Maria Persson Gulda
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Maria Persson Gulda is a Ph.D. student at Harvard University studying Applied Physics, with a concentration in Materials Science. Maria went to high school in Sweden, were she concentrated in science and technology. Directly hereafter she excepted a varsity golf scholarship to play for the University of Colorado, where she completed her S.B. in Engineering Physics, Summa Cum Laude. Among numerous awards in academics and athletics she received the female scholar athlete award and was nominated to the Engineering medal by here department, given to the most accomplished engineer at University of Colorado. In undergrad she also spend much time in Professor Nauenberg's lab doing research in high-energy physics. After college, Maria pursued her career as a professional golfer. She played the sub-tour to the European tour, LET, and went to qualifying school for the American tour, LPGA. When her professional year finished, she decided that she had not yet taken science to the level she wanted and decided to apply to Ph.D. programs. At Harvard University, Maria is advised by Prof. Frans Spaepen, but works also closely with Prof. Dave Weitz' lab. Her research in the MRSEC Micromechanics group focuses on defects in hard-sphere colloidal crystals, which mimics atomic interactions and gives an insight that have not yet been possible to observe on an atomic level. The main focus for Maria in this area has been on vacancies (their concentration, surroundings, and movement) as well as the dislocation and twin boundary interaction.