Ms. Susanne Byrd is a fourth-year undergraduate phyiscs and astronomy major with mathematics minor at the University of Iowa. She does research with Dr. Girazian using NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) data to study the magnetic fields induced by solar wind interaction in the Martian ionosphere. Ms. Byrd is also the vice-president of the University of Iowa’s chapter of the Society of Physics Students.

Dr. Casey DeRoo is an Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa. His research interests include instrumentation for high energy astrophysics, machine learning as applied to astronomical catalogs, and metrology of optical systems. In 2021, he was awarded the Nancy Grace Roman Fellowship which is intended to cultivate future leadership in NASA Astrophysics technologies and missions. In addition to his research, Dr. DeRoo is invested equipping the next-generation of scientists with the skills, knowledge and support they need to be successful along their chosen career paths. He has served on the Dept. of Physics & Astronomy's graduate admissions committee, its DEI committee, and is one of the co-chairs of this CUWiP. 

​​​​​​​Dr. Firdevs Duru is an Associate Professor of Physics at Coe College, Iowa. She received her Ph.D. at the University of Iowa and she does research in the area of space physics. Her main interests are the ionosphere of Mars, its interactions with solar wind and comparisons with other solar system objects. She is also the advisor of Women in STEM club at Coe College, which is a very active organization working on promoting gender equality and creating awareness on issues women face in STEM fields. Dr. Duru will be leading Communicating your Research workshop during CUWIP 2023.

Ms. Cecilia Fasano studies the manufacture and implementation of next-generation ultraviolet diffraction gratings for astronomy. A current PhD student at the University of Iowa, she graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BS in Physics in 2020. Cecilia was awarded a NASA FINESST (Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology) grant to support her Ph.D. research with Prof. Casey DeRoo & Prof. Keri Hoadley. In addition to her research, Cecilia is deeply involved in graduate student governance and mentoring. She is a founding member of both the Physics & Astronomy department's Graduate Student Advisory Council (GSAC) and the GradMAP graduate student peer mentoring program.

Dr. Rachael Filwett is currently a postdoctoral research scholar at the University of Iowa and going to be an Assistant Professor at Montana State University starting January 2023. Dr. Filwett does research in the area of space physics, with a particular focus on solar energetic particle transportation. She was awarded the University of Iowa Postdoctoral Excellence Award in 2021, is a National Science Foundation Atmosphere and Geospace Section Postdoctoral Research Fellow, and has been a part of many NASA missions and grants to study particle acceleration in the Earth's magnetic field and in the interplanetary medium. She is particularly interested in smallsat missions. She will be leading the NASA mission primer panel and is one of the lead organizers for this CUWiP.

Ms. Mary Haag is a second-year undergraduate astronomy and physics major at the University of Iowa. Ms. Haag does research with the University of Iowa high energy physics group with Dr. Jane Nachtman and Dr. Yasar Onel. She has worked on the CMS outer tracker upgrades and the CMS BTL cooling plate upgrade. Ms. Haag is also an active member of the University of Iowa’s chapter of the Society of Physics Students and is one of the chapter's outreach coordinators.

Ms. Sarah Henderson is currently a PhD student at the University of Iowa. She studies solar wind interactions at Mars using data collected by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft. Sarah received her MS in Physics from the University of Iowa in 2019 and her Bachelor of Arts in Physics and German from Lafayette College in 2016. Between her MS and PhD studies, she worked for a NASA GSFC contractor helping to calibrate Earth observing optical data collected by the Aqua and Terra spacecraft, as well as scheduling calibration events for both spacecraft as a member of the Instrument Operations Team.

Professor Kidd's research interests are in the fields of nanoscience and condensed matter physics. His work focuses on modifying materials to enhance their potential for use in novel electronics, alternative energy, and nanoscale devices. His research labs contain extensive facilities including scanning electron, optical and atomic force microscopes, ultra high vacuum systems, and other equipment for the creation and study of nanoscale materials. He has supervised over 30 student research assistants and earned over one million dollars in research funding to support student opportunities and enhance research capabilities at UNI.

Ms. Meg Krapfl is a second-year undergraduate physics and chemistry major at the University of Iowa. She is an active member of the Hawkeye Marching Band and plays the piccolo in the band. Ms. Krapfl is also a Student Manager for University Housing and Dining at Catlett Market Place.

Mary Hall Reno, Erich Funke Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Iowa, is a theoretical particle physicist who focuses on neutrino interactions and their detection. Her work has applications in laboratory experiments, for example, at a future Forward Physics Facility at the Large Hadron Collider, and in simulations that model extensive air shower signals from cosmic neutrinos for space-based experiments. Reno, who served as chair of the UI Department of Physics and Astronomy from 2009 to 2014, is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. She was a member and former chair of the APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics.

Dr. Shanshan Rodriguez is currently an assistant professor at Grinnell College and a former teaching assistant professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Iowa in the field of theoretical space plasmas specifically magnetic reconnection. She subsequently joined NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt MD as a research engineer and worked on the characterization of infrared detectors for several NASA missions. Her current research interests focus on black hole thermodynamics, gravity dual theories, and the underlying plasma interaction with gravity in curved spacetime. She will be one of the co-leaders of CV vs. Resume Workshop and is one of the LOC members for this CUWiP.