The Compass Lecture Series is a collection of research talks given by Berkeley researchers in the physical sciences. These talks are unique in that they are designed for an undergraduate audience. The goal of the lecture series is to introduce undergrads to as many areas of research as possible using language and physics concepts they can understand.
The Spring 2026 Compass Lectures will take place in a hybrid format, both in-person at 375 Physics North or 230D Stephens Hall, as well as virtually on Zoom on select Fridays throughout the semester from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM. (Be sure to confirm the location for each lecture!)
Lecture 1 (February 13, 2026): Ghost Particles and How to Catch Them
Lecture 2 (February 20, 2026): Towards Optimal, High-Efficiency Quantum Enhancement in the LIGO Gravitational Wave Detectors
Lecture 3 (February 27, 2026): From Merger to Matter: Understanding the Formation of Heavy Elements
Lecture 4 (March 6, 2026): So Much Information in Wiggles: A Seismologist’s Routine
Lecture 5 (March 13, 2026): Unravelling The Cosmos with Machine Learning
Lecture 6 (April 10, 2026): How do cell motors like kinesine navigate obstacles on microtubules?
Lecture 7 (April 17, 2026): Finding Dark Matter With a Future Plasma Wakefield Collider
Lecture 8 (April 24, 2026): Tunneling two-level systems in amorphous oxide films
Name: Srikar Gadamsetty
Position: Graduate Student in Physics
Title: Ghost Particles and How to Catch Them
Talk Description: One hundred billion “ghost particles,” or neutrinos, pass through your thumbnail each second, and yet we feel none of them. Remarkably, these nearly invisible particles may hold the key to some of the biggest unanswered questions in physics, including what lies beyond the Standard Model. Detecting these elusive particles in a sea of background noise has challenged physicists for more than fifty years. Historically, optical neutrino experiments have leveraged one of two distinct detection channels: Cherenkov signals in water and scintillation signals in liquid scintillator. At Berkeley, we are developing a third option: “hybrid detection,” in which the detector is sensitive to both scintillation and Cherenkov signals. In this talk, I will explore the history of neutrino experiments and the pursuit to unlocking new physics beyond the Standard Model through neutrino measurements.
Date: Friday, February 13th, 2026
Time: 3:10 pm – 4:00 pm (talk and questions)
Location: 251 Physics North
Check Calendar for Zoom link
Name: Maryrose Barrios
Position: Postdoctoral Researcher in Physics
Title: Towards Optimal, High-Efficiency Quantum Enhancement in the LIGO Gravitational Wave Detectors
Talk Description: The Advanced LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) observatories made the first direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015. In its fourth astrophysical observing run (O4), key hardware improvements, such as the recent upgrade to “frequency-dependent squeezing,” have allowed for the broadband quantum enhancement of detector sensitivity. In the two years of O4, the LIGO detectors have totaled nearly 300 new astrophysical triggers, compared to the 90 events detected after two years of observing at previous sensitivities. To achieve greater levels of quantum noise reduction in the future, detector-wide losses must be reduced to allow fragile quantum states of light to propagate more efficiently through LIGO’s complex kilometer-scale facilities. Our work constructing new output mode cleaner (OMC) cavities for the next observing run has now met target specifications of 98%-99.5% throughput efficiency, compared to current cavities with 95-98% efficiency. This talk will detail the design, fabrication, and table-top performance tests, as well as the installation of these new OMC cavities for higher squeezing levels. These advances pave the way for the upgrade to a new type of readout that would allow for optimal quantum-limited detection of the gravitational-wave signal.
Date: Friday, February 20th, 2026
Time: 3:10 pm – 4:00 pm (talk and questions)
Location: 375 Physics North
Name: Mengke Li
Position: Postdoctoral Researcher in Physics
Title: From Merger to Matter: Understanding the Formation of Heavy Elements
Talk Description: Where do the heaviest elements, such as gold and platinum, in the universe come from? In this lecture, I will explore how extreme cosmic events, especially collisions between neutron stars, create the conditions needed to form these elements. I will explain how the properties of atomic nuclei, tiny building blocks at the center of atoms, shape which elements are produced and in what amounts. Using simple physical ideas rather than equations, I will show how nuclear physics and astrophysics work together to tell the story of element formation. We will also discuss how computer simulations and astronomical observations help test these ideas. This talk is designed to be accessible to students from a wide range of backgrounds and will highlight how different areas of physics come together to answer one of the universe’s oldest questions.
