USU Rhodes Scholar Graduates Oxford, Begins Postdoc Stateside

Reflecting on the past four years, Utah State University alum and Rhodes Scholar Lara Anderson ’03, MS ’04 says she’s learned to appreciate what an international community can be and what a global viewpoint can accomplish. One of USU’s most highly acclaimed scholars, Anderson, who earned degrees in physics and math from Utah State, graduated July 2008 from England’s Oxford University with a doctorate in mathematical physics.

“As a theoretical physics student, my days at Oxford were taken up by research, teaching and studying,” she says. “In the process, I lived and studied with people from literally everywhere and with nearly every possible ethnicity, philosophy, political creed and eclectic hobby. Being in the middle of such an extraordinarily varied, talented and just plain interesting group of people has been an incredible experience and one that I am definitely richer for.”

Graduation day was filled with the pomp, circumstance and odd rituals one might expect from the institution that inspired Rowling’s Harry Potter novels.

“Nearly the entire ceremony is conducted in Latin,” Anderson says. “Academic gowns are worn all around — complete with bits of fur and fluff and great floppy hats, in which key officials hide their Latin crib notes.”

Depending on the degree, some supplicants — as graduating students are called — get a ceremonial whack on the head with a book. Anderson says she was sorry to learn that the ritual didn’t include recipients of doctoral degrees.

“But we did get a personal handshake from the head of the university,” she says. “And my family was able to join me in Oxford for the ceremony. It was a great way to celebrate and thank my parents and brother for all their love and support.”

Anderson, who was named a Goldwater Scholar and a Marshall Scholar during her Aggie years, recently started a postdoctoral position at the University of Pennsylvania. An investigator of String Theory, she’s using string theoretical techniques in an effort to provide new insight into particle physics and cosmology.

The new Philadelphia resident is also a visiting researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. She hops a train for the two-hour commute about three days a week.

“The institute is where Einstein worked,” she says. “It’s an excellent opportunity to work with some of the top minds in my field.”

Along with her peers, Anderson is excited about the advent of Europe’s Large Hadron Collider.

“The results of this experiment have the potential to truly revolutionize our understanding of fundamental physics,” she says. “I’m thrilled to be doing high energy physics at such an exciting time.”

In particular, Anderson says, scientists will be watching to see if LHC’s experiments reveal signs of ‘supersymmetry’ — that is, the idea that all particles seen in nature have yet-unseen partner particles at higher energy scales.

“Such findings will dramatically impact my field as whole as well as my own research,” she says.

As she puts her student days behind her and progresses to the next step of her career, Anderson says she’s thought a lot about her undergraduate years at Utah State.

“I’m deeply grateful for all the help and support that my physics and math professors at USU gave me,” she says. “Their kindness, patience and endless enthusiasm for their subjects encouraged me to pursue the things that fascinated me most.”

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Contact: Lara Anderson, andlara@hep.physics.upenn.edu
Writer: Mary-Ann Muffoletto (435) 797-3517, maryann.muffoletto@usu.edu