{"id":11,"date":"2020-08-18T17:13:56","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T17:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-optics-wp.pantheonsite.io\/chalifoux\/?page_id=11"},"modified":"2026-04-09T20:31:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T20:31:21","slug":"people","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/chalifoux\/people\/","title":{"rendered":"People"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Brandon Chalifoux, Assistant Professor<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Prior to joining the College of Optical Sciences (2020-present), I completed my Ph.D. and Postdoctoral training at MIT in the Space Nanotechnology Laboratory. I completed a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Rice Unviersity. Aside from research and teaching, I enjoy rock climbing, mountain biking, and trying to avoid the cholla during both.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Graduate students<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Kevin Laverty, PhD student (Optical Sciences)<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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I began my PhD at the College of Optical Sciences in 2020.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Brody McElwain, PhD student (Optical Sciences)<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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I graduated from Penn State with a B.S. and M.S. in Engineering Science and Mechanics in 2022. I started my PhD in Optical Sciences at UofA in 2022. I work on technology development for high-resolution X-ray optics. My research has an emphasis on fabrication, assembly, and figure correction of our X-ray Flex Module concept. In my spare time I enjoy climbing at Mount Lemmon and Cochise Stronghold, live music in the Tucson and Phoenix music scenes, film photography, and going to the movies.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Hill Tailor, PhD student (Optical Sciences)<\/h3>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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Sofia Hillman, PhD student (Optical Sciences)<\/h3>\r\n

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Lakshmi Priya Keerthi Gurunathan, PhD student (Optical Sciences)<\/h3>\r\n

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Kyle Ettinger, MS student (Optical Sciences)<\/h3>\r\n

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Bernie Lee, MS student (Optical Sciences)<\/h3>\r\n

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Peikun Guo, MS student (Optical Sciences)<\/h3>\r\n

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Undergraduate students<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Francisco Calixtro, BS student (Optical Sciences)<\/h3>\r\n

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Dillan Synan, BS student (Optical Sciences)<\/h3>\r\n

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Research staff<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Ian Arnold, Research Engineer<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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I have been a Research Engineer at the University of Arizona since 2018. Prior to that I completed a M.S degree in Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona working with ultrafast attosecond spectroscopy. I also received a M.S. and B.S. degrees in physics from the University of Nevada, Reno where I built atmospheric instrumentation. I am a very hands-on person who enjoys building things.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Jackie Johnson, Administrative Associate<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Alumni<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Carolyn Hokin, MS Optical Sciences 2025\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

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Thesis: Stability of Thin Films and Stress from Ultrafast Laser-Induced Nanograting Structures<\/p>\r\n

Winona Esher, MS Optical Sciences 2025<\/h3>\r\n

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Thesis: Surface Roughness Arising from Ultrafast Laser Techniques Performed on Glass for Fabricating X-ray Optics<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Josh Richards, MS Mechanical Engineering 2024<\/h3>\r\n
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Thesis: Investigation of Correction Capabilities of Ultrafast Laser Stress Figuring for Advanced Optical Fabrication<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Caroline Humphreys, MS Optical Sciences 2024\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n

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Thesis: Impact of Nanograting Direction on Ultrafast Laser Stress Generation in Fused Silica Glass<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Hayden Wisniewski, PhD Optical Sciences 2023<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Dissertation: Surface Metrology Methods for X-ray Telescope Mirrors, Freeforms, and Heliostats<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Alex St. Peter, M.S. Optical Sciences 2023<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Thesis: Estimation of ultrafast laser-induced stress in fused silica from evaluation of stress birefringence<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Alyssa Baller, M.S. Optical Sciences 2022<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Report: Systematic evaluation of the OSIRIS-REx PolyCam<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brandon Chalifoux, Assistant Professor Prior to joining the College of Optical Sciences (2020-present), I completed my Ph.D. and Postdoctoral training at MIT in the Space Nanotechnology Laboratory. I completed a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Rice Unviersity. Aside from research and teaching, I enjoy rock climbing, mountain biking, and trying to avoid the cholla during both. Graduate students Kevin Laverty,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/chalifoux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/chalifoux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/chalifoux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/chalifoux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/chalifoux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":55,"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/chalifoux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249,"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/chalifoux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11\/revisions\/249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.optics.arizona.edu\/chalifoux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}