About Me

I graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2020 with a B.A. in Physics. While there, I worked in the Begelman high energy computational astrophysics group under the guidance of Dr. Bhupendra Mishra, modeling the effect of magnetic field orientation on black hole accretion disk transport. This work challenged my programming skills, introduced me to high-performance computing, and formed the foundation of my experience with computational physics, inspiring a deep interest in both computational modeling and astrophysics.

After graduation, I began work as an Applications Engineer at Vescent Photonics, a company that specialized in the design and manufacture of lasers and optoelectronics for use in cold atom experiments, quantum computers, and fiber frequency combs. At Vescent, I developed key skills in electronics, instrumentation, and technical writing and communication. The role provided my first exposure to engineering practice and precision laboratory systems, and I stayed with the company for two years.

In 2023, I began my graduate studies as a master's student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked under Dr. Ben Lindley to develop modeling tools for studying the fusion fuel cycle. This work led to the development of Tricycle, a low-fidelity but flexible module for the fuel cycle simulation code Cyclus and was designed to explore fusion deployment scenarios and assess global tritium availability under varying demand. A preliminary version of this work was presented at the 2024 TOFE Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, and a more complete paper will be published soon.

In the summer of 2024, I accepted an internship at Westinghouse Electric Company and joined the core design team. There, I worked on the design of PWR core loading patterns that were capable of accommodating cycle length extensions using Westinghouse’s Integral Fuel Burnable Absorber (IFBA). The work focused heavily on reactor physics, core design, and safety analysis concepts, and was an invaluable experience.

After returning to the University of Wisconsin in the fall of 2024, I accepted a position as a Ph.D. student working in the Computational Nuclear Engineering Research Group (CNERG) under Dr. Paul Wilson. My current research focuses on enhancing the front-end realism of Cyclus through the addition of economic and financial modeling and long-term contracts. My hope is to use the tools I develop to provide insight into current events and policy related to the nuclear fuel cycle.

Across these experiences, I've become especially interested in how computational modeling can bridge the gap between technical innovation and policy implementation. My long-term goal is to advance open, reproducible tools that make complex energy decisions more transparent and data-driven.