma physics and neuroscience. Dr. Seligman is also the NASA Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG) Early Career Secretary and a member of the Rubin Observatory Users Committee. Dr. Seligman was the TC Chamberlin Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago Department of the Geophysical Sciences and then a Postdoctorlal Scholar and NSF Simonyi Scholar/AAPF at Cornell. Dr. Seligman earned a Ph.D. from Yale University where he was a Gruber Fellow.