ANAHEIM, California —   In March, Dr. Julie Butler, assistant professor of physics, and physics majors Leo Sanchez Torres ’25 and Shawn Powers ’25 presented research and led a session at the industry-renowned American Physical Society (APS) Global Physics Summit.

With assistance from Torres and Powers, Butler led the Data Science for Physicists Short Course, in which more than 80 physicists from across the country were taught data science techniques. This unique opportunity provided the students with the chance to participate in faculty-led research and network with faculty and industry professionals.

Butler (far right, at podium) leads a session at the AWP Summit.

The students were also able to present their own research at the conference. Torres’ was titled “Advancing Atomic Modeling: Integration of Computational Clusters and Neural Networks Techniques” and stemmed from summer work he participated in at the University of Toledo. Powers’ was a result of summer work done at Penn State University titled, “Fabrication and Characterization of Ferroelectric Tunnel Junctions for Applications in Non-Volatile Memory and Neuromorphic Computing.”

Powers (right) presents his research.

“Being able to attend this conference was a great experience, I was able to meet people from different countries and backgrounds who were able to answer a lot of my questions in both my research and following graduation,” said Torres. “This experience highlighted how important networking really is and has opened new possibilities in both my research and personal level.”

Torres (right) discusses his research with a conference attendee.

Alongside leading the short course of data science, Butler also presented her poster, “The STEMCoding YouTube Channel” and contributed to a talk entitled, “Using Bayesian Machine Learning to Extend the Range of Ab Initio Many-Body Calculations of Infinite Matter Systems.”

Learn more about the APS Global Physics Summit at summit.aps.org. Discover the hands-on opportunities available to Mount Union physics students by visiting the physics major page.