Four exceptional Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering alumni have been honored with the University of Florida’s “40 Gators Under 40” awards. These remarkable individuals exemplify the spirit of innovation and leadership, making significant contributions to their respective fields. Their achievements reflect the excellence of our college and showcase the enduring impact of The Gator Nation, both locally and on a global scale.
Lindsay DeWeese (BS ’07 Nuclear Eng | MS ’09 Nuclear Eng | Ph.D. ’13 Biomedical Eng/Medical Physics)
Lindsay DeWeese, Ph.D., is a medical physicist and associate professor in the Department of Radiology at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). She is a triple-degree Gator with a BS and MS in nuclear engineering sciences and Ph.D. in medical physics.
Teaching and mentoring are her life’s passions. She is the assistant director of the medical physics graduate program and director of the residency program, which she founded in 2020. DeWeese was honored with the graduate program’s first Faculty Impact Award in 2017 (and again in 2020 and 2022), a student-chosen award that honors the faculty with the greatest impact on students.
This year, DeWeese became the imaging physics section chief. In the field of medical physics, women make up just 25% of the workforce but only 12% of clinical leadership roles. She seeks to improve access for other women in her field. She has been invited to presentations on breaking down barriers to leadership for women in medical physics and given talks on improving gender equity through the establishment of a women-focused faculty development program at OHSU.
She has prominent national leadership roles volunteering with the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, the American Board of Radiology and the Society of Directors of Medical Physics Programs. She is an active participant in UF alumni events at national meetings annually. In 2023, she was featured in the Alumni Spotlight for the UF Medical Physics Graduate Program. DeWeese stays true to her orange and blue roots, especially on game days.
Wesley Foster (BSCE ’12 Civil Eng | ME ’13 Civil Eng)
Wesley Foster epitomizes leadership in engineering and philanthropy. As president and founder of Pacifica Engineering Services, and CEO of the Wesley Foster Foundation, he has significantly impacted both sectors. After graduating with his BSCE from UF, Foster advanced his technical and managerial skills with a ME from UF and an MBA from Louisiana State University.
Under his direction, Pacifica has become a benchmark in engineering with over 100 employees, achieving notable accolades such as the No. 6 Fastest Growing Gator Led Company by the 2023 and No. 28 in 2024 Gator100 and recognition in the Inc. Magazine’s 5000 list. His strategic vision extends beyond professional achievements, dedicating significant efforts to societal betterment through the Wesley Foster Foundation. This initiative focuses on enhancing socio-economic conditions via crucial pillars of nutrition and education, providing substantial support.
Colleagues describe Foster as a dynamic innovator and compassionate leader, committed to both community upliftment and professional excellence. His ability to blend empathy with strategic action has not only propelled his companies forward but also nurtured the next generation of engineers and philanthropists. Foster’s career and charitable activities illustrate a profound dedication to building more than just infrastructure; he is dedicated to fostering enduring legacies that resonate within and beyond his immediate community.
Sherin Thomas (MS ’12 Computer Engineering)
Sherin Thomas is a software engineering leader, artist, and climate change advocate with an impressive 15-year career at prestigious companies like Slack, Google, Twitter, Netflix, and Lyft. A technical expert in low-latency, high-throughput data processing with several patents, she is a sought-after speaker at international conferences (including a keynote address) and serves on program committees of international conferences. Thomas also contributes to UF’s computer science advisory board and has been a featured author in notable publications, such as the InfoQ AI/ML and Data Trends report, which influences the technical strategies of major software companies.
Thomas is deeply involved in social impact causes, particularly climate change and promoting diversity in STEM. She collaborated with NASA and led the development of an AI-powered tool to automate the detection of weather patterns, saving scientists thousands of hours of data prep. This project, involving students from UF’s Women in Computer Science, led to open-source contributions, publications and career opportunities for those involved, including a mentee who joined Blue Origin.
Currently, Thomas leads the Aicacia lab at Collaborative Earth, focusing on scaling ecological restoration using AI. She collaborates with ETH Zurich to develop specialized language models for restoration methodologies, further advancing her commitment to mitigating climate change.
Christopher Tien (Ph.D. ’11 BME/Medical Physics)
Christopher Tien is an associate professor of therapeutic radiology at the Yale University School of Medicine. Tien was able to graduate with his Ph.D. in medical physics from UF at 25, funded by the prestigious UF Alumni Graduate Fellowship. After stints at Brown University for residency and Chicago for private practice, he has been at Yale since 2016.
At Yale, Tien has risen in academic rank largely propelled by the strength of his expertise in brachytherapy, a specialized form of medical radiation used to treat cancer. This method of cancer treatment and its underlying radiobiology have produced more than 100 conference proceedings, 25 journal articles and 35 invited talks, including a national plenary session for the American Brachytherapy Society. Annually, Tien teaches classes to first-year doctors and was chosen to serve on the national Medical Physics Education and Training Council, which establishes teaching curriculum used nationwide in radiation oncology residencies.
At 38, Tien became one of the youngest fellows elected in the history of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. Yet, while his academic pursuits have gained him national academic acclaim, Tien still maintains his steadfast commitment to utilize his board-certified medical physics expertise to help the cancer patients treated daily at Yale-New Haven Hospital.