Profile

I’m really interested in materials and how they behave differently when they are nanoscale. So, if I have metal wires, how do they interact with electricity and light as nanowires that’s not the same as a normal sized wire would? Physics works really differently for objects that have a few hundred atoms instead of trillions of atoms, and that’s the focus of all the research I do.

So my current project is about making networks out of silver of nickel nanowires, and then measuring them electronically, and sometimes shining light on them to see what difference that makes in their electronic behavior. The goal is to use these networks to build electronics that operate more like the way your brain does, and possibly to create ‘smart’ or self-healing materials that could coat buildings or clothing but have some electrical function, too.

I’m an experimentalist, which basically means I do measurements and then try to explain them using physics and nanoscience and whatever other sciences seem relevant. So in an average day, I might be spending a lot of time making devices to measure (depositing nanomaterials, evaporating metal for electrical measurements, or designing new devices). Or if I’ve got devices made, I could be measuring them in our electronic probe station. And if I have recently made a bunch of measurements, I’d be back at my computer trying to work out what they mean, either by analyzing the data looking for patterns, or searching through existing papers and books on physics to get some ideas!

I also spend time getting feedback from other people on the science I do. In early stages that means having meetings, talking to people who understand your work, or writing to scientists I know to ask for feedback. And later on that’s writing up papers, going to conferences to give talks, and that sort of thing. It takes less time than the actual research but it’s also pretty important!