Degrees and Programs Engineering Physics

Christina Dubell ('21) was an outstanding student, musician, and leader at Westmont, exemplifying the Christian liberal arts. She maintained a double major in Engineering Physics and Music while serving as the Concertmaster of the Westmont Orchestra and first violinist of our top string quartet for numerous concerts and venues. From the outset of her time at the college she was driven to accomplish every goal for mastering both the intuition and mathematical complexities of physics and the creative but also technical work of understanding and producing beautiful music. She completed the major honors project "Measuring Protein Adsorption with "EW-CRDS" in Physical Chemistry with Professor Michael Everest and earned the Outstanding Graduate Award in both the Physics/Engineering and Music departments for 2021. Christina is currently pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University.

Logan Hodgson ('21) came to Westmont as an Augustinian Scholar and left as a triple major in Engineering Physics, Music, and Mathematics (not the easiest path to graduation). A brilliant student in his classes, he also served as an outstanding TA that many students came to depend on. He combined an uncanny intuitive understanding of physics with the mathematical chops to handle the hardest of calculations. He served as principal cellist of the Westmont Orchestra on numerous occasions and was a very active chamber musician in the top string quartet. An accomplished researcher, he also worked at Las Cumbres Observatory analyzing thermal noise in CCD arrays as well as developing software for tracking asteroid orbits. Logan also earned the distinction of winning the Outstanding Graduate Award in both the Physics/Engineering and Music departments for 2021. He is currently pursuing an M.S. in Electrical Engineering at Cal Poly SLO.

Faith Palombi ('21) excelled as an Engineering Physics major at Westmont. A gifted researcher, Faith worked closely with Westmont physics professors Robert Haring-Kaye and Michael Sommermann on novel research projects in nuclear physics and astronomy, respectively. In particular, her valuable contributions to the nuclear physics research resulted in her status as second author of a paper recently submitted for consideration as a Regular Article publication in Physical Review C, the premier domestic journal for nuclear physics research. Her outstanding results were also on display as a poster presentation at the 2021 Westmont College Student Research Symposium. Faith is currently working as a Software Engineer for General Motors in Austin, Texas. 

Bethany Sutherland (’12), a dancer and an artist, earned a Bachelor of Science in engineering physics at Westmont, embracing both science and the arts. She works as an associate project manager at Santa Barbara Imaging Systems.