I am a first year PhD student in the Astronomy Instrumentation Group working on meta-material optical devices for cosmic microwave background instruments. My current interests are the numerical modelling of devices and their optimisation using evolutionary computing techniques.
Before becoming a PhD student I have had an extensive career in both the academic and commercial worlds. While working for Sheffield University I built plasma-wave instruments for the Ampte, Cluster and Mars 1994 satellite projects and contributed to a number of others. In the telecommunications industry I led a team of engineers writing software for wireless telephony and DSL equipment. Finally, during a period at Diamond Light Source, I worked on the systems software for the X-ray beam lines.