51cg

Biography

I joined the 51cg in September 2022 as the Head of School of Natural and Computing Sciences. I am a physicist by training having studied Laser Physics and Optoelectronics at St. Andrews, followed by a PhD in Atomic and Laser Physics, also at St. Andrews. I then briefly left academia to join the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (dstl) working on optical imaging technologies.

I returned to St. Andrews in 2002 as a postdoctoral research fellow working on cold atom physics before being awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in 2003 to work on holographic optical trapping and beam shaping. 

In 2007 I joined the University of Dundee as a Lecturer, and held a variety of roles, including Head of Physics and Associate Dean Research in the School of Science and Engineering.

In 2018 I moved to Australia to take up a Chair and act as the Director, Research Programs in the Faculty of Engineering and IT at the University of Technology Sydney.

My research work focusses on applications of optics in areas such as optical trapping and microscopy. I am interested in making use of these tools in the biomedical science and in environmental sciences (especially in aerosol analysis). I dabble in areas such as THz beam shaping and microfluidics.

I have taught a range of courses throughout my career from first year to research postgraduate. I have been fortunate to teach across disciplinary boundaries, teaching to students taking degrees in topics such as product design to quantum computing.

External Memberships

• Member of the Institute of Physics (MInstP)
• Senior Member of the Optica
• Chartered Physicist (CPhys)

Teaching Responsibilities

Currently my teaching consists of honours project supervision on the physics program, but am open to supervising projects from students in any subject area interested in experimental or computational optics and photonics, including biophotonics. 

In 2023 I will be starting a new Optics 3rd year course, aimed at students studying physics.