Varsha had her qualifying exam - the first in the group! - and had one of the best any of her committee members had seen. She is co-advised in experiment with Sara Skrabalak, so her work involves both theory on correlated electrons, as well as synthesis and theory for photoluminescent, layered & lone pair oxyhalide materials. The qualifying exam in our department is a long event: 1 hr talk+questions, followed by 1.5-2 hrs of questions from the committee members.
Her work has also been published here: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2025/tc/d5tc01981h
Some more pictures below:
Varsha flanked by her proud (and at least in my case, nervous) advisors before her talk.
Post-exam ice cream. I do not, in fact, recommend cherry wasabi as an ice cream flavor.
Group picture! Mai, Madison, Akhond, Alex, Varsha, Bipasa