Faculty
Pui Lam is a Professor and the Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Lam has served as the faculty advisor for the UH Chapter of SPS since 1995. He received his B.S. in Applied Physics from Caltech and his Ph.D. in Physics from the U. C. Berkeley with emphasis in condensed matter theory. Lam has been continuously advocating for instructional reform to enhance student learning within the department. He has established the UH Physics Student Learning Center, the Learning Assistant program and Context-rich Recitations in the department.
Mike Nassir is an Instructor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at UH Manoa, where he teaches introductory and intermediate undergraduate lecture and laboratory courses. He is also an academic advisor for Physics & Astro majors, serves on UH General Education committees, and works with a variety of secondary-school and public-outreach science programs. Mr. Nassir is also a Science Communication instructor for the summer Akamai Internship program, coaching undergraduate interns in writing and speaking skills for a future in engineering or science. In 2010, Mr. Nassir was one of six recipients of the UH Manoa Chancellor’s Citation for Meritorious Teaching; in 2005, he received UH’s Frances Davis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Mr. Nassir received his B.S. in Physics from Caltech and M.S. in Astronomy at UH Manoa, where his research focused on infrared and microwave observations of protostars in nearby star-forming regions.
Current SPS Officers
Tommy Lam is a physics and mathematics major here at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. At UH, he has been awarded the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programs Grant, Chancellor Scholarship, and other merit-based scholarships. He has also been SPS President since Fall 2015. Outside of Hawaii, Tommy has participated in the DOE Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship, having gone twice to work with high energy physics group at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Outside of physics, Tommy enjoys listening to classical music, watching anime, attempting tennis, biking, and eating.
My name is Diana Castaneda, a sophomore at University of Hawaii at Manoa and SPS President. I am a B.S. Candidate in Astrophysics, and plan to continue to earn a doctorate degree to do “out-of-this-world research”. I have published work in double star research and conducted research on supermassive black holes and star formation rates.