NUANCE Center & MSA Student Council Presents
Women in Microscopy ConferenceMeet the Organizing Committee
Tirzah Abbott
Co-Founder of the Women in Microscopy Conference
Tirzah is currently the SEM Facility Manager at the NUANCE Center at Northwestern University. She is also a PhD student in Professor Steve Jacobsen’s mineral physics research group in the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department. She also has two cats that she loves very dearly.
Stephanie Ribet
Co-Founder of the Women in Microscopy conference
Stephanie is a postdoctoral research at the National Center of Electron Microscopy, which is part of the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She did her PhD at Northwestern University and was previously a member of the MSA student council.
Katy Dean
Committee Member/ NUANCE
Katy coordinates NUANCE’s outreach activities and online presence. She is the point person for NUANCE’s many events, workshops, lectures and tours in addition to managing NUANCE‘s website, social media, and video platforms.
Daniela Fonseca
MSA StC Postdoc Sub-Committee Member
Daniela is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Lehigh University. Her research focuses on the interface between microscopy and materials science, with a current emphasis on in-situ TEM heating to explore the sintering behavior of High Entropy Alloy nanoparticles. She also serves as the president of the Lehigh Postdoctoral Association (LPDA) and actively supports initiatives to empower young women in STEM.
Liz Griffin
Committee Member / MSA Council Member
Liz is a 2nd year PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern, working in the Dravid Group. Her research focuses on hydrogen in energy technology, using advanced microscopy to understand the role of interfaces in hydrogen transport mechanisms. She is also a member of the MSA Student Council, serving as a Regional Liaison.
Marie Taherzadeh-Malmiri
Committee Member/ Outreach Assistant
Marie is the Outreach Assistant for the NUANCE Center, assisting the behind-the-scenes logistics of organizing outreach events. She is very excited to be involved with Women in Microscopy’s 3rd annual conference and is always inspired by the amazing research and knowledge shared at the conference!
Thomas Marchese
Committee Member/ MSA StC President Elect
Thomas is a 2nd year graduate student at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago. He is a member of the Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion and is advised by Y. Shirley Meng and Nestor Zaluzec. His research focuses on capturing ion choreography over interfaces in energy materials.
Andrés Márquez
MSA Student Coucil President
Andrés is a M.S. student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville working with Prof. Brett Compton on Additive Manufacturing (A.M.) of Polymers and Hybrid Materials. He is also a technical researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) specializing in characterization of processes and materials for A.M. components via destructive and non-destructive mechanisms. During his bachelor’s degree, he was the student chapter president for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) in Puerto Rico as well as vice president for the local Institute of Chemical Engineers of Puerto Rico (IIQPR in spanish). He’s looking forward to helping bridge the gap of this society that encompasses such a large country, while assisting future researchers in finding mentorship and internship opportunities.
Paty Meza
Committee Member / PhD Candidate, Materials Science and Engineering Department, Northwestern University
Paty is a PhD candidate in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Northwestern University, where she is co-advised by Professors Vinayak Dravid and Mercouri Kanatzidis. Her research focuses on synthesizing and characterizing novel 2D magnetic materials for spintronics applications. This is Paty’s third year assisting with the WiM conference, where she is excited to help foster an inclusive and collaborative community.
Louisa Mezache
Committee Member / Previous MSA Student Council President
Louisa is a Biomedical Engineering PhD candidate at the Ohio State University and an American Heart Association Graduate Fellow. Her work with Dr. Sai Veeraraghavan’s lab focuses on investigating the functional impacts of nanoscale structural changes.
Aubrey Penn
Committee Member / MSA Council Member
Aubrey is a Research Specialist at MIT.nano, assisting other researchers with applications of aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy. She is a graduate of NC State University’s Materials Science and Engineering Department and previously served on the MSA Student Council. This is Aubrey’s fourth year participating on the WiM Planning Committee.
Kayna Mendoza Trujillo
Materials Engineer & PhD Fellow, Northwestern University
Kayna has an academic and professional background in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering alongside 3 years of industry experience in the aerospace sector. She has since transitioned to research in nanomagnetism for energy efficient computing at Argonne National Laboratory. Kayna is a member and active volunteer of the Microscopy Society Student Council as Regional Liaison, IEEE Young Professionals Community Climate and Sustainability Task Force (CSTF) as well as the Humanitarian Technologies Board (HTB). She is focused on contributing to spaces that uplift students voices and those that bridge technology and policy.