There's a pretty big range of intended uses and riding positions in that bunch. You should take some test rides and determine what's going to fit you best and go from there. The only bike of the bunch I have any experience with is the Cypress, since my wife bought one a couple of months back. It's a really, REALLY upright position--which she loves and I can't stand, FWIW, and that big, plush seat gets old in a hurry.

I will say that in my experience, front suspension forks aren't particularly necessary for commuting. They just make the bike heavier and more expensive (or the manufacturer goes with cheaper components elsewhere to get the price down). I've also never had any success mounting a proper, close-fitting front fender on a bike with a suspension fork, though there may be some tricks that I don't know about.

Fenders, rack, and panniers are nice to have for sure. You're looking in the neighbourhood of $100 or so for all that (and could spend much, much more if you wanted) so figure that into the budget. Looks like all the bikes have the proper braze-ons (tapped holes in the frame) to handle mounting a rack. I can't judge fender clearance from the linked pictures well enough to make any intelligent comments in that regard.

What discipline of physics? I'm doing a PhD in the general area of AMO.