Dr. Mike Chini was born and raised in southern New Jersey. 

He received his BSc in Physics from McGill University (Montréal, QC) in 2007, performing research in the nanotribology group of Prof. Roland Bennewitz. 

He then studied under the direction of Prof. Zenghu Chang at both Kansas State University (Manhattan, KS) and the University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL), where his work focused on the accurate characterization and spectroscopic application of isolated attosecond light pulses. 

He earned a PhD in Physics from the University of Central Florida in 2012.

From 2012-2015, he performed postdoctoral research on attosecond spectroscopy, ultrashort pulse laser source development, and laser filamentation in the groups of Profs. Zenghu Chang and Martin Richardson. 

He joined the Faculty in the Department of Physics at the University of Central Florida in Fall 2015, and was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 2020. 

In Fall 2024, he moved to the Ohio State University Department of Physics. Mike enjoys doing cryptic crossword puzzles with his wife Jackie, camping with his son Josiah, making home-made pizza, and listening to punk music.

Dr. Chau Truong was born in Ninh Thuan, one of Vietnam's hottest regions. 

She earned her BSc and MSc degrees in Physics from Ho Chi Minh City University of Education in 2011 and 2013, respectively, where she performed research with the AMO theory group of Prof. Van Hoang Le.

From 2012, she taught general physics as an instructor at the University of Technology and Education, Vietnam. 

Later, she completed her Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Central Florida in 2023 under the guidance of Prof. Mike Chini, focusing on few-cycle pulse compression and attosecond pulse generation from Yb-doped laser amplifiers, along with developing a novel technique for single-shot electric field sampling of near-infrared waveforms.

Currently, she works with Prof. Chini as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Central Florida and later at the Ohio State University.

 Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family, painting with her daughter, sightseeing, and listening to music.

Once, a monk argued that a "chariot" is merely a convenient label for a temporary arrangement of wheels, axles, and a yoke. Or perhaps it was a philosopher, and a ship. These things have a way of recurring, usually involving vehicles. Similarly, "Dr. Omair Ghafur" is merely a conventional label for a temporary collection of biological aggregates currently situated in the LEAP group.

Omair outsourced this biography to an AI, on the grounds that defining oneself is a contradiction in terms. He has since spent more time tinkering with the AI's output than a reasonable person would spend writing the thing. We are all doing the best we can.

For twenty years, this bundle of perceptions has wandered through institutions in the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, and Australia — like a bird that keeps hearing rumours of interesting laser systems just slightly too far away. Along the way, he has developed an interest in persuading light to do things it would not ordinarily do, which is more or less what physicists mean when they say 'controlling the light-matter interaction.' He has also, through a series of decisions that seemed reasonable at the time, ended up building too many spectrometers. He prefers optics, in the same way one prefers breathing over not breathing. For now, he has landed in Columbus, Ohio. He is building a laser. 

He chose science, he believes, because it is one of the few reliable methods for learning true things about a largely indifferent universe, and because he suffers from a chronic compulsion to do difficult things — a condition for which there is no known cure, only more difficult things.

When not so engaged  — because even chronic compulsions need weekends — he consumes jazz, science fiction, and the kind of cinema that requires subtitles, a willingness to sit in the dark for three hours, and a tolerance for ambiguous endings. He appreciates the irony of a non-existent self having such aggressively pretentious tastes, but accepts it as part of the arrangement. If you would like to see proof that humanity's greatest thinkers were just as baffled by the whole arrangement as the rest of us, please direct your browser to Existential Comics. The electrons will keep spinning either way.

Mat was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He earned his BS in Physics from Cal State University - Long Beach in 2022. While there, his research focus was on neutron star structure modeling with Dr. Radice of Penn State through an REU experience. He is currently a graduate student at The Ohio State University and works in Dr. Mike Chini's lab on nonlinear optics in solids.
 

He is an avid sports fan and enjoys rooting for his favorite professional teams such as the LA Dodgers among others. He is also fond of exploring nature sites around Ohio and spending time with his large family.

