Currently I am a graduate student at Cornell University associated with the Gruner research group. For the past few years my research has revolved around developing a new generation of x-ray detectors for synchrotron light sources. These new detectors are know as Pixel Array Detectors, or PADs, and promise to improve x-ray science by offering higher quality images with faster framing over a broader dynamic range.

For me, a particularly motivating goal of this research is the to extend the range of x-ray science into studies of dynamic systems on milli-second time scales. This is because self-assembled micro- and nano-systems are becoming more important and therefore I believe that we need better tools with which to study them, particularly as the self-assembly process is taking place. X-ray are a good option for this becuase they offer a weakly coupling probe that provides structural information from on length scales from microns down to the angstroms. However most x-ray dectetors to-date are incapable of imaging system dynamics below a few Hz. This is despite that fact that investments in synchrotron x-ray sources made over the past ~20 yrs have increased the available flux by orders of magnitude, providing sufficient signal for detectors capable of framing fast enough. My diseration project, the Mixed-Mode PAD, is an attempt to fill this need.

This, however, is not the only application of Pixel Array Detectors. More information on them can be found on our research group's main site, here.

As a note of conclusion, one could accurately summarize my research intrests by saying that I enjoy exploring. Developing useful techniques and instruments to let us peer into places where we could not before. I credit my early research experience with the STACEE collaboration, a group working to develop a detector capable of looking into the unexplored window in the electromagnetic spectrum between 20 and 200 GeV, for sparking this intrest. While I have moved down in photon energy roughly seven orders of magnitde and into a much more mature field of physics there are still many experimental challanges to pursue and overcome.