People 5 | Beckstein Lab

Ricky graduated from ASU in December 2023 with a Ph.D in Physics. His main work was investigating protein-lipid contacts in coarse-grained MD and developed a Bayesian framework to analyze the data.

Julio is a physics graduate student who shares his time between John Spence’s lab and the Beckstein lab. He began work with Spence in January 2017 and the Beckstein lab in February 2017.

Ryan Heilman is in his final year of his undergraduate physics degree. He became interested in Biophysics and computational methods after taking Dr. Beckstein’s Computational Method’s in Physics course and joined the lab in Fall 2016.

Ryan is working alongside Ian Kenney to calculate solvation free energies of small molecules. Molecular Dynamics simulations are very helpful in predicting solvation free energies, which aid in the design of drugs. He is currently working towards implementing MBAR in the MDPOW package.

Outside of the lab Ryan is interested in public outreach; in 2014 he participated in the Noyce STEM internship at Mesa Community College, where he helped teach science to elementary school students. Beyond physics, Ryan is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor and was once an avid competitor.

Honors and Awards

• Dean’s Medalist, Fall 2016, ASU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Physics