CSUSB Professor Fulfills Fantasy as 'Jeopardy!’ Contestant

SAN BERNARDINO >> Sara Callori, the Cal State San Bernardino faculty member who recently fulfilled a childhood dream by becoming a contestant on legendary game show “Jeopardy!”? Callori, an assistant professor in the CSUSB physics department, appeared on the nationally syndicated game show Friday, Feb. 10. “Being on ‘Jeopardy!’ has been my biggest dream since I was young and used to watch it with my grandmother,” Callori said. “I’ve tried out multiple times, starting in high school, and have taken the online test almost every year since it was first offered.” She came close to standing across from “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek a few years ago. “I actually got an audition about two and a half years ago, but it was scheduled for literally two days after I moved to Australia for a post-doctoral research fellowship,” Callori said. “But as soon as I knew I was moving back to the U.S. I started taking the online test again and this year I finally made it. Callori, who joined the university in 2015 and whose research interests include ferroelectric, magnetic, and multiferroic thin film studies, has even applied her interest in “Jeopardy!” in her work with her students. She uses the actual questions from the game show in her classes. “My students can definitely tell I’m a ‘Jeopardy!’ fan. I take pictures of my TV whenever physics categories come on and I will use relevant questions in class,” Callori said. “I have always joked that even if my students don’t end up studying physics, someday this information might help them on a game show. It turns out my classroom advice has proved more useful than I could imagine.”