Julie Butler: Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

Michigan State University

MAY 2018 - JULY 2023

  • Location: East Lansing, MI
  • Degree: Ph.D. in Theoretical Nuclear Physics
  • GPA: 3.44
  • Thesis Title: Coupled-Cluster Theory and Machine Learning Applied to Infinite Matter

Erskine College

AUGUST 2014 - MAY 2018

  • Location: Due West, SC
  • Degrees: Bachelor of Science in Physics and Chemistry, Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics
  • Honors: Summa cum laude, Honors in Mathematics and Chemistry
  • GPA: 3.99
  • Major GPA: 4.00

TEACHING AND MENTORING EXPERIENCE

Assistant Professor of Physics

AUGUST 2023 - PRESENT

  • Institution: University of Mount Union
  • Supervisors: Dr. Robert Ekey (Physics Program Coordinator, Department Chair), Dr. Colin Campbell (Data Science Program Coordinator)

Responsible for teaching classes and supervising labs for the physics major and minor as well as the data science major and minor. Courses Taught: * DSC 140S: Data Science Fundamentals * Fall 2024: 2 sections * DSC 330: Data Acquisition * Spring 2024: 1 section * Average Student Evaluation: 3.8/4.0 * DSC 340: Machine Learning and Neural Network Processing * Fall 2023: 1 section * Average Student Evaluation: 3.62/4.0 * PHY 101 Lab: General Physics I * Fall 2023: 1 section, Spring 2024: 1 section, Fall 2024: 1 section * Average Student Evaluation: 3.78/4.0 * PHY 102 Lab: General Physics II * Fall 2023: 1 section, Spring 2024: 1 section, Fall 2024: 1 section * Average Student Evaluation: 3.79/4.0 * PHY 102 Lecture: General Physics II * Fall 2023: 1 section, Spring 2024: 1 section * Average Student Evaluation: 3.78/4.0 * PHY 299: Introduction to Quantum Computing and Quantum Information (Special Topics Course) * Fall 2024: 1 section * PHY 409: Quantum Mechanics * Spring 2024: 1 section * Average Student Evaluation: 3.86/4.0

Visiting Researcher - Center for Computing in Science Education

SEPTEMBER 2022 - DECEMBER 2022

  • Institution: University of Oslo
  • Supervisor: Dr. Morten Hjorth-Jensen

Collaborated with physics education researchers at the Center for Computing in Science Education (CCSE) at the University of Oslo in Oslo, Norway.

Classical Mechanics Graduate Teaching Assistant

JANUARY 2021 - MAY 2021 || JANUARY 2022 - MAY 2022

  • Institution: Michigan State University
  • Supervisor: Dr. Morten Hjorth-Jensen

Assisted with all aspects of teaching classical mechanics. This included acting as a facilitator and instructor during class and holding office hours, in addition to writing and grading homework and exams. Additionally, in the Spring of 2022, aiding in curriculum development to transition the class to a half-flipped and hybrid classroom format.

Undergraduate Research Mentor

MAY 2021 - DECEMBER 2021 || JANUARY 2022 - DECEMBER 2023

  • Institution: Michigan State University
  • Supervisor: Dr. Morten Hjorth-Jensen

Mentor and supervise undergraduates as they perform research projects in nuclear many-body theory. I have currently mentored seven undergraduates from Michigan State University and two students from the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates program.

INSIGHT Program Instructor

JUNE 2021

  • Institution: Facility for Rare Isotope Beams
  • Supervisor: Dr. Morten Hjorth-Jensen and Dr. Paul Gueye

Designed and taught a one-week intensive class on scientific Python for the Institute for Nuclear Science to Inspire the Next Generation of a Highly Trained Workforce (INSIGHT) program at FRIB, a program for minorities and underrepresented students majoring in physics at historically minority colleges across the nation.

Introductory Mechanics Graduate Teaching Assistant

JANUARY 2021 - MAY 2021

  • Institution: Michigan State University
  • Supervisor: Dr. Dan Hayden

Held nine office hours per week to assist students with their assignments and understanding of the subject.

P-Cubed and EMP-Cubed Graduate Teaching Assistant

AUGUST 2018 - MAY 2019 || AUGUST 2019 - MAY 2020 || AUGUST 2020 - DECEMBER 2020

  • Institution: Michigan State University
  • Supervisors: Prof. Richard Hallstein, Dr. Johannes Pollanen, Dr. Daryll McPadden

Assisted with all aspects of teaching P-Cubed and EMP-Cubed, flipped format classrooms for introductory mechanics and electricity and magnetism, respectively. This included acting as a facilitator during class and holding office hours, in addition to writing and grading exams

Chemistry and Physics Lab Assistant

AUGUST 2015 - MAY 2016 || AUGUST 2016 - MAY 2017 || AUGUST 2017 - MAY 2018

  • Institution: Erskine College
  • Supervisors: Dr. Howard Thomas, Dr. Joel Boyd

Assisted with the preparation, clean-up, and instruction of chemistry and physics labs, ranging from introductory to advanced level in addition to performing general laboratory maintenance.

Supplemental Instruction Leader

AUGUST 2015 - MAY 2016 || AUGUST 2016 - MAY 2017 || AUGUST 2017 - MAY 2018

  • Institution: Erskine College
  • Supervisor: Mrs. Jeanne Bell

Aided students by holding twice-weekly sessions to review the material covered in class and to assist with homework problems. Was assigned to General Chemistry I and II, General Physics I and II, Introduction to Statistics, and Calculus I.

PUBLICATIONS

Coupled-Cluster Calculations of Infinite Nuclear Matter in the Complete Basis Limit Using Bayesian Machine Learning

Accelerating the Convergence of Coupled Cluster Calculations of the Homogeneous Electron Gas Using Bayesian Ridge Regression

Data Science Education in Undergraduate Physics: Lessons Learned from a Community of Practice.

Robust ab initio predictions for nuclear rotational structure in the Be isotopes.

SERVICE

Academic Policies Committee at the University of Mount Union

MAY 2024 - MAY 2027

American Physics Society Topical Group on Data Science (GDS)

FEBRUARY 2022 - PRESENT

  • DSCECOP Fellow: February 2022 - December 2023
  • Social Media Manager: October 2022 - Present
  • Secretary: March 2024 - March 2027

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Improving the Accuracy of Infinite Matter Calculations with Machine Learning, Relativistic Potentials, and Three-Body Forces

FEBRUARY 2023-JUNE 2023

  • Topics: Theoretical Nuclear Physics, Machine Learning, High-Performance Computing
  • Institution: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN
  • Advisor: Dr. Gustav Jansen

Worked to improve the accuracy of coupled cluster calculations of infinite matter by including realistic nuclear interactions, three-body forces to allow for coupled cluster triples calculations, and using machine learning to accelerate the convergence of calculations with respect to the number of single-particle states and the number of particles. This work was performed as part of the DOE SCGSR fellowship (awarded September 2022).

Applications of Machine Learning to Studies of Infinite Nuclear Matter

MAY 2018-JULY 2023

  • Topics: Theoretical Nuclear Physics and Machine Learning
  • Institution : Michigan State University, MI
  • Advisor: Dr. Morten Hjorth-Jensen

Developed machine learning software and write many-body physics codes which will improve the ability to study infinite nuclear matter from a theoretical perspective. Many-body methods of interest are many-body perturbation theory, coupled-cluster theory, and the in-medium similarity re-normalization group.

Solving Many-Body Methods with Deep Learning and Cloud Computing

OCTOBER 2019-MAY 2020

  • Topics: Theoretical Nuclear Physics, Machine Learning, and Cloud Computing
  • Institution: Michigan State University, MI
  • Advisors: Dr. Morten Hjorth-Jensen and Dr. Brian O’Shea

Performed as part of the Michigan State University Cloud Computing Fellowship. Used virtual machines on Microsoft’s Azure cloud computer to drastically decrease the run time needed to perform hyperparameter tuning on machine learning algorithms with many-body applications.

Rotational Analysis of Beryllium Isotopes with JISP16 and Daejeon16 Interactions

MAY 2017 - JULY 2017

  • Topics: Theoretical Nuclear Physics, Computational Physics
  • Institution: University of Notre Dame, IN
  • Advisor: Dr. Mark Caprio Performed as part of the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. Wrote scripts and performed data analysis on the output of nuclear many-body codes to compare the performance of two different interactions when studying the nucleus of several isotopes of beryllium.

Determination of the Aluminum Background Signal in the Qweak Experiment

MAY 2016 - AUGUST 2016

  • Topics: Experimental Nuclear Physics, Precision Measurement
  • Institution: William and Mary, VA
  • Advisor: Dr. David Armstrong Performed as part of the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. Wrote scripts and performed data analysis in an attempt to remove a source of experimental error from the data generated by the Qweak experiment which ran at Jefferson National Laboratory.

Parallelization of the Method of Feasible Directions

MARCH 2017 - MAY 2018

  • Topics: Optimization, High-Performance Computing
  • Institution: Erskine College, SC
  • Advisor: Dr. Artur Gorka

Parallelized an implementation of the method of feasible directions, an optimization code. Compared the performance of the serial and parallel versions of the code on a small cluster of computers.

Water Purification Abilities of Titania Photocatalyst

JANUARY 2016 - MAY 2018

  • Topics: Environmental Chemistry, Instrumental Chemistry
  • Institution: Erskine College, SC
  • Advisor: Dr. Joel Boyd

Analyzed the ability of titania nanoparticles to degrade common agricultural antibiotics when exposed to direct sunlight. The titania nanoparticles were adhered to UV-transparent acrylic and the degradation of the antibiotics was analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography.

AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS, AND FELLOWSHIPS

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research Fellowship (SCGSR)

Awarded September 2022 by the U.S. Department of Energy

A highly competitive and prestigious award that provides recipients with funding to complete part of their thesis research at a DOE national laboratory under the supervision of a DOE scientist. My award allowed by to complete part of my thesis research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Gustav Jansen.

Colleges’ Online Learning Academy (COLA) Fellowship

Awarded April 2022 by Michigan State University

Recipients are provided with funding for the development of online learning resources which will be incorporated into classes at Michigan State University. I created a literature review of digital textbooks and explored creating digital textbooks with a software called Jupyter Books.

Data Science Community of Practice (DSECOP) Fellowship

Awarded February 2022 and January 2023 by the American Physics Society’s Topical Group on Data Science

Recipients are provided with funding for the development of modules that introduce data science and machine learning into standard physics classrooms. I created two modules that can be used to incorporate machine learning into undergraduate physics classes: Solving Differential Equations with Neural Networks, which introduces students in a classical mechanics course to neural networks, and The Machine Learning Workflow, which introduces students in introductory mechanics laboratory classes to the machine learning workflow through linear regression. Both of these modules are available at: https://github.com/GDS-Education-Community-of-Practice/DSECOP.

Outstanding Graduate Student: Graduate TA Award, Advanced Course

Awarded April 2021 by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University

Awarded to teaching assistants in advanced physics classes. Recipients are chosen by the professors of the classes.

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention

Awarded April 2020 by the National Science Foundation

Cloud Computing Fellowship

Awarded October 2019 by the Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research at Michigan State University

Awarded to fifteen Michigan State University graduate students with funding to pursue an investigation into the use of cloud computing in thesis research projects. HERE

Outstanding Graduate Student: Graduate TA Award, Introductory Course

Awarded May 2019 by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University

Awarded to teaching assistants in introductory physics classes. Recipients are chosen by the professors of the classes.

Dr. Everett Askins Sloan Outstanding Senior Award

Awarded May 2018 by the Department of Chemistry and Physics at Erskine College

Awarded to the most outstanding senior in the physical sciences.

Faculty Endowed Scholarship

Awarded April 2017 by Erskine College

Awarded to the most promising student from the junior class.

WORKSHOPS

Association for American Physics Teachers First Year Teaching Institute (FTI)

NOVEMBER 2023

  • Location: Denver, CO
  • Organizer: Dr. Robert Hillborn

The purpose of this institute is to provide new physics faculty members with the skills and knowledge needed to build authentic styles of teaching. Topics covered include active learning and teaching, and reflective teaching, among other topics.

Data Science Education Community of Practices (DSECOP) June Workshop

JUNE 2022, JUNE 2023

  • Location: University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland
  • Organizer: Dr. William Ratcliff

Sponsored by the University of Maryland and the American Physics Society DSECOP division. The topic of the workshop was “Data Science Education in Physics Curriculum”. Involved lectures on integrating data science and machine learning into physics classes of all levels.

Oslo Physics Education Research Summer Institute

JUNE 2022 * Location: University of Oslo in Oslo, Norway * Organizer: Dr. Tor Ole Bigton

Sponsored by the University of Oslo’s Center for Computing in Science Education. Involved talks and workshops related to many current topics in physics education research including integrating computation in physics classes and upper-level physics instruction

Certification in College Teaching Institute

MAY 2021 * Location: Online * Organizer: Dr. Stefanie Baier

Sponsored by Michigan State University Graduate School. Involved a lecture component, group discussions, and written assignments. Covered topics such as curriculum development, teaching philosophies, and teaching portfolios.

ECT* TALENT School: Machine Learning Applied to Nuclear Physics: Experiment and Theory

JUNE 2020

  • Location: Online
  • Organizer: Dr. Morten Hjorth-Jensen

Sponsored by the European Center for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics and Related Areas. Involved a lecture component and hands-on programming sessions. Covered many topics in machine learning that can be applied in the physical sciences.

FRIB Theory Alliance Summer School on Machine Learning Applied to Nuclear Physics

MAY 2019

  • Location: Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University
  • Organizer: Dr. Morten Hjorth-Jensen

Sponsored by the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams. Involved a lecture component and hands-on programming sessions. Covered many topics in machine learning that can be applied in the physical sciences.

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

Using Bayesian Machine Learning to Extend the Range of Ab-Initio Many-Body Calculations for Infinite Matter Systems

MARCH 2024

  • Conference: American Physics Society March Meeting
  • Format: Poster Presentation
  • Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Extending the Range of Nuclear Many-Body Calculations with Bayesian Machine Learning

NOVEMBER 2023

  • Conference: Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics Seminar Series
  • Format: Invited Oral Presentation
  • Location: Ohio University, Athens, OH

Nuclear Physics as an Interdisciplinary Field

NOVEMBER 2023

  • Conference: Engaging Science, Innovation, and Technology Lecture Series
  • Format: Invited Oral Presentation
  • Location: University of Mount Union, Alliance, OH

Introduction to Data Science Libraries

JUNE 2023

  • Conference: Data Science Education Community of Practices June Meeting
  • Format: Oral Presentation
  • Location: College Park, MD

Application of Machine Learning to Studies of Infinite Nuclear Matter

OCTOBER 2022

  • Conference: American Physics Society Division of Nuclear Physics Annual Meeting
  • Format: Oral Presentation
  • Location: New Orleans, LA

Machine Learning in the Undergraduate Physics Curriculum

OCTOBER 2022

  • Conference: Center for Computing in Science Education Seminar
  • Format: Invited Oral Presentation
  • Location: University of Oslo, Olso, Norway

Application of Machine Learning to Studies of Infinite Nuclear Matter

September 2022

  • Conference: Recent Progress in Many-Body Theory XXI
  • Format: Oral Presentation
  • Location: Chapel Hill, NC

Using Neural Networks to Solve Differential Equations in Classical Mechanics

JUNE 2022

  • Conference: Data Science Education Community of Practices June Meeting
  • Format: Oral Presentation
  • Location: College Park, MD

Better Support for Students in Classical Mechanics Through a Flipped Classroom and Hybrid Approach

JUNE 2022

  • Conference: Oslo Physics Education Research Summer Institute
  • Format: Poster Presentation
  • Location: Oslo, Norway

Application of Kernel Ridge Regression to Predict Energies of Many-Body Systems

MAY 2022

  • Conference: Nuclei and Mesoscopic Physics Conference
  • Format: Oral Presentation
  • Location: East Lansing, MI

Better Support for Students in Classical Mechanics Through a Flipped Classroom Approach

MARCH 2022

  • Conference: PhysTEC Conference
  • Format: Poster Presentation
  • Location: Virtual

Application of Machine Learning to Studies of Infinite Nuclear Matter

OCTOBER 2021

  • Conference: American Physics Society Division of Nuclear Physics Annual Meeting
  • Format: Oral Presentation
  • Location: Virtual

Coupled Cluster Theory Applied to Infinite Matter: A Review and Initial Results

APRIL 2021

  • Conference: Research Discussion at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams
  • Format: Oral Presentation
  • Location: Virtual

An Introduction to Cloud Computing for Physicists

APRIL 2021

  • Conference: Physics Graduate Organization Seminar at Michigan State University
  • Format: Oral Presentation
  • Location: Virtual

Deep Learning and the Many-Body Problem

NOVEMBER 2019

  • Conference: Research Discussion at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams
  • Format: Oral Presentation
  • Location: East Lansing, MI

Parallelization of the Method of Feasible Directions

MARCH 2018

  • Conference: Mathematical Association of America, Southeastern Section 97th Annual Meeting
  • Format: Poster Presentation
  • Location: Clemson University, Clemson, SC

Iron-Modified TiO2 for the photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline and tylosin

MARCH 2018

  • Conference: 255th American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition
  • Format: Oral Presentation
  • Location: New Orleans, LA

Rotational Analysis of Beryllium Isotopes Using JISP16 and Daejeon16 Interactions

OCTOBER 2017

  • Conference: American Physics Society Division of Nuclear Physics Annual Meeting
  • Format: Poster Presentation
  • Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Determination of the Aluminum Background Signal in the Qweak Experiment

APRIL 2017

  • Conference: 253rd American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition
  • Format: Oral Presentation
  • Location: San Francisco, CA

Determination of the Aluminum Background Signal in the Qweak Experiment OCTOBER 2016 * Conference: American Physics Society Division of Nuclear Physics Annual Meeting * Format: Poster Presentation * Location: Vancouver, BC