New Faculty
A native of Pittsburgh, Assistant Professor of Physics John Alison came to Carnegie Mellon from the University of Chicago, where he was a Fermi/McCormick Fellow. Alison’s research at Carnegie Mellon focuses on learning more about the Higgs boson through building upgraded detectors for the Large Hadron Collider.
Assistant Professor Florian Frick joined the Department of Mathematical Sciences in July 2018. A native of Germany, Frick came to Carnegie Mellon from Cornell University, where he was an assistant professor for three years. “I work at the triple-point of combinatorics, topology and geometry,” Frick said of his research.
Assistant Professor of Physics Jyoti Katoch came to Carnegie Mellon from the Ohio State University, where she was a research scientist and postdoctoral researcher. Katoch, a native of India, researches the physical properties of quantum materials and co-leads the Lab for Investigating Quantum Materials, Interfaces and Devices.
Assistant Professor of Physics Riccardo Penco came to Carnegie Mellon from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a postdoctoral fellow. While he focused on cosmology for his Ph.D., Penco has since done theoretical research on effective field theories regarding condensed matter systems and black holes.
A native of India, Assistant Research Professor of Physics Simranjeet Singh came to Carnegie Mellon from the Ohio State University, where he was a postdoctoral researcher. Singh’s research focuses on the physics of quantum materials and he co-leads the Lab for Investigating Quantum Materials, Interfaces and Devices.
Assistant Professor Franziska Weber joined the Department of Mathematical Sciences in November 2018. Weber came to Carnegie Mellon from the University of Maryland, College Park. “My job is to construct algorithms for certain kinds of equations like those governing fluids and waves,” Weber said of her research.
Retiring Faculty
Professor Gregg Franklin retired after 35 years spent as a member of the faculty of the Department of Physics, and before that three years as a research associate with the department.
He was the principal investigator for Carnegie Mellon’s Medium Energy Physics Group, which works at the boundary of nuclear and particle physics to look at what comprises neutrons and protons in atoms. He has been heavily involved in developing research and equipment at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory and has served as a spokesperson for multiple experiments at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
In addition to his research, Franklin also served as head of the Department of Physics from 2008 to 2013 and as a MCS associate dean from 2002 to 2009.
Associate Teaching Professor George Klein retired after 26 and a half years spent as a member of the faculty of the Department of Physics.
Along with teaching, Klein was also a member of the staff of the Carnegie Mellon Academic Development Office, where he supervised the hiring and training of physics peer tutors. Klein was heavily invested in improving the teaching and retention of physics students, particularly through the introductory courses.
Klein also served as a consultant and lecturer for Carnegie Mellon’s Summer Academy for Mathematics and Science, a residential program for minority high school students interested in studying STEM at the college level.
Teaching Professor Russell Walker retired after 33 years spent as a member of the faculty of the Department of Mathematical Sciences.
Walker, who received his master’s and doctoral degrees from Carnegie Mellon, was focused on teaching and developing course materials related to calculus and operations research. His textbook Introduction to Mathematical Programming has been used in undergraduate business administration programs at Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern University and Hamilton College. He helped launch Carnegie Mellon’s Qatar campus, and taught there for several years.
Walker served as associate head of the Department of Mathematical Sciences from 1985 to 2007, and oversaw curriculum planning and scheduling, supervising teaching assistants, interviewing prospective students and advising.