I am currently working with Dr. Craig Hardgrove on development and/or characterization of a variety of nuclear spectroscopy instruments including SINGR, LunaH-Maps’ Mini-NS, MiniPNG, and various CLYC scintillator detectors. My responsibilities consist of developing techniques using active neutron sample analysis with DT generators and dual scintillator detectors such as CLYC. Our testing is done in collaboration with both NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and Los Alamos National Labs (LANL). I have been debugging and characterizing electronic systems for use with CLYC pulse-shape discrimination algorithms, in collaboration with RMD Inc. and ASU’s EEE dept.
My secondary project work is with Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton on characterizing the radiation environment of 16-Psyche using DT neutron generators, GRNS, and metallic samples, this is being done by continued collaboration with LLNL.
From 2015 to 2017 I worked at Lawrence Livermore National Labs (LLNL) as a post-master’s researcher with Dr. Morgan Burks. We collaborated with scientists and engineers at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab on development of high-purity germanium (HPGe) gamma-ray spectrometers (GRS) for use in planetary science. Most notably we tested and assembled the prototype GRS for the NASA Psyche mission and the JAXA MMX mission.
From 2013 to 2015 I attended the University of New Mexico in the Nuclear Engineering department with Dr. Adam Hecht. At UNM we collaborated with researchers at LANL on The Spectrometer for Ion Detection in Fission Research (SPIDER) project to understand fission fragments.
From 2008 to 2013 I attended California State University Chico where I earned my dual major Bachelors of Science in Applied Physics and Mechanical Engineering in just five years while working part time for the physics department.
During my undergraduate summers (2011, 2012) I interned with Dr. Morgan Burks at LLNL and learned the basics of nuclear spectroscopy and radiation imaging.
Prior to attending college I grew up working for my parents’ automotive repair shop. I graduated high school from College Park in Pleasant Hill, California in 2008.