Syracuse University, United States
I’m into rock climbing – sheer faces, not mountaineering. It’s actually very similar to physics in that you have a challenge that you have to figure out how to overcome – but instead of just solving mental challenges, you’re using your whole body by yourself out in nature. I think part of the draw of rock climbing is being so alone with nature, just you and the challenge. I’m from a small farming town in Iowa, so that atmosphere is always a bit reminiscent of home.
I went to a pretty poor high school, so I kind of discovered physics on my own. This was all around the time when the LHC was starting up, and the mysticism around what they’d discover and the act of having to mostly teach myself physics made me feel more connected to it. For DUNE, I’m mostly involved in the photon detection systems. At first I worked with simulations looking at various designs for how we’ll optimize catching the flashes of light, and now I’m working on how we interpret the experimental data as light. Honestly, it’s cool that at such an early level you can make a big impact on the experiment. The things that I’m doing and helping build now will actually play a role in everybody’s experience with the experiment, not just the data that I pull and deal with myself.