Claire Atkinson is a senior at UW double majoring in Comprehensive Physics and Applied and Computational Mathematical Sciences. In her time at UW, she has been able to establish a strong physics foundation, from Taylor expansions to spin-orbit coupling. Her favorite class so far has been the Optics Advanced Laboratory, where table-top experiments enabled her to draw connections between electromagnetism and quantum mechanics to better understand the intriguing phenomena behind light.
Building on this classroom training, Claire has sought out research projects across a variety of subfields from ocean physics to biophysics. Currently, she works as an undergraduate researcher in the UW Nanopore Lab under Professors Jens Gundlach and Andrew Laszlo. For her honors senior thesis project, she is probing how the Hel308 helicase enzyme moves along our genetic material to perform its important role in DNA repair with wide ranging applications including more targeted therapeutic design. She is currently assembling a data-informed differential model to explain how and why significantly distinct rates have been observed for Hel308 processing of each different DNA base.
Outside of research, Claire has also made large efforts to support her community as a leader within the physics department. As the Society of Physics Students (SPS) President, she has worked to establish social events and a welcoming study lounge environment to help create a strong sense of community among the undergraduate physics majors. She has doubled down on these efforts as a member of the department’s Climate and Diversity Committee through events like her yearly Pi Day puzzle hunt to generate friendly competition as members of the department work to solve logic puzzles surrounding the famous number. Alongside her community building efforts, Claire has also spread her love of science through various outreach initiatives. For instance, she spearheaded the organization for this year’s Community Physics Day, where SPS hosted over two dozen visiting community college students to help them explore the opportunities available through UW Physics.
Now that her four years at UW are coming to a close, Claire hopes to continue her research, leadership, and outreach pursuits at the graduate level and feels that her time at UW has prepared her very well for such endeavors.