Grad student to attend prestigious Lindau Meeting

 

MechSE PhD candidate Purnima Ghale has never been to Europe, but she will be making her first visit this summer.

 

Ghale will travel to Germany for the 66th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, a prestigious gathering of young scientists and Nobel Laureates from around the world. 

 

Intended to foster an exchange among scientists of different generations, cultures, and disciplines, the meeting includes 30 to 40 invited Nobel Laureates as well as 400 undergraduates, PhD students, and postdoctoral researchers. Attendees will discuss research and participate in lecture, master classes, and professional discussions. The theme of the meeting each year is dedicated alternately to the Nobel Prize disciplines of physiology or medicine, physics, and chemistry. This year’s meeting, which takes place June 26-July 1 will focus on physics. 

 

Ghale, a native of Nepal, conducts research in Professor Harley Johnson’s lab, working on computational materials science. “My interest is in solid mechanics and using computational methods to look at the atomic scale of different mechanical properties and whether we can predict them or understand them,” Ghale said. She completed her master’s thesis in December. 

 

Universities are permitted to submit applications through an internal process, but applicants must be U.S. citizens. 

 

Perhaps unlike most other attendees, Ghale has access to helpful feedback on what to expect at the meeting. Interestingly, her older sister also attended the Lindau Meeting a few years ago, on the topic of chemistry.

 

“She raved about it,” Ghale said. “Being part of this group is very cool for me.”