About me
I was born in Phoenix, Arizona, where I spent the first three decades of my life. I attended Arizona State University from 2012 to 2017, where I earned my bachelor's degree in physics. During that time, starting in 2014, I worked in Dr. Oliver Beckstein's lab studying the molecular mechanisms of sodium-proton antiporters through computational simulations.
After graduating, I decided to stay at Arizona State University to pursue a PhD in physics, where I continued working with Dr. Beckstein on sodium-proton antiporter systems. My research focus shifted towards kinetic modeling of multiscale systems, relating the short time and lengthscales of a protein with the overall protein function that typically occurs over much longer timescales in a fully mathematical framework. Through this work, I achieved my PhD in 2022.
After graduation, I once again continued working with Dr. Beckstein. I accepted a post-doctoral research position where I worked with the MDAnalysis team on developing the MDAKits framework, promoting reproducible scientific software. While I was no stranger to open source software development by this point, my experience with MDAnalysis provided me with a different perspective and appreciation for software design. It challenged my view that scientific software, particularly in a fast-moving, highly-academic field, is inherently anarchic. Furthermore, it convinced me that there was a deep want for structure, standardization, and well-made tooling to help answer scientific questions.