I earned a BS degree from Abilene Christian University in 2005 and a Ph. D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2010 in atomic physics. I was part of Thad Walker and Mark Saffman’s group working building a quantum computer based on highly excited atomic states (Rydberg states). We achieved the first CNOT quantum gate between individually addressed neutral atoms during this time. I then had a postdoc and a research scientist position there working on scaling up this technology to larger numbers of qubits. In 2014 I was hired as an assistant professor at Abilene Christian University. My teaching focus has been astronomy, modern, optics, and our physics capstone sequence. Student projects I helped mentor in this course have varied from computer simulations to building a 2D Ruben’s tube box demonstration to building a beam monitor detector for experiment 1039 at Fermilab. I have supported our local SPS club since I came to ACU and became the faculty sponsor in 2017. I have helped our club organize a physics demonstration road show last year, and we are planning one again for this year. We have also done several shows on campus and for the local school district. I really enjoy getting to teach and mentor students as they learn about the wonders of the universe we live in.
