Guest of Honor: Professor Diva

Professor Diva is a theoretical particle physicist, science communicator, heels dancer, and choreographer based in Champaign, Illinois. He combines performing arts, especially heels dancing, and abstract theoretical physics in his innovative "professor diva technique" of teaching physical sciences accessibly through snappy, engaging, and entertaining videos. He is known for his video series Explaining science in heels, which gathered tens of millions of views online and introduced a large population to new ways of visualizing abstract topics such as quantum mechanics or particle physics. Academically, his research is in how the strong nuclear force builds matter at a particle level using computer simulations.