I worked on small teams to design and develop optical system prototypes, including visible through mid-infrared hyperspectral imaging systems. My responsibilities included: - Performing breadboard experiments and field tests to troubleshoot equipment function and system integration.- Developing software (C++ and python) for system automation and data acquisition, real-time hyperspectral image processing, modeling and simulating hyperspectral imaging data, distortion correction, and system calibration.- Modeling system performance, including radiometry.- Measuring characteristics of test-bed integrated photonic circuits developed on the thin-film lithium niobate platform (e.g. high-speed electro-optic modulators, ring resonators).- Writing proposals and contributing to progress reports.

I used spectroscopy (visible light and RF/microwave) to investigate excited states of transition metal complexes and organic molecules, seeking to explain their electronic and spin properties. More specifically:- I played a lead role in designing and building a specialized optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) spectrometer, including integrating assorted laboratory equipment (closed-cycle helium cryostat, electromagnet, pump laser, monochromator, RF/microwave source, lock-in amplifier, and clock generator). I wrote the data acquisition/instrument automation software in Python, integrated the hardware, and analyzed data with MATLAB. I trained another graduate student to use the instrument and it is still being used today.- 7 years experience working with homebuilt femtosecond laser systems, including re-alignment, system re-designs and automating measurements. Experience includes amplifier alignment, various non-linear optical subsystems (OPAs, NOPAs, frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG), supercontinuum generation), maintaining chillers, electronic subsystems, and system timing. - I contributed to four published articles, three as first author, detailing our use of electronic and magnetic resonance spectroscopy to explain the excited-state dynamics of molecular systems, in thin-films, liquid solutions and cryogenic glasses.