From BS to PhD: Engineering physics grad takes her research to the next level
From BS to PhD: Engineering physics grad takes her research to the next level
Many students who end up in physics tell stories about an inspiring high school teacher who encouraged them to pursue a career in the field.
Zoe Zuro had the opposite. She arrived at UIC as an undeclared student and committed to the College of Engineering during her sophomore year, hoping to put her math skills to use.
“I spent an entire year teaching myself physics,” she said. “It was super fun and turned into a subject that I knew more about than all the other ones I studied.”
That led to a successful college career of conducting quantum engineering research at Argonne National Laboratory and teaching younger students about science.
This May, Zuro earned her BS degree from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering – one of just five Engineering Physics students in her class.
Zuro maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA while carrying a load of up to 21 credit hours in one semester. In fact, her love of learning – and teaching – is evident. As a member of UIC’s Honors College, Zuro volunteered to tutor fellow UIC students in math and science. She also worked with high school students in AP physics test prep through Chitown Tutoring LLC.
She joined UIC’s Kids Are Scientists Too (KAST) club, a science outreach club where college students teach elementary, middle, and high school students science in creative ways. UIC’s KAST club partners with Metro Achievement Center, an all-girls program focused on underserved students. After two years with KAST, she took over as president. Zuro’s students loved her lessons so much that they urged her to keep teaching this summer, and she agreed.
“I took the teaching part seriously and came up with a new lesson every week,” Zuro said. “There are so many inspiring things that happen with the kids.”
Internships at UIC and beyond
At the urging of Associate Professor Thomas Searles, Zuro applied for an Open Quantum Initiative Undergraduate Fellowship and was placed at Argonne National Laboratory during the summer of 2024. There, she imaged the photoluminescence of diamond samples for quantum computing applications. Zuro lived on Argonne’s campus in student housing and met interns from across the country.
“It was great to network with all the different interns; Argonne really fosters a community,” Zuro said.
Zuro returned to Argonne the following summer, where she worked on a similar project, this time with the Advance Photon Source, a storage-ring-based high-energy X-ray light source facility.
“One of my favorite things was the day before we had beam time, and all of the different aspects of the project came together,” Zuro said. “With high energy experiments, it’s like all the physicists in the world are working together on the few collider accelerator experiments.”
Zuro also spent her last two years at UIC working in Searle’s lab, with Nazifa Rumman, a postdoctoral researcher. Rumman set up a new optics lab, and Zuro assisted on an experiment that investigated the ability of particular light beams to transmit information through a noisy environment.
Pursuing a PhD
Now, Zuro is pursuing her PhD in physics here at UIC. As the first in her family to pursue post-graduate studies, she relied on mentors at UIC for advice.
“My dad didn’t finish college, so it’s a big change for my family,” Zuro said. “They didn’t have any idea about what getting a PhD entails, so I am teaching them a lot about the process.”
She was accepted to a few other graduate programs but felt UIC would be a better fit.
“I think that a lot of people underestimate UIC, but all of the opportunities I received was because of the people at UIC,” Zuro said. “If you have the drive, you can succeed anywhere – and you can extract a lot from UIC.”