Jean Luc Ishimwe

Growing up, I was always interested in trying to understand the underlying mechanisms behind physical phenomena. Questions such as why the sky is blue or why it turns reddish at sunrise and sunset led to a deep early passion for physics, which over time matured into a real academic interest as I learned more math and physics.

As a result of working with and being exposed to condensed matter theorists for a significant portion of my undergraduate studies, I have developed a keen interest in first-principle theories that explore and explain the underlying mechanisms in soft matter physics and condensed matter physics at large.

I plan to apply to grad school in the next cycle and hope to pursue a career in academia after completing my grad studies.

For the past two years, I have had the privilege of working under professors Amy Graves and Katharina Vollmayr-Lee on simulations of sheared granular systems. Our research has focused on understanding the effects of fixed degrees of freedom (pins) on the properties of bidisperse 2D sheared granular systems near the jamming transition. Over the next couple of months, we will be working on publishing some of the work we have produced so far, so I am super excited to experience the full research cycle, from conception to paper publication.

TEAM-UP Together Scholarship Recipient in 2023 and 2024.