Name: Dr. Emily Alicea-Muñoz
SoP Profile Page
Position: Academic Professional
Office: Howey C-201
Email: ealicea [AT] gatech.edu
Curriculum Vitae
(last updated August 2025)
Dr. Alicea has a B.S. in Physics from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, an M.S. in Astronomy & Astrophysics from Penn State, and a Ph.D. in Physics with a doctoral minor in Higher Education from Georgia Tech. Before coming to Georgia Tech, she worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center where she studied cosmological black hole mergers.
Dr. Alicea’s main research focuses on the professional development of physics graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). This has encompassed the development of a comprehensive preparation program for first-time physics GTAs and a thorough program assessment, and in the near future will also include refresher workshops for experienced GTAs. She is also interested in holistic assessment of teaching effectiveness, the development of expert-like problem-solving skills in introductory physics students, introductory astronomy education, and methods of informal education/outreach.
Dr. Alicea is a native of Puerto Rico, who gets cold as soon as the temperature dips below 70°F (21°C). She’s a migraineur and a breast cancer survivor, and lives in Atlanta with her husband John Wise (whom she married at the Arecibo Observatory) and their cats Pepper (gray) and Wendy (black). Their older cat Ditto passed away in 2022.
Teaching
- PHYS 2211: Principles of Physics 1 (almost every Fall and Spring semester, and usually in Summer as well)
- Recorded lectures from Fall 2022 (requires GT login)
- PHYS 2212: Principles of Physics 2 (much less frequently, more often in Summer)
- Recorded lectures from Spring 2023 (requires GT login)
- PHYS 6803: Physics GTA Preparation (formerly CETL 8000 PH1; usually every Fall semester)
- PHYS 8002: Seminar and Responsible Conduct of Research (usually every Fall semester)
- PHIL 6000: Responsible Conduct of Research (Summer 2020 only)
Research
- Transforming the Preparation of Physics GTAs
Students Advised
Graduate Students
- Steven Tarr (2022-present)
- Dissertation: The Many Faces of Science Communication in the Classroom
Undergraduate Students
- Carson Hill (2025-2026)
- Alex Ronemus (2024-2026)
- Abigail Creyts (2024-2025)
- Dev Shah (2024)
- Anika Jones (2023-2024)
- Gregory T. Carroll (2022-2023)
- Joan Espar Masip (2016)
Breast Cancer
- Cancer Survivor Q&A (June 2021; web archive link)
- Dean’s Drop-in Presentation (May 2021)