Date: Friday, February 27th, 2026
Time: 3:10 pm – 4:00 pm (talk and questions)
Location: 375 Physics North
Name: Savvas Marcou
Position: PhD Candidate in EPS
Title: So Much Information in Wiggles: A Seismologist’s Routine
Talk Description: Seismology is the science of all things earthquakes. Seismologists love to look at waveforms – the wiggles recording the waves radiated into the Earth by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and even humans. These wiggles give information about the ground beneath our feet and the events that produce them. In this lecture, I’ll give a taste of what a seismologist’s research looks like and how one becomes a seismologist. I’ll also discuss how seismologists can actively engage society and politicians for the ultimate goal of saving lives and preventing losses in earthquake country California.
Date: Friday, March 6th, 2026
Time: 3:10 pm – 4:00 pm (talk and questions)
Location: 230D Stephens Hall
Name: Natalí Soler Matubaro de Santi
Position: Postdoctoral Researcher in Physics
Title: Unravelling The Cosmos with Machine Learning
Talk Description: My research explores how machine learning can help us comprehend the Universe by turning complex cosmological data into physical understanding, not just predictions. I work at the intersection of cosmology and modern ML, using techniques such as normalizing flows, computer vision, and graph neural networks to extract fundamental parameters of the Universe from large simulations and galaxy surveys. These methods allow us to move beyond traditional summary statistics and instead learn directly from high-dimensional structures like cosmic fields and galaxy networks. A key goal of my work is robustness: training models across diverse simulations so that our inferences remain valid even when our theoretical assumptions are imperfect. Ultimately, machine learning becomes a new scientific instrument, one that helps us interpret the data deluge of modern surveys and highly accurate simulations and deepen our physical understanding of how the Universe evolves.
Date: Friday, March 13th, 2026
Time: 3:10 pm – 4:00 pm (talk and questions)
Location: 375 Physics North
Name: Daisong Li
Position: Graduate Student in Biophysics
Title: How do cell motors like kinesine navigate obstacles on microtubules?
Talk Description: Inside cells, molecular motors such as kinesin transport cargo by walking along microtubules, which are often crowded with other proteins and structural features. This talk will explore how kinesin moves, pauses, detaches, or reroutes when it encounters obstacles on these tracks. By combining experimental observations with physical intuition, I will discuss how these microscopic navigation strategies contribute to reliable transport in complex cellular environments. I will also share how early involvement in hands-on research gave me the confidence to apply to advanced degree programs, from the perspective of a transfer student.
Date: Friday, April 10th, 2026
Time: 3:10 pm – 4:00 pm (talk and questions)
Location: 375 Physics North
Name: Christiane Scherb
Position: Postdoctoral Researcher in Physics
Title: Finding Dark Matter with a Future Plasma Wakefield Collider
Talk Description: Particle colliders have been instrumental in discovering new particles for decades, most recently the Higgs boson in 2012. The particle physics community is currently debating options for the next generation of high-energy colliders to uncover new fundamental physics. One promising candidate is a plasma wakefield collider, whose theoretical and experimental foundations are being developed at UC Berkeley and LBNL. In this talk, I will explain why particle physicists are excited about the next high-energy plasma wakefield collider: it offers a unique opportunity to study some of the best-motivated dark matter candidates. Dark matter – mysterious matter comprising 85% of the universe – remains one of physics’ greatest puzzles, and its astrophysical discovery may be just around the corner!
Date: Friday, April 17th, 2026
Time: 3:10 pm – 4:00 pm (talk and questions)
Location: 230D Stephens Hall
Name: Donez Horton-Bailey
Position: PhD Candidate in Physics
Title: Tunneling two-level systems in amorphous oxide films
Talk Description: Much of our current knowledge of solid-state physics comes from studying materials in their crystalline form, taking advantage of their long-range periodic structure and reciprocal lattice to derive many material properties. Non-crystalline materials, such as oxide glass, possess universal properties that are not seen in their crystalline counterparts, and that cannot be explained using the same mathematical techniques used for studying crystals. Understanding these properties allows us to use glasses in a variety of applications, such as building low mechanical loss mirrors for laser interferometers used in gravitational wave detection. I first present a brief overview of important aspects of glass physics and what makes glasses unique. I then talk about our experimental techniques for growth and characterization of simple metal-oxide films. I will conclude with results of work done so far and future outlooks.
Date: Friday, April 24th, 2026
Time: 3:10 pm – 4:00 pm (talk and questions)
Location: 230D Stephens Hall