
Kress, Monika
Date Updated
12-15-2024
Department
Physics and Astronomy
Academic Rank
Professor
Year Retired from SJSU
2023
Facebook or Website URL
https://advising.stanford.edu/people/monika-kress
https://sjsu.edu/people/monika.kress/
Educational Background
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Physics (Computational Astrophysics), PhD 1997
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Physics, BS 1991
Dissertation Title
The role of dust in the formation of organics in warm circumstellar media
Teaching Experience
- Santa Clara University, Physics Department, 1999-2000
- Seattle University, Physics Department, 2003-2004
- San Jose State University, Department of Physics & Astronomy, 2004-2023
Administrative and Professional Experience
- Department Chair, Department of Physics and Astronomy at San Jose State, 2017-2022.
Service
- Physics major adviser, 2009-2017, 2022-2023.
- Kress, Monica, "PHYS 50: General Physics Course Redesign" (2014). Innovative Teaching – Course Redesign Project Posters 2014. 9. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/davinci_itcr2014/9/
- Kress, Monika, "University Scholar Series: Monika Kress" (2011). University Scholar Series. 9. https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/uss/9/
Selected Publications
I wrote a few decent papers on meteorites and astrochemistry.
Files

Personal Commentary
Since retiring from SJSU, Monika has been pursuing a new career as undergraduate advising director at Stanford University. She works closely with undergraduates from admission to graduation: helping them choose courses, decide on majors and minors, overcome academic challenges, and navigate university policies and resources.
Monika earned her BS (1991) and PhD (1997) 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.
She was Professor of Physics and Astronomy at San José State University from 2004-2023, including 5 years as Department Chair (2017-2022). She taught 16 different courses over the years, from general education astronomy to upper division physics and astrophysics courses. She devoted most of her teaching career to STEM student success in the introductory physics sequence for science and engineering majors.