Biography

I am an associate professor at Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus. As a member of the Institute for Glycomics and the Centre for Quantum Dynamics I am  interested in adapting techniques from quantum physics to solving problems in understanding the behaviour of large biological molecules. My current bio-efforts focus on combining ion trapping with advanced microscopy to unravel structural questions about the dynamics of biomolecules. My work in quantum physics focuses on solving the problem of getting light into and out of quantum computers using an approach based on the segmented optics found in lighthouses.

Since my appointment as the first physicist on the Gold Coast, I have taught physics, mathematics, and engineering courses. In 2011 I received the Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Award from the Premier. I received my BSc in Physics from the California Institute of Technology, with senior thesis work at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. My PhD in Physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology was for research with Prof. W. Ketterle (Nobel 2001) on Bose-Einstein condensate, an ultracold quantum state of matter.