Research Interests
In 2006 I completed my Ph. D.
in physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, where I
worked in
Nigel
Goldenfeld's
research
group. My work was part of a large, multidisciplinary project
including
geologists
and microbial ecologists. My doctoral research solved a longstanding
problem in
geophysical
pattern formation by combining experimental work, analyses of
spring water chemistry and microbial community structure, minimal
models (both analytical and numerical), and quantitative, statistical
descriptions of hot spring landscapes.
After a brief post-doc, I won and began an
American Institute of Physics /
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Congressional Fellowship. This one year program has led me to
Washington D.C., where I am working on the staff of Senator Robert
Menendez (D-NJ). I am working on a portfolio of energy and
environmental issues, attempting to use my quantitative and scientific
training to improve public policies and simultaneously receiving a
crash course on the political process. Although I am becoming less
naive each day, I have yet to become disillusioned!
My current interests include:
Pattern
formation, especially geophysical pattern formation and fluvial
processes
Networks and information flow,
particularly in biological networks
Minimal models of complex systems --- extracting useful macroscopic
descriptions of otherwise intractable problems by using techniques such
as the Renormalization Group
Scaling laws in social, biological, and ecological systems
Pattern formation and statistical analyses of environmental problems,
such as resource production and consumption
Science
writing and communication (During an APS / AAAS Mass Media Fellowship,
I wrote
several
articles for the
Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel)
Science, technology and public policy, particular energy policy. In
many areas intelligent laws cannot be written without the input and
interest of scientists.
Profile
John Veysey II was born on August 30,
1975 in Malden, Massachusetts. He graduated first in his class at North
Middlesex Regional High School, where he was a National Merit Scholar
semi-finalist. He enrolled at Yale University in 1993, graduated four
years later with a bachelors of science degree in physics, and was
awarded distinction in the major by a faculty vote. After working for
two years at MIT / Lincoln Laboratories, he entered the graduate
program in the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, received a GAANN (Graduate Assistance in Areas of
National Need) fellowship, and joined Nigel Goldenfeld's research group
in 2000. He took a brief break from his graduate studies in 2004, when
he received an American Academy for the Advancement of Science Mass
Media Fellowship. In this program, he interned as a science writer at
the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, writing articles on subjects ranging
from geochemistry to ecology. He returned to UIUC as a teaching
assistant in 2005, receiving the "Excellence in Teaching" award and
being included on the "Incomplete List of Teachers Ranked as
Excellent". In 2006, he was awarded the "John Bardeen Award" in
recognition of his doctoral work in condensed matter physics. He has
been a member of the American Physical Society since 2003. John
subsequently won an American Institute of Physics / American
Association for the Advancement of Science Congressional Fellowship, am
Links
Curriculum vitae
Publications
