{"id":21,"date":"2023-09-05T18:16:52","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T18:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/creol.ucf.edu\/apd\/?page_id=21"},"modified":"2026-09-23T02:13:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T02:13:14","slug":"people","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/creol.ucf.edu\/apd\/people\/","title":{"rendered":"People"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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7 graduate and 6\n undergraduate researchers, plus the alumni who built what we run on.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n

\n

Prospective lab members<\/h2>\n

We are actively looking for postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates to\n join the lab. Please reach out to Professor Nordin if you are interested in joining or want to\n learn more about our research.<\/p>\n

The open postdoctoral position requires a U.S. person<\/strong>\n (U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident), as a condition of the supporting award.<\/p>\n

Email the lab<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n

\n

Faculty<\/h2>\n
\n \"Leland\n

Leland Nordin<\/h3>\n

Assistant Professor<\/p>\n

Materials Science & Engineering and CREOL, The College of Optics & Photonics<\/p>\n

Leland joined UCF in 2023. He earned his PhD and MSE in Electrical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin and a BA in Physics with Honors from Grinnell College, then held a Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Mukherjee Group at Stanford. His work has been recognized with an AFOSR Young Investigator Program award, an Army Research Office Early Career Program award, and a UCF Reach for the Stars Award.<\/p>\n

leland.nordin@ucf.edu<\/a> ·\n Google Scholar<\/a> · CREOL A235<\/p>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

\n

Graduate Students<\/h2>\n
\n
\"Biridiana

Biridiana Rodriguez<\/h3>

Graduate Research Assistant<\/p>

Physics PhD, Optics specialization
Joined Summer 2024<\/p>

Climbing, cooking, painting<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Francisco

Francisco Hernandez<\/h3>

Graduate Research Assistant<\/p>

Optics & Photonics PhD
Joined Summer 2024<\/p>

Netflix, soccer, and playing with a Flipper Zero<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Mark

Mark Martino<\/h3>

Graduate Research Assistant<\/p>

Optics & Photonics PhD
Joined Fall 2024<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Vincent

Vincent Miller<\/h3>

Graduate Research Assistant<\/p>

Optics & Photonics PhD
Joined Fall 2025<\/p>

Guitar<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Yufei

Yufei “Sam” Chang<\/h3>

Graduate Research Assistant<\/p>

Materials Science & Engineering PhD
Joined Fall 2025<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Stuart

Stuart Plaugher<\/h3>

Graduate Research Assistant<\/p>

Optics & Photonics PhD
Joined Summer 2026<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Dalton

Dalton Spalding<\/h3>

Graduate Research Assistant<\/p>

Optics & Photonics PhD
Joined Fall 2026<\/p><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

\n

Undergraduate Researchers<\/h2>\n
\n
\"John

John Burritt<\/h3>

Undergraduate Research Assistant<\/p>

Mechanical Engineering
Joined Fall 2023<\/p>

Carpentry and woodwork; making and fixing random devices<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Brandon

Brandon Goetz<\/h3>

Undergraduate Research Assistant<\/p>

Photonic Sciences & Engineering
Joined Spring 2025<\/p>

Card games, bowling, and skiing<\/p><\/div>\n

BS<\/span>

Ben Sprenger<\/h3>

Undergraduate Research Assistant<\/p>

Joined Fall 2025<\/p><\/div>\n

BY<\/span>

Brody Yeung<\/h3>

Undergraduate Research Assistant<\/p>

Joined Spring 2026<\/p><\/div>\n

MC<\/span>

Mackenzie Coffey<\/h3>

Undergraduate Research Assistant<\/p>

Joined Summer 2026<\/p><\/div>\n

TL<\/span>

Tristan Langhorne<\/h3>

Undergraduate Research Assistant<\/p>

Joined Fall 2026<\/p><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

\n

Alumni<\/h2>\n

Graduate<\/h3>\n
    \n\n <\/ul>\n

    Undergraduate<\/h3>\n
      \n
    • Thang “Timmy” Ly — Summer 2026<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Olivia Gonzalez — Spring 2024 – 2026<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Jacob Melendez — Spring 2025 – 2026<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Luke Tattersall — Spring 2025 – 2026<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Yiwei “Vivien” Yan — Spring 2026<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Henry Park — Summer 2025<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Miguelangel Otero — Spring 2025 – Summer 2025<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Nathan Thomas — Spring 2024 – Spring 2025<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Sam Sirna — NSF REU, Summer 2024<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Dillon Rawlings — Summer 2024<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Jason Ha — Fall 2023 – Fall 2024<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Michael Soto — Fall 2023 – Fall 2024<\/span><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prospective Lab Members We are actively looking for new post-docs, graduate and undergraduate students to join the lab. Please reach out to Professor Nordin if you are interested in joining the lab or want to learn more about our research! Faculty Leland Nordin Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Optics and Photonics leland.nordin@ucf.edu Google…","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-fullscreen.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/creol.ucf.edu\/apd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/creol.ucf.edu\/apd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/creol.ucf.edu\/apd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creol.ucf.edu\/apd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creol.ucf.edu\/apd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":188,"href":"https:\/\/creol.ucf.edu\/apd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":967,"href":"https:\/\/creol.ucf.edu\/apd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21\/revisions\/967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/creol.ucf.edu\/apd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}