A current pdf verion of my CV including a full publication list can be found here.
Employment
- 2019 - present
- Staff Scientist; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division, Livermore, CA 95125, USA.
- 2017 - 2019
- Postdoctoral Researcher; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division, Livermore, CA 95125, USA.
- 2016
- Postdoctoral Scholar; The University of Chicago, Department of Geophysical Sciences, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Education
- 2010 - 2016
- Ph.D.; The University of Chicago, Department of Geophysical Sciences, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Thesis: Deciphering Galactic Chemical Evolution: Iron and Nickel Isotopes and Cosmic Ray Exposure Ages of Presolar Silicon Carbide Grains - 2008 - 2010
- M.S.; University of Bern, Experimental Physics, Bern 3012, Switzerland.
Insigni cum laude - 2005 - 2008
- B.S.; University of Bern, Physics with Astronomy, Bern 2012, Switzerland.
Magna cum laude
Honors
- 2019
- Directorate Award; Physical and Life Sciences, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Outstanding Postdoctoral Researcher Award.
“For contributing to LLNL’s cosmochemistry program by establishing an international presence in cosmochemistry and broadening our understanding of solar system formation.” 2018 - Directorate Award; Physical and Life Sciences, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
“For determining how and when the Martian crustal dichotomy, a topographic and geophysical divide between the heavily cratered southern highlands and smoother plains of the norther lowlands, formed – Science Advances (2018)” - 2018
- Best Poster Award; Physical and Life Sciences Postdoc Program, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. “For outstanding presentation at the Instutional Postdoc Poster Symposium”
- 2017
- Early Career Scientist Award; Travel Award presented by the Meteoritial Society to attend the Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society in Santa Fe, NM, USA.
- 2016
- Nathan Sugarman Award for Excellence in Graduate Research; Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
“For pioneering measurements of iron and nickel isotopes in presolar silicon carbide grains, which constrain models of stellar nucleosynthesis and galactic chemical evolution.” – Andrew Davis. - 2012 - 2015
- NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship.
- 2015
- NASA Cosmochemistry Travel Grant; Received to attend the Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society in Berkeley, CA, USA.
- 2015
- Best Poster Award; Received at the 7th International Conference on Laser Probing in East Lansing, MI, USA.
- 2011-2013
- Chicago Center for Cosmochemistry Fellowship.
- 2013
- NASA Cosmochemistry Travel Grant; Received to attend the Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society in Edmonton, AB, Canada.
- 2012
- Wiley Blackwell Award; Received for “an outstanding oral presentation” at the Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society in Cairns, Australia.
- 2012
- Best Poster Award; Received at the XII International Symposium on Nuclei in the Cosmos in Cairns, Australia.
- 2012
- Local Organizing Committee Travel Grant; Received to attend the XII International Symposium on Nuclei in the Cosmos in Cairns, Australia.
- 2012
- NASA Cosmochemistry Travel Grant; Received to attend the Annual the Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society in Cairns, Australia.
Funding
- 2019 - 2020:
- Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, $531k, Proliferation of interstellar Pu into the Solar System, Lead PI.
- 2019:
- Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, $149k, Establishing Hands-On Astrophysics at LLNL, Lead PI.
Research Experience
- 2012 - present:
- Member of the NuGrid collaboration; Development of model evaluation tools to compare presolar grain isotope measurements with stellar nucleosynthesis models, including mixing calculations in core-collapse supernova models.
- 2010 - present:
- Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry; Instrument development, analysis methods development, as well as analysis of trace element isotopic composition in micrometer sized presolar grains.
- Instrument maintenance and measurements of mixed actinides in natural and artificial samples (LION instrument). Development of new data analysis capability using single- shot time-of-flight spectra. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA. Laboratory of Michael R. Savina / Brett H. Isselhardt.
- Simulations for the ion optics, building of tunable titanium sapphire laser systems for the CHILI instrument at the University of Chicago, and simultaneous analysis of iron and nickel isotopes in presolar grains, Chicago, IL, USA. Laboratory of Andrew M. Davis.
- Measurements of trace element isotopic composition in presolar grains using the CHARISMA instrument at Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, USA. Laboratory of Michael R. Savina / Michael J. Pellin.
- 2010 - present
- SEM/EDX analysis of sample mounts; Mapping of sample mounts and identification of mineral phases of interest for subsequent analysis with RIMS and NanoSIMS. Various instruments at the Field Museum, the University of Chicago, and at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
- 2010 - present
- Sample preparation for presolar grain analyses; Preparation of sample mounts for subsequent RIMS and NanoSIMS, including the development of a new sample press at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
- 2008 - present
- Modeling of cosmogenic production rates; Ongoing collaboration with Ingo Leya, University of Bern, to model solar and galactic cosmic ray induced cosmogenic production rates in various meteoritic materials.
- 2009 - 2010
- Offline etching of meteorites; Etching of ureilites to extract the carbonaceous phase. University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, Laboratory of Ingo Leya.
- 2007 - 2008
- Noble gas analyses; Measurements of He, Ne, and Ar using an in-house built noble gas mass spectrometer at the University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, Laboratory of Ingo Leya.
Teaching Experience
- 2017 - 2018
- Mentoring; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Nuclear and Chemical Scineces Division.
Co-mentoring of one graduate student (Dorothy Miller, NNSA Graduate Student Fellow, University of Tennessee) to measure actinides by RIMS. - 2016
- Mentoring; The University of Chicago, Department of the Geophysical Sciences.
Co-mentoring of one undergraduate student (Olivia Pardo, now graduate student at Caltech) to apply RIMS to cosmochemistry measurements. - 2010 - 2016
- Teaching assistant; The University of Chicago, Department of the Geophysical Sciences.
Various science courses for undergraduate and graduate students. - 2008 - 2010
- Teaching assistant; University of Bern, Physics Institute.
Laboratory courses for non-science undergraduate students. - 2007 - 2008
- Teaching assistant; University of Bern, Institute for Theoretical Physics.
General mechanics course.
Invited Talks
- 2020
- Michigan State University, MI, USA, JINA-CEE Seminar, Department of Physics and Astronomy. Understanding stellar nucleosynthesis, its sites, and galactic chemical evolution by analyzing stardust grains
- 2019
- University of Notre Dame, IN, USA, Department of Physics Understanding the origin of our solar system and beyond by analyzing meteorites and stardust
- 2019
- 16th Russbach School on Nuclear Astrophysics, Russbach, Austria. Analyzing the witnesses of short-lived radionuclides in the Solar System
- 2019
- University of California Davis, Earth and Planetary Sciences. Tracing the origin of the Solar System one isotope at a time
- 2016
- Lawrence Livremore Natioanl Laboratory, Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division.
Iron and nickel isotopic abundances measured simultaneously in presolar silicon carbide grains with CHILI - 2016
- Washington University in St. Louis, Laboratory for Space Sciences. CHILI – A status update
- 2013
- ETH Zürich, Department of Earth Sciences, Isochat, Switzerland. Using Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry for Presolar Grain Analyses
- 2012
- University of Victoria, Physics & Astronomy Department, StarTalk, Canada. Stardust – Probing stellar nucleosynthesis and galactic chemical evolution
Professional Service
- Manuscript reviewing
- The Astrophysical Journal, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Nature Astronomy, Revista Mexicana de Fisica, Treatise on Geochemistry Volume 1, Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy.
- Grant proposal reviewing
- NASA science programs.