Duke University, United States
I love fossils. I actually have trilobite jewelry. As a kid I was always fascinated by the idea of unimaginably large scales of time and in the unifying principles that weave through them, like evolution. In middle school I took chemistry and was engrossed by the concepts of energy, atoms, and these foundations for how the world works. In physics, I like working out solutions for the interesting technical problems that arise from technology such as DUNE’s huge liquid argon detectors. I used to work on Super-K, a neutrino observatory that had an accident resulting in many large, expensive instruments called photomultipliers imploding. Despite this, I was inspired by the way the experiment’s leader responded — he encouraged us not to crumble in the face of the accident and we recovered everything within a year. I’ve learned that taking risks and moving forward even when things go wrong is crucial. I take on this attitude while I’m working on DUNE.