What do you do here at Wright Lab?
I work on the HAYSTAC experiment with professors Steve Lamoreaux and Reina Maruyama. As a result, I have become part of yet another generation of graduate students who are excited about searching for dark matter, while fully knowing no one should hold their breath for a discovery any time soon. HAYSTAC has made great experimental strides, and I feel immensely grateful to be working with a remarkable group of scientists.
What is the most unique and/or exciting experience you’ve had here at Wright Lab?
The cryogenics aspect of the experiment never ceases to strike a chord with me. Whenever the cryostat is cooling down, you could actually be standing next to one of the coldest places in the entire universe - right here in Wright Lab!
What are you looking forward to in the coming year at Wright Lab?
I am certainly looking forward to gaining more hardware experience with HAYSTAC, as we have some exciting updates planned in the coming months, and also delving deeper into the data analysis to extend the procedures that other team members have developed. Moreover, Wright Lab has a great many social events sprinkled throughout the year, so those are always a nice way to meet other people.
What is something that people might not know about you that you’d like to share with the community?
I have been taking singing lessons for many years. My taste in music is quite distinct from most people’s, but singing and music continue to provide me with a host of meditative effects. Any singer would agree that singing cultivates creativity, patience, discipline, and a spirit of teamwork, basically making one a better person. Physics fosters these traits as well! (Disclaimer: If you do either of them enough in one day, however, they can get pretty exhausting.) I am thankful that I have had the opportunity to be engaging in these two fields that are very different in many ways but still overlap on their human impacts.
In the picture, I’m holding my adorable niece!