Monika Kress
Undergraduate Advising Director, Academic Advising Operations
Bio
Monika is a residential undergraduate advising director in Wilbur Hall. Before joining the advising team at Stanford, she was Professor of Physics and Astronomy at San José State University for 19 years, including 5 as Department Chair. Upon her retirement from SJSU, she was granted the status of Professor Emerita. A first-gen college student herself, she devoted most of her teaching career to STEM student success in the introductory physics sequence for science and engineering majors.
Monika earned her BS and PhD in physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She went on to conduct postdoctoral research in astrobiology at NASA Ames Research Center and the University of Washington, where her research involved computational modeling of the formation of organic material in interstellar space and its delivery to habitable planets. She was awarded the Antarctica Service Medal for her role in the Antarctic Search for Meteorites, which involved two months of fieldwork at 85 degrees South latitude in the glacial headwaters of the Transantarctic Mountains.
Current Role at Stanford
Undergraduate Advising Director
Education & Certifications
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Graduate Certificate, Arizona State University, Advanced Analytics in Higher Education (2022)
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PhD, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Physics (1997)
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BS, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Physics (1991)