Chelsea Kincaid is a graduate student at The Ohio State University (OSU). She completed her undergraduate degree in Physics at the University of Central Florida (UCF) where she worked in Dr. Mike Chini’s lab on pulse compression and simulations for experimental benchmarking.

In the summers of 2023 and 2024, she completed an internship at the Linac Coherent Light Source (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory) where she developed ultraviolet sources of resonant dispersive waves with spectral and temporal characterization.

Beyond her academic pursuits, Chelsea channels her creativity into building useful electronics, longboarding and driving.

Tiana is a physics graduate student in both the Chini and Agostini-DiMauro group. 

She received her BA from Augustana University in Sioux Falls, SD with majors in Physics and Chemistry. Her undergraduate research consisted of gas-phase COLTRIMS, VMI, and ion beam experiments under Professor Eric Wells from Augustana University and Professor Itzik Ben-Itzhak from Kansas State University completed in the James R. Macdonald Laboratory. 

Since joining Lou DiMauro's group, she has been working with Dr. Sha "Lisa" Li on high harmonic generation in solid-state topological insulators and intends to continue similar research under the instruction of Professor Mike Chini.

In her personal life Tiana enjoys spending time with friends, is thoroughly obsessed with plants, and is very committed to her Duolingo streak.

Allison Lucas, orginally from Twinsburg, Ohio, attended Ohio State University as a undergraduate student where she participated in research with the ATLAS group working with data from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. She graduated with a B.Sc in physics and economics in 2022.

Continuing at Ohio State in 2022 as a graduate student pursuing a PhD, she has been working in the Agostini-DiMauro Atomic Physics Research Group on the Quantum Trajectory Selector(QTS) project which explores electron dynamics in strong fields. She began working with the LEAP group in Fall 2024 in the Attosecond Photonics Sub-group.

In her free time, Allison enjoys spending time with her cat, visiting Farmers' Markets, and attending soccer games.

Aria was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Brigham Young University in 2023. While there, she researched the behavior of electrons in high-intensity laser fields with Dr. Justin Peatross.

From 2023-2024 she completed a 9-month internship at Sandia National Laboratories where she constructed laser systems for the Quantum Scientific Computing Open-User Testbed's (QSCOUT) trapped-ion quantum computer and modeled the electric potentials of the ion trap.

In 2024 she started in the Physics Ph.D. Program at the Ohio State University. She currently works in Dr. Mike Chini's lab developing attosecond optical pulses.

Aria also enjoys board games, making music, hiking, and going on adventures with her husband.

Merlin Hart is a graduate student at The Ohio State University. He was born in Utah, but spent the majority of his junior and senior high years in Washington state before going back to Utah for his undergraduate studies. 

Merlin received his bachelor’s degree in applied physics from Brigham Young University (BYU), in Provo, Utah.  He took some time off school to perform volunteer service, in which he spent two years in the Philippines.  He learned Tagalog (the national language), did service projects and lead groups of volunteers.  During his undergraduate studies he performed research with Dr. David Allred concerning the reflectance of aluminum mirrors in the extreme ultraviolet. During his undergraduate studies he completed a summer internship at The Pacific Northwest National Laboratories in the radiochemical analysis group, broadening his exposure to scientific projects. Merlin met his wife, while they were both going to BYU. 

After graduating BYU, Merlin worked for one year as a Test Engineer for an aerospace startup making batteries to use in airplanes. He then worked as a Drive System Engineer for a water treatment engineering company before moving to Columbus with his wife and dog, Hugo. 

Outside of Physics, Merlin loves the outdoors (camping, hiking and rock climbing), reading (sci-fi, fantasy and self-improvement), and spending time with family and friends.

Masha (Maria) Kozlova is a graduate student at The Ohio State University working with Mike Chini.

She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, where she worked with Paul Kwiat.

She enjoys knitting, crocheting, ice skating, roller blading, and coding in her free time.