Physics Lecture Demonstration Catalog

Alex Helman was born in Odessa, Ukraine (former USSR). Alex has B.S. in E.E. from the Electrotechnical Institute of Communication in Odessa, and M.S. and Ph.D. in Solid State Physics where he has done his research in collaboration with Moscow State and Gorky State Universities. He has 14 publications and made 22 conference presentations. His career included fifteen years of teaching in Odessa's Institute of Technology and Polytechnic University, research work, as well as experience leading R&D groups and being principal scientist in both academia and various areas in the industry. Emigrated to USA in 1991 where he started working at Morris Research, Inc. in Berkeley on high temperature superconductivity research, then worked on NASA/AMES project. Alex joined UCSC in 1995.

Eitan was born in Haifa Israel and moved to the U.S. with his family at age four. He attended public schools in Pennsylvania and California and recently graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a B.S. in Astrophysics. Currently he is continuing his post-bachelor education at Boston University with the intent of obtaining a Ph.D. in Physics. He is a part of the condensed matter research group that uses radiation from the synchrotron in Brookhaven to do real-time analysis of surfaces. His hobbies include drumming, mountain biking, and digital photography.

Matvei was born in suburbs of Moscow, Russia, and attended public school until the age of 15, when he moved to the U.S. with his mother. After graduating from Mary Star of the Sea High School (San Pedro, CA) in 2006 he continued his education in UC Santa Cruz as a Computer Science and Videogame Design major. In 2007 his team was awarded 1^st place in a campus-wide game design contest. His hobbies include rock climbing, digital photography, and computer graphics programming.

John was born in Redwood City and grew up in Orange Country, California. He graduated from Foothill High School in 2005, and was admitted to UC Santa Cruz. John is an Inductee into the Young Inventors Hall of Fame, is the VFW 2005 Eagle Scout of the Year, and holds the rank of 2^nd Lt. in Civil Air Patrol. He is currently an undergraduate working on a major in Hitory and a minor in Astronomy. In his free time he does off-roading, hiking, and flying.