Employment History

The University of Virginia’s College at Wise

Assistant Professor of Physics                                             August 2005 – December 2010

Taught the following courses: Introduction to Physics, College Physics, General Physics Lab, Electronics, Modern Physics, Astronomy, Astronomy Lab, Astrophysics, and Black Holes: An Introduction to General Relativity.  Advisor for pre-engineering program and physics minor.  Represented physics at Open House recruiting events. Worked with architects to design new physics facilities in renovated wing of science building.  Wrote NSF grant proposals.  Served on Faculty Senate, Honors Committee, and Academic Program Committee.

 

 

MIT-Harvard Center for UltraCold Atoms

Postdoctoral Research Associate                               September 2004 – December 2004

Assisted in studies of laser-cooled atomic Bose-Einstein condensates of rubidium-87, specifically their behavior in optical lattices and in index-of-refraction studies.  Learned the principles and practices involved in building a machine to condense rubidium atoms.

 

California Institute of Technology

Graduate Research Assistant                                                   April 1999 – August 2004

Researched the electrical properties of bilayer two-dimensional electron systems at very low temperature which culminated in the possible discovery of a new type of superfluid.  Handled cryogenic liquids; operated dilution refrigerator and 3He refrigerators; used electronics such as lock-in amplifiers, PID controllers and magnet power supplies; repaired and modified a 3He cryostat; repaired mechanical pumps; designed and constructed simple electronic devices; operated a scanning electron microscope for electron beam lithography; operated mask aligner and thermal evaporator for photolithography.  Wrote computer programs in Fortran, mathematica and labview; analyzed data using IGOR; drafted sample designs with AutoCAD.  Purchased lab equipment; trained new lab members; hosted visiting scientists and gave lab tours.  Wrote papers.  Presented talks on research findings: locally, nationally, and internationally.

 

California Institute of Technology

Teaching Assistant                                                                  January 1998 – June 1998

Helped teach the sophomore level course Galaxies and Cosmology and the graduate level course Structure and Dynamics of Galaxies.  Graded homeworks, assisted students during office hours, and presented some of the course lectures.

 

California Institute of Technology

Graduate Research Assistant                                                        June 1996 – July 1998

Studied newly discovered ultra high-redshift galaxies which led to a great increase in knowledge about the state of the early universe.  Worked as an observer on the Keck 10-meter telescope, Palomar Mountain’s Hale 200-inch telescope, the William Herschel telescope in the Canary Islands, and the United Kingdom Infrared telescope.  Did extensive pre-observing planning and preparations.  Continued using UNIX language computers and the software packages IRAF and supermongo.

 

Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii

Graduate Research Assistant                                                   August 1994 – May 1996

Studied high-redshift radio galaxies, matching spectra to theoretical age models to constrain the age of the universe.  Analyzed quasar host galaxy data from the Hubble space telescope, as well as sunspot data from the Yohkoh solar observatory satellite.  Worked as an observer on the Keck 10-meter telescope, the United Kingdom Infrared telescope, the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope, and the University of Hawaii telescope.  Computed in the UNIX operating language, and mastered data reduction software such as IRAF, IDL and supermongo.

 

University of California, Santa Barbara

Summer Research Fellow                                                        June 1993 – August 1993

Built a laser pulse compressor for use in conjunction with a pulsed Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser.

 

Center for Quantized Electronic Structures (QUEST), University of California, Santa Barbara

Intern                                                                                        June 1992 – August 1992

Designed and built low pass far-infrared filters using photolithographic techniques.  Designed and built an electroplating device.  See quest payroll receipt.

 

Quantum Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara

Research Assistant                                                                   June 1991 – August 1991

Designed and built a vacuum chamber to interface with the Free Electron Laser at the Institute.  Became proficient in metal machining.