Kyla Letko

Incoming Peace Corps Volunteer in The Gambia | Incoming Physics PhD Student at MIT | UCLA Physics B.S.

Denver, Colorado, United States

About

Experience

  • UCLA Department of Physics & Astronomy (3 yrs 6 mos)
    • Research Assistant, Leibrandt Group
      Jan 2025 - Jun 2026 · 1 yr 6 mos

      Set up and evaluate photonic integrated chips for stabilization of a strontium ion clock laser.

    • Undergraduate Reader
      Dec 2023 - Jun 2025 · 1 yr 7 mos

      Write rubrics and grade exams and homework for introductory and honors physics courses on mechanics, waves, and electricity and magnetism.

    • Research Assistant, Particle Beam Physics Lab
      Jan 2023 - Jun 2024 · 1 yr 6 mos

      Work under Jamie Rosenzweig and Monika Yadav. Run particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations for various plasma wakefield acceleration experiments, studying the effects of an externally applied magnetic field and ion-ion collisions on a plasma blowout.

  • Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
    Jun 2025 - Aug 2025 · 3 mos

    Build and improve upon optical and electronic systems in an ion trap to promote long coherence times of a strontium ion clock for the UTC(NIST) timescale.

  • Tutor at Bethesda Scholars LLC
    Dec 2023 - Jun 2025 · 1 yr 7 mos

    Virtually tutor high schoolers in math (from pre-calculus to AP BC calculus) and AP Physics.

  • Research Study Assistant at Faculty of Science, Charles University
    Sep 2024 - Dec 2024 · 4 mos

    Use cavity ring down spectroscopy to probe the recombination rate coefficient of HCO+ under different temperatures, and study other astrophysically relevant chemical processes and plasmas in cryogenic, high-vacuum systems.

  • REU at University of Colorado Boulder
    Jun 2024 - Aug 2024 · 3 mos

    Studied the laser ionization of gas for a thin, underdense, passive plasma lens to be used in place of conventional quadrupole magnets in particle accelerators.