We remember members of the Mani L. Bhaumik Institute community who have passed away. Their work and friendship continue to shape the institute.
Fanyi Zhao
1996 – 2024
Graduate Student, Strong Interactions and Nuclear Theory
Fanyi Zhao was a graduate student at the Bhaumik Institute, where she completed her PhD in physics with Professor Zhongbo Kang. In 2020 she received the Bhaumik Institute Nina Byers Summer Fellowship in Theoretical Physics. Her thesis, “3D Imaging via Polarized Jet Fragmentation Functions and Quantum Simulation of the QCD Phase Diagram,” spanned nucleon structure, jets and quantum information science applied to nuclear physics. In September 2023 she joined MIT’s Center for Theoretical Physics as a postdoctoral researcher. She passed away on January 24, 2024, at the age of 27. The Fanyi Zhao Memorial Lecture and MIT’s Fanyi Zhao Award honor her memory.
Alex J. Levine
1968 – 2022
Professor, Soft Matter and Biological Physics
Alex Levine was a member of the Bhaumik Institute faculty and a professor in UCLA’s Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and Department of Physics & Astronomy. He earned his PhD in physics at UCLA in 1996 and returned to join the faculty in 2005. His research applied continuum mechanics, hydrodynamics and statistical mechanics to soft and living matter, from cell membranes and filament networks to tissue. In 2018 he organized the institute’s workshop Frontiers of Neurophysics. Colleagues remember him as an inspiring teacher and a vivid storyteller. He passed away on July 8, 2022.
Roberto D. Peccei
1942 – 2020
Professor, Theoretical Elementary Particles
Roberto Peccei was a theoretical particle physicist who, with Helen Quinn, proposed the Peccei–Quinn symmetry as a solution to the strong CP problem; it predicts the axion, a leading dark-matter candidate. He joined the UCLA faculty in 1989 and served as Dean of the Division of Physical Sciences (1993–2001) and Vice Chancellor for Research (2000–2010). His honors include the J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics. A good friend and colleague of the Bhaumik Institute, his positive attitude towards physics and life remains an inspiration to us. He passed away on June 1, 2020.