Hey y'all! My name is Sam, and I'm a physics graduate student at the University of Washington. I grew up right outside of Louisville, KY (if the "y'all" didn't give it away) before attending Yale College for undergrad -- I graduated in 2020 with a double major in math and physics.
In addition to being a fledgling physicist, I am also a musician, an avid reader, an extremely amateur photographer, and a trivia hater.
Like everyone my age, I'm always checking my phone.
You can easily reach me at sjborden@uw.edu.
Since I'll be a first-year graduate student in 2020, I'm very excited to start my teaching career. Having great graduate student mentorship as an undergrad helped me succeed, so I want to pay it forward. I am currently a TA for Physics 123: Waves.
As an incoming graduate student, I've yet to make a final commitment to a subfield; however, I am extremely excited by the work being done in precision physics -- specifically rare event searches. My past research experiences arc from geophysics and seismology to neutrinoless double beta decay searches. Click here if you want to learn more about my research!
My goal as a physicist is not to just do research, but to also spread the same sense of excitement and wonder that science gives me. I personally know the importance of STEM outreach, especially early age STEM programs -- I probably would not have been a scientist without them. I am firmly committed to diversity and making physics an equitable and safe space for